Hey everyone! I’m a senior and I just finished applying to all my colleges and these are my top choices. I’m really nervous about my chances as my stats are incredibly low so I’d really appreciate it if y’all can accurately chance me for these schools for Engineering! Thanks a lot!
Demographics: Asian Indian attending a competitive high school in Pennsylvania
UW GPA: 3.15 W GPA: 3.58 Class Rank: School Does Not Rank
Coursework:
9th grade: Honors Chamber Orchestra and Honors English. No AP Classes
10th grade: Precalculus Honors, APUSH, AP Chemistry (4), AP Music Theory (5), and Honors French
11th grade: AP US Gov Pol(4), AP Physics C (5 Mechanics, 4 E&M), AP Computer Science A, AP Calculus AB, and AP Statistics
12th grade: Honors French, Biology Honors, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, and AP Calculus BC
Awards and Honors:
Golden Presidential Service Award
National Honor Society
French Honor Society
AP Scholar with Honor
2nd Place in Chemistry Olympiad
Extracurriculars:
Robotics Team Vice President (12): Head of organizing Outreach Programs to educate the community about Robotics. School and Community Representative of the Team. Designed Robot for Team.
Engineering Club Board Member (9,10): Conducted Interactive and Fun STEM workshops for Middle Schoolers to kinder their interest towards STEM. Head of Science Experiment Design.
After School Tutor: Tutored students having difficulties in STEM subjects
UI/UX Developer Intern for Company (10,11,12): Brainstormed and implemented ideas to improve User Interface. Used Java, Python, HTML, and CSS to code projects.
Research Intern (11): Conducted Research on Nanoparticle Interactions at Temple University and received $2500 as a stipend for my research.
Science Olympiad Competitor (11): Represented my school as a part of the Science Olympiad Team.
Volunteering Club Board Member (11,12): Led a group of students to conduct service projects. Conducted bake sales and pizza sales to raise $172 to donate to the local animal shelter
Volunteering Organization (9,10,11,12): Had leadership position. Brainstormed and led service projects and fundraisers. Conducted bake sales to raise $124 towards local homeless shelter and $867 for a local hospital to support frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tutored low-income children on STEM subjects.
CS Intern (10): Learned in-depth about real-world applications of Python and HTML. Coded numerous projects in hackathons and learned about the real-world applications of the CS industry.
Chemistry Olympiad Competitor(9,10): Represented my school as a part of the Chemistry Olympiad Team. Won second place in state competition.
Letters of Recommendation:
Robotics Coach (9/10): Known him since freshman year and I’m on very good terms with him.
CS Teacher (7/10): Had him Junior year and I did decent in the class but I don’t think I stood out too much tho.
Essays:
I grinded on my essays for these schools so at the very least I’d rate them an 8/10. PM me if you would like to see my essays.
Please let me know about my chances for Texas A&M, Purdue, UMD-College Park, and UIUC. I applied EA to all of them. Thanks so much!
At UIUC, chemical engineering is not within the Grainger College of Engineering; it’s within Liberal Arts & Sciences. Given that reality, perhaps admission is not as competitive to the major? UIUC, though, is not liberal with merit money, so you’d likely be full tuition rate. Best of luck to you!
As someone else said Chem E is not in Engineering at UIUC, however UIUC is a top program for Chem E and they accept by major so that is probably still a reach. They also don’t look at LORs. However, your ECs are good so they may overlook your GPA and lower side SAT for Chem E.
A&M will be tough because it will get a lot of students that couldn’t get into Chem E at UT which is also a top program.
Purdue also up there so again hard to say but not quite as hard as UIUC and less expensive. But not generous with merit either for OOS.
If you’re already in Penn State that’s a great option to have, it is just really expensive so be prepared for that. Again, you cannot look at the admit rate to just LAS as someone mentioned because at UIUC and pretty sure Purdue and some of the others, you apply as you know from your own application to major.
Note that many of the schools on your list have secondary admission to major after you enroll. This is the case for PSU, Texas A&M, and Purdue. UIUC may admit to DGS undeclared instead of your major, in which case you need to face a secondary admission process to get into your major.
Most students have lower college GPA than high school GPA.
