Chem Engin Rankings from universityportal.net - Accurate?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>U.S. News Rank</p>

<p>1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology</p>

<p>2 University of California–Berkeley</p>

<p>3 University of Minnesota–Twin Cities</p>

<p>4 California Institute of Technology</p>

<p>5 University of Wisconsin–Madison</p>

<p>6 Stanford University (CA)</p>

<p>7 University of Texas–Austin</p>

<p>8 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign</p>

<p>9 University of Delaware</p>

<p>10 Princeton University (NJ)</p>

<p>11 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor</p>

<p>12 University of California–Santa Barbara</p>

<p>13 Purdue University–West Lafayette (IN)</p>

<p>13 Georgia Institute of Technology</p>

<p>15 Carnegie Mellon University (PA)</p>

<p>16 Penn State University–University Park</p>

<p>17 Northwestern University (IL)</p>

<p>18 Johns Hopkins University (MD)</p>

<p>19 University of Washington</p>

<p>19 Cornell University (NY)</p>

<p>19 Texas A&M University–College Station</p>

<p>22 University of Pennsylvania</p>

<p>22 University of California–Los Angeles</p>

<p>24 Ohio State University</p>

<p>24 University of Florida </p>

<p>Hey everyone! What's your take on it? Accurate? Should UC Santa Barbara be ranked higher than Cornell, Penn and UCLA?</p>

<p>I'm still a high school senior but from the many rankings I've looked there are so many variations I'm not even sure if they're believable anymore.</p>

<p>Also, I would really really appreciate it if you chance me for these top 24 unis?</p>

<p>Currently taking IB HL Maths, HL Physics, HL Chemistry, SL Economics, SL Mandarin ab initio, SL English A1</p>

<p>My stats aren't that great and I'm not sure which unis should be my safeties/reaches.</p>

<p>SAT: Crit reading:620 Maths:800 Writing:640 (I'm taking again in Oct. HOPING for a better score)</p>

<p>SAT2: Math 2:800 Physics:780 Chemistry:800</p>

<p>IB predicted grade of 44.</p>

<p>ECs: Interact Club (a club committed to volunteerism and community service) Executive Committee Member
A few other leadership posts but basically nothing flashy.</p>

<p>What do you guys think? How high should I aim?</p>

<p>Would CMU, Urbana-Champaign, Ann Arbor and Wisconsin Madison be reasonably safe?</p>

<p>PS Most likely no financial aid, but if I do get a shot somewhere I'll try for it to ease pressure off my hardworking parents =)</p>

2

<p>What's your GPA? Hard to know what's a safety without that data. And where do you live? Michigan and Wisconsin have no cap on OOS students; UIUC does (10%, I think). UIUC engineering consequently is not a safety for anyone. Michigan engineering is significantly harder to get into than other schools, consequently it's probably not a safety either, especially for OOS. Wisconsin might be a little easier to get in. You might consider Minnesota which with your stats is a safety; their engineering school is very strong, they've always had outstanding strength in chemical engineering, they have no cap on OOS, and you might even get some merit money.</p>

3

<p>I am actually a Thai student studying in Singapore. That rules out a lot of chances doesn't it. O.O</p>

<p>Anyway I'm doing the IB programme and my school doesn't calculate GPA. Basically the highest mark I can get for IB is 45 points (7 points for each of my 6 subjects plus 3 bonus points). I got a 44 so that's kinda very high.</p>

4

<p>The undergraduate chemical engineering ranking by us news is:
Chemical:</p>

<p>1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA
2 University of California--Berkeley Berkeley, CA
3 University of Wisconsin--Madison Madison, WI
4 University of Minnesota--Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
5 Stanford University Stanford, CA
6 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA
7 University of Texas--Austin Austin, TX
8 University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
9 University of Delaware Newark, DE
10 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI
11 Princeton University Princeton, NJ
12 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA
13 Purdue University--West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN
14 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA
15 Cornell University Ithaca, NY
16 Pennsylvania State University--University Park University Park, PA
17 University of California--Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA
18 Northwestern University Evanston, IL
19 University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA
20 Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD
20 North Carolina State University--Raleigh Raleigh, NC
20 University of Florida Gainesville, FL
20 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA
24 Texas A&M University--College Station College Station, TX
24 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA </p>

<p>last year's it was:
Undergraduate engineering specialties:
Chemical
(At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)
Methodology
1 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
2 University of California–Berkeley *
3 Univ. of Minnesota–Twin Cities *
4 Stanford University (CA)
5 Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison *
6 California Institute of Technology
7 Princeton University (NJ)
8 U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign *
9 University of Texas–Austin *
10 University of Delaware *
11 Georgia Institute of Technology *
11 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor *
13 Cornell University (NY)
14 Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
15 Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)*
16 Pennsylvania State U.–University Park *
17 Texas A&M Univ.–College Station *
17 Univ. of California–Santa Barbara *
19 North Carolina State U.–Raleigh *
20 Rice University (TX)
20 University of Pennsylvania
22 Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. (NY)
23 Iowa State University *
23 Northwestern University (IL)
23 University of Notre Dame (IN)
23 University of Virginia *
23 University of Washington *</p>

<p>UCSB has a great chemical engineering department and it has a very strong graduate program (usually ranked in the top 10). I think that if you up your SAT score you have a decent shot most everywhere. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>PS: Seeing as most schools are not need blind for internationals I would make sure that you'd actually get financial aid before applying for it.</p>

