I’m a rising sophomore. I’m majoring in Biochem and minor in Math. My gpa is around 3.8+. I’m a varsity athlete and participated in several clubs.
I’m currently thinking about transferring next fall so I can change my major to chemical engineering (we don’t have engineering department) and reduce the tuition cost (it’s kind of expensive and I don’t have scholarships).
Here is my current list of schools considering:
Reach: Georgia Tech
UMichigan
Standard: Purdue
UIUC
Safety: University of Delaware
University of Minnesota- Twin City
To be honest, I have no idea if this list is enough. I created this list based on rankings (I know it’s not the best way but I have no idea where to start. They all look similar on their web page). Should apply to more schools? Is it really difficult to transfer into these schools?
Do you guys have any suggestions? Any recommendations for schools I should apply to safety? Thank you in advance.
Purdue has very limited transfer slots for engineering. It varies year to year but it should also be considered a reach.
I’d encourage you to reach out to the transfer advisors for the schools on your list to be sure you are taking the required courses. Almost all the information on the transfer page at Purdue is geared towards transferring after freshman year.
My D is a rising junior chem E at Purdue. Her sophomore year courses were: o chem I and II with lab, linear algebra, differential equations, physics electricity and optics, chem engineering statistical modeling and probabilities, chem e calculations, and thermodynamics. Plus chem e seminar first semester and co op seminar second (Purdue is co op optional though).
I’d ask the advisor specifically about how to best approximate the chem e courses at a school without an engineering department.
If you are looking to reduce costs, what is your home state? Your instate options should give you a better shot at admission too.
Agreeing with @momofsenior1 that looking at costs is important- not least b/c there are decent odds that it will take you extra time to graduate: the coursework for engineering is hard enough to complete in 4 years when you start from year one. Your Chem & Math background will help, obvs.
Also agree that your home-state university system is the right place to start, as likely to be the most affordable and possibly more likely for admissions. The degree of difference in terms of opportunities and outcomes across the middle 50% of (accredited) engineering programs is pretty small. Be sure to check both the “State” and “Uni” option (you already know GaTech >> UGa for engineering, and that it is typical in many (most?) states.
Usually engineering schools at state universities are in high demand are try to weed out students. Some have a high GPA requirement to enter major, some restrict transfer in (Penn State), others require some credits taken at their campus that are used for entry to major and other cap the credits (for example at Michigan state over 56 credits you cant transfer into Engineering. From what I have seen Arizona has a low requirement for a GPA (2.2) to transfer in.
By the way Delaware and Minnesota are no safety. Delaware’s star major is Chemical Engineering.
Keep in mind they will expect to see Calculus 1 & 2 and sometimes 3 (Michigan), Physics for Engineers 1 & 2, Principle of Chem with lab. I think that’s just the standard.
Saying all that I think this year might be interesting with all what’s happening around us.
For course work, I will finish multi var calculus (just finished this summer), linear algebra, and differential equation by the end of my sophomore year ( finished ap cal bc in high school). I also finished honor general chem, general biology, intro physics. I will finish another biology course, organic chem, classical thermodynamics (for biochem major) by the end of my sophomore year. Maybe also intro to python. Based on the requirements, I think most of my course can transfer and I’m willing to spend an extra year just for chemical engineering. The course that I’m lack of might be just those chemical engineering courses, which my school doesn’t have, or liberal art classes (which I’m not so sure of, to be honest). Most of my grade will be in A/A- range (if organic chem will not kill me)
@airway1 Since Delaware and Minnesota are no safety, do you have any recommendations on schools I can look into? I do want to have at least two safe bets that I can rely on…
@momofsenior1 My home state is CA. But I heard UCs have a lot of competitions in engineering admission. Not sure if it’s correct. I will transfer after I finish my sophomore year most likely so I guess the information on Purdue’s web page apply to me.
I’m going to page @Gumbymom to see if she has any insight for transfers to UC engineering programs. She’s the resident expert on CA schools.
