Do I have a legit chance of getting into Purdue?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Purdue University
1

<p>I visited Purdue in October and liked it quite a bit. It's not my first choice or anything (3rd-4th choice), but it'd be really nice to get accepted to and be able to go to if all else fails.</p>

<p>Chances?</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Hooks: None, unfortunately
UW GPA: 3.046 (effed up junior year)
W GPA: 3.097
ACT Composite: 27 (35E, 22M, 27R, 23S)
Class Rank: Top 42%
AP/Honors Classes: Honors US History, Honors English 10, AP English Lang, AP Psychology, Honors Chemistry, Honors Algebra 2, Honors Physics, AP Spanish Lang, AP Statistics, AP Microeconomics
(I'm taking Economics, English, Psych, and History at a local CC senior year)</p>

<p>EC's: UW-Madison Residential Sci. Program, 2008; Cross Country Running, 7th-12th grade; Track & Field. 9th-11th Grade; Fall Musical, 10th-12th Grade; Peer Tutors, Spanish & Chemistry, 10th-12th Grade; Part Time Job @ Target, 25 hours per week, 11th-12th grade; Positive Role Models, Exec. Chairman and Leader of an anti-alcohol event; Student Ambassadors, one year (9); Band; Trumpet; 9th-10th grade; 3rd Chair; Jazz Ensemble, Keyboard, many improv. solos; Big Brothers and Sisters; 9th-11th grade</p>

<p>-Im capable of writing good essays</p>

<p>-I only plan to have one recommendation, but I think It'll be good.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Depends on what your applying there for. Your ACT score seems pretty solid but not great enough for First Year Engineering. Purdue’s standards have gone up lately and I’m not sure if your GPA would be acceptable for them. However, since you have taken a lot of AP classes then it might make the GPA an exception. I would say if your applying for Engineering you would be rejected. If for Krannert I can see a rejection also. If anything else excluding the Flight program I can see an acceptance. I have a similiar GPA like you but it was two years ago when I applied so yeah… Things could’ve changed during that time…</p>

3

<p>I agree. I think for engineering and business you’re going to be a long shot. For any liberal arts major you can probably get in. GPA is kind of low like Jimgotkp said and judging by your ACT scores I’d say your best bet is to become a liberal arts major. A 22 on ACT math will mean you will most likely fail out of engineering and have a hard time in certain business classes. A 23 science score means that science majors are out of the question. Therefore, I hope you want to do some kind of liberal arts major like Polysci or Intl Relations cuz I think that’s where your talent lies. Not meaning to put you down either. Just being as objective as I can as I’ve seen lots of friends fail out of engineering and business and it has a strong correlation to ACT scores. Obviously there are exceptions though but I guess you have to ask yourself if you want to pay all those thousands of dollars to risk it.</p>

4

<p>yeah msl is right with the stuff about you going into LA. the math classes here when you reach 161+ are a killer. if you havent taken calculus before then you just might not be engineering material to be honest. krannert demands a few math classes too and ma159 makes a lot of people get a grade lower than a C which makes them retake it the following semester. i agree with the science section of your ACT. its basically your decision but I’d just apply for LA or Undergraduate Studies Program if you really like the school. Then when you schedule for classes just try to take a few intro. classes like ECON251 since its intro to micro and macroeconomics. since you will most likely take micro and macro if your in krannert, its a good way to see if your going to like the business field somewhat. engineering-wise… well I guess you just gotta do well in CHEM115 and physics120 i think…</p>

5

<p>Also in addition to listing your major perhaps list your AP grades and scores on the AP tests…it’ll be easier to see how well you’re prepared…</p>

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<p>OK let me clear this up: I’m not going for engineering or any science related major. </p>

<p>I was thinking more alone the lines of liberal arts.</p>

<p>Is it true that it’s better to go to IU if you want liberal arts? (I heard purdue is more of the science school while IU isn’t.)</p>

7

<p>^Yes, IU is far superior for the liberal arts. Purdue is Indiana’s tech Uni., and does a fine job, too, but its focus is not on fields that don’t involve numbers.</p>

