Engineering School Suggestions? 660 Math SAT :/

College Search & Selection
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Hello everyone. I’m currently a junior making a list of schools that I will apply to next year. I hope to pursue a career in biomedical engineering. I at first had my sights on doing electrical engineering for undergrad then biomedical for grad. However, when I got my first SAT math score, which was a 570, my dreams were crushed. I recently took it again and this time I got a 660. I’m not sure if I’ll retake it again. However, as I was studying for the second time, I noticed that my problem was not content, but SPEED. I knew how to do the problems, but I took too long to solve them. So in addition to my original question about which schools I should look into, my other question is should I even do engineering with such a score?
Here are my Stats:
~SAT: #1 590 570 630
#2 650 660 620
Average at my school is 1200 out of 2400
~ACT: 27 C (with a 25 in math) – will retake
I will be taking the SAT II for Biology and Math II in June
*Average at my school is 17
~4.0 UW GPA/ 4.11 Weighted – Have taken all honors classes available
*Average at my school is 2.35 weighted
*Though my school does not rank, my guidance counselor has hinted that I might be valedictorian
~Will have taken 7 AP classes by graduation:

  • Got a 3 for Gov
  • Currently taking Lang, World, and Psych
  • Will take Calculus, Lit, Bio
    ~In the Cisco Computer Networking Program (college level course)
    ~150+ Community Service hours (coaching soccer & nursing home)
    ~Vice president of two clubs, hopefully president next year & on soccer team
    ~Have always been on the principal’s honor roll/ student of the month multiple times
    ~No work experience
    ~I went to an exploring engineering camp last summer and I loved it! Applied for paid internships at NASA (extra competitive, so I know my chances are low) and NIH (reference submitted their letter late so I’m not even sure I’ll be considered). If I do not get into either I’ll be volunteering during the summer.

*I will definitely apply for the Questbridge National College Match senior year (currently applying for the prep scholarship) and plan to rank UVA and Notre Dame among others.
*Outside of Questbridge, I am looking into: UMD (in state), UNC, CUA, Gannon (safety?), and Geogia Tech (reach).

tl;dr – Basically, I am a black female with a low math SAT who wants to do engineering and comes from a high school that sends most students to community colleges. Oh and btw, my family’s income is <$30,000 so I need schools where I can get a scholarship or schools that meet my financial needs.

Thanks in advance!

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Just wanted to say good luck–you seem to have done a lot with what you were given.

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Please don’t be discouraged. You sound like a very bright student. How are your grades in your math classes? What are the other important factors in your school choice? like EC’s and the size of school or location?

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What about Howard. You would get a good scholarship. 660 is good!

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@bodangles‌ Thank you! I’ve always been told that education is the only way out of poverty, and it’s what motivates me to work hard.
@mybstnw‌ Thank you! I’m currently taking Trigonometry and Calculus and I have A’s in both. Same is true for all my previous math classes. As far as other factors, I do not mind a huge student population as long as the teacher to student ratio is under 20:1. Furthermore, I am not too interested in greek life and I’d prefer a school where that isn’t a prominent part of the culture. And I also prefer to stay along the east coast.
@gearmom‌ I had forgotten about Howard! It was on my list until I got my first SAT score and saw that even with a scholarship, I would still have to pay like $13,000 for room and board. However, with my new score I see that I am now competitive for the Capstone Scholarship which includes housing. Thanks again!

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http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx lists engineering degree programs.

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ lists the following automatic merit scholarships for your stats (assuming that SAT CR+M = 1310):

Tuskegee: full ride
Howard: full tuition + room (first come first served, so apply early)
Florida A&M: full tuition
Prairie View A&M: full ride

Note that if you retake the SAT or ACT and get a higher score, some more scholarships may show up:

Alabama: full tuition + $2,500 with 1330 SAT CR+M or 30 ACT (engineering only)
Alabama - Huntsville: full tuition with 1330 SAT CR+M or 30 ACT
Howard: full ride with 1400 SAT CR+M or 32 ACT (first come first served)
Louisiana Tech: full ride with 1400 SAT CR+M or 32 ACT

A “full ride” covers tuition, fees, room, and board, but there are usually a few thousand dollars of books and other costs. But the Pell grant expected for your family income should cover that.

“Full tuition” usually leaves about $10,000 to $15,000 of costs for room, board, books, etc… You may need all of a Pell grant, federal direct loan, and some work earnings to cover that. This would be a stretch budget.

