<p>I don't know if I asked this question correctly, but how tough is it to get into engineering schools? What do they look for ? If I wanted to apply to an engineering school, would it be better to apply as undeclared or in a math/econ major rather than an engineering major and just switch my majors? </p>
<p>I'm interested about schools like USC, UCLA, UCB.</p>
<p>Getting into the College of Engineering of school's such as USC, UCLA, and Cal is much more selective, mostly because the space available is limited compared to the rest of the University. It's expected that you:
1) have a high GPA,
2) be in the top 10 percentile (preferably top 5) of your graduating class,
3) have 720+ in SAT Math and 670+ in the Verbal and Writing,
4) take AP courses in Calculus I and/or II, Chemistry and/or Physics B and/or C (if your high school offers them; if not, go to your local college and try taking courses there),
5) have a solid community service record and/or job employment,
and 6) communicate your abilities and experiences effectively through the personal statement.</p>
<p>It is possible for you to apply as undeclared or a major not pertaining to engineering and transfer into the College of Engineering after your first or second year; however, it will be just as difficult to get into because you will be competing for a limited amount of open transfer slots, along with all the competition from the incoming freshman applicants (because you will probably need to take the introductory engineering courses after transferring). This method will probably be a viable option only if you have not taken Calculus and/or calculused based Physics Mechanics & E/M in high school, or if your SAT scores are not up to par with the other incoming students.</p>
<p>In all honesty, getting into an engineering school might seem tough, but it really isn't if you prepare ahead of time. The hard part is trying to succeed once you get in. Get your fundamentals straight and have a solid background to demonstrate your personal skills and you should be fine.</p>
<p>You're better starting in engineering since a lot of colleges have their engineering departments within different schools and it can be difficult to transfer into them once you get started. Also, often engineers have the most requirements to cover freshman year, so you're better off starting there than trying to get in a semester or two later.</p>
<p>USC isn't that hard to get into. I got into their BME program and my SATs were M:740, CR: 600, WR: 610, Chem: 580, Lit: 610, Math2C: 710. I also had a 30 on the ACT and a weighted 3.86 GPA (about top 15% at my school)</p>
<p>Cal is definitely the hardest college to get into out of the three you mentioned, while UCLA is the second hardest and USC a close third to UCLA. The major that you choose can also vary your chances of getting accepted. I don't have the statistics on that, but I would assume that popular engineering majors such as Mechanical or Electrical/Comp Sci are harder to get into because of the larger volume of applicants for a limited amount of space. The requirements I stated above should get you into Cal, which means you probably can also get into UCLA and USC, depending on applicant turnout during your filing period. I've heard of students getting into Cal but not UCLA, but most were pre-med or bio-psych majors (which I believe UCLA is ranked higher in than Cal).</p>
<p>UCB is actually an "elite" school for engineering, so it will be hard. it will be much harder if you're from out-of-state. well, it's hard to get in from the first place even if it's not for engineering.</p>
<p>with that aside, it's extremely easier to get into top 15 engineering colleges than the general top 15. half of top 15 engineering colleges i imagine have acceptance rates easily over 40%.</p>
<p>^^That being said, you may have a better chance at USC if you're out of state</p>
<p>Also, as a note: Those stats I gave above got me into USC, but not UC Davis (in-state). Well, I got into UC Davis, but was accepted as a genetics major instead (2nd choice).</p>
“joewhiz”, you said something about solid community service. How much exactly? will around a 100 hourse be enough? thank you
That was seven years ago and joewhiz hasn’t been online since 2009.
http://admitguide.com/minimum-requirements-vs-competitive-applicant/
has some stats for the UC schools. Also be aware that it is very hard to transfer into engineering, there are high bars of minimum GPAs and some like UCSD do not guaranteee admission even if you reach their GPA cutoff.
So if you aren’t competitive to the standards in the link and aren’t positive you can get a 3.5 or higher in an elite school, these may or may not be good choices (for in-state not so hideous as paying $60K/year to not get admitted to your major).
UCSD and maybe the others also do not weigh honors courses, so to get the magical GPA you will have to stick with safe courses you can get high GPA in … so if you don’t make engineering, you also haven’t really set yourself up to hit one out of the park in say biology. OR you have given up AP credit to get easy As and could have been taking something more interesting.
These are great schools though …
I have the same issues with all non-direct-admit engineering programs, unless you are a star student, it seems very risky to attend a highly selective and difficult school, not getting into the engineering program, and then have to find a school to transfer to … almost seems better to get a 4.0 at community college (especially for UCs, although I am not sure engineering is an auto-admit).
Direct admission to major, and ease or difficulty of declaring or changing major, is very campus and division specific. Each school must be investigated separately on this aspect.
Engineering schools are usually a bit more selective than liberal arts schools, but not by a huge difference. What you should be more concerned about is the ability to stay in engineering school once you matriculate. At many engineering schools, a significant number of freshman will get weeded out.
This is generally related to the admission selectivity of the school (or its engineering majors, if selectivity varies by major). Stronger incoming engineering students are more likely to graduate with engineering degrees.
Note that overall graduation rates are related to the admission selectivity of the school as well.