Hello guys! Thank you guys so much for taking the time to help out this super stressed out senior
I would really appreciate it if I could get some help on how to enhance my application for Purdue Engineering (Chemical/ Biomedical)
- I am an international student intending to apply early action.
I am currently in the last year of IB (International Baccalaureate program) with HL Math, Physics and Business along with SL Chemistry, Spanish and Language and Literature. I heard that IB bumps up the acceptance by almost 18%....
STATS
- Average gpa = 4.0
- predicted IB scores = 40 (including 2 extra marks)
- class rank = top 5%
- SAT - 1340
EXTRACURRICULARS
- Founder of Science Club at my school (President)
- Internship at an Oil and Gas Engineering Firm
- National Honor Society
- Math Honor Society (PR)
- Art Honor Society
-Dance Honor Society (Treasurer)
- Global Outreach (volunteer service) (Treasurer)
- Student Council (Grade rep, student-parent liaison officer)
SO, DO YOU THINK IT’S POSSIBLE?
I you intended to apply early action, you missed the deadline as it was Nov 1.
Purdue wants to see rigorous coursework. IB is looked upon favorable but it is no more of a bump than AP courses. (I saw you posted that 18% comment on the Cornell thread and that is just not the case).
The average SAT score for Purdue engineering last cycle was 1400 but the rest of your application is solid. I would say you are a much more of a match for Purdue than Cornell.
If you are needing financial aid, be aware that Purdue does not give aid to international students and is very stingy with merit.
Thank you so much!!! <3 Yep I know, SAT was not the strongest one…mainly because of the reading section 
Also, from your query you may not be aware that you apply to Purdue’s College of Engineering, and if you are accepted you will be a FYE (first-year engineering) student; you will not go into a major until your sophomore year.
Here is a link to the Purdue Data Digest, https://www.purdue.edu/datadigest/ ; once there, go to the link for “Applications, Admits, and Matriculations”. It is interactive, so you can input the parameters that most apply to you (for example, you would be “Foreign” under the “Residency” tab). Based on your input, the Data Digest will generate information and create some graphs/charts from which you may be able to make an estimate of your chances for admission. Also, there should be a table at the bottom which gives the admission rates (and yield) for students matriculating in the Fall semesters of the past 10 years; you will see that the acceptance rates have been broadly trending down for undergraduate engineering applicants since 2009, although there was an upward spike for last year. As recently noted elsewhere on the Purdue forum, the university underestimated its yield last year, and had about 500 more admits than it planned for; so there is some speculation that there may be fewer admits for this coming admissions cycle to compensate for that.
You can also look at Purdue’s Common Data Set, here, https://www.purdue.edu/oirae/resources.html. Part C7 tells you what admissions factors Purdue considers to be “very important,” “important,” “considered,” and “not considered”; Part C9 of the CDS gives the median 50% for both SAT and ACT scores, as well as the percentage of the entering first-year class falling within certain ranges of SAT and ACT scores. As you can see from the CDS, Purdue views standardized test scores, GPA, and high school course rigor as “very important” admissions factors, and ECs, personal qualities, LORs, and application essay(s) as “important” admissions factors.
Assuming that you are admitted to Purdue’s COE with your current statistics, your chances of getting merit aid are about zero.
Is it impossible to receive merit-based scholarships if you apply after november 1?