Be aware that many of these scholarships do require you to maintain a college GPA to renew them. A 3.0 renewal GPA is usually not too much of a problem for a top scholarship student, but a 3.5 renewal GPA can be rather stressful and risky.

Once you have chosen a safety from the above, you can look at match and reach schools. These come in two categories: competitive large merit scholarships, and schools with good need-based financial aid.

For the competitive large merit scholarships, you can look at the lists linked to from http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html .

To look for good need-based financial aid, go to each school’s web page and search for its Net Price Calculator to estimate financial aid. The net price is the list price minus grants (not loans or work-study). A net price of $5,000 can be covered by either a federal direct loan or some work earnings; a net price of $10,000 would need both. Note that your Pell grant is included in the need-based grant estimate from the net price calculator, so you would not get that in addition to the estimated amount. Do not be surprised if out-of-state public schools (other than University of Virginia) are too expensive on need-based aid alone (although some may have merit scholarships).

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@ucbalumnus‌ Very informative! I will definitely be taking the ACT again, shooting for that 30+.

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Be sure to check application deadlines, since some schools have earlier application deadlines if you want the scholarships (or are first come first served like Howard).

Also, your parents need to get their tax forms done in a timely manner so that you can submit financial aid forms (FAFSA for federal aid like Pell grants, federal direct loans, and/or federal work-study, and Maryland state aid; also CSS Profile for many schools’ own grants). Maryland state aid requires FAFSA that includes a Maryland college by March 1, according to http://www.mhec.state.md.us/financialaid/apply.asp#when . Most lower income people can use the simple IRS Form 1040EZ to calculate their federal income tax.

If any of the schools you apply to need teacher or counselor recommendations, be sure to ask for them with plenty of advance notice, because they may be busy with various other tasks (although they will probably be glad to write them for you as a 4.0 student in what you describe is a rather mediocre high school).

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Congratulations on such great improvement on your scores! Your GPA is also really good which should help. I always think anyone scoring below 700M on the SAT will have a difficult time in engineering, but for Biomedical engineering it probably won’t be as acute of a problem.

There will be many top schools that will want to recruit you because of your stats, income, gender and race. However if your goal is to become an engineer, don’t get suckered by the prestige. You should go to a school where your SAT math score is in the 75th percentile to ensure your chances of succeeding in an engineering program. Too many kids are drawn to or pushed by their counselors into the most prestigious school they can get into, and end up not being able to major in STEM due to increased competition.

Of those on your list, you will probably face a lot of competition at UMD, UNC, UVA, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech. Perhaps you should try NC State or another second tier state school rather than the flagship. I think you will get accepted to most of the flagships, but you will also have a lot more competition. If you want to get into med school, it’s important to keep up your GPA. However, if you have no interest in going to grad school, then by all means go to a flagship as these schools probably have better career placement services, just be prepared to study a lot to keep your major.

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@UnicornDuchesss See if your state has SWE (Society of Women Engineers) scholarships. In our state, you have to apply in your junior year.

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U of Rochester
Rochester Institute of Technology
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
U of Maryland-Baltimore County
Illinois Institute of Technology
Boston University
Case Western Reserve University
Ohio University (not Ohio State U)
U of South Carolina-Columbia
Clemson U
N. Carolina State U

Incidentally, by no means is the engineering department at NCSU regarded as “second tier.” Also, if you are willing to look westward you may find significant financial aid at the University of Portland, which has a solid engineering department and good employer contacts among engineering firms. You might also consider a high quality/low cost option such as South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, which is an excellent STEM university which is seeking to increase the number of female students on campus. Total COA at Mines this year is $21,000 for non-South Dakota residents. Also investigate Rice University and Texas Christian University.

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@ucbalumnus‌ Will do! And as far as the CSS profile, do most schools require it? I heard that unlike the FAFSA, it also requires information about the parent you do not live with. I’m asking this because I have no contact with my father (except for on a few occasions) and even if I did contact him, he would not provide his financial information.
@JoanneB‌ I completely agree with you. So do you think it would be best if I went straight into biomedical engineering for undergrad? This had been one of my options until I heard how hard it is to get a job with only a bachelor’s degree, especially since I’m not completely sure I will go to grad school directly afterwards. And I have no interest in medical school (much to my mother’s chagrin), just a love for biomedical devices.
@gearmom‌ I have heard of that but I thought the scholarships were for students already in college. I will look again.
@LakeWashington‌ I will definitely take a look at those schools. Thank you for your suggestions.

