I want to study Electrical/Mechanical Engineering? Any safeties? Recommendations?

College Search & Selection
1

Demographics: Mixed-race male(Asian, white), middle class, California, Private Catholic High School

Considering Financial Aid (unlikely)

Intended Major: Electrical Engineering or Computer science (Mostly Applying to Engineering Schools)

GPA: 3.63 UW 4.16 W (both up through first semester Junior Year, freshman year had a 4.00W, now I have a 4.35 W)

Rank: N/A (but top 10%)

SAT: 1410 on SAT, (800 Math 610 English, also just took in August 2017 hoping for higher english score)

SAT II: Math 2 720 (Taking Again and actually studying this time)
Chemistry 680 (Most likely taking another subject test to use instead of this score

Arts:
3 years in the music program

Honors Taken and Relevant Studies:

Freshman year: Honors Global Studies, Honors English, Honors Biology
Sophomore year: AP Spanish, Honors European History, Honors English, Honors Chemistry
Junior year: Ap English Language, AP Calculus BC, Ap Computer Science, Ap Chemistry, Honors Music Theory
Senior year: Enrolled In Honors Bioethics, AP Stat, AP Macroeconomics, AP Physics C, Engineering, AP Literature, and Chemistry TA

Extra Curricular’s:

Boy Scouts for 4 years, currently Senior Patrol leader, almost reached Eagle Rank

National Honor Society
Active member in this club contributing for drives and projects. Active volunteer for tutoring underclassmen in subjects such as mathematics and Spanish.

California Scholarship Federation and Dean’s List
Qualified by maintaining a GPA above a 3.7 for all six semesters at Marin Catholic.

JV Track and Field (Freshman year)
JV Lacrosse ( Sophomore year)
JV Basketball ( Sophomore year)

Member of five school clubs; National Honor Society, CSF, Newspaper Club, Investment
Club, and Science Alliance.

Teacher’s Assistant 1 semester for Chemistry

Community Service: Over 150 Volunteer Hours at local Soup Kitchen, and coach special Olympic Basketball

Jobs:

Office Clerk at a small law firm working with small business and filing

Summer Camp Instructor for young kids, mostly technology based activities like 3d printing, coding for beginners etc.

Recommendation Letters:
AP Chemistry Teacher and AP Calc BC teacher

Colleges I’m considering at the moment:

UCLA and Michigan (Ann Arbor) Are my dream schools.

Thanks for reading through this, do you guys have any recommended safeties that would suite me? Thank You

2

UC-weighted-capped GPA? Calculate by this method: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/gpa-requirement/index.html .

For safeties, you may need to see if UCM or various CSUs (not CPSLO, SJSU, or SDSU) may qualify, depending on your GPA and your cost constraints. Note that engineering majors and computer science are often more selective than the colleges generally are.

If you need low cost but won’t get enough need-based financial aid, consider the automatic big merit scholarship schools like those listed in http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20798968/#Comment_20798968 .

3

Beyond safeties, you might want to consider match schools that might be less GPA-sensitive than UCLA, such as URochester.

4

Do you need financial aid? Your post was not clear.

Assuming you do not need financial aid, below are some good targets for you. If you like Michigan, then Wisconsin-Madison, Ohio State, Penn State-University-Park, Virginia Tech and Purdue-West Lafayette are all moderate targets that should fit you well. If you apply to several of those, you should get into at least one. Naturally, you will be applying to several UCs (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD) and CSs (Calpoly SLO).

5

I’ve had 2 kids apply for MechE at UCLA. Based on the numbers you provided and the activities, I would say it is a real long shot. The acceptance rate for that major at UCLA is under 10%. The mid-tier UCs and Cal Poly will also be very tough. Engineering at the California schools is extremely competitive, so apply so a broad range of in-states (UCs and CSUs). Put a lot of effort into your essays because they may mean the difference between getting a 2nd look or not.

6

Engineering and safety are becoming less likely at large universities. Have you considered smaller schools like Valparaiso University and Marquette? As long as a school as ABET accreditation for its programs they will provide a good engineering education.

7

<<<
Demographics: Mixed-race male(Asian, white), middle class, California, Private Catholic High School

Considering Financial Aid (unlikely)

Intended Major: Electrical Engineering or Computer science (Mostly Applying to Engineering Schools)

GPA: 3.63 UW 4.16 W (both up through first semester Junior Year, freshman year had a 4.00W, now I have a 4.35 W)

Rank: N/A (but top 10%)

SAT: 1410 on SAT, (800 Math 610 English, also just took in August 2017 hoping for higher english score)

SAT II: Math 2 720 (Taking Again and actually studying this time)
Chemistry 680 (Most likely taking another subject test to use instead of this score

<<<<

Are you going to take the ACT as well?

What are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay each year?? Sounds like you WANT or NEED aid, but won’t qualify for need-based aid. Your stats won’t get merit at UMich, and may not get any need aid from Umich or UCLA.

As for safeties, what do you want your net cost to be after merit scholarships?

8

Take a look at Stevens Institute of Technology and Lehigh University.

9

UMich has announced a few months ago to meet the need of OOS students with family income below $90k. It is not clear whether OP is eligible. Nevertheless, OP’s stat is not likely to be sufficient to be admitted by UMich anyway.

10

You have a decent shot at merit at VU. Not sure about Marquette.

11

smu may be an alright match school they are trying to bolster the engineering program and have tons of merit scholarship money available.

12

The average unweighted gpa among UCLA engineering admits is a 4.0. Yes the average is a perfect unweighted gpa.

13

@10s4life ^ That literally means no one with less than a 4.0 was admitted, which sounds rather scary!

14

@uclaparent9 some didn’t have a 4.0 UW though! But yes it is scary but goes to show how competitive the program has become.

15

Start by looking at where you might want to live and then check out that state’s universities. Most will have not one but several good options for engineering. There are a ton of California engineering students that couldn’t get into UC’s and are now attending universities in other states(mostly in the West)

16

look at SLO- reach and Pomona- match to safety

17

Check out Santa Clara University. SCU’s location, in the heart of Silicon Valley, is tough to beat for tech. And given the insanely competitive admissions at Stanford and Berkeley, SCU has become the top backup option for people who want to study CS or engineering in the Bay Area.

SCU is drawing some really strong students: according to the admissions profiles at asee.org, new SCU engineering students in Fall 2016 had 680-760 Math SATs. Those are higher numbers than most UCs or Cal Poly SLO have. Yet the engineering program had a relatively high 48% acceptance rate.

SCU is Catholic, but if you went to a Catholic high school this may not faze you. The main drawback is the high private school tuition; SCU is not particularly wealthy and does not offer particularly good financial aid. If you don’t need a lot of aid, SCU could be a solid option.