Denied AE Engineering but given alternate major???? HELP

Colleges and Universities A-Z Purdue University
1

My son applied early to the school of engineering and I am wondering if someone can help me understand this until the Purdue office opens on Monday. He received his letter yesterday.

My son has very high stats and we applied early to the class of 2020. He is in the top 5% of his class and has taken many AP classes and is well rounded in sports, academics, leadership and his community. He applied to the college of engineering. He’s shooting for NROTC. The NROTC interview even said he had impressive stats. He is applying to both military academies as well with a favorable application so he is by no means a slacker or average but also I get he is a stat/ a number. I don’t understand. How could Purdue be this full already in engineering and he wasn’t even give the option of first year engineering as a choice either. We looked over the major options they suggested and it wasn’t anything he was remotely interested in-education, health and science, liberal arts and exploratory studies. This was part of his letter he received yesterday. Is this a dead issue as all he wants is AE.

Here is the letter:

"Thank you for your interest in Purdue. Unfortunately, because the demand for the major to which you applied far exceeds its capacity, we cannot accommodate all applicants. However, you’re an excellent student who can succeed at Purdue, and at this time of year we can guarantee admission to an alternative major on our West Lafayette campus. And there are a number of outstanding programs.

To request an alternative major, visit admissions.purdue.edu/alternatemajor and submit the online form. For guaranteed admission to an alternative major, you must submit the form within four weeks of receiving this email.

You will have the opportunity to identify up to three alternative majors and should select them in priority order. Only choose majors in which you are truly interested. We cannot guarantee you would be able to switch from an alternative major into the major you originally applied to. Typically, majors that are in very high demand at the admission stage also have limited capacity for enrolled students seeking to switch."

So my question is how do you continue to move forward with the goal of becoming an AE major at Purdue yet no guarantees? The gray areas are not a good feeling for anyone and I am wondering if there is another path to his goals we are missing through all this or should we move our focus to other colleges?

Lastly, is this the norm for most colleges these days?

Thank you for your help, it is greatly appreciated.

2

Would post similar question at the engineering major board … AE programs, very qualified applicant.

Engineering is becoming difficult to get in, and aerospace is typically a small program, and Purdue is nationally ranked and attracts a good number of out of state applicants. Don’t know about Purdue, but engineering admissions is likely mostly based on math and science AP scores, maybe not so much on sports, leadership and his community (which will sell more at a private school with one door admissions). UMd is also very picky about engineering admits, although your son is pretty high credential.

Better to know the Purdue situation now, you can even still hit an EA cycle by 11/1, Case Western, GTech, UMd, etc.

I would take a few minutes to see how hard the transfer process is, if it is competitive admission or requires a very high GPA, there is a risk he would have to transfer out of Purdue after 1 or 2 years if he cannot get into AE.

Consider mechanical engineering too, but see if they offer electives and/or faculty research related to aero (most aero industry engineers are not aero engineers, lots of mech e and lots of specialists in EE, etc).

I assume you are Indiana residents and were hoping for low in-state tuition prices. Georgia Tech is a similar school, but count on paying OOS (not sure how ROTC plays in, but it may help reduce the difference). I would check the ABET list of aerospace programs and cross reference to cost and location and prestige or whatever else is important to you. Notre Dame? Pitt, PennState, OSU … check them out … Go to net price calculator to see merit and/or FA opportunities for your situation. Case does estimate merit money based on SAT scores, etc. Alabama has huge merit program and may have a good AE program (NASA is in Huntsville).

There are lots of great engineering schools and the good thing is all are rigorous due to the ABET requirements (that also means no slacking anywhere or you will likely be tossed out of major or even that school).

3

GA Tech EA deadline was Oct. 15

Can you post his stats? That may help us in answering your question. I would look at Ohio State, they have ROTC and the National Buckeye Scholarship helps cover a big chunk of OOS tuition. Very good engineering school.

4

I think GA Tech is harder to get into than Purdue but worth a shot RD.

5

I was thinking about your son’s situation today because I too find it surprising based on what you said. Could you have your son’s high school counselor call Purdue admission and ask about your son’s situation? Maybe the wrong test data or gpa was entered electronically in his file? Maybe the counselor can review the recommendation letter to see if there is something in it that is troubling? A few years ago my son’s friend got denied at a college where he should have been accepted. The high school counselor switched up transcripts between students and the wrong transcript was sent for this student. Had the correct transcript been sent, the admission office would have accepted this student, but it was too late for my son’s friend. Just a thought.

6

http://digital.watkinsprinting.com/publication/?i=265024&p=46

Purdue’s college of engineering is getting increasingly difficult to get accepted into. There is no lack in qualified applicants. I doubt that the college of engineering is all full already, but he probably lacks the stats to get in.

Don’t consider Mechanical Engineering at Purdue, it’s not easy to get into either. Their enrollment has increased significantly over the past few years. They recently increased their FYE GPA requirements to a 3.4 to guarantee acceptance into the ME program.

7

You don’t even apply directly to an engineering program at Purdue. All freshmen start in FYE, so that’s why that was not an alternate choice.

8

Hello all thanks for the help! I am happy to share my son asked for re consideration and asked where his weak points were and submitted the required essays.They had also said he needed to take an AP Chem class his senior year as all those admitted to the FYE are taking this their senior year and to raise his ACT. So he added AP Chem and re took the ACT. His scores were not that much better but enough on the ACT. Happy to share he was admitted to FYE today after the reconsideration!!! At 9 years old he started this journey with the first choice on the military academies and the Purdue AE and in the NROTC as his plan B. Either way he loves the opportunity!

9

@flying8764 You have to take AP chem to be admitted to FYE? That doesn’t sound right.

10

It was one of his weakness per the admissions office when I called several times for information, along with is ACT score needing to be higher. He just re took the ACT and we do not have the score yet so IDK but he got in. Maybe it was the AP science and his essays that helped together.He’s in the top 5% of his class with a 3.98 GPA and has taken over 5 AP classes receiving all A’s in them and a varsity letter holder, community leader and in Civil Air Patrol.

11

They stated in admissions all FYE students being admitted 95% were taking 4 years of science which included both AP chem and AP Physics. My son was only missing the AP chem but already had 4 years under his belt before picking up this class.

12

This has me a bit worried, because my son’s school does not offer AP classes. Might they not accept him into FYE even if he’s an otherwise qualified applicant?

13

I have no idea. I would suggest calling the admissions office and asking that. They shared why my son was denied for the first try and we asked what he could do to make a stronger application for the reconsider. He also wrote two required short essays for the reconsider.

14

I think we’ll just wait and see what happens, but I’m surprised that 95% have had the AP versions of those classes. Wow! Hopefully they don’t hold it against students who didn’t have the option.

I’m impressed that admissions was so specific and helpful regarding their issues with your son’s application. Congratulations on his acceptance to FYE!

15

Your counselor should send a school report which lets colleges know what AP classes are offered and various school stats so they can as fairly as possible compare students who have differing opportunities.