Engineering Schools to apply to?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello, I am new to college confidential, and I would like to share my story and stats in hopes of better researching colleges that would be best for me.</p>

<p>I am most interested in engineering as a major, specifically mechanical or electrical, but I also have a passion for design, so I am also considering industrial design or architecture. My dilemma is that I am interested in many different engineering fields, and would also be happy to study design, but I am having trouble finding majors or schools that would offer both. However, I will most likely end up with mechanical or electrical engineering.</p>

<p>I am currently a high school senior living in Arizona and will be applying to its in-state schools: Arizona State University and University of Arizona. I am also interested in some California schools (UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, etc.) and Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. I understand these schools are very competitive and my standardized test scores do not necessarily reflect that, but I would be interested if anyone had any suggestions for more moderately selective engineering schools and other options I may consider other than my safety in-state schools and high reach (or out-of-reach) schools.</p>

<p>Here is a list of schools I am interested in, although many or most of them would be likely wildly out of reach due to my testing scores. I have researched these colleges I am interested on the internet, but I have found the information is somewhat limited and I have not had the opportunity to visit any of them.
-Carnegie Mellon University
-UC Berkeley
-UC San Diego
-USC
-UCLA
-Massachusetts Institute of Technology
-Georgia Institute of Technology
-Johns Hopkins University
-Rochester Institute of Technology</p>

<p>I would very much appreciate your replies, and hopefully some positive advice on engineering schools I should apply to. I have also included my grades and stats to follow:</p>

<p>Statistics:</p>

<p>GRADES:</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA - 3.85
Weighted GPA - 4.47
Rank - top 5%</p>

<p>FRESHMAN -
Honors English 1 - A
Honors English 2 - A
Intro to Engineering Design 1 - A
Intro to Engineering Design 2 - A
Algebra 1 - A
Algebra 2 - A
Introduction to Art 1 - A
Introduction to Art 2 - A
LIFE Concepts (Physical Education) - A
Racquet Sports - A
Honors Biology 1 - A
Honors Biology 2 - A</p>

<p>SOPHOMORE -
Geometry 1 - A
Geometry 2 - A
Honors English 3 - B
Honors English 4 - B
Spanish 1 - A
Spanish 2 - A
Honors Principles Of Engineering 1 - A
Honors Principles Of Engineering 2 - A
Honors Algebra 3 - A
Honors Algebra 4 - A
Honors Chemistry 1 - A
Honors Chemistry 2 - A
AP World History 1 - B
AP World History 2 - B</p>

<p>JUNIOR -
American History 1 - A
American History 2 - A
AP English Language 5 - A
AP English Language 6 - A
Honors Spanish 3 - A
Honors Spanish 4 - A
Honors Digital Electronics 1 - A
Honors Digital Electronics 2 - A
Honors Pre-Calculus 1 - B
Honors Pre-Calculus 2 - A
AP Chemistry 1 - A
AP Chemistry 2 - A</p>

<p>TESTS:
(<strong>WILL BE RETAKING ACT AND SAT AGAIN THIS FALL</strong>)
SAT I -
Combined: 1840
Reading: 670
Writing: 600
Math: 570</p>

<p>SAT II -
Chemistry: 620
Math 2: 640</p>

<p>ACT -
Composite: 27
English/Writing: 27
Math: 27
Reading: 26
Science: 27</p>

2

<p>Have you run the net price calculators on each school to make sure that you can afford to attend? The out-of-state public schools are unlikely to give good financial aid (except for Virginia).</p>

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<p>Your test scores are probably too to give a significant chance for the UCs, USC, MIT, GT, and JHU, and on the low side for RIT.</p>

3

<p>As you said, your SAT scores are too low for these schools. If your EC’s are good, you might have a chance.</p>

4

<p>As you know, your scores are not competitive for some/many of those schools. Unless your scores jump significantly, you’d be wasting time and money applying to some of those schools.</p>

<p>I’m concerned about your Math SAT. Is your high school weak in math or have grade inflation? with the grades that you’ve gotten, your math score should be higher. </p>

<p>What are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay? The Calif publics and Georgia Tech can be very expensive for OOS students. If your parents won’t pay for those, take them off your list. </p>

