<p>Purdue would be a reach if the student were to apply as an engineering major, since it is probably the most competitive major offered at Purdue.</p>
<p>And pierre0913 is correct. It is much easier to start out in engineering and switch to other major than doing the reverse.</p>
<p>pnb2002, I live in Belmont, Massachusetts and was admitted to Purdue engineering for the fall semester this year. I have a 3.06 unweighted GPA on a regular 4 point scale, am ranked in the top 50% of my high school and got a 2010 on the SAT.</p>
<p>According to Illinois website, the middle 50% class rank for engineering majors is in the top 10 percentile</p>
<p>[U</a> of I Admissions: Freshman Admission Requirements](<a href=“http://www.admissions.illinois.edu/apply/requirements_freshman.html]U”>Page Not Found, Illinois Undergraduate Admissions)</p>
<p>Illinois is way more selective than Purdue (around an 80% acceptance rate) and engineering is the hardest major to get into at Illinois so it would be easier to get into Purdue than Illinois for engineering.</p>
<p>I definitely understand that it’s easier to transfer out of engineering than into it, which is why if I’m still fairly certain it’s what I want to do, I will apply for that particular school. But I’m just saying that I am unsure about going into a school that is almost strictly engineering. It is entirely possible that I may decide to choose another career path, and I feel as if I’d be more limited at a school like RPI.</p>
<p>I definitely understand that and if I were in that situation, I would go to a large school also, someplace where, if you didn’t like engineering, you’d find plenty of options for an alternate major.</p>