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@JoanneB I would put more weight on the As in Trig and Calculus than I would the SAT math. The OP said that she knew how to do the problems, she just ran out of time.

You seem like a very well accomplished young lady. I live in the southwest, so I don’t know much about schools in the east, but I wish you luck wherever you go!

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You need to check each school for whether it requires CSS Profile (check each school’s financial aid web pages). If it does, also check whether it requires the non-custodial parent information. If so, you could try getting a waiver, but that is said to be hard to get. If you do not get a waiver, and he is unwilling to provide financial information, you will not get any need-based financial aid at such a school, so you may want to remove it from your application list, unless it offers large merit scholarships that you may be able to get.

Anyway, as long as your list includes some of the automatic big scholarship safeties listed in #5 (or others you may qualify for if you get higher test scores), you will have affordable college options to choose from when you finally make your decision.

Biomedical engineering tends to have worse bachelor’s level job prospects than chemical, electrical, or mechanical engineering. Biomedical engineering graduate study does not really require biomedical engineering undergraduate; check the graduate program web sites for what they are looking for.

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@UnicornDuchess You should major in the field that you are most interested in and you should not base it on 40pt of a test. I totally agree with @albert69 that your As in Trig and Calculus are MUCH more meaningful. Women doubt themselves in a way that men never do which is one reason that there are so few women entering engineering. My son’s junior year score for math was 680. The beginning of senior year it was 720. He is not worried about the math and neither should you be. You’re a great student with a passion for the field and that is half the battle. I wouldn’t consider biomedical for undergrad. I would choose electrical or mechanical. Much better job prospects.

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Ucbalumnus said: “Biomedical engineering tends to have worse bachelor’s level job prospects than chemical, electrical, or mechanical engineering. Biomedical engineering graduate study does not really require biomedical engineering undergraduate.”

Correct!!!

Concentrate on selecting an excellent undergraduate Mechanical, Electrical or Chemical Engineering department.

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@LakeWashington Post #15 She has As in Trig and Calculus and a 660 for Math on SAT. Do you agree that she should not be discouraged from choosing engineering: electrical, mechanical or chemical?

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Oh yes, I whole-hardheartedly agree.

It always disturbs me to find people discouraging applicants from selecting elite and tough schools because the applicants were not at the very top of the applicant pool. People again and again fail to acknowledge that not everyone at an elite college was the high school valedictorian. The old canard is that Harvard could fill up its incoming class with valedictorians; but clearly it doesn’t choose to do so. That’s true of most other highly competitive colleges also. Of course schools will scrutinize their STEM applicants, and it’s up to the applicant to be realistic about her chances. But this young lady certainly should apply to a few highly selective engineering schools.

Given her concerns about her math accomplishments, seeking out a smaller engineering program, where undergraduate students get lots of attention, is a good idea. A place like GaTech may not be a good fit, given the way they work you to death at that place. All engineering schools are tough, but some have better ways of preparing their undergraduates.

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A look at the OFA page at Ohio University, for example, reveals that the OP’s SAT score and GPA makes her eligible for at least three scholarships; the Dr. Jason Carthen Award, The Ohio Achievement Scholarship and the Ohio Trustee Award. And there are additional scholarship possibilities from Ohio University, especially from the Engineering School itself. Also, students with a 28 ACT score or 1250 SAT score can apply for the Templeton Scholars Program, which provides in-state tuition, double dorm room and a meal plan. Tried to get Lake Jr. to apply to OU, but he looked elsewhere and ultimately choose a small STEM university where he is majoring in ChE and loves it.

The OP prefers a school not far from her home in Maryland. While I always encourage students to leave home and expand their horizons, the OU campus in Athens is less than 6 hours drive from Washington DC.

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Ucbalumnus said: “Biomedical engineering tends to have worse bachelor’s level job prospects than chemical, electrical, or mechanical engineering. Biomedical engineering graduate study does not really require biomedical engineering undergraduate.”
<<<<

This needs to be put out there again and again.

The name “biomedical engineering” sounds so sexy that many are naively choosing it. There is no need to do BioMedE as an undergrad, and it’s such a limiting undergrad degree.

BioMedE career requires a grad degree. Grad programs accept students with MechE, ChemE, and other degrees.

And, those who are premed who choose BioMedE are also taking a risk.