<p>Your stats will be fine for IU.</p>

8

<p>I just had to post this…</p>

<p>I personally scored a 24 ACT and 1110 SAT, both scores split pretty evenly between math and verbal. I came to Purdue at Krannert because I didn‘t think I could get accepted into engineering. While being enrolled at Krannert I took all first year engineering courses and came out of my first year with a 3.35 GPA, this while taking 19 credits my second semester. I will end up graduating in under four years because of my heavy course loads… another thing that almost everybody advised me against. </p>

<p>I studied my *** off, but I’ll be the first one to tell you that some stupid test score does not define you or what you are capable of. I ended up with a great internship this summer with a Fortune 500 company when many students with much higher GPA’s, etc., couldn’t find anything at all. I don’t mean to boast, it just gets pretty annoying to read all of the hype about test scores/GPA’s on this forum. Yes, if you were the type who was into school during high school, more power to you - but for many people, including myself, who hardly ever went to class and could have cared less at the time… this story’s for you :)</p>

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<p>purduefrank, you cannot use one example as the basis for everyone. i don’t know anything about the op except for what he posted and that is what i’m basing my advice on. and advice is just that. i don’t know if he’s going to succeed or fail or whatnot b/c i don’t know anything about him except for what he’s posted. there’s lots of variables that can help a person with a lower average score succeed in college just as there are variables that can make higher scores do poorly. like you said, in hs you didn’t care and college you worked your ass off. well if that’s the case then your score probably didn’t reflect your effort. however, i do believe there have been studies which show a strong correlation between the standardized test scores and first year gpas. that is all i am saying.</p>

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<p>MSL</p>

<p>Correlation is not causation. To automatically mark off entire departments of study because of a low test score is absurd. My point, is that if he/she wanted to go into engineering or science, don’t let a test score dictate failure before he/she even gives it a shot.</p>

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<p>First of all, I think msl and I are trying to tell him his chances to getting accepted into the university. If he doesn’t get accepted to any program within Purdue then all this talk about test scores not affecting their performance in college shouldn’t be mentioned at all. The test score also can affect their chances on doing engineering because I’m sure you’ve taken some of the math classes that are required by engineering like diff. eq. which would be a killer. But before they even have to take this class they have to take 161 and 162 which already get a lot of students already. So in other words if their math scores are low in such tests like the SATs of ACTs where its just algebra and lower mainly then their strength in math is low and more or less really unacceptable in the engineering field.</p>

12

<p>jimgotkp</p>

<p>If you’re only trying to advise him on his chances, so be it. However, statements like the following speak to the contrary.</p>

<p>You wrote:
“yeah msl is right with the stuff about you going into LA. the math classes here when you reach 161+ are a killer. if you havent taken calculus before then you just might not be engineering material to be honest.”</p>

<p>msl wrote:
" A 22 on ACT math will mean you will most likely fail out of engineering and have a hard time in certain business classes. A 23 science score means that science majors are out of the question. "</p>

<p>To be fair, he then followed it with:
"Obviously there are exceptions though but I guess you have to ask yourself if you want to pay all those thousands of dollars to risk it. "</p>

<p>As I said, my personal opinion is that crossing off entire departments, albeit, some of the only departments that offer decent job placement - is rediculous. My point is only that there is no reason someone such as the OP can’t be the exception, such as myself. To offer advice like going into LA, in my opinion, is just bad advice. Yes, perhaps you risk dropping engineering because you can’t hack it and waste thousands of dollars in the process - but, graduating with an LA degree and not finding a job(or only findng one that you could have got with a hs degree) is taking the same risk with far less potential for upside. </p>

<p>Chancing someone is one thing, telling them that they’re not good enough to go into certain fields is quite another. I don’t want to argue about it anymore, I only wanted to state the FACT that there are exceptions, and he could be one if he wanted… I’d give the same advice to anyone who would listen.</p>

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<p>i understand what you’re saying purduefrank and acknowledge that there are exceptions to everything. however, i am basing my advice on averages and things i have read or seen personally that have a large sample size. the average student with his scores will probably not make it in engineering or business. thus, that is why i advise him going to LA. what he does is obviously up to him b/c he knows what he’s willing to do and how smart he is. i just go by the stats he posted and by that i think the best way for him to graduate on time is in LA.</p>