engineering for internationals

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Am I right to assume that publics care less about ec's than privates? I have grades high enough to be at par with the school's accepted students, but my ec's are kind of lacking...</p>

<p>Suggestions for some schools please (bioengineering or chem E). Here are my stats:</p>

<p>GPA: 94-95~
Rank: 6/240~
SAT 2150
SAT II: Bio - 760, Chem - 740, Math II - 780
AP: school doesn't offer AP classes, but I'm thinking of self-studying for Bio, maybe chem</p>

<p>I took all the advanced classes my school offers (a lousy 2 per year...)</p>

<p>LOTS of community service activities/volunteering
no sports (recreational only)
plays the piano, part of a choir
environmental club (secretary)
some research projects (won awards)
contributes to our literary magazine</p>

<p>I'm thinking of applying to:</p>

<p>Georgia Tech (right now it's my first choice)
Purdue
UW Madison
Virginia Tech
Rice
Case Western (safety? but it's expensive...)
Duke
UCSD
UIllinois Urbana Champaign</p>

<p>I'd like a school that offers great internships and something like GTech's co-op. Oh and I won't be applying for FA but I'm trying to pick a school which costs less than $40K, hence not much privates.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I’d say Purdue and GT would be your top choices. I was at Purdue for a year and have many friends and brothers(fraternity) in Engineering. They say that the work is hard but it will pay off. The Career Fair for them is pretty sweet with a lot of popular companies that come. It’s also a really well respected program and has ALOT of international students campus wide.</p>

3

<p>A good safety school would be Clemson University, cheaper than Case Western</p>

4

<p>What about Texas? Duke has no chemE in case you are not aware.</p>

5

<p>For the most part, your list is pretty good. I generally recommend internationals attend larger universities in more populated areas to get a better feel for the typical “college” experience as well as the “American” experience.</p>

<p>For what it’s worth, I think your choice of Georgia Tech is a good one, but keep in mind that some internationals prefer a less “techy” school (Purdue, VA Tech, and Case are also in this group). In that case, my suggestions would be either UW-Madison or perhaps Rice (a bit pricier). You might also consider Minnesota, which is a great school for ChemE and is one of the best financial bargains around. Though the weather is very cold in the winter, it’s a great place for international students. However, it doesn’t offer biomedical, though if you’re planning to go to grad school, a degree in ME will serve you just as well. Finally, take a look at Washington, another fabulous school for international students with a strong engineering department. Good luck!</p>

6

<br>

<br>

<p>Since you have a $40k budget, I thought that you should see how much some of the state publics cost - this is the Cost of Attendance (tuition, fees, room, board, books, etc).</p>

<p>COA per year for OOS students , State University
$25,787, U MINNESOTA
$31,872, VIRGINIA TECH
$34,812, U IOWA
$35,029, U WISCONSIN
$36,210, OHIO STATE
$35,311, U N CAROLINA
$40,086, U GEORGIA
$36,977, RUTGERS
$34,696, TEXAS A&M
$34,922, U DELAWARE
$36,094, U FLORIDA
$32,752, U PITTSBURGH
$37,416, U MARYLAND
$36,985, U WASHINGTON
$37,548, CLEMSON
$36,848, PURDUE
$39,146, U CONNECTICUT
$38,120, GEORGIA TECH
$40,130, U ILLINOIS
$39,510, PENN STATE
$37,644, INDIANA U
$38,566, MICHIGAN ST
$48,041, UC IRVINE
$49,193, UCLA
$50,306, UC BERKELEY
$38,974, WILLIAM & MARY
$43,742, U TEXAS
$49,926, UC S BARBARA
$46,699, UC SAN DIEGO
$48,049, UC DAVIS
$39,483, UC S CRUZ
$42,570, U VIRGINIA
$47,188, U MICHIGAN</p>

7

<p>Safeties - Either one will cost a lot less than $40k per year. And, neither one cares about ECs. </p>

<p>Auburn University - [Auburn</a> University](<a href=“http://www.auburn.edu/]Auburn”>http://www.auburn.edu/) Strong Engineering program</p>

<p>Chemical Engineering department link - [Chemical</a> Engineering](<a href=“http://www.eng.auburn.edu/programs/chen/]Chemical”>http://www.eng.auburn.edu/programs/chen/)</p>

<p>Lots of co-op opportunities</p>

<hr>

<p>UAHuntsville - [UAHuntsville</a> | The University of Alabama in Huntsville](<a href=“UAH - 404 Error Page”>http://www.uah.edu/) Strong Engineering Program</p>

<p>Chemical Engineering Dept link - [UAH</a> Department of Chemical and Material Engineering](<a href=“http://www.che.uah.edu/]UAH”>http://www.che.uah.edu/)</p>

<p>UAHuntsville also has a lot of co-op & internships opportunities because it’s located in Cummings Research Park (CRP) - the second largest research park in the USA. Here is a list of the employers at CRP - [Huntsville</a> Alabama USA - Companies in CRP - Major Employers](<a href=“http://www.huntsvillealabamausa.com/new_exp/crp/companies/major.html]Huntsville”>http://www.huntsvillealabamausa.com/new_exp/crp/companies/major.html)</p>

<p>[Cummings</a> Research Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cummings_Research_Park]Cummings”>Cummings Research Park - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>Cummings Research Park, located primarily in the city of Huntsville, Alabama is the second largest research park in the United States, and the fourth largest in the world. Cummings Research Park is a member of the Association of University Research Parks. The University of Alabama in Huntsville serves as anchor tenant for the park. UAHuntsville is a comprehensive research university with more than 7,400 students. Half of the university’s graduates earn a degree in science or engineering.</p>