5

<p>for comparison:</p>

<p>Gourman Report rankings for undergraduate chemical engineering</p>

<p>U Minnesota
U Wisconsin
UC Berkeley
Cal Tech
Stanford
U Delaware
MIT
U Illinois U-C
Princeton
U Houston
Purdue
Notre Dame
Northwestern
Cornell
U Texas Austin
Stevens Institute of Tech
U Penn
Carnegie Mellon
U Michigan
Rice
U Washington
U Mass Amherst
Iowa State
U Florida
U Rochester
SUNY Buffalo
Penn State U-P
Case Western
U Colorado Boulder
Washington U St Louis
Lehigh
Texas A&M
CUNY City C
Ohio State
Georgia Tech
NC State
Yale
RPI
Virginia tech
U Tennessee Knoxville
UVA
Columbia
U Arizona
Syracuse
U Utah
UCLA
U Oklahoma
U Maryland College park
Oregon State
Louisiana State Baton rouge
U Pittsburgh
U Iowa
Clarkson</p>

6

<p>IB predicted score is the equivalent to GPA. For IB, you get a max of 7 points for each of your 6 courses (total 42), plus 3 points for extended essay. Thus, a predicted score of 44 out of a max score of 45 is very high.</p>

7

<p>It looks like you will have no problem getting into most any of these schools that have been listed. </p>

<p>It looks like Rice dropped off the US News list this year and I don't see Vanderbilt listed anywhere. I think both of these privates (and I am sure others but these are a couple that came to mind) have pretty good undergraduate ChE programs so I wouldn't put too much into these lists especially when you get down below the top 10 or so. The curriculum is usually pretty similar if you look into the couse offerings.</p>

<p>What do others think?</p>

8

<p>Hmm I used to think Penn engineering isn't so good though? Or is it only good at chem engin? It's not even in the Top 50 of the TIMES Higher University Rankings for Technology.</p>

<p>Hmm SAT scores do play a large part in the application isn't it. Sigh it's so tough for someone whose English is not superb to do much better for SAT. :/</p>

9

<p>pete schools will take that into consideration don't worry. Just try your best and give it a shot!</p>

10

<p>petepete28, Penn is also highly ranked (top 5-10) in bioengineering, and is highly regarded in the emerging field of nanotechnology (in which Penn is investing hundreds of millions of dollars for facilities and leading-edge research).</p>

11

<p>45 Percenter, thanks for the info! Good to know Penn's engineering is getting better and better!</p>

<p>superwizard, thanks for the encouragement! will try my best!</p>

<p>(hope i get into stanford :P)</p>

12

<p>pete -- I assume a 44 IB would be equivalent to top 1% from a US high school. Your SAT score is top 2%, but top .5% for math, which is all an engineering school will care about.... same with your SAT 2 scores.</p>

<p>Academically there is no school in the US, including Caltech, whose median is above your performance.</p>

<p>Now it is a question of recs, essays, and the picture you paint of yourself in the application. Are you <em>more</em> than an obedient and dutiful asian student who studies most waking hours (with the exception of tennis, piano/violin, and chess & computer games)? Remember schools like Caltech and MIT reject more 800 math scorers than they accept. You don't gain acceptance to top 10 US colleges on academics... that's a GIVEN. What more do you bring to the table?</p>

<p>Work on showing that you're more than an academic robot and you've got a good chance at any engineering school in the U.S.</p>

13

<p>Averaging the 3 rankings gives:</p>

<ol>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Wisconsin and MIT</li>
<li>Minnesota</li>
<li>Wisconsin</li>
<li>Caltech</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
</ol>

<p>Pete, is there a reason you prefer Stanford to Berkeley (other than it is probably easier academically?)</p>

14

<p>^ :D</p>

<p>10 char.</p>

15

<p>^^ How can Wisconsin be both #2 and #5? </p>

<p>And don't forget Minnesota as a VERY strong safety in this field---and a financial safety as well, with OOS tuition now capped at $2,000/semester more than in-state, plus merit aid available.</p>

16

<p>Hey DunninLA thank you so much for your effort for compiling the rankings! I've been wanting to do so but I couldn't bring myself to it :P</p>

<p>First things first I am quite active in my community service. I won this KS Mehta Youth Memorial Service Award which is an award given to a member of an Interact Club as a recognition of passion for 'service above self'.</p>

<p>And I'm planning to write one of the essays on global warming. Something like a criticism of how the world leaders are not taking action and all that.</p>

<p>(On a side note: would criticising George Bush be detrimental to my application?)</p>

<p>And yeah basically I dont study all the time and involve myself in quite a number of activities. I am a reserve player of the school tennis team but I'm not sure if that will help my application. However I feel that most of the activities - those one-off ones - I participated in cannot really be reflected on the application or essays? What do you suggest?</p>

<p>And I'd really LOVE to go to berkeley too. I've got a senior there who's giving me positive feedback so far. And I've always thought stanford has a better programme, but I do love the Stanford campus though. Might consider EAing Stanford in case I got lucky. Stanford is much harder to get in compared to Berkeley isnt it.</p>

17

<p>bclintonk thank you for the info! I'll consider it! Minnesota's campus looks good too! I think my univ preference kinda depends on the campus too. haha. oh well.</p>

<p>ooh you mean i can quite easily get some form of financial aid in Minnesota?</p>

18

<p>oops... yes, Wisconsin cannot be both....</p>

<p>corrected:</p>

<ol>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Wisconsin and MIT</li>
<li>Minnesota</li>
<li>Caltech</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
</ol>

19

<p>pete - criticising a sitting president is practically an american sport.... no harm there.</p>

<p>tennis will serve zero purpose, other than to list it and have the adcom go (Asian.... reallly smart.... tennis of course....)</p>

<p>Spend time concentrating your essays and application around the non-academic impactful activities you partcipate in... leadership is 10x more important than membership.</p>

20

<p>hmm ok so maybe i just shouldn't include tennis under the activities list at all?</p>

<p>thanks for the advice!</p>