I’m a rising senior and am super conflicted about which college at UMich I should apply to. I basically want to know how easy or hard it is to transfer between LSA and the engineering school once you are accepted to UMich. Also, would it be better to apply to the engineering school because I have demonstrated interest and work experience with engineering, despite its lower admissions rate compared to LSA? Here are my stats just in case it can help:
Female, OOS (California)
GPA UW: 3.85
ACT: 33
Senior Year: AP Physics C, AP Stats, AP Calc AB, AP English Lit, History Elective, Research in Science
(only took 2 APs junior year)
ECs: JV volleyball, Varsity water polo, volunteer in Northwestern’s mechanical engineering lab, have 800 volunteer hours, part of YMCA youth and government conference program & working in Cal Tech chemical engineering lab this school year
Thank you!!
I think you might be more interested in the admissions rate for qualified female candidates which is probably really high. Apply to the engineering school now and save yourself any future bother
Do you by chance know how easy/hard it is to transfer into the engineering school? Also I should add that Michigan is my absolute top choice and I would do anything to go there (including apply to a major I would probably switch out of). Thanks!
It’s not hard to transfer into the engineering school if you know you want to transfer into the engineering school. All you need to do your freshman year is make sure you are taking the classes you would be taking as a freshman engineer anyways. The bulk of them (calculus, physics, etc.) are in LSA anyways. I am not an engineering student, but I almost want to say you don’t have to technically be in the CoE to take ENGR 100/101 (e.g. get an override). If you can’t however, you can definitely take EECS 183, as you only get credit for EECS or ENGR 101, not both (e.g. they’re kinda interchangeable). As for the ENGR 100 class, I don’t really know what you would do - thanks a good question for an adviser. All in all - it’s not impossible and many, many people have done it. You might end up behind a semester but I would put money on your chances of being able to catch up to everyone else if you’re willing to work for it.
P.S. user4321 is right - your chances as a female are higher, and if you write some killer essays, with your test scores and extracirriculars, I have no doubt you wouldn’t get in. Apply early action - no matter how stressful it is. Have your application in by November 1 of this year (common app opens August 1 as I’m sure you know). There’s a chance you’ll be deferred to regular admissions, as they tend to do that to out of state students during EA, but if that happens then that’s your time to shine. Start emailing and calling and sending grade updates and express all the possible interest you can. However, you seem incredibly qualified for Michigan and I wouldn’t try to freak out too much about it.
It’s not too hard if you take the prerequisites and get a nice GPA (I think a 3.3 or higher, but 3.5+ might put you in the “safe” zone).
@sl17533 UMich is about 50% Men and 50% Women. However, the Engineering program is only 26% Women. There is real interest at most universities and in the workplace to see more women in the field of Engineering. I am not an admissions expert, but I wonder if the admissions chances at LSA vs. Eng would be any different for you. You seem to have excellent credentials. Good luck.
Your chances are probably better with COE than LSA as female. The Dean, administration, and faculty has talked about initiatives to get 50/50 for a while now. But not surprising there are plenty that transfer from COE to LSA because of the difficultly
You get a bit of a boost as a woman applying to engineering, plus your experience at Caltech will be a big plus. I’d apply to engineering and then transfer out if you really hate it. IMO, CoE is the best and most supportive college at Michigan, and the facilities are superb. There is additional support for women in engineering, and women only professional groups that will ease your transition into work life. What are your ACT subscores? Math, especially should be high.
tough decision but your odds sound pretty decent for a woman in engineering, so Id say it not worth the hassle of transferring in the future.
Woman DEFINITELY get a bump haha. From my experience, unfortunately, the guys dominate engineering academically.
Unless OP is a Asian Female, it might not apply. They are actually overrepresented at UMich compared to their 3% of US population. They have better representation compared to White, Black, and Latina women
When The Supreme Court upheld Michigan affirmative action ban in 2014, it bars publicly funded colleges from granting “preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.”
So I wonder if women applying to Engineering get any advantage. I’m sure there is encouragement for women to apply but there may be no further advantage.
The gender bias would trump the admission gap between LSA and CoE, and even the race factor. They just want more qualified female students in CoE. Even Asian female would get a big boost in chance for admission and scholarship. Nevertheless, ACT 33 is around the average for admission at CoE while GPA 3.85 is slightly below average. The gender bias would help but still not a solid match considering the low admission rate.
But who knows how well UMich actually follow the rules. They do give bad Detroit schools a little boost to circumvent
Regardless, OP sounds like an about match for COE based the profile. It would look odd with engineering extracurriculars but applying to LSA.This backdoor isn’t a new trick and admission staff know that especially for out of state students
@TooOld4School I have a 34 math subscore…should I retake the ACT to try for a higher one?
A 34 math score is fine. Race is not a factor at UM, the percentage of Asians at Michigan is proportionally (when compared to the Michigan Asian population) even higher than the UC system. @ForeverAlone , the OP appears to have a genuine interest in engineering , so I doubt admissions would see her as a backdoor applicant.
Michigan gives boosts to all kinds of schools: Some Detroit schools, certain highly rated public and private schools, Washtenaw county schools, feeder schools, and rural districts. It is still a state school and politically it makes sense to have students from all over the state, not just Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties.