Hi I’m considering attending the U of Minnesota for engineering. The U really pushes diversity and getting more opportunities for diverse students. As a white male, I’m a bit worried that my oppurtunities might be diminished compared to other students. Any advice or experience would be appreciated
UMN has a secondary admission process in engineering. It is based on technical GPA. Earn a 3.2 and you choose any engineering major. Otherwise, the cutoff may be higher than 2.0, but many majors admit all with 2.0 or higher.
http://www.advising.cse.umn.edu/cgi-bin/courses/noauth/apply-major-statistics
So don’t worry about any positive or negative effect of any proclamations about diversity. Just do well in your courses.
Pushing diversity and trying to create a diverse student population doesn’t mean diminished opportunities for white male students. It means trying to give everyone an equal chance at fully participating in everything that the university has to offer.
The reality is that if you have the same credentials as a hooked student, colleges are going to side with the hooked student, not you. Nothing you can do except put your best foot forward and have a backup plan.
http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/7633/screen/21 indicates that, out of 1,091 engineering bachelor’s degrees awared in 2017 at UMN, 761 (70%) were to white students, 612 (56%) of whom were male. The next largest category was non-resident aliens at 145 (13%), meaning that the other 185 (17%) were presumably the “diversity” that you seem to be concerned about.
Schools with prominent diversity programs usually have them because of a lack of minorities, or a history of a lack of minority access. U of MN is in a very white state (87% white in 2017) and has to go out of its way to make its demographics look like national averages. Don’t sweat it: good results are good everywhere, and bad results won’t beat out anyone, regardless of race. Ignore he stuff you can;t control, get your work in, and you’ll be fine.