I think it’s been said but Michigan and UT should be in the reach category for OOS applicants.
Of the schools not mentioned, UMD CP would be a target.
I’ll put in another plug for Lehigh.
As some have noted, I have a daughter at Purdue. She’s in her senior year for chemical engineering. It’s an amazing program! Yes, IN is a red state but W. Lafayette is a blue dot so if UT is on the list, don’t rule out Purdue (plus IL is close by!)
Was on the list but too conservative esp with all that is going on. Shame - my father went there.
Throwing out a crazy one. U of Kansas. Hits many targets though including college town. Will be a safety and great cost.
You may think red but think again and the state just overwhelmingly passed access to abortion. The people, not the legislature decide there. And the governor is a democrat. Is it a blue state ? No. But the town and many there yes - and not sure what your issue is with conservative states is but assuming it’s reproductive rights, it’s likely the safest place in the country. While other states will seemingly have access, get the wrong legislature in and you never know.
And Lawrence is typically rated amongst the top college towns.
Many look to K State for engineering but in this case you might take a look at KU. Go to your first message….and it’s spot on to KU. Yes University of Kansas.
Btw when you say strong in engineering, short of a few top schools, they’re all fine. ABET certification is what you want to ensure the school has. Where you go for engineering matters less. Yesterday I pulled some Nasa profiles. They were all over from
Rowan to St Louis U. At my son’s internship they have Ga Tech and Purdue but also Alabama, TN Tech, U Houston, etc.
Virginia Tech and Colorado School of Mines. Other universities in Colorado?
Is the student in Texas and in the top 6% of the high school class? Even for in state students with a top 6% class rank who have auto admit to UT Austin, getting into the engineering college is a reach. They have guaranteed admit into UT but not into their 1st choice major. Definitely not a target if the student is outside of Texas. We had a top 2% student at our Texas high school with all the test scores and ECs and rigor not get admitted to UT engineering.
Mines is awesome, especially if a skier. Golden is cool.
I love Va Tech. In my opinion nicest campus in the country. Top rated food.
Just note that while historically the state leaned left thanks fo the DC suburbs, the new Governor, Glenn Youngkin is looking to undo many of his predecessors actions and to follow the lead of other red state governors.
And what’s about CU Boulder?
It’s on his list. Message one. Great school in STEM.
Interestingly the student demographic doesn’t match the city but great school. Tour guide on son’s visit told us that. The data seems to back that.
It’s on his list tho. Great choice
However, that may depend on whether student is of a visible minority group, LGB, T, minority religion who dresses distinctively, etc. if the local politics are unfriendly to such. Or there may be social pressures regarding gender roles that did not exist where the student grew up. I.e. for some students, certain types of politics may be more likely to be a quality of life issue, rather than just politics that can be ignored when not actively seeking politics.
That said, such things are less likely to be an issue with the college community or college itself with most colleges. However, the college community and college itself are not the only things of concern, since a student who ventures off campus would have to interact with the local community, and the state laws could have an effect as well.
Agreed. Was talking about the school, any school. . Not the state. But sometimes the state will win. For example in Ohio a psychologist can decline a client for their beliefs, etc. A school may not have bias. But their employee May and there’s nothing that can be done from what I understand.
And you are right, he is not part of a group that stands out on campus.
When OP started with blue dot in a red bubble (Austin) it kind of became school specific. But you are correct.
I think you need a new list of targets. Your child seems to be the typical bright well rounded kid, with uncertain admissions. ED would matter.
If you are full pay, private schools might have better odds of admission
Really? Kid also has 8 years of coding experience doing full stack web apps, teaches coding to younger kids, 8 years of competitive gymnastics, head of a few clubs.
The point is that schools with a sub 20% acceptance rate are reaches for all applicants, even ones with impressive stats and achievements like your student’s.
That is why UVA (even with legacy), UT Austin, U Michigan, and quite possibly some of the engineering majors at UCD and UCI, should be classified as reaches.
With that said your student may well be accepted at one of their reaches, and posters have given many good suggestions in this thread for true target schools, have any of those made it onto the list?
Lastly, if there are any cost constraints, you should let us know that, because that could change the list of schools as well.
In fairness, you didn’t give any details other than GPA/test.
I don’t think your list was off - but was heavy reach - and in some cases didn’t meet your populations.
But I think you’ve gotten enough suggestions to add a few more - I’d go at the target/safety level.
As I mentioned earlier, there have been posts this years - just based on GPA/ACT - of rejections at UF and UMD with these #s. One girl got into CMU but rejected at Florida. She appealed and was later admitted at UF I believe.