Overall I think you are in good shape with your courses. I would still call the transfer advisors at some of these schools to see what they recommend. At very least they could recommend courses that could count for upper level gen ed requirements or other requirements (for example, Purdue has a higher level biology requirements for chem es). They may also recommend additional physics courses.
For the UC’s, yes they are competitive for Engineering majors, but your GPA is on target. UC’s however give priority to CA CC transfers, followed by UC/CSU transfers, then CA Private school transfers and finally OOS/International Transfers.
Each UC can also have different transfer requirements so if you are interested in a UC, you should check each school’s Chemical Engineering transfer requirements and also keep any syllabi from your current college courses to aid in their transferability.
Below is the 2019 UC Transfer GPA admit ranges by UC campus and major to give you an idea of your competitiveness.
@momofsenior1 Thank you so much for your insight. I will definitely try to email the advisors and see what they recommend. I guess I will double check the requirements for Purdue and put it in the reach category for now.
@Gumbymom I’m a CA resident but I’m currently studying in an out of state private school (which is why it’s expensive I guess). Do I count as OOS transfers or CA Private school transfers that you mentioned?
Here’s Michigan’s transfer information. But warning… They do NOT accept everyone’s else’s math and science. They are extremely picky on this. Check this http://apps.engin.umich.edu/equivalencies/
You will be an OOS private university transfer if you remain at your current school and try to transfer. That is why I suggested you consider attending a CA CC where you would get priority if you accumulate 30 semester units for transfer by Spring.
More information as a possible UC Transfer from the UC website:
**We give highest priority to California community college students transferring as juniors — who make up over 90% of our transfer class. For students from other colleges or students hoping to transfer as a freshman or sophomore, different guidance applies.
Transfers from four-year or out-of-state two-year institutions
To get a general idea of whether your courses will transfer to UC, you can compare them to similar courses in a UC campus catalog or to a transfer course agreement (TCA) that UC has with any California community college. For TCAs, visit ASSIST. A formal evaluation of your transcript most likely will not take place until after you have applied.
You’ll still need to meet the same minimum admissions requirements as we have for California community college students, and plan to do as much preparation for your major as possible.
See UC’s Statement of Transfer Practices [PDF] for more information
California public universities with chemical engineering include:
CPP
CSULB
UCB
UCD
UCI
UCLA
UCR
UCSD
UCSB
SJSU
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major can give you an idea of admission difficulty at UCs. For example, for 2019, UCR chemical engineering transfer admits had a middle 50% range of 3.09 to 3.57 college GPA, with an admit rate of 68%.
Of the three CSUs, SJSU is the most transparent about historical admissions at https://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/transfer-impaction-results/index.php . For 2020, “Applicants who completed one or more course requirements were admitted above a 2.00 GPA. All other applicants were admitted above a 2.20 GPA.”
If you are a California resident, then you will likely find a UC or CSU to be less expensive than the out-of-state public universities on your list.
You may want to do your second year at a California community college, whose course offerings are more likely to help you fulfill requirements for transfer to UCs and CSUs. These include courses like English composition. See the base requirements for transfer at:
@Gumbymom@ucbalumnus Thank you so much on your advices! However, I do think that doing my second year at a California community college and then transfer to UCs might be too troublesome (a lot of uncertainties at this moment) since my second year will start within a month. I’m not sure if it’s worth it or not.
Although I want to lower the tuition, the cost is not the most important factor in my consideration. I would rather finish my second year at current school and then transfer to UCs/other schools.
If any of your guys have any good safety/standard school (outside of CA is fine to me, if helps) that I can look into, I will really appreciate it! I’m also considering 3+2 at Columbia (this is my very last option other than doing chemical engineering at graduate school since Columbia is pretty expansive without aid) if this helps.
Also, out of state, there are places like ASU and UA in Arizona, SDSMT in South Dakota, and NMIMT, UNM, and NMSU in New Mexico that should not be too hard to get admitted to as a transfer student. If you prefer a smaller environment, SDSMT and NMIMT are small engineering-focused schools (and are not that expensive).