<p>I know it's late but I'm really having issues finalizing my list. I just want to make sure that I'm not only applying to reach schools.</p>
<p>2300 SAT, 35 ACT, 3.9 UW GPA, 9 APs, moderate EC's, part-time job senior year, Varsity Swimming 4 years and since I was young (likely not good enough to swim for a school I want to go to), 200+ hours volunteering for an international bilingual organization
(More details in previous posts)</p>
<p>I'm looking for small to moderate sized schools (probably not any gigantic state schools) preferably not in California that have a strong Chem Eng or Bio Eng program as well as strong humanities and good financial aid.
My counselor said I might be able to consider Northeastern a safety but I'm not sure how accurate her info is.</p>
<p>Any help would be appreciated!</p>
<p>Also, something to note is that I’m interested in studying Chem or Bio Eng to do something like food engineering. I just thought I’d throw that out there in case anyone knows of any schools that might be a good fit for that sort of career plan.</p>
<p>I would recommend there colleges to you.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Vanderbilt. Small school, great engineering program, and very recognized among the best schools in the country. Also, the campus is GORGEOUS (seriously though- it’s beautiful. I don’t know if that stuff matters to you, but it is where you’ll be spending four years of your life).
<a href=“http://vanderbilt.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://vanderbilt.edu</a></p></li>
<li><p>Rice University. Great campus, great engineering program, smallish student body. It was voted “happiest student body” a few years ago, if that means anything to you. It’s a great school- I’m from Houston so I know a lot about it; it’s a big part of the Houston community. Also, the engineering department is supposed to be amazing- when I toured there they told us a story of how the engineering students played a prank by turning the statue around with a little contraption they invented. When the university administration found out, they got super mad and hired a bunch of professional engineers to turn the statue around the right way, but they couldn’t figure it out, so the administration had to ask the Rice engineering students to use their contraption and turn the statue around again, which they did. That’s the kind of school Rice is. It’s a little quirky, but in a good way.
<a href=“http://rice.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://rice.edu</a></p></li>
<li><p>Elon University- I’ve heard nothing but good things about Elon, engineering department included. Medium sized school, nice campus, good academics, and apparently the students there are very happy.
<a href=“http://elon.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://elon.edu</a></p></li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>For financial aid, go to each college’s web site and run the net price calculator with your finances to get an estimate of financial aid for you, rather than relying on hearsay.</p>
<p>Elon does not have any engineering of its own; it only has 3+2 program arrangements, which have an extra year of costs and possible uncertainty of transfer admission and financial aid at the “2” school (most of which are big state universities in Elon’s case). Your choice of major at Elon as the “3” school is limited.
[url=<a href=“Elon University - America’s Top-Ranked Teaching University”>Elon University - America’s Top-Ranked Teaching University]Engineering[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions @Megmill21!
I was already looking at both Rice (which I love!) and Vanderbilt but I would consider both of those to be reaches for me. Any suggestions for schools that could be considered matches or reaches for me?
I’ll be sure to take a look at Elon.</p>
<p>Thanks for the financial aid advice @ucbalumnus!
Is there a good place to look more into 3+2 programs? I haven’t heard very much about them so I’m not quite sure what to expect or whether such a program would be appropriate for me. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the help so far guys! Please keep match and reach suggestions coming in!</p>
<p>3+2 programs are typically marketed by smaller schools that do not have engineering natively. The idea is that you study for 3 years at the smaller school, then transfer to complete an engineering degree in another 2 years at a school with engineering.</p>
<p>Advantages:</p>
<ul>
<li>Usually smaller frosh/soph courses at the “3” school.</li>
<li>You graduate with two degrees, one from each school.</li>
<li>If the “3” school allows any major (e.g. Brandeis), you have extra schedule space to study a non-engineering subject of your choice (e.g. humanities or social studies if you desire). However, most “3” schools restrict your choice of major to some kind of science, and even at “3” schools with free choice of major, you need to also take the lower division engineering major courses (e.g. math and physics) alongside your major.</li>
</ul>
<p>Disadvantages:</p>
<ul>
<li>5 total years, meaning extra school costs.</li>
<li>Transfer to the “2” school is not necessarily guaranteed.</li>
<li>Financial aid at the “2” school may be uncertain, although less so now that net price calculators are available. However, many “2” schools are public schools, so they may not give much financial aid to out-of-state students.</li>
<li>You may not want to transfer away from the “3” school after three years.</li>
<li>You may not want to transfer to a big school like many “2” schools, if you wanted to go to the smaller “3” school in the first place.</li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks for all the info on 3+2 programs @ucbalumnus!</p>
<p>Would you say that a 3+2 program would be worth it if I’m not even positive I want to major in engineering? I’ve been thinking about it and based on what I want to do, going through a 3+2 program doesn’t seem like it would be the best option for me, given that I have no clue what I really want to study/do in the future. </p>
<p>I’m still looking for match and safeties though so if anyone has any suggestions, I’m open to hearing them. I actually just realized that my post question is incorrect. I am looking for matches and SAFETIES, not reaches. Please excuse that error.</p>
<p>From what I have read, very few students entering college intending to do 3+2 for engineering actually make the transfer to complete an engineering degree. Carleton says up from that [0-3</a> students per year](<a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/physics/for_students/department_links/engineering/questions/]0-3”>http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/physics/for_students/department_links/engineering/questions/) actually apply to transfer to the “2” school (out of probably 20 students per year).</p>
<p>Additionally, 3+2 programs at most “3” colleges are not any more suitable for undecided students compared to starting in engineering at a school with engineering, since most “3” schools limit your choice of major (usually to physics or chemistry, although a few like Brandeis are unrestricted as long as you take the engineering preparation courses as well).</p>
<p>Whether you start at a school with engineering or at a “3” school in a 3+2 arrangement, you need to take the usual engineering preparation courses like math and physics, although you will have some elective space for other subjects of interest.</p>
<p>I don’t think you’re a reach for Vandy and Rice, and certainly not for Elon. You have at least a 50-50 chance at each of these.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your input on 3+2 programs @ucbalumnus. From what I’ve gathered, it really doesn’t seem like a 3+2 program would be the best fit for me so I don’t think I’ll be looking to attend a school with one.</p>
<p>If I were to look at women’s colleges with programs linking them to Ivy league schools (Wellesley, Barnard, etc.), would those types of programs they have be somewhat comparable to 3+2 programs? From what I understand, attending one of those women’s colleges would not guarantee that you would be able to attend classes at the corresponding Ivy school. I’m curious since a school that has contacted me to swim for them claims to offer access to classes at Cornell. I’m just curious as to how accessible those Cornell classes would be and if attending that smaller liberal arts school would ultimately be worth it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input @jkeil911 but from most opinions I’ve received, both Vanderbilt and Rice would still be reaches for me. Might I ask what you’re basing your judgement on? I’m a little confused as to where that opinion is coming from since two different people seem to be using your account. Are you the parent or the student offering that comment?</p>
<p>Another question I’d like to put out there: Part of the reason I’m contemplating studying chemical engineering is because of family pressure. I’m open to most career paths but I am most interested in pursuing something related to food; chemical engineering seems a reasonable match and lines up with what my parents want me to do. Given that math and science are not my strengths, are there any other fields I could possibly look into? I don’t want to focus only on schools with chemical engineering only to get to college and decide to be an English major (taking the extreme for this hypothetical situation).
