… and not have an overly difficult, competitive, or uncertain process to choose a specific engineering major? (e.g. Texas A&M, NCSU are examples of engineering divisions where getting into some specific engineering majors is difficult, competitive, or uncertain)
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Purdue looks at UW GPA so I’m not sure where I’d put this student’s chances. 800 SAT math sub score will help but Purdue engineering does also want strong verbal scores. Also don’t know which AP courses so hard to chance.
OP - MSU has a great engineering program and would be a safety.
She is unsure of what area of engineering
AP Physics 1, 2 both A’s taking AP Physics C senior year
AP Calc AB A taking BC senior year
AP US History 1&2 B+’s
And then a couple of other AP’s
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Are Iowa State and Kansas State too far away? Both have great school spirit, D1 sports, and solid engineering programs at a relatively affordable price compared to other OOS flagships, and neither is in an area known for hot weather.
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You can add SUNYs as safety. Stonybrook and Buffalo are strong in engineering.
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Virginia Tech, Syracuse and RIT. Lehigh barely meets the enrollment cutoff but great for engineering.
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It is rather difficult to estimate reach/match/likely/safety with only a weighted GPA based on an unknown weighting method. What should we assume is the unweighted GPA? 3.28?
I came up with a 3.77 unweighted based on math, English, history, language, science
Colorado State
University of Colorado
Iowa State (The good thing about the Iowa Schools, and I believe Kansas, are that you can figure out if you are an auto-admit online and if you send in an early application, get an acceptance in a matter of a week. My son had an acceptance in the bag in July.)
University of Iowa
URI
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You need a budget - full pay can be $90k or $400k.
What type of engineering ? That will impact.
You’ve heard many - UCONN, Quinnipiac, Delaware, URI, Maine, RIT, Drexel, Cincinnati, WVU, Syracuse, Hartford, Pitt, Akron, SUNY Buff, Miami Ohio and more,
Since WUSTL in play, how about Mizzou, Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Michigan State.
I don’t see UVA or WUSTL as viable but you can try.
I think what type of engineering can help direct the student and frankly in most cases, no need to overspend. Outcomes don’t necessarily deviate much.
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So many go undeclared for engineering. With Michigan though the avg is 3.94 unweighted with a 34 Act. The verbal score is low. Many engineering students are low but but higher then this. They also like leadership (leaders and best)
I would look at Michigan State since she might get honors with many advantages like half tuition. But being OOS it’s a long shot. I would look into the above suggestions.
WashU will be tough as well.
Many good suggestions above.
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Thanks for all the suggestions and recommendations. Will keep you posted. Wash U and UVA may be reaches but my now freshman sons school was a reach and he leaves next week! So we will still pursue…
Totally go after reaches but have realistic safeties. Good luck!
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As long as you have a financial and admission safety, where you apply doesn’t matter.
In engineering - as an example my son turned down highly ranked Purdue and merit for no rank Alabama (for his own dorm room). That I only spent $60-70k over four years due to his academic profile was a bonus (for me).
20 interviews and 5 offers in the fall and guess what - he’s in a big program with Purdue and other top school grads.
So you say you can afford full pay but the question is, do you want to ? Only you can determine that.
WUSTL is currently $84k and UVA even more for engineering. And you know it will go up each year and many spend more than schools say.
If you could attend school for half or less and end up similarly, Is that expense worth it ? That’s what a full pay family has to decide. In my case I set a limit if $50k and spent 30-33% of that. In your case it sounds like full pay at a high cost school may not be a concern and that’s fine if it’s your choice.
Also, I asked the specific discipline. Reason is - let’s say your student was a chemical engineering major ? Delaware would be a top choice in the field etc.
So there’s more nuance.
In general, as long as a student has that safety they’d love to go to and can afford which you can, matches and reaches don’t matter as far as where one applies to. If it’s UVA and WUSTL then great. If they get turned down or decide later as others do, to change their mind - no issue as long as they have that safety they’d still love to attend . That’s why it is the most critical school on the list.
The others are nice to haves and with the parents blessing, the kids should take their shot.
Best of luck.
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If you haven’t done so, check out the Common Data Sets for schools that you are considering. Section C7 tells you how different academic and non-academic admissions factors are weighted by a school; Sections C9-C11 give objective information for recently matriculated students, which may in turn give you a crude estimate of how you compare with them for admissions purposes. If your child falls within the top 20% or so of test scores/GPA for matriculating students at a given school, then that school might be considered a “safety.”
As for Purdue, here is a link to its Data Digest: https://www.purdue.edu/datadigest/ . If you do the interactive link at “Applications, Admits, and Matriculations,” you can get some idea of how your child compares with other OOS applicants. The link to “New First-Time Beginner Profile” gives objective information on recent first-year students; it is a way to compare your child’s stats with those of recently matriculated Purdue students, and perhaps get a rough estimate of your child’s admissions chances. As others have noted, it is probably not a “safety” school for your child.
Maybe I am reading the CDS wrong but it looks like she falls right there if not above the scores and gpa’s at Purdue. Also top 7% in her class. But I’m not an expert by any means at interpreting data so maybe I am reading it wrong
Check out the interactive parts of the Purdue Data Digest. As an OOS applicant, she would likely need higher stats.
Drexel? UVM? RPI? WPI?
The link you posted wasn’t working