4 years English: Adv English 1, Adv English 2, AP Lang/Comp, AP Lit
7 years Math: Algebra 1, Geometry, Adv Algebra 2, Adv Pre-Calculus, AP Stats, AP Calculus (AB & BC)
4 years Science: Earth/Space, Biology, Adv Chemistry, Physics (no AP physics offered at school)
Foreign Language: Spanish 2, Spanish 3 (he tested out of Spanish 1, having studied in middle school)
Humanities/SS: World History, US History/Geography, Government/Economics
4 years Engineering: Intro Eng Design, Honors PLTW 2, Honors PLTW 3, Honors PLTW 4
Arts: 4 years Jazz Ensemble, 3 years Adv Drama
Other Electives: Ag Mechanics
Awards
College Board National Rural and Small Town Award
Golden Star Student Award
CA Scholarship Federation
John Pratt Scholarship for outstanding music student (Office of Ed)
Academic Decathlon: Silver medal for speech
Extracurriculars
High School Drama Club (officer)
Participates in all HS drama productions
Jazz band competitions & performances
Participated in community theater (played in band)
Volunteers through church
Work: Arts camp counselor, helps with family business
Cost Constraints / Budget
UCs would probably be the maximum $$, unless he can get a scholarship
Schools
Not sure which of these would be a safety, a match or a reach. These are guesses. Thoughts?
Cal Poly SLO, UCSB, Caltech, UCB, UCLA
I’m helping my son with some research to help him dial in his senior course selections and college resume. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Specifically, for Mech Engineering at the schools on his list:
How important would it be for him to find an AP Physics class? This is not offered by his school.
How important would it be to take AP Chemistry? Is his Adv Chemistry sufficient?
Cal Poly recommends 5 years of English for all their applicants. He’s not crazy about having to do this, with his course load, and his HS doesn’t offer 5 years. Would his other achievements mitigate this?
How important would it be for him to take Spanish 4? Again, it’s tough to fit it into his schedule.
Any suggestions for strengthening his college resume?
Are there other schools that would be a good match for him? We’re in research mode.
So a test score won’t matter at a California public.
These are t0o hard to guess at - and many are seeing rejections at what they thought are safeties.
Easy answer - with an unweighted 4.0, apply to U of Arizona too - a great engineering school - and you’ll get $32K auto merit. That way, if you struggle with CA schools, at least you have a legit, fantastic safety.
Caltech would be a financial stretch without a scholarship. He likes the idea of California, but I think he’s open to out-of-state options as well. We are definitely open to suggestions.
He may apply to some Canadian schools because he’s a dual citizen (definitely more affordable).
As for project focus, he hasn’t narrowed in much yet. He likes the broadness of mech eng, and hopes to eventually work for a small company where he can do both design work and hands-on. He’s particularly enjoyed working on robotics projects and 3D modeling.
All schools listed, Cal Poly SLO, UCSB, Caltech, UCB and UCLA would be a Reach school due to the competitiveness and low admit rates for Mechanical Engineering.
He will want to expand his list for Match and Likely/Safety schools.
Does his school offer any type of Physics Class? Definitely AP Physics if possible for an Engineering major. An Advanced Chemistry class definitely but not necessarily AP. 5 years of English at SLO is recommended not required and goes above even the UC recommendations so I do not think this is a deal breaker.
4th year of Spanish would be a suggestion especially if he is considering schools outside of California or more elite schools.
I would start with finding 2 likely/safety schools. U of A or ASU would be good options along with UC Riverside, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Fullerton, San Jose State or his local Cal state?
Harvey Mudd for a Reach school as a suggestion and if he has Cal Tech on his list, I would add Stanford.
Best of luck on the research just realize that the California UC’s are crazy competitive and yes even UC Riverside. Just apply widely and as @tsbna44 stated, have a backup if the CA schools do not come through.
Canadian universities are a great deal if you get Canada prices! We just went through this application process with a few of them, and we would even be paying international prices With an unweighted 4.0, he should have good to excellent chances of admission. McGill might even count as a safety, since they admit non-holistically by unweighted GPA. Do any of the Canadian universities appeal to him?
Wow, this is good info. Thank you! Disappointing that his top choices are all reaches, but it goes to show how important it is to apply broadly.
To answer your question, he’s planning to take Physics in his senior year, but his school doesn’t offer it as an AP. Do you think he should be looking at finding an online option?
He’d love to take Spanish 4 if he can fit it, but it’s just a matter of scheduling. We’ll see what we can do!
Thanks for your alternative school suggestions. As for Stanford, he’s trying to decide on that one. He’d love to go, and several family members have gone there, but it’s pretty pricey. Do you know if Stanford considers family legacy? His grandfather is a benefactor…
He’s considering Toronto, but they recommend AP Chem and AP Physics, which might present a challenge. I’m looking for info on whether those are make or break factors.
Guelph and Waterloo also have pretty good programs, but not quite as prestigious.
UBC is excellent as well, and he might even prefer it to those others (my son liked it the best). They also want to see AP Chem and AP Physics.
I think that top US engineering programs also generally prefer to see AP science classes, if he can take them. The difference, I think, is that if he meets the requirements of the Canadian universities and can maintain a 4.0, admission is much more reliable – he would have a good to excellent chance.
