My daughter is a junior and wants to major in mechanical engineering.
GPA is 4.0 or 4.12
ACT score is 35
Has taken a lot of AP classes including AP statistics as a sophomore.
4 years marching band.
She is in a leadership position for her First robotics team, mentors the middle school robotics team.
Has tons of other EC including rugby.
Would like to know which engineering schools she has a chance of getting into, possibly getting scholarships also.
UW Madison is on her list and we are in state.
What other schools could she realistically get into?
A 35 on the ACT is basically perfect. She has a realistic chance to get into any school she wants. But many of the most highly selective schools only produce need-based financial assistance.
Also, as an engineer, the caliber of the person matters more than the school for this profession. I wouldn’t get hung up on the best, although bigger schools can generally offer better facilities and opportunities.
How far is your daughter willing to travel for school?
Thanks for your response. She is willing to travel to either coast.
She is interested in UW Madison, Georgia tech, MIT, CAL tech, Carnegie Mellon, Berkley, and Stanford. I do not want to discourage her but not sure it is worth it to go to an MIT or Stanford. I want her to get a good education but also be able to enjoy the college experience without accruing a lot of debt.
She qualifies for free tuition at UW Madison because of her fathers military service through the WI GI bill.
She should have plenty of choices for engineering but unless she is a recruited athlete then the most selective schools are never a sure thing. And the sailing team approach seems to be out at Stanford
When you say “enjoy the college experience” I hope you/she realizes what undegrad engineering is like. I won’t say everyone hates it, but few would describe it as enjoyable in the same way kids in other majors might. She can expect 25-40 hours a week of homework and studying, constant academic challenge, and pretty much 4 years of calculus. You can pick your times to blow off school, you can have fun at times, but don’t mistake it for a good time. And it gets tougher at the premier places like MIT and Caltech. If she hasn’t done so already she should talk with kids that are in college engineering programs to understand their experience. I don’t say this to frighten her or discourage her from doing engineering, but talk about enjoying college doesn’t seem to jibe with an expectation of what is ahead.
UW Madison is an excellent Engineering school, and free tuition there would be hard to turn down if it were me. We live in Illinois (my Son is a senior interested in Mechanical Engineering), and son would have probably chosen University of Illinois if it were affordable ($34k/year, no merit aid for us). For engineering, I think the state flagship schools like UW madison, can offer a lot of opportunities.
As far as enjoying the college life as an engineering student, I think a student can strike a good balance between studies and other activities at most schools. However, If you daughter chooses highly competitive schools like Georgia tech, MIT, CAL tech, Carnegie Mellon, Berkley, and Stanford, then maybe the social life would be minimal
I would be hard pressed to turn down a free ride at UW Madison! My daughter has similar stats and ECs (robotics!) as yours and focused on ME in her apps. We live in Illinois - she applied EA and was accepted at UW Madison and UIUC. And applied ED at Rice University (she’s a legacy) and was accepted there. Unfortunately we are full pay so aside from some scholarship $ at U of I, she didn’t receive anything.
Engineering is a grind. Go to the cheapest decent school. If she is a good test taker and is well prepared academically, UW-Madison is a very solid choice with lots of opportunities. Has some of the better labs among schools we toured, a giant maker lab and extensive ME machine shop.
Wow, it will be tough to top UW Madison for cost and quality!
I agree with @ucbalumnus , do the financial planning now. Several of those top schools have expected family contribution calculators. If cost is out of reach, don’t bother applying because it is really a burden to apply to each one (MIT doesn’t use Common App, for example).
Opinions probably vary widely on this, but compared to UW Madison, I wouldn’t want to pay more than $5k / yr beyond UW’s cost for another school if she really found a great fit.
Is your daughter’s GPA weighted or unweighted? Has she ever had any grade other than an A during high school?
“UW Madison, Georgia tech, MIT, CAL tech, Carnegie Mellon, Berkley, and Stanford”
Since you are out of state for UC Berkeley, it would be very expensive. I would just cross it off the list unless you are very wealthy.
UW Madison is a superb school for engineering (and computer science and many other subjects). You are very lucky to have such a good school as your in-state public university. A full ride there would be a great deal at a great school.
The rest are reaches. I would be inclined to run the NPC on them and see what sort of results you get. Of course they are reaches from the perspective of getting accepted (even with perfect stats) as well as from the perspective of being able to afford them. MIT and Caltech are appropriate only if your daughter wants to work VERY hard for a full four years with no let up at all (I have some personal experience). If I had been accepted to both Georgia Tech and UW Madison at the same price, I honestly am not sure which one I would have attended.
If UW Madison is a safety (I am not familiar enough with it to be sure since we are from a different cold part of the country), then it would be okay if the rest of your schools are reaches, although I am usually more comfortable with having two safeties. One superb safety takes a lot of the pressure off of university applications.
“UW Madison, Georgia tech, MIT, CAL tech, Carnegie Mellon, Berkley, and Stanford.“
The last 5 will be a reach school for anyone. Even those at/above the 75th percentile only get in at 20-30%, vs the overall 10-15%.
GT is a good fit, UW is a safety, IMHO. Other fits: Michigan, Cornell, Northwestern. Top safety schools: Illinois, Purdue, Texas Austin, Virginia Tech.
“GT is a good fit, UW is a safety, IMHO. Other fits: Michigan, Cornell, Northwestern. Top safety schools: Illinois, Purdue, Texas Austin, Virginia Tech.”
I am not convinced any top 10 to 15 engineering schools are “safeties” with the possible exception of U of Wisconsin. Being instate helps. Some are strong matches for sure. Purdue would be safer if you apply EA. They convert to rolling admission for RD and most of their engineering class is pretty full by then. Great students can be shut out simply because they have filled the class. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the other schools listed might be in the same situation.
She has never received anything lower than an A. We have since toured Madison including the engineering tour. She loved it. She is ready to work hard and does not party at all. Think she might choose lakeshore dorms if she ends up at Madison. Madison has lots of engineering clubs too.
I agree with everyone else, it’s hard to beat the money. I will put in a plug for my son’s school, Cal Poly. One of his mentors is a UW grad and has been seriously impressed by what he has been able to accomplish. Look at the mechatronics concentration. In the end though, Go Badgers is probably the right call.
Wisconsin seems like the obvious choice but if she wants to look further afield and you’re willing and able to have her college experience cost more I would have her add on Purdue, UIUC and Michigan, all of which have better ME programs than WI. I am not in the midwest but some friends in IL and MN have had their kids go to school in WI due to reciprocity agreements for in-state tuition, you might want to check to see which if any of those offer in-state tuition to WI residents. She won’t likely get “merit” at a top engineering program but I’d run the EFCs at the private schools to check for need-based aid, you might be surprised.