<p>consider the New Mexico schools with good engineering. </p>

<p>You need to make two lists. One list for significantly improved test scores that considers affordability…and one list in case your scores don’t improve that much that also considers affordability.</p>

<p>We can suggest more schools once we know how much your parents will pay. Are you low income? middle income? upper-middle income? upper income?</p>

5

<p>Use the college search engine here on CC [College</a> Admissions, Search, and Financial Aid Help from College Confidential - College Admissions, Search, and Financial Aid Help from College Confidential](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/index.htm]College”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/index.htm)
Put in your current GPA and test scores as well as the hardest to find majors on your list and see what comes up. It will show you how much of a match it is based on your scores. (click the “why?” link to get more). Be sure to increase the number of returned results at the top. You play with the scores and watch how the list of schools changes.
As it stands you have way too many private school reaches with those test scores. And they will be especially skeptical of the math score…
Note: there is only 1 engineering school that is test-optional - WPI. [Undergraduate</a> Admissions: Admissions Requirements - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/admissions/undergraduate/apply/requirements.html]Undergraduate”>http://www.wpi.edu/admissions/undergraduate/apply/requirements.html)</p>

6

<p>Thank you for your comments. As for my math SAT score, I am also confused and somewhat surprised about how low it is compared to my grades. My high school does NOT have a weak math department or have grade inflation that I know of, at least. One problem I do have I guess is finishing the tests on time. Compared to my peers of similar skill level, it seems that my SAT/ACT scores are lower for some reason. I understand that having a low math score out of each of the SAT/ACT topics is a bad weakness for someone like me pursuing an engineering degree. I have been studying the Barron’s SAT study guide on the math section for about a month (I hope I have time to study again before the October SAT date). Is there anything else I can do or do you have any other advice for me?</p>

<p>Financially, I honestly do not know where to start researching colleges because there are so many things to consider (scholarships, financial aid, grants, etc.), many of which I do not know the details of at one point in time. My family currently would be considered to be in the low- to middle- income range, and I will likely be paying for a large part of my education.</p>

<p>Lastly, if this helps, my EC’s are fairly strong.</p>

<p>What are some schools that I should consider that offer decent mechanical or electrical engineering programs under this criteria?</p>

7

<p>My family currently would be considered to be in the low- to middle- income range, and I will likely be paying for a large part of my education.</p>

<p>Do you have a source of money? If not, then how would you be “paying for a large part” of your education?</p>

<p>YOU can only borrow $5500 for frosh year. That probably would only cover tuition at your local state school, and nothing else.</p>

<p>Take all of the OOS publics off your list. You won’t be able to pay for them. </p>

<p>Another issue is that the privates that give good aid will require higher stats. </p>

<p>To have a chance at getting a good FA pkg, you’re going to have to include some schools where your stats are comparably good. </p>

<p>Look at NM Tech school. </p>

<p>You’ve got your two AZ schools on your list. Do you qualify for any assured money from your state to help pay for those schools?</p>

<p>You may need to start at a CC and then transfer.</p>

8

<p>You could go to the Financial Aid forum to see what schools offer scholarships to students with your stats. Look at the stickies at the top of the forum.</p>

9

<p>Okay. I didn’t exactly intend to discuss the financial details in detail at this moment. What is the $5500 number you are talking about? All that I was looking for is simply a few suggestions of other engineering schools to research, but I will still apply to one or two of the schools in the list I was genuinely interested in regardless.</p>

10

<p>$5,500 (of which $3,500 may be at subsidized interest rates) is the maximum amount you can borrow in your frosh year without a co-signer.</p>

<p>[Subsidized</a> and Unsubsidized Loans | Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized]Subsidized”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized)</p>

11

<p>Yes, the $5500 is the amount that you can borrow without a willing and qualified co-signer. </p>

<p>So, when you say that you’ll be paying for college, that sounds like you planned on borrowing the money. But, you won’t be able to borrow much.</p>

<p>You may not have intended to have to consider costs at this point, but the college app process is very time-consuming and expensive. Unless you have a lot of money for applications and sending scores, and a lot of time to do all these apps, you should consider whether you’d be wasting your time and money with too many schools that won’t likely work out.</p>

12

<p>Your ACT is quite low but you should add Purdue to your list!</p>

13

<p>^ If so I hope the OP’s parents are willing to pay $43K/year because that’s what it costs OOS.</p>