Any advice regarding a food-related career or any sort of career advice for someone as hopelessly lost as me?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help so far everyone!</p>
<p>Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has a food science major. So do some other schools.</p>
<p>[Food</a> Science Major | College of Agriculture and Life Sciences](<a href=“http://cals.cornell.edu/admissions/academics/majors/food-science/]Food”>http://cals.cornell.edu/admissions/academics/majors/food-science/)</p>
<p>There are also biological engineering majors at some schools that are food oriented.</p>
<p>However, any of these majors will require some skill at science.</p>
<p>Regarding cross registration agreements, check the actual rules on the colleges’ web sites. Also check to see how full the classes can get on the class schedules – the colleges’ presumably give their own students first choice over cross registering students.</p>
<p>I have looked a little into Cornell’s food science major but I am contemplating still applying there as a chemical engineering major. Thanks for the link @ucbalumnus.</p>
<p>Any schools that come to mind with food oriented biological engineering majors?
I understand that some skill at science would be necessary for any field that I most likely will end up in. I’m not the best at science but I also wouldn’t say that I fail at it either, it just doesn’t come as naturally to me. I’m sure if I put in a lot of effort and focus, I should be able to work with what I have. I don’t think it would necessarily be the easiest of paths, but if I enjoy what I’m doing, I’ll be far more likely to work hard than doing something that doesn’t interest me as much.
I looked at Princeton Review’s list of the 47 schools that offer food science as a major. Would it be a good idea to cross reference this list with a list of schools offering decent to strong engineering programs? I’m not completely sold (neither are my parents) on the idea of food science as a major so I wouldn’t want to end up at a school where I wouldn’t necessarily have a full range of options. Doing something engineering seems to offer me the most options for my future.
Additionally, I have considered the possibility of attending law school so how would that factor into all of this? Would majoring in food science and then earning a law degree actually be a viable option?
On top of all that, I’m still looking to round out my list of matches and safeties so any advice as to how to go about doing that? </p>
<p>Sorry to pile all these questions on you @ucbalumnus but it seems like you have quite a breadth of knowledge to draw from.
Is there anyone with firsthand experience with any of this? Chemical engineering, food science, or either of those in conjunction with law?</p>
<p>[Accredited</a> Program Search](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx) lists 25 schools with biological engineering (as opposed to bioengineering and biomedical engineering) bachelor’s degree programs. You may want to check these schools’ web sites to see if they have what you are looking for. This does not include any food science majors that are not engineering.</p>
<p>You should do your own research on the job and career prospects of food science and biological engineering majors, as these appear to be smaller majors for which there is not a lot of public data on. If the types of jobs are willing to hire chemical engineering majors, it may be a better idea from a job perspective to major in chemical engineering (perhaps with some food science electives), since chemical engineering may have more other job prospects as well.</p>
<p>Regarding law school, you can do any major and any course work as a pre-law student. However, you need a high GPA and high LSAT score to get into a top 14 law school (see [Welcome</a> to LawSchoolNumbers.com | Law School Numbers](<a href=“http://lawschoolnumbers.com%5DWelcome”>http://lawschoolnumbers.com) ). Note that law job hiring is very law-school-prestige conscious, so graduating from a low ranked law school is not a good idea. If you want to go into patent law, see <a href=“http://www.uspto.gov/ip/boards/oed/GRB_March_2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.uspto.gov/ip/boards/oed/GRB_March_2012.pdf</a> for specific undergraduate preparation.</p>
<p>aleesuh, one’s test scores and GPA cannot get a lot higher than yours. you will have taken nine AP courses. your ECs are good enough. and you’re not from the midwest or south. I see no reason to think you’re anything but a match for these schools. I’m betting on your acceptance. How’s that? ;+)</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all your help @ucbalumnus! I’ll be sure to look at both sites and carefully weigh my options. Hopefully I’ll be able to figure out some good matches and safeties that fit most (if not all) of my criteria.</p>
<p>Thanks for the vote of confidence @jkeil911! I’m keeping my fingers crossed :)</p>