Although for the UC’s, the applicant is evaluated within the context of their HS and what they offer, AP Physics would be a plus so I would try to find an on-line option if possible and very helpful with the Physics classes he will encounter in college.
For Cal Poly SLO, guesstimate admit rate for ME is 19%.
Below are the 2022 admit rates based on the Capped Weighted UC GPA and competitive majors such as ME will have much lower admit rates.
2022 Admit rates based on the Capped weighted UC GPA.
Campus
4.00+
3.70-3.99
3.30-3.69
3.00-3.29
Berkeley
17%
3%
1%
0%
Davis
58%
20%
5%
2%
Irvine
35%
10%
3%
0%
Los Angeles
13%
2%
1%
0%
Merced
97%
97%
95%
85%
Riverside
95%
83%
42%
17%
San Diego
37%
8%
1%
0%
Santa Barbara
41%
8%
3%
0%
Santa Cruz
69%
45%
16%
4%
Some 2022 specific ME admit rates if available since not all UC’s are transparent in their admit data:
UCLA: 5.5%
UCB College Engineering overall admit rate at 7%
UCSB College of Engineering overall admit rate at 22%. They have one of the smaller UC Engineering Departments so they enroll less Freshman than some of the other UC campuses.
Thanks, that’s really helpful! We’ll work on finding him an online AP class. Or would a physics class at our local community college also meet the criteria?
If he is interested in UBC and Toronto (and other Canadian universities), it is possible that your son’s other science and engineering classes may compensate for the unavailability of AP classes at his school. I would definitely suggest contacting admissions with your questions and to discuss this. Both UBC and Toronto admissions were very helpful for my son. They also offer lots of online information sessions.
CPSLO’s admission formula gives bonus points for semesters of more advanced math, lab science, English, foreign language, and arts beyond the UC/CSU minimums. Be sure to list all high school level courses taken while in middle school on the CSU application – this is particularly relevant for math and foreign language. The largest bonus points are for extra math courses.
There is a reverse-engineered CPSLO admission formula calculator at https://mca.netlify.app/ , but it is an older one from when SAT/ACT was still used. The current one is presumably different.
In terms of preparation for studying engineering in college (as opposed to college admissions), the most important parts of high school course work are:
Math: precalculus minimum, calculus helpful if available (looks like he will take it).
Science: high school chemistry and physics minimum, AP or more advanced courses helpful if available.
English: good writing and communication skills are important, although good engineering writing can differ in some respects from literary analysis that is common in high school English courses.
Engineering majors are commonly more competitive at most UCs and the more popular CSUs like CPSLO, CPP, and SJSU. However, mechanical engineering is widely available at UCs and CSUs, including less selective ones like UCM, UCR, and 10 CSUs other than the three previously named.
For UCs, consider the following, but realize the increased competitiveness of engineering majors at most campuses.
These are for the whole campus. Different divisions or majors may have different levels selectivity (usually, engineering and computer science majors are more selective).
Note that several CSUs describe their admission formulae and prior year admission thresholds (use the weighted capped HS GPA from the above calculator):
The UC’s consider 3 GPA’s when reviewing an applicant. All UC GPA’s use only A-G course grades from the summer after 9th through the summer prior to 12th grades.
Unweighted UC GPA: No weighting maximum 4.0
Capped weighted UC GPA: Maximum of 8 Semesters of UC approved Honors classes (see link to look up HS), AP, IB, DE/CC courses taken 10-11th grades with a Maximum 4.4
Uncapped fully weighted UC GPA with unlimited semesters of UC approved Honors, AP, IB, DE/CC courses taken 10-11th grades. Maximum of 5.0.
Cal Poly SLO uses 9-11th grades with the 8 semester Honors point weighting cap for approved courses. The rest of the Cal states only use Capped weighted CSU GPA 10-11th grades with the 8 semester cap, however CC/DE courses are given 2 honors points in the calculation and each semester college course grade is counted twice.
Lots of fantastic, easier to get into schools - whether an Arizona, Alabama, Colorado, amd so so so many more.
Doesn’t mean a UC isn’t in the future - but honestly, unless it’s Ga Tech, MIchigan, etc. - it likely doesn’t matter. My kid got 5 offers in the Fall and has stopped recruiting and he goes to Alabama and four of his 5 job offers were in the 80s+.
It’s just saying - you need safety nets - unless you are ok with UCM or Riverside and nothing is wrong with either.
You also have WUE if you’re from a WUE state (like CA) - so discounted tuition at other schools.
Engineering is BRUTAL and there are smart kids in it everywhere.
Even then, it probably doesn’t. I’m not picking on either, but there’s lots of hype built up based on rankings, without much concrete evidence in the form of placement or salaries to suggest they out perform a long list of others.
There are a lot of good CA options. I’d add CPP and CP Humboldt as safeties if not already mentioned.
I’d also add Oregon State and Utah.
At the end of the day, ABET programs are pretty egalitarian for the first job and almost exclusively meritocratic after. There is minimal correlation between big name schools and who lands into highly coveted jobs. It’s all about personal horsepower, curiosity and work ethic.
BTW, our son is a Cal Poly ME alum. Feel free to PM with questions.
With an unweighted 4.0, he should have good to excellent chances of admission. McGill might even count as a safety, since they admit non-holistically by unweighted GPA. Do any of the Canadian universities appeal to him?