"Trends in achievement over time is important. Did you continue taking rigorous courses over the entirety of your high school career? What trends do we see in your grades? Did they drop over time, go up over time, remain consistent? Again, we want you challenging yourself for 4 years as well as we want to see continued improvement or consistent excellence.
Average GPA for an admitted engineering student is a 3.82, unweighted. Guess what? Admissions doesn’t look at cumulative GPA when looking at applications! Instead, they focus on individual grades with an emphasis on courses relevant to the major you are applying. So, in the case of Engineering, they will be especially interested in grades you received in science, math, and English classes. Remember: Admissions looked at unweighted GPA scores, so weighted scores will be converted."
Illinois may only consider DGS as an option for in state students. I can’t quite remember and don’t feel like going back to look at my son’s application. Or, it may just be that in staters can apply to DGS as their second choice major while OOS cannot. I think maybe it’s the latter.
Illinois does take a 3 on AP tests so if he/she has those then he wouldn’t have to repeat them but the required science and calculus courses at Illinois are brutal so if his/her grades in those classes aren’t strong to begin with then they probably won’t fare well in them at UIUC (and possibly Purdue) and/or should just retake the ones already taken.
Let me clarify my comment about “not as competitive” given ChemE is within LAS and not Grainger: I meant perhaps the ChemE admittance is not as competitive as overall admittance to engineering. I’d assume, though, as you note, admittance to the ChemE program is likely significantly more competitive than getting into another major within LAS.
Possibly, but again UIUC Chem E major is a Nationally Top program regardless of it being in LAS, so while it may be easier to get into than CS which is the most difficult at UIUC, it is not easy for someone with a 3.15 GPA that is an OOS. In state a 3.15 GPA applying for Chem E would be a reach. UIUC is very strange about their admissions so it’s going to be how many spots there are and how many apply. But it’s not a freebie and it is a highly competitive program to get into.
Good points and agreed on all counts. And, yes - it’s an aberrational year for UIUC admissions with EA and RD decisions all being released on 2/15. Plus, there’s no data yet on how application volume is pacing. I’m a UIUC grad (and my D19 is a soph in engineering) and I never understood why ChemE isn’t within engineering (was not back then, either). But, that’s why I’m a business major…
Thank you so much for your answer! While those acceptance rates are giving me some hope, my stats are still pretty low so I feel like my odds are somewhat lower than those chances. I also do have a downward trend in my GPA which is pretty bad. However, I had an extenuating circumstance in my Junior year which lowered my GPA that I explained on my Common App so I don’t know if that will help me. By the way, I didn’t know Texas A&M had an 80% acceptance rate for Engineering.
I recieved a pretty bad grade in Physics C which was my lowest grade. However, I had an extenuating circumstance in my Junior year that I explained on my Common App. I also had a lower trend in my GPA so that will definitely unfortunately hurt me. I am hoping my Essays, LORs and ECs will carry me and outshine my low stats
Thank you so much for your answer! I definitely am hoping that my ECs and Essays outshine my GPA. However, I am just afraid that my app won’t be on the table since my stats are that low. I also have a downward trend on my GPA in high school but I had an extenuating circumstance in my Junior year that I explained on my common app for the reason my Junior year GPA was so low.
Thank you so much for your answer! I applied for Aerospace Engineering as my secondary major and I feel like my secondary major is harder than my primary major lol. I am just praying that my ECs, Essays and LORs outshine my GPA and that my extenuating circumstance explanation on my common app is sufficient enough. However, I am incredibly worried about my downward trend and I feel like I can’t do anything about that. Purdue is my top choice and if I do get in, it would be a dream come true.
Thank you! I feel like just like everyone else is saying, there is a lot of competition this year for ChemE and UIUC admits by individual major. Moreover, there are a lot of students taking gap years because of COVID that are applying again that may fill up some seats quickly so I’m worried that the higher stats will take the seats this year. I don’t know tho as anything can happen but I feel like unfortunately my odds are mostly against me
Very true, but always remember these wise words from Wayne Gretzky: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” And, this is clearly a year for shot-taking. Best of luck to you!
Thank you so much for your answer! Do you think I have a chance to make it in for secondary admission considering my low stats, downward trend in GPA and my extenuating circumstance that I explained?
