I’m a student going into senior year from New York that is interested in Chemical Engineering, do I have a good chance of getting into these schools with these stats. Also, is there any suggestions for improving my profile, and do you think there is anything I should change regarding my college list?
APs: AP Lang: 4
Next year I’m taking AP Chem, AP Lit, AP Econ, and AP Gov
ECs: National Honor Society, Leadership Niagara, School Volleyball, Club Volleyball, School Swimming, Youth Group, Boy Scouts
Job Experience: Working at my church (9-11), working at a restaurant (9-10), lifeguard at a hotel (10-present), lifeguard at an apartment complex (11-present)
State: NY
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: M
Income bracket: upper middle class
Intended Major: Chemical Engineering
Virginia Tech
Purdue
Penn State
UB
Stony Brook
RIT
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities has the best Chemical Engineering program. It’s highly competitive to get in, but you could always try – would be great if you did get admitted.
Your test scores are kinda low, but your GPA and your course rigor are great. I think you should retake either the SAT or the ACT, and aim for a 2100+. I think you will have great chances at more competitive engineering schools. The schools that you picked are pretty much safeties for you (with your current stats).
^ I would say UMN-TC has one of the best ChemE programs, but it would be arguable if you claim it to be the best. However, you do not apply to a specific major for admission. UCSB also has great ChemE program.
@soze Yes I know they would be low for “top-level stem programs” such as MIT, Stanford, Berkley, but I’m not aiming for those. Would you consider the colleges on my list to have selective top level programs?
Purdue is up there. I don’t know which “UB” you mean but all the others are still “pretty good” STEM schools. My original statement still stands.
P.S. You might want to reconsider your field of study in any case. If the best you can pull is a 650 on the math SAT you’re going to have difficulty studying engineering at the college level.
Your SAT score percentile - 90th, your ACT score percentile - 93rd. Your GPA sounds in-line to me for someone who works hard in school but maybe doesn’t shine in standardized tests. That said, the best way to improve your excellent profile is to improve your SAT or ACT score. Are you taking either again this fall?
Well, percentile-wise you did better on the ACT (especially math) but is it late to register for the September sitting? Which one do you feel better about? My D is retaking both. She actually has a lower percentile score thus far on ACT, but likes the test better, so is spending more effort prepping for it. We’ll see if that is a good strategy…
Note that these schools are way above the top 5% of ~3000 colleges in the country. So a 90th-93rd percentile score is likely not sufficient. Your Math section score is particularly weak among other candidates applying to these engineering schools.
Improve your scores and really consider lesser known and lower selectivity schools where your math 650 will not make you very unattractive. You should also not be in the bottom 25% of your school
Did you take AP Calc ? Where are you in your math sequence ? Enrolling at a challenging engineering school without sufficient math preparation will also get you into trouble, and there is no need to take pre-calc at a 4 year school if money is an issue. A summer course may also help get you ready for freshman year.
If you can bring your SAT/ACT up a little bit, your chance at Purdue may be better. Otherwise, think about schools in your state and and engineering schools outside of the top 30-50.