<p>I took the october 2014 sat and got...
600 math
680 reading
740 writing (11 on essay)
I'm afraid that although I have strong verbal scores, my math scores are too weak to get into a strong mechanical engineering program... What do you think?
I've always been a strong math and science student. I'm a junior and I have As for every class on my transcript in math and sci except honors geometry (B).
I plan on retaking the SAT in january... </p>
<p>Should i reconsider majoring in mechE because of my low math score? Is the math SAT score a make or break portion of a student's resume for most engineering schools?</p>
<p>There are plenty of engineering schools you can get into, particularly state flagships, with that score. The question will be if you’re able to complete the program. If you’re unable to raise the math score, you might find yourself struggling as that indicates your math skills are not as strong as your grades indicate. On the other hand, it’s possible you just need to work on how the math section of the test works.</p>
<p>What math are you in now and what’s the highest level you plan on completing by the end of HS? Although calc in HS is not vital to going into engineering, I’d bet that the number of kids going into engineering without some form of HS calc that actually make it through the program is very low. As you go through the rest of junior and senior year, you need to be honest with yourself about your math skills. It should be obvious by the time you graduate whether or not engineering is a good idea.</p>
<p>Right now im in pre-calc honors, its the highest level available to juniors at my school and i had a 97 in the first marking period. I plan on taking AP Calc BC next year.</p>
<p>no. you can major in mechE with a 600M score. there are two questions however: will you want to go to the places you can get into with a 1280? there are plenty of good engineering schools to go to, and you shouldn’t let one test score interfere with your desire to attend one. Can you get over not going to Stanford? MechE programs are quite similar all over; don’t be concerned if the school is not prestigious. No employers will care much; they’ll want to see that your skill set matches that of the position for which they’re hiring. For jobs, your internships and who visits the campus are more important. The second question is whether or not you can afford them.</p>
<p>Look for MechE programs where your 600M will be in the upper side of the middle 50 of admitted students. Go to college data dot com, type in the school name, A good place to start would be state flagships, your own, for instance, but there are others. If you have money concerns, stay away from UCal campuses.</p>
<p>Pick 6 schools; then run the net price calculators and see what your parents say about the Expected Family Contributions. If you can afford any of them, you can’t put those on your list for now. Then find some more schools along these lines, and run the npcs again, adjusting for what your parents told you they can afford. </p>
<p>If your grades are good in math and overall, you may have a good shot at strong engineering schools like Purdue, Wisc and Minnesota. What’s your unweighted GPA and home state?</p>
<p>^^^Agreed, I’d retake the SAT in the spring and focus your studying almost entirely on the math section (since virtually every college super-scores). You have plenty of time to work on it and I see no reason why you won’t improve with practice since you seem to be a strong math student. And even with your scores, I’d guess there are some solid engineering programs you could get into (Manhattan College comes to mind for some reason) but if you can up the math score you will give yourself more options.</p>
<p>Obviously Rutgers should be your safety. Then it becomes a matter of how much you can afford. </p>
<p>Your SAT M+CR already qualifies you for the Ohio State National Buckeye Scholarship, which essentially makes Ohio State an in-state for you. Ohio State has nationally recognized engineering programs as well as tons of other programs if you decide to go another direction. Get higher test scores and you can get more money from OSU, lowering your cost even more.</p>
<p>Your test scores are just 10 points short of getting you a half-tuition scholarship to Alabama and they also have mechanical engineering plus a ton of other options. Get higher scores and again, more money comes available.</p>
<p>Just be aware that both of these will require you apply early, often by Nov. 15, to get the scholarship offers. They aren’t binding, but between Rutgers, Ohio State, and Alabama, you’ve got a great start and then you can reach for anything you like. Just make sure you can afford it.</p>
<p>Alright thank you mr mom.
Do you happen to know what the Rutgers Engineering SAT math section score range is? I can only find the entire University’s math range and the engineering school’s composite.</p>
<p>You’re well within the range of the Engineering school mid-50, so I would assume you’re probably okay, especially if you can get another 30-50 math points. But even without that, I think you’d definitely get in.</p>
<p>If you really want to know the Engineering School’s Math SAT range, I’d just call them up and ask.</p>
<p>Retake SAT <em>or</em> take the ACT. One might be easier for you than the other.
Also, if you don’t mind southern schools, and money is not an issue, consider:</p>
<p>Texas A&M University
University of Tulsa
Louisiana State University</p>
<p>If you do exceptionally well in math and science classes at school, I definitely advise you to take the ACT. The math and science sections are geared toward students who do well in those classes, whereas SAT math is based more on innate critical thinking skills.</p>
<p>Happysteve-- check out the SAT prep section on CC. DrSteve, Xiggi and Silverturtle have a lot of great advice and tips that helped both my kids. My son who is not exceptional at math found the SAT math to be a game that he innately understood and he did very well on SAT math and not so good on ACT math. You might be exactly the opposite, so be sure to take a couple ACT practice tests and see where you do better.</p>
<p>I’d be interested to see you try the Math SAT IIs. I took the SAT, ACT, and both Math SAT IIs and my lowest math score out of all of them was the SAT. I don’t think it’s actually indicative of your ability to do math at a higher level. Most of the questions are just aimed to trick students who don’t read every detail carefully, rather than have students showcase their ability to problem solve or incorporate different techniques to solve complicated problems. Most of the problems boil down to actually understanding what they’re asking, because the actual math is generally very simple.</p>
<p>Anyway, if your grades in math are relatively strong and you’re taking higher level math classes (at least up to pre-calc or calculus), I think you should try Math I or Math II, or the ACT. They are more straightforward in the way that they ask questions, but expect you to be able to answer harder questions.</p>
<p>But to answer your question specifically, there are a few great schools that you could almost definitely get into if you boosted your math score by 30-50 points, and probably get into with your current score. Purdue, for instance, is a great engineering university that I think you could definitely get into. So I don’t think that having a less than stellar math score will prevent you from being accepted into a good mechanical engineering program.</p>
<p>What does Math II mostly cover? It mostly asks about topics that would normally be talked about in an Algebra II/Trig class and a pre-calc class. However, there are some elementary calculus ideas (optimization, minimums and maximums), as well as a decent amount of geometry on the test as well. You’re also expected to having a working understanding of vectors, scalars, and parametric equations, and the geometry can also cover more advanced three dimensional questions.</p>
<p>The main differences between Math I and Math II from a testing standpoint is that Math I has easier questions, but each question is weighed heavily and the curve can be harsh. In Math II, the curve is much friendlier but the questions are much more difficult. I’d say you should probably take a practice test of each and then determine which one is better for you.</p>
MechE programs are quite similar all over; don’t be concerned if the school is not prestigious. No employers will care much; they’ll want to see that your skill set matches that of the position for which they’re hiring. For jobs, your internships and who visits the campus are more important. The second question is whether or not you can afford them.</p>