<hr>

<p>And here’s the COA for privates - assume 5-8% increases every year.</p>

<p>Private National Universities Cost of Attendance per year
$16,120 LDS, BYU
$20,410 Non-LDS, BYU
$43,288, Rice
$47,934, Yeshiva
$49,968, Caltech
$50,100, Syracuse
$50,806, SMU
$50,620, Princeton
$55,312, U Miami
$50,436, Case Western
$55,160, Fordham
$50,550, Yale
$52,000, Harvard
$44,278, Worcester
$52,000, MIT
$48,750, Pepperdine
$52,623, Stanford
$52,394, Cornell
$52,132, Emory
$53,000, Boston University
$53,608, Northwestern
$51,300, Notre Dame
$55,368, Vanderbilt
$52,082, Wake Forest
$51,050, Lehigh
$52,973, Dartmouth
$51,140, U Rochester
$52,162, Brandeis
$53,793, NYU
$52,030, Brown
$55,866 Wash U
$53,095, U Penn
$53,390, Duke
$53,618, USC
$54,300, Boston College
$53,390, Johns Hopkins
$54,160, Rensselaer
$55,330, Georgetown
$54,047, U Chicago
$53,660, Carnegie Mellon
$55,125, George Washington
$53,200, Tufts
$52,996, Tulane
$53,644, Columbia</p>

8

<p>Thanks to all that replied! WOW mom2collegekids! Great post!</p>

<p>I didn’t know UMich costs so much… :|</p>

<p>My parents are not going to pay $40K for what they deem non “top” schools so I suppose I won’t be having any true safeties. I have a list already of which schools offer EA, so I can apply EA to those schools (I’m a junior). Hopefully, I can get accepted early :D</p>

<p>Can you guys please evaluate my updated list and classify them into reach, match, low match/kinda-safety? </p>

<ul>
<li>U MN Twin Cities</li>
<li>UW Madison</li>
<li>UWash</li>
<li>U Illinois Urbana Champaign</li>
<li>Georgia Tech</li>
<li>Virginia Tech</li>
<li>Purdue</li>
<li>Clemson</li>
<li>UCSD (It stays because my parents would prefer a school in CA, and I love San Diego :smiley: And I’m assuming that it would be easier to get accepted there than at Berkeley, correct?)</li>
<li>Rice</li>
<li>Case Western (Should I bother? I’m guessing I have a higher chance at privates than at publics because I’m international, and the acceptance rate of public schools are only THAT high for in-state students … or is that a futile concern? Does the acceptance rates of publics mirror the acceptance rates for those applying OOS? International?)</li>
<li>Stanford (I don’t really have a chance, but why not)</li>
</ul>

<p>knowitsome, great concern, thanks for bringing it up. I’ve been going to a competitive and nerdy school since kindergarten, so I * am * kinda tired of that atmosphere. On the other hand, I’ve grown quite used to it already and I’ve learned to adapt. And I don’t mind working hard, but I hate lagging behind so I don’t want a school where the students are so much smarter than me :D. What exactly do you mean by “techy” schools? What would the typical student’s schedule look like compared to a “normal” student? Do you simply mean that the student body is science and tech oriented? </p>

<p>I’ve been reading about how competitive it is sometimes to gain funds for research, etc. So I was wondering if it’s the same for the schools on my list? Would it be hard to actually be able to participate in co-op/internships/research programs? I’ve heard that in big public schools you’re pretty much on your own … so I’d like a heads up please :D</p>

<p>Lastly, the people. Friendliest and most welcoming students? Most hard working students (that’s a con for me)? School spirit? How approachable are the professors? Rough percentage of classes taught by graduate students (“a lot, so-so, a few” answers would do, but if you have details then sure why not)?</p>

9

<p>Almost all successful engineering students are hard-working - just a fact of life. That kind of goes along with my “techy” comment, in that schools that are dominated by engineers tend to be less “fun” than schools with more diverse student bodies. It just takes more time to be an engineer, leaving less time to play (and many - not all! - engineers aren’t all that fun in the conventional sense when they do have free time;)). I wouldn’t worry about them being “smarter” than you - from the sound of things, you’d do fine in engineering on your merits despite having some students being smarter (and likely MANY more at your level or below). Engineering is as much about attitude as aptitude - work hard, and you’ll succeed.</p>

<p>For the big publics on your list (most of them), you can probably access undergrad research if you make an effort to do so. That goes for most any help, too - available if you seek it out, but easy to blend into the background and not be noticed if you don’t. You’ll have some huge lectures and TAs for discussion sections in your first year or two, but classes get smaller pretty quick. School spirit is also pretty similar, and a big plus in my mind for internationals hoping to enjoy their time in the states and not “just” get a good education. Any ranking I’d give you would be highly subjective and disputed by others, so I won’t tell you UW-Madison is head and shoulders above the others in that regard.:D</p>

<p>Stanford is a reach, of course, and Berkeley and UCSD have good amounts of international students despite their relative lack of OOS students, but I don’t know enough about UC admissions to hazard a guess on your chances. Rice is pretty selective, but doable, while the rest you’d have a have reasonably good shot at (I think Clemson, Purdue, and Case Western - all good schools - would be your closest to having a safety).</p>

<p>If it were me, I’d apply to Minnesota, the two UWs, GA Tech, Purdue, Rice, UCSD, and Stanford. Get a selection of schools with somewhat different attributes that (assuming you’re accepted) give you options to weigh when the time comes.</p>

10

<p>thanks knowitsome! </p>

<p>Anymore feedback? bump…</p>