<p>I'm looking to get a four year degree in engineering, at least to start! My top school is Cornell (I'm a second generation legacy there) where I'm going to apply early decision. But in case I don't get in ED I really need to apply to some schools that I actually have a chance at! I've tried super match over and over but I still can't find safety schools that aren't either itty bitty in size or technical schools. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!!</p>
<p>These are the schools on my list so far
Reaches: Cornell University, Washington University St. Louis, and Duke
Targets: Notre Dame (kind of a reach..), Villanova, Lehigh, Purdue
Safety: SOS</p>
<p>My Basic Stats:
Gender: Female
SAT: 690 M, 780 CR, 710 W
SAT II: 730 US History, 730 Math 1, 680 Physics, 670 Chem
Academics: Straight A's, IB Diploma Candidate
EC's: captain of crew team, MUN, NHS, job as a cashier at a grocery store</p>
<p>College Criteria:
Major: Strong engineering program
Size: minimum of 4,000 students undergrad
Location: East Coast-ish, I'm willing to go as far west as Purdue and as far south as Duke (NC)
Campus setting: preferably non-urban (cities are scary) but I'd rather avoid being out in the boonies as well</p>
<p>Look, realistically there are few “safeties” regarding admission to Engineering School. But with good grades and scores, you have a shot, depending on your intended departmental major. Looking at the Eastern Seaboard, you may wish to investigate these schools where you could be a strong candidate for admission:</p>
<p>Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Northeastern University
U of Rochester
U of South Carolina-Columbia</p>
<p>Further west or South:
Ohio University
Vanderbilt University</p>
<p>Since you have urbancampuses like WUSTL and Lehigh on your list, you may as well also consider Illinois Institute of Technology and Case Western Reserve University.</p>
<p>btw…I also second URochester. What about Tufts engineering? It’s a fabulous school, but behind Cornell and Rensselear in it’s engineering ranking. But obviously still a strong contender…</p>
<p>I have looked at both Tufts and Case Western Reserve! Both felt a little bit to study-oriented for me but that’s getting into the particulars. I don’t think I want a technical school because I know with quite a few of them co-op’s are a big focus and that’s not something I’m interested in. Has anyone visited Rensselaer? It keeps coming up on searches and these forums but I’ve heard bad things about the town it’s in</p>
<p>wait a second, I was on vacation last week, but when did URoc, Tufts, Case, RPI, Northeastern, or Vanderbilt become safeties for any engg applicant, let alone someone with a SATI Math 710 and a 2180? No offense, OP, those are good but not great scores in this case.</p>
<p>LakeSr is more accurate when he refers to schools at which the OP would be a strong candidate for admission. These schools are high targets or (with ND) reaches for this student. The OP has done a much better job than we have in understanding the OP’s resumé: Lehigh, Villanova, and Purdue are much closer to reasonable targets.</p>
<p>OP: I looked at your numbers again. jkeil911 is correct: those numbers aren’t great for such high level engineering schools. I have to tell you that I know for a fact that Cornell engineering (and Cornell in general) is a killer school for studying/homework. Even more so than Harvard, honestly. They are extremely demanding. So if you think Tufts or Case Western may be too study oriented, you’d better think twice about Cornell. Rensselear is a top, top engineering school with ranking similar to Cornell or MIT. You’d better look at some other schools, expecially in Engineering, where the competition to get in takes on a whole 'nother dimension.</p>
<p>Schools that you think are safeties, in engineering they become targets. Look into RIT. They have 15,000 kids, but you can find your niche. Lots of kids with your stats go there. You may even get a bit of merit money if you are on the higher end of their acceptances, but I don’t necessarily think so. Also, look into some of the state schools where engineering are usually great. UMaryland or UDelaware, for instance, or UIIC.</p>
<p>still, ccc, we’re talking about safeties, and UMDCP is not a safety in engineering. Not even close. Stony Brook and Delaware engg might not be. </p>
<p>These are academic safeties we’re talking about, OP. We still don’t know if they have your major, if you can afford them, or if you’d absolutely go there.</p>
<p>Okay so I’ve gathered that Case Western is almost a safety but not really
Rochester Institute of Technology is a safety, but I don’t love the technical aspect
And maybe SUNY Stony Brook?</p>
<p>Is my low math SAT score a big issue? My problem is I got a 690 with three wrong and one skipped and I’m not sure I can really do much better than that, it’s kind of a crapshoot. Should I take it again anyway to boost my chances at getting into my target schools?
With that said I know I can’t rely on my target schools and I need safety school to be happy at though just in case…</p>
<p>Pocketgem, I’m going to help you by being blunt; you say that you want to avoid schools that are “study oriented.?” You must be joking!!! The traditional engineering majors are a tough ticket pretty much everywhere, in that ME, ChE, EE require great proficiency with math and the concepts of heat, force, motion, matter, energy etc. If you plan to get out of engineering school and have a professional career or move on to graduate studies, a high level of effort, meaning hours of study, is not just necessary, but mandatory. That’s why the weed out rate at some very good engineering schools is relatively high. Of course, there are other, more intimate schools where an engineering major will work just as hard as students at the big “super power” departments, but the atmosphere and campus life will be different. Different folks, different strokes.</p>
<p>Wherever you end up, the traditional engineering disciplines will be no cakewalk. Sounds like you need to do much more preliminary investigation because your perspective thus far seems to be too narrow. </p>
<p>I’m not afraid of hard work, I’m a diligent student who knows how to study. What I don’t want is to wind up in a school where the students are so focused on their books that they never leave the library. I know some universities are more known for that type of atmosphere than others. I want a balanced university with a strong engineering program that also has politically aware students who attend sporting events occasionally. However I’d just like to know of a few safety schools, maybe with a 1700 or 1800 SAT range that have good engineering programs :)</p>