<p>We are having a really tough time guiding our S with college choices. He is a bright URM (AA)with a clear aptitude for STEM. He thinks he wants to declare an engineering major- possibly mechanical but is not absolutely certain. We live in California and he wants to apply to several UC's, a couple of CSU's, and a couple of privates. He loves Cal Poly SLO, UC Berkeley and UCLA but they admit by major and I am afraid he won't make the cut for engineering. My fear is that he will apply to highly selective schools that he has a shot at (not safeties, but high matches/reaches) and get shut out due to his choice of major when he isn't even absolutely certain that he will stick with Engineering (not many are at 17!) But if he applies undeclared he really has no chance of getting into Engineering, so what's the point?</p>
<p>His SAT is 2010 (740 Math), SAT subject tests (740 Math2/ 680 Chem.) He has AP Chem, AP Calc, and 4 years of science and math with straight A's. (4.38 UC GPA) He attended a summer engineering seminar at a university with competitive admissions.</p>
<p>I really think he would thrive at a large, selective school but Engineering may be out of reach there with his stats. Thoughts, similar experiences with your kids?</p>
<p>B and LA are probably match level – although his SAT is under 2100, his 4.0 unweighted GPA and maximum possible UC GPA will likely impress the readers. When UC Statfinder was up, it noted good (but not certain) chance of admission to B engineering at 4.2+ UC GPA and 2100+ SAT score.</p>
<p>Is he interested in other UCs? If he applies to all of D, I, SB, SC, and R (which are probably 90+% low matches at his stats), the chances of being shut out are probably vanishingly small, assuming affordability. Assuming he qualifies for top 9% statewide and/or in local context, M should be a 100% safety, though it has only a few engineering majors which are not yet ABET accredited.</p>
<p>SLO is probably a low match for his stats based on [Student</a> Profile - Admissions - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo](<a href=“Cal Poly Admissions”>Cal Poly Admissions) . It is really hard to see him not getting into all other CSUs, although the stat thresholds are not announced beforehand that would allow determining that for certain.</p>
<p>Of privates, USC is probably a slightly easier admit than UCLA, but Stanford is a reach for everyone, needing top-end grades and test scores, and probably some high level award or extracurricular achievement.</p>
<p>My daughter graduated from Santa Clara University in engineering. My husband (an engineer) was very impressed with her course of study there.</p>
<p>My guess (and I’m guessing) is that your son could be admitted to their college of engineering.</p>
<p>My daughter did NOT have the high school stats to be admitted to the college of engineering. She applied and was accepted as an undeclared arts and sciences major. When she got there, she took all of the same course sequences as the engineering majors freshman year (chemistry, calculus, biology, and intro to engineering). She did well and officially became an engineering college major the second quarter of her sophomore year. If she had not decided to continue with engineering, she could have continued in arts and sciences…with another major (she also eventually picked up a biology double major in the college of arts and sciences).</p>
<p>Thanks for your research UCB. I don’t doubt that there are many good schools in Calif.that are his match for Engineering. He has to weigh whether major trumps school or school trumps major. I know USC does offers admission regardless of major. Too bad Berkeley and UCLA don’t.</p>
<p>If he’s interested in engineering then major trumps school IMO because he needs the actual major to be employed in that area of engineering (generally). Most colleges offer engineering and most of the UCs are fairly excellent choices for engineering as they have highly respected programs.</p>
<p>He should add UCSD, UCI, UCD, UCSC at least and probably UCR to the list to have a much better assurance of an acceptance. They’re just additional checkmarks on the app (plus some extra app $$$). Is he ELC? If so then he’ll be guaranteed someplace.</p>
<p>UCSD used to admit to the entire college and then there was a second cut for engineering but if one didn’t make it into engineering they could still attend L&S. I don’t know if it’s still that way - I thought I saw someone post that it changed. You seem savvy on this point so maybe you already know.</p>
<p>@Minnymom
My D has the same situation as yours. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1564964-higher-chance-engineering-female-applicant.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1564964-higher-chance-engineering-female-applicant.html</a></p>
<p>UCSD/UCD/UCSB has excellent Eng’g program. From the thread that I started above some parents recommended Case Western and RPI. These 2 schools give generous merit based on SAT’s (M+CR) and ACT. I tried their NPC last night and for our income and my daughter’s SAT score (1520 out of 1600), the cost is about $5K above UC full pay (after merit aid, no need based for us), which is not that bad. So depending on your income and your son’s SAT (you didn’t mention his CR score), the cost might be comparable or possibly lower than UC.</p>
<p>Boy, you Californians seem to be flummoxed by all the possibilities for an in-state kid, LOL. I’ll reiterate a couple of west coast recommendations where you are not required to separately apply to the school of engineering in a year or two;</p>
<p>U of Portland
U of San Diego</p>
<p>I’ll second the option of UC Irvine. Excellent Mechanical Engineering and Materials Engineering.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback. 2018Dad- CR is 630. I have no doubt that he will have several fine choices after acceptances are issued. We talked last evening and he is aware that declaring engineering will make entry into top tier schools more of a reach and is OK with that. He seems excited at the prospect of pursuing engineering. I agree UC Irvine would a good fit if Cal and UCLA don’t work out.</p>
<p>Admissions to engineering in all the schools the OP listed has become extremely competitive. As such, in most cases if a student does not enter as a declared and accepted engineering major they have very little, if any, chance of transferring to the COE at a later date.</p>
<p>The OP may also want to consider UCSB. It has an excellent engineering program. It’s small - only 2000 students, including grad level. UG have a very good chance of participating in research early on - there’s not enough grad students to go around.</p>