My son is a senior. He has a 3.0 unweighted and 3.7 weighted GPA at a highly rated public high school. His ACT score is a 30 (superscore 31). I feel like his GPA and ACT are somewhat mismatched and we are finding it difficult to determine which schools are a match for him. He has an upward trend. Freshman year wasn’t the best. He’s very bright but doesn’t apply himself. EC’s are average, has played some high school sports (probably varsity this year but doesn’t plan on playing in college except maybe club/intermural) and has a job.
He is leaning towards engineering - specifically biomedical or biomechanical. He is also possibly interested in something in business management and/or computer science. I honestly don’t see the engineering major lasting more than a semester or two but you never know with kids I guess. He wants to apply to schools with engineering as his first choice major which I think will make it harder to get into many of them. He wants a bigger school with sports and a fun college town and/or city nearby. He seems to prefer a “defined” campus but I don’t think that’s a deal breaker. Cost is fortunately not an issue.
Here are the schools he’s thinking about (in no particular order):
University of Alabama - applied, put Management Information Systems as major since they don’t offer biomedical
University of Mississippi - applied, don’t have biomedical engineering
University of South Carolina - visited, didn’t love it but is still applying
Clemson - did the summer scholars program there this summer and really liked it
University of Cincinnati - visited and liked (not as much as some he visited afterwards)
Syracuse University - visited and really liked
Virginia Tech - going to visit in September
University of Pittsburgh - likes it but maybe too urban?
University of Tennessee - Knoxville
Virginia Commonwealth
University of Kentucky - no biomedical
University of Delaware - not ABET accredited for biomedical
Purdue
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Tulane - big reach
Auburn
Do you have any other suggestions? Any of these a total waste of time and money to apply to? Which would you say are safeties vs. matches vs. reaches (or totally out of reach).
Any help is greatly appreciated. This is the 3rd child and I feel like I don’t know what direction to help him to go in. The other two were so much easier!!
University of Massachusetts Lowell should be well within his grades has a great engineering program.I don’t think they have a specific bioengineering major, but they have this: https://www.uml.edu/Catalog/Undergraduate/Engineering/Departments/Chemical-Engineering/Programs/Biological-Engineering-Option.aspx
I have friends who have studied mechanical engineering etc. through UMass Lowell and continued to pursue subjects like bioengineering in grad school.
Those are nice stats. If cost isn’t a problem, send him to a smaller private school so he gets more 1on1 attention on personal development as he sounds very bright and still growing and maturing. He can do engineering as a core for the first 2-3 years and then transfer to an engineering school by the time he is ready for a less personalized core. If he changes his mind about engineering then he can stay there for business and entrepreneur development, and the small school networking will help also.
Cornell has biomedical engineering
Penn State has Biomedical Engineering.
http://www.bioe.psu.edu/
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University of Alabama - applied, put Management Information Systems as major since they don't offer biomedical
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Right, but they do offer Chemical & Biological Engineering…and the school does offer some BioMedE classes. Did he look at that? There are add’l scholarship dollars when you’re in the Col of Eng’g.
Have you visited?
Many people major in ChemE or MechE if they want a career in biomedE or if they want to go to grad school in BiomedE.
My son was ChemE at Alabama, but also took …
CHE 418. Tissue Engineering. 3 sem. hrs.
Tissue Engineering is an emerging dynamic, experimental science in which engineering and biological science principles are used to develop techniques for improving or restoring the structure and function of tissue. Offered primarily in the fall semester.
Genetics
CHE 445. Introduction to Biochemical Engineering. 3 sem. hrs. Study of biological processes; application of chemical engineering skills to areas including enzyme kinetics, fermentation, cell growth and metabolic processes.
What is your budget?
the scholarship difference is significant if he’s in the College of Eng’g. Does that matter to you?
MIS is typically business, not engineering.
Cost constraints?
@mom2collegekids I was hoping to hear from you. He has looked at their engineering courses briefly. He’s got it stuck in his head that he only wants biomedical. I’ve tried to explain that he should do MechE and then worry about biomedical in grad school. He doesn’t want to do MechE for some reason. Like I mentioned, I don’t see him continuing in engineering after the first semester or two. I don’t see it as a good match for him personally. I will have him look at the courses again.
We are fortunate that there aren’t any cost restraints. Obviously, that doesn’t mean that scholarship money isn’t important 
We haven’t visited yet. It’s possible that we will be able to visit in a couple weeks. If not, then in the fall.
@ucbalumnus Yes, his second choice of major at this point is business. I think it is a much better match for him than engineering. We are fortunate that we don’t have any cost restraints but as I mentioned above…that doesn’t mean that scholarship money isn’t important At this point, I’m most concerned with finding a good match for him where he can get in and try engineering if that is still what he wants but where he can change majors if engineering doesn’t work out. I’m not sure that he will get into too many engineering programs with his 3.0 uw??
I am curious as to what your son thinks undergrad “biomedicalE” is. I think some young folks think it’s something that it’s not.
MIS is a very good major as well. I know many people who have majored in that and love it.
""The Management Information Systems program at The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce is ranked No. 4 among public universities and No. 8 among all universities, according to the 2013 Bloomberg BusinessWeek rankings.
Graduates from the UA MIS program are among the most sought. For more than a decade, the program has placed more than 99% of its students before graduation. In 2013, graduating UA MIS students’ average starting salaries exceeded $59,800.""
the Dean of the Honors College at Bama is a former MIS prof.
Are you going to visit Bama?
Don’t major in Biomedical Engineering unless you want to be an engineer.
My older son had similar stats and was accepted to Virginia Tech for engineering. He wanted a smaller school so did not attend, but I have visited twice and did think it had a lot to offer. We were also full pay. So, I think it is probably a match for your son.
And for what it’s worth, my son ended up as a math major. I think engineering really does take a lot of academic dedication.
Lots of engineering programs will admit students with a 3.0 HS GPA. However, the graduation rate in engineering for students with a 3.0 HS GPA is likely much lower than for those who did better in high school, due to the relatively high level of curricular rigor involved.
What is your home state?
What was his ACT breakdown?
What have his math/science grades been like?
With engineering, he’s risking rejection at schools that he might really like. Is he ok with splitting the apps between engineering, business, arts/science?