But engineering is not an easy admit - unless you go to an easier admit school - in your initial list, that’s only CU boulder. RPI would likely happen too if you applied there. Delaware is a slam dunk - as it’s a top program in ChemE.
But lots of suggestions provided in the chain and I suggest adding two more - at the easy, low target and lucky for you lower cost level (as you said, you’re full pay and prepared but you wouldn’t mind saving $$).
Good luck.
PS = i’m stealing from @Gumbymom and others here- but there are 3 UC GPAs and they don’t use 9th grade - here is the calculator she posts. I’m going to look for the engineering admit rates - she also posts.
Congrats to your kid on a great record. What is your kid’s rank or approximate rank? Have they taken all of the most rigorous courses available? If your kid were top-5% kid with highest rigor at our school, your breakdown of reach/target etc is very close to assessments here, but that is not the case at many other schools, as other posters have pointed out.
Does the school counselor offer any insight into reach/match/safety? In watching the process unfold in our area at public magnets vs top publics vs top privates, there are differences among schools. For example, at one school it is very rare to get into UCD, UCSB or UCIrvine and one has to be near the top of the class, and none in recent memory have gotten in to UCB. At another school UCD UCI let in kids in the top 25% frequently, but getting into UCB and UCLA is about 20% in the last couple of rounds, and almost all who try are top 10%.
UMichigan, even Engineering, is a definite target for top-ranked students with your kid’s stats at the school I know best(assuming highest rigor) , a reach for the the top kids at the school across town.
It just depends. I agree with adding Virginia Tech. What about WestVirginia U? IT is a top 100 program in ChemE and gets a lot of kids from our state(VA) from the Stem -magnet-publics.
EDIT: I suppose WVU is in a red state, but the kids /families I know there are not conservative at all and their (engineering) kids love it.
Our kids lists are very similar, minus the UC’s and UT for us… I think with CU Boulder (and probably UWash Seattle) on you don’t really need another safety. But if you are looking for one, our kid’s third safety/target is UMD College Park. Great location close to DC and strong academics. If he likes Northwestern, has he looked at Tufts? Not a safety obviously but easier admit than some on your list and has ED2 option. Same for Wesleyan.
I think context matters here. Your kid is extremely accomplished and academically worthy. Consider however the numbers.
Sounds like your kid will be in the (pick a number) top 5% of students applying to colleges. The vast majority of the kids applying to top tier schools however comes from that top 5%. Your kids apparent superiority to the other 95% of kids is now irrelevant.
Back to numbers. Many AOs have been quoted indicating that half or more of the applicants they review would be worthy. So basically using back of the envelope math a school with a 5% acceptance rate translates into a 10% acceptance rate for kids like yours. This doesn’t account for the reality that some “super” achievers take up multiple acceptance slots while ED further limits spots for those that slip to RD.
The fallacy and disappointment typically comes when parents think 5% acceptance rate, plus kid in top 5%, plus multiple schools equals at least one elite acceptance. It simply doesn’t work that way.
It comes down to a base case of being really smart, driven and worthiness followed by institutional needs, being great (plus something), a little luck, an essay that strikes a nerve etc. No one is diminishing your kid but people are earnestly responding to the reality that even the most talented of kids are often disappointed. She is no longer competing in the smaller HS pool in which she has thrived but needs to stand out in a global ocean of talent. A bit hyperbolic but it’s a slow sunday😀
Good luck.
If your high school has naviance or similar, that is a very valuable tool.
Remember that the overall admit rate at state schools is not relevant, only the out of state rate, and for that major. So UT is well below 10%, for example.
So as stated both UT and Michigan are reaches. Unless your child is on the gymnastic team then just another bright kid in their eyes. The stats only tell part of the story here. If they accepted everyone with these stats there would be no room in any classes and would have to start a new college. They only take so many students a year and trust me all of them have amazing stats.
Some UC admit rates and stats are below:
UCB College of Chemistry overall (Chem Engineering -2021) admit rate: 14%. Majority of admits had a 4.4 to 5.0 Fully weighted UC GPA. Overall campus admit rate was 11.4% for 2022.
UCLA Chemical Engineering admit rate (2021): 20.7% 1,128 applicants with 234 admits. Overall campus admit rate was 8.6% for 2022.
UCI Chemical Engineering admit rate (2021): 58.3%. 660 applicants with 385 admits. Average UC capped weighted GPA was 4.07. Overall campus admit rate was 21.0% for 2022.
UCD: no specific admit rate for Chemical Engineering but had a 37.5% overall campus admit rate for 2022. 59% overall campus admit rate for OOS applicants in 2022 which is down from 77% in 2021.
UCSB: no specific major admit rate but average UC capped weighted GPA for Engineering was 4.39. Campus overall admit rate was 25.9% for 2022.
