<p>My cousin wants to come to the USA for undergrad, and he wants to major in mechanical engineering. </p>
<p>He doesn't want to stay in the US after graduation, so he wants to go to a school with some international prestige. </p>
<p>SAT: 2070 (700 V, 750 M, and 620 W)
G.P.A: 3.8
Typical E.C.s
Money is not a problem </p>
<p>He is thinking: </p>
<p>PSU
Ohio State
Berkeley
Michigan
Notre Dame
Vanderbilt
CMU</p>
<p>Do you guys think he has a good chance to get in ? Which of those is probably the best for engineering and has the most international prestige ?</p>
<p>Of the public schools I would say Berkeley and Michigan might be tough but PSU and OSU are probably good bets. Penn State enrolled a record number of international undergrads last year.</p>
<p>Most of the schools on his list are likely out of reach. Exceptions would be OSU and PSU. I would add NC State, Arizona State, and Oregon State.</p>
<p>If you’re considering Mich, why not try UIUC or Purdue? With a CR+M score of 1450, you might have a chance. And they are definitely better than PSU, OSU, ASU eg.</p>
<p>Pirates0301, Yes his SAT scores currently are too low for all the schools except PSU and OSU. If he is interested in attending a UC (Univ. of California), he should set his sights on UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, and UC Irvine. One application can be sent to all the UCs (by checking off the corresponding box for that school). You only pay the application fee for each school that you apply to. No additional work is required, only money.</p>
<p>For international prestige in MechE, UCBerkeley would be #1 and Michigan would be #2. I also think UIllinois and Purdue would be worth a shot like baneblades suggested.</p>
<p>Thanks. I appreciate your help.
I am not very knowledgable in this area, but looking at the average SAT scores for all these schools, his scores fall with in the 50% for all of them. Should those average scores not be trusted ? I am just curious.</p>
<p>The average SAT scores reported in the university’s website can be trusted but take care to look for the SAT information specifically for the engineering department. The average math SATs for engineering schools tend to be higher than the university overall.</p>
<p>I don’t see acceptance being as much of an issue as the other posters with the possible exception of Berkeley and CMU. Private universities are not necessarily better than public universities (in many cases the opposite may be true).</p>
<p>IMO, Vanderbilt and ND could be dropped from the list for other alternatives, e.g., Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. Purdue could certainly be added and I know out-of-state students who were accepted with generally similar SATs.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>BTW - you would probably have better information as to which engineering schools are best known in your country or region.</p>
<p>He has a 1450 CR + M score and a 3.8 GPA. What exactly would he need to get into Michigan? According to [University</a> of Michigan’s engineering department](<a href=“http://www.engin.umich.edu/college/about/facts]University”>Facts & figures) the average admitted engineering student at U Michigan had a 3.9 HS GPA and a 1410 SAT. Though I’m sure the competition for internationals is stiff, his scores certainly don’t put him out of the running. </p>
<p>Of course admissions to Michigan isn’t solely numbers based, which is why it’s important to have a few safeties and it looks like he does. </p>
<p>The only non Harvard/ Stanford/ MIT schools the international community might have heard about are UCLA, UC Berkeley, and possibly University of Michigan. Other than that, most schools in the US are relatively unknown to foreigners.</p>
<p>You are a match for Michigan(academically). People just love to lower other’s self-esteem. </p>
<p>Only some top colleges have international reputation ex. Purdue, Michigan, UC-Berkeley, Stanford, CalTech etc. Either attend those top colleges or play cheap and attend the better state universities like:</p>
<p>Iowa State University
UMinn
University at Buffalo
North Carolina State University</p>
<p>At PSU, the school I am most familiar with, the SAT verbal scores are also higher in the College of Engineering than in the other colleges (except maybe business).</p>
<p>Just because a student is a match academically does not mean he will get into a particular school. There are generally more qualified students than spaces available at the higher ranking schools. Being a full pay student could be a help in light of the budget cutting at many state schools. I believe the increase in internationals at PSU is partly do to the extreme budget cuts the university suffered a couple years ago.</p>
<p>Neither I nor whenhen said anything about getting in. We said Michigan is a match (academically). Please do some research on the word match, you need it.</p>
<p>I think he takes the USNWR standing pretty seriously. Thats why he is trying for Notre Dame and Vanderbilt. He is thinking that if he decides not to do engineering, the name of those schools are better.</p>
<p>He will get into Texas A&M for sure. Top engineering school ranked 15th in the country for MechE. Good reputation in India (can’t speak for other countries). UT-Austin is a reach, but may be worth an application.</p>
<p>I asked him, and I think he prefers schools that ranked high overall on USNWR. He thinks that ranking is best and most widely used. He doesn’t like specific engineering ranking because he thinks a lot of the higher ranking schools on there are not elite. </p>
<p>He just matched his SAT scores and GPA, and he thought Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, CMU, Berkeley, Michigan, all ranked around 17 to 22, would be matches, and PSU and OSU as safeties.</p>