<p>So I got admitted to the University of Texas at Austin under mechanical engineering (but will change to chemical engineering) and I may go on to get a PhD in chemical engineering to work for the Department of Defense in R&D. So what kind of GPA is needed to get into top ChemE PhD programs like MIT or Stanford or Cornell?</p>
<p>Probably a minimum of 3.5, but research work is a major factor as well.</p>
<p>Dbate,</p>
<p>Congratulations on getting into UT! I'm sure you'll get into other places as well!</p>
<p>You can easily get a 3.5 at UT and there are many research opportunities there for you even as a freshman.</p>
<p>Thanks. I know I can get a 3.5 or better, but may i ask a question? Why is the benchmark so low for engineering I mean a 3.5 is terrrible for medical school so why is it okay for the top engineering schools?</p>
<p>Engineering courses tend to grade more harshly than non-engineering courses. For most people, a 3.5 is very difficult to obtain. If I had to guess, I'd say the majority of engineering students have below a 3.0.</p>
<p>And is a 3.5 really terrible for med school? Never knew that. Always thought that was a generally agreed upon minimum for med school as well.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, do many engineers manage 3.5s? I thought there was a theme of (relatively) low grades within engineering?</p>
<p>^^I do not really know. It is probably different for each person, on the UT website it posts the average engineering GPA for the whole Cockrell school to be a 3.25, so I guess 1 out of every two has a higher and lower GPA than that.
For the medical school part, if I am not mistaken isn't a 4.0 the goal.</p>
<p>Well a 4.0 is the goal for everybody, but for engineering at least, you aren't expected to have that for PhD programs admissions. A 3.5 is more of a bare minimum than a goal.</p>
<p>How often does an engineering major get a 4.0?</p>
<p>Interestingly:</p>
<p>Princeton</a> University - Chemical engineer's love of Latin leads to salutatorian selection</p>
<p>It DOES happen.</p>
<p>Not sure if it's true or not, but I have heard rumors of Princeton grade deflation.</p>
<p>In my class of approximately 120 students, we had one student with a 4.0.</p>
<p>My school probably graduated ~1500 Mechanical Engineers in the past 5 years. I spoke with a professor who said there were only two 4.0 GPAs over that time period.</p>
<p>"on the UT website it posts the average engineering GPA for the whole Cockrell school to be a 3.25, so I guess 1 out of every two has a higher and lower GPA than that."</p>
<p>That doesn't include the students that dropped out of engineering for an easier major unfortunately.</p>