Please Help Eliminate Some Reach Schools

Parent Cafe
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<p>My son is a senior, white male, from CA, has an uw GPA of 3.75, w GPA of 4.5, SATI 2220, SATII 800 Math, full IB, AP Scholar w/ Distinction, Eagle Scout, over 1200 hours of EC's, CS, work, and leadership positions including scholar athlete and AB Calc awards last year. He wants to major in Mechanical Engineering. He has no shot at playing sports at the collegiate level and there are no financial restraints on where he can apply. He does not have a preference for large schools v. small schools, or urban v. rural, or cold v. moderate weather. He only wants to go to a strong academic school, with a good faculty and facilities, collaborative environment, in his major. He is very social, but not looking for a big party school or greek life environment.</p>

<p>He is applying to 21 schools: </p>

<p>High/Mid Reach Schools-- Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, MIT, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Princeton, Rice, Stanford, WashUStL</p>

<p>Low Reach/Match Schools-- Michigan, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, USC (CA)</p>

<p>Safety Schools-- Cal Poly SLO, Texas (Austin), UCSB, Washington, Wisconsin</p>

<p>Notre Dame isn't really known for their Engineering curriculum, but he liked the school when we visited. He considered other good Engineering schools, like Purdue, Illinois, and CMU, but he decided not to apply there. Stanford is his number 1 choice, which is also probably the most selective school on his list (along with MIT, Columbia, and Brown). </p>

<p>I know he is extremely top-heavy on reach schools, but I cannot get him to narrow his list down, and that's why I'm asking for your help. He respects the CC community and this may help him narrow his choices much more than I would be able to. I'm looking for schools that you think he should remove from this list based on his major, interests, attributes, etc.</p>

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<p>I’d eliminate Brown and Princeton since their engineering programs are not as strong as others on the list. I don’t know anything about CA schools. However, both Michigan and Wisconsin have rolling admissions. Get those apps in ASAP. Once he gets that first acceptance, he would likely be able to eliminate more of the low reach/match/safety apps.</p>

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<p>If he’s interested in Mechanical Engineering, he needs to add RPI to his list (as a match).</p>

<p>Take off Brown, Columbia, Duke, Notre Dame, and WashUStL if he’s serious about engineering.</p>

<p>There is no way both UWashington and UWisconsin are safeties, because neither is a safety for anyone out of state.</p>

<p>“Strong academics” and “collaborative environment” would to me rule out most of the state schools in this current recession, because so many programs are getting cut to save money. (Of my son’s friends who went to UWashington, none were able to major in engineering because they didn’t have the grades freshman year to get into the program.)</p>

<p>I think your son should also look at Olin and WPI, both of which emphasize a collaborative engineering environment.</p>

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<p>I agree with others to take off the reach schools that don’t have a very good engineering program. Sounds like he might like large publics with a high ranking engineering program. I personally like UWashington and Penn State.</p>

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<p>If he’s interested in Mechanical Engineering, he needs to add RPI to his list (as a match).</p>

<p>His uncle went to RPI and hated his experience there. This gets reiterated to my son every time we get together. Ironically, my brother-in-law has never NOT landed a high paying Engineering job, with RPI on his resume!</p>

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<p>I think your son should also look at Olin and WPI, both of which emphasize a collaborative engineering environment. </p>

<p>Thanks for the suggestions, dmd77. Both are a little too small, particularly Olin.</p>

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<p>Thanks, gcnorth and Scorpioserpent.</p>

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<p>Princeton does have an excellent mechanical engineering program (ranked 10th in USnews for graduate programs) but with those reach schools, you should be looking more at atmosphere and other offerings that could help whittle the list down.</p>

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<p>I accidentally left Princeton off my original post for extremely selective reach schools on my son’s list.</p>

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<p>Where does he rank, official or not?</p>

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<p>How sure is your son that he wants to study engineering?</p>

