I intend to major in Chemical Engineering in college, and I’ve been accepted to the College of Engineering at these schools so far: Texas A&M, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Purdue. I was also accepted to ChemE in the College of Liberal Arts and Science at UIUC. I am OOS for all these schools, and would just like some input on which of these programs would be a good fit; I want a big school where I can get the traditional “college experience” but also get the best quality education. Are there major differences in how hard it would be for me to declare ChemE at these schools? Thanks for the help!
Texas A&M, Minnesota, and Purdue have first year engineering programs, followed by competitive admission to major. They do have assured admission college GPAs (3.5 at Texas A&M, 3.2 at Minnesota and Purdue). More information at the following:
Awesome guidance and advice from @ucbalumnus Take a hard look at his fact sets.
As to your softer questions. All of the schools fit your larger with the ability to have a traditional college experience. One can assume you mean sports, facilities and social life. And the academics. Please see the post above on requirements and rigor.
If all cost the same and you could achieve the major and gpa over your time there - I would choose;
Wisconsin
Perdue
UIUC
TAM
Minnesota
Iin that order.
Only because of the vibe, campuses and locations. Also my bias in terms of what I believe to be academic reputations currently. And I haven’t researched the rankings for each in their disciplines. I do know UIUC has a really strong rep in your majors too.
And this is what I would choose. We could and most likely will be viewing things with completely different lenses. So go with your instincts.
@ucbalumnus not sure how familiar you are with Wisco, but do you know if a lot of kids get weeded out of ChemE; i.e. enough to justify turning it down for a different school if you’re not 100% sure you can maintain the GPA?
I’m an old CHYPS (not HYPS!..get it?) ChemE. If I were hiring you based only on where you received your degree (which I wouldn’t) I’d pick Purdue, UIUC then the rest equally. I am very biased towards Purdue and UIUC. I have less experience with grads from the other schools but they are all very good schools. You can’t go wrong with any of them but Purdue has the best brand recognition in general. Pick the one you like that fits your budget if that matters. Do your best and learn how to learn wherever you go. Good luck!
I’m also looking into chemE but i’m trying to decide between UMN and Iowa state. I’ve been leaning towards ISU due to the huge career fair that draws 500+ companies, who this be recommended even though UMN ranks higher?
Energy as in petroleum? If so, I think TAMU has the strongest industry ties and would be my recommendation.
We did a deep dive when my daughter was applying to programs and took long hard looks at the industries connections and who was hiring their grads. Look at first destination reports and also a department’s industry partners. Most school’s have some kind of report available on line.
If you have any Purdue specific questions I’m happy to try to answer them. My daughter is in their FYE program and has just began the process to transition to chem e. (She wants to do pharmaceutical R&D so Purdue was the perfect fit for her).
You may want to ask Wisconsin’s chemical engineering department directly about how many students get weeded out of the major by the GPA requirements, whether any below 3.5/3.0 GPA are allowed to progress through the appeal process, and how far below their GPAs were.
But, as it stands from publicly published information from the schools you list, Wisconsin probably has the highest risk of weed-out from chemical engineering, while UIUC probably has the lowest risk of weed-out (although the 2.5 GPA needs to be maintained every semester, rather than at one check point; however, students in the 2.5 GPA range are more likely to voluntarily change out of their major because it is too hard for them).
Did you apply to any in-state public universities with chemical engineering? If you are in California, this means CPP, CSULB, SJSU, UCB, UCD, UCI, UCLA, UCR, UCSD, UCSB.
This was my very first thought. It ties in directly with the money question. CA has some very solid engineering programs. In state, they offer a very good value.
As for Wisconsin, and any school for that matter with a GPA cut to move forward in your desired major, the question you need to ask yourself is would you stay at said school if you were unable to maintain that GPA and had to pick a different major. Wisconsin grade distributions are linked below. They don’t appear to be as harsh as some schools, but not as inflated as others.
As you have great test scores but middling GPA (UW3.6 right?) how many APs do you have and what are your scores? You are not getting merit money anywhere on the list so are they truly affordable at full freight? What are your UC options?
@ucbalumnus I applied to all UCs except Merced and Riverside. Fingers crossed I get into one those, because I’d love to go to UCSB, SD, Cal or UCLA. I’m seriously evaluating my OOS schools though, because my GPA isn’t exactly high enough for those UCs.
Why not UCR, which has chemical engineering and is not as difficult to get into? Also, seems like UCSC is a wasted application, since it does not have chemical engineering.
One difference, for what it’s worth, is that University of Wisconsin Chemical Engineering generally requires 4 years + 1 summer. The final capstone is done in the summer after 4th year.
@Sybylla money isn’t an issue, but I’d still definitely prefer going to a UC and saving 30k a year. I just want to be prepared in case I don’t get into one of them, so I’m evaluating the other schools I got into also.
Probably not, it’s a very highly ranked school for ChemE. It’s just that you probably have to pay for tuition room and board for that summer and forgo walking at graduation with your class, though all of your ChemE classmates will do the same. I don’t really know though. It might actually be easier and more advantageous than trying to do your Capstone during the semester while you are taking other classes the way most schools do it.
I just pointed it out as a differentiator. Something for you to consider when choosing among them.