How competitve is engineering at UW-Madison?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Wisconsin
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<p>And BME, if you will. It doesn't look good for me to get in to UIUC BME, and I have Iowa begging me to do BME with them. How about Madison.</p>

<p>Keep in mind I'm a Northern Illinoisan (FIB), which definitely hurts my case.</p>

<p>I plan on doing BME (I may enroll if they let me into another engineering discipline, for I'll be motivated enough to make them change their minds after a year or two) and potentially graduate research. Med school and going straight into the job market are not ruled out as options. My reason for not being a narrow-minded pre-med person is that I don't want to be a doctor because of the prestige and money--I want to find out what I like first.</p>

<p>Before I list my stats, I would like to mention that my school has horrible counselors (my school is segregated into two parts: the majority of the students make up the 60% graduate and 17 average of ACT scores and the minority of the students are NU, UC, Ivy League feeder with multiple 36s and 2400s and national merit scholars.) I was never advised to take SAT IIs, and was never pushed into extra-curriculars as a younger student or even advised on anything to help boost my resume. I'm going to make a lot of excuses and I fully understand they mean nothing--I am just explaining my circumstances for my and your entertainment.</p>

<p>31 ACT (math score only 31 because I had not had finished neither College Algebra nor started Trig.)</p>

<p>Rank 47 out of 378 or about top 12-13 percent. A 4.0 GPA won't even get you into the top 25. (90% of the state scholars in the county go to my school)</p>

<p>3.62 GPA (I don't know what my unweighted is, plus all of the weighing down can be attributed to my first 3 semesters)</p>

<p>AP Scholar with Distinction, expected to be National by the end of the year
Illinois State Scholar</p>

<p>Very rigorous courseload -3 years German, incl. Microbiology and Organic Chemistry and Anat. & Phys. 9 AP Courses (none of the joke like Geography or Env. Science, all histories or sciences or English) </p>

<p>Great AP performance .All 5s one 4 (I wrote too philosophically and abstract on the English exam) one 3 (Macr. Econ, my teacher did not teach; the average that year for my school on that test was 1.6)</p>

<p>4 years of football, 1 year NHS (rough rough freshman year mentally made me shy away from doing quiz bowl or baseball and made my qualifications for NHS not met until after sophomore year)</p>

<p>I have an EXTREMELY favorable grade trend. GPA of 4.1 since 2nd sem. 10th grade and 4.3 GPA junior year with straight A's 2nd sem. Every class my soph. and junior year I improved any non-A's from 1st sem. to 2nd, and any C's (physics = GPA killer) went to A's--Nothing has gone down from a previous semester. All maths and sciences in those ranges are A's except for that 1st semester physics I mentioned and a first semester B in AP
Bio...I choked on the final and ended up with an 89...)</p>

<p>I'm a white male and I fall in to the "not enough money to pay for college but not so little money that I can get great aid" category.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading or skimming this text.</p>

<p>Any advice and thoughts are appreciated. Ask me any questions at all.</p>

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<p>Try U of Minnesota Twin Cities.</p>

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<p>Do not disparage any AP courses. You can calculate your unweighted gpa by using the grade received without adding any points for the course being honors or AP. Consideration will be given for the rigorous courses- eg AP. You get accepted to UW as a whole, regardless of your intended major. Getting into Engineering, of any kind, will depend on your UW record. Some fields of engineering are highly competitive because of their popularity- supply/demand… Most students enter undecided or change their intended major- no problem in keeping your options open.</p>

<p>I recommend that you read the UW engineering site for details on getting into it and the chances for various majors. Also read the premed information- it is an intention, not a major and can be combined with any major.</p>

<p>Consider the college you want to attend even if you change your intended major. Apply and see if you get accepted. By spring you will know where you are accepted and how strong your desire is for a major versus a college campus. You will also have an idea of the affordability of various schools- the financial aid packages. Since you mention various posible career paths you will have to weigh pros and cons of more than just getting into a specific engineering program.</p>