<p>I ask because some of the schools on his list are very tech-focused, whereas others are comprehensive universities. </p>

<p>For a student who is very sure of his interest in engineering, either type of school could be a great choice. But one who is less sure might be happier at a comprehensive university where there are plenty of other opportunities available if engineering doesn’t turn out well for him.</p>

<p>I often recommend my alma mater, Cornell, for students who are interested in engineering but not absolutely sure that they won’t change their minds. But there are other schools that also offer what Cornell does – a top engineering program AND a comprehensive university with lots of other interesting majors.</p>

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<p>I know you asked for elimination based on atttibutes, major etc…but my elimination is based on strategy. He’s a very strong candidate. If he likes all of the reach schools, then I disagree with the others. I would keep 1 match and 1 safety – as long as he would be willing to go there. And make sure at least one of the match or safety is rolling – and that those applications get done ASAP.</p>

<p>As for attributes…that have nothing to do with major…a lot of the schools seem to be strong football/basketball sports schools…or schools like the Ivy League that have exciting sports rivalries. If that’s important … I would eliminate WUSTL, MIT, Cal Poly, and UCSB. . If you need something to use to eliminate them – school vibe is as good as anything else.</p>

<p>I know that sounds very trivial – but all of the schools on his list are excellent places. A couple may be in the top 5 for Mechanical Engineering, and others might be top 25…or even lower. Some on this site will argue that’s a significant difference. But you’ll see others note that a high percentage of students do not major in what they thought they would freshman year. Choose places where he’ll be happy if he decides to switch majors.</p>

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<p>Assuming he is a student in CA, does he qualify for ELC (top 4% of his graduating class)? If so, you might consider whittling down some of the safeties in addition to the non-engineering reaches. For example, ELC students are guaranteed admission into UCSB, and the admission rate for UCSD shoots up to 89%, and up to 66% for UCB.</p>

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<p>I would also add that The University of Texas is not a safety for anyone out of state. UT does have a highly ranked engineering program, but is far from easy to get in to due to the top 8% rule (formerly top 10%) in Texas… no matter what the student’s stats are.</p>

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<p>Ditto on UT Austin. It is definitely not a safety for anyone but in-state top 8%, and even then you can’t be guaranteed the major of your choice. Still apply, but realize that it is 50-50 at best.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the heads-up on my son’s safety schools perhaps not being as safe as he (and I) think. Yes, he is an ELC applicant. The letter arrived a few days ago. They don’t tell you which UC he gets automatic acceptance to at this point in time. School does not rank, but unofficially he is in the top 2 or 3 percent. He is also VERY sure about studying Engineering, but you raise a great point, Marian.</p>

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<p>Thanks for your input, 2boysima!</p>

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<p>For full pay out-of-state with this kid’s stats and activities, Wisconsin and Washington are likely to be safeties. Are you sure UT isn’t for full pay out of state???</p>

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<p>Your son has great stats; sounds like he’d have a strong application. I have a daughter now at MIT and a son who chose Willamette over UCSD and UCSB. Here’s how I’d whittle down the list to 9 schools: </p>

<p>High/Mid Reach Schools-- Columbia, Cornell, Duke, MIT, Rice, Stanford </p>

<p>Low Reach/Match Schools-- UC Berkeley, UCSD, (CA)</p>

<p>Safety Schools-- Cal Poly SLO</p>

<p>Reasons: I tried to keep the strongest engineering schools on the list and cull the others. Of the reach schools, I think your son has a great shot at Cornell and Rice and with some luck, Duke. The rest are always high reach schools. Your son will definitely get into Cal Poly SLO and UCSB, so don’t put both on the list unless he’d select it over Cal Poly SLO. He’ll also get into UCSD.</p>

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<p>Thanks, CalAlum. That’s a great list. The only ones I’d personally add are Michigan, USC, and UCLA, since he really liked these schools when he visited. The rest of the schools you mentioned certainly gives him a nice variety to choose from.</p>