The MINIMUM GPA Required for Entrance into Mech Engineering is 3.2. However, due to Fall 2022 “Overcrowding” in the Major it becomes “competitive” and 3.2 is NOT admitted automatically. You have to look at asterisks * and fine print. Purdue is making you jog around to different sources and links throughout their website. We emailed directly with a Mech Engineering Undergraduate Advisor who gave us the 3.86 GPA Avg admittance number for Fall 2022, Class of 2025 numbers.
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@momofboiler1 please chime in and give us OOS Floridian’s “good background” that we might not get from the school.
(Warning - this is super long!)
So, I have a class of '23 Boiler, chemical engineer, and Purdue far far exceeded all of our expectations. (For the record, Purdue was her first choice, but not ours as parents as the size scared us).
Here’s where I think Purdue really excels - hands on learning from the get go. FYE engineering design class is outstanding (my D took the honors version). All project based, plus field trips to companies/labs, guest speakers, and NASA reps judged their final project. She was able to get safety trained certified in all the shops, 3D printing labs, etc… during that class as well.
Career readiness - Every class seemed to incorporate real world problems during lectures, for projects, and exam questions. The career center is outstanding. Purdue runs one of the largest career fairs in the country in terms of numbers of companies coming to campus. There are people on this site who will say that’s a thing of the past but kids can get their internships, co-ops, and full time job offers in the course of a few days instead of weeks. And they can meet the hiring team directly and talk to current students and new grads about their experiences at those specific companies. The voluntary co-op program is very very well supported and it’s seamless coming and going in terms of course progression and housing. (My D co-oped and I am happy to answer any co-op specific questions that I can). The final senior year engineering design class is also outstanding. I believe for mech E, they are actually sent to a local company to help with a current problem. For my chem E, they had to design a novel process for a carbon neutral ammonia production plant. They had to do everything from the design, the scale up, costing, OSHA safety calculations, etc… The projects change every year based on industry needs.
I think Purdue also does an incredible job of making a large school feel small. I recommend living learning communities to everyone. EPICS is fabulous for mech Es. (Although @jimdlt1 it sounds like your student may have a shot at honors which is it’s own LLC).
There are tons and tons of academic supports - all the LLCs have onsite tutoring, there are help rooms for all the first year classes, profs and TAs both run office hours and there are review sessions for each and every exam. I highly recommend that students take advantage of all those opportunities and it’s a great way to get to know your profs and TAs better.
I was personally shocked at how many relationships my D developed with professors. Many more than I did back in my day at a school 1/2 the size. As early as freshman year, she was having coffee with profs, going to dinners hosting by them, going hiking with profs and their kids, etc… We were so surprised by the accessibility and the how generous profs were with their time.
Advising is outstanding. D had a FYE and honors advisor, and then transitioned to a major advisor, then added a co-op advisor, and retained her honors advisor throughout.
Lots of flexibility to obtain certifications, minors, and concentrations because Purdue is super generous with AP credit. Also great opportunities for leadership development.
Food was good and my D especially liked being able to use meal swipes at the restaurants and at food trucks.
She lived on campus for 5 semesters and then moved off campus. Housing was a non issue for her and she loved her dorms and her apartment (parents iffy about the apartment but we didn’t get a vote ; ).
My D was able to go abroad (lucky timing pre-Covid in '19), do a 3 term co-op, had 3 additional internships, had a tutoring job, did research (should be published soon), get a leadership certification, and was a course grader. She also had time for theater, a boyfriend, camping, sports, etc… And of course, she is happily employed her field and loving her chosen career.
Again, so far exceeded any of our expectations for an undergraduate experience.
If anyone has any specific questions, I’m super happy to answer them. Just PM me!
Boiler UP!
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I reached out to the Mech E undergrad office this morning.
This is the response:
Acceptance into the School of Mechanical Engineering is contingent upon a student’s successful completion of the First-Year Engineering program at the Purdue West Lafayette campus. Please check out the Transition to Major (T2M) process for FYE students transitioning to an engineering professional degree program. For guaranteed admission into Mechanical Engineering, students must have both an overall 3.2 GPA and a 3.2 Engineering Admission Index (EAI).
Transition to Major information
Please note that they confirmed that the 3.2 EAI/GPA number guarantees enrollment for Mech E. The minimum EAI/GPA to be considered is a 2.8.
(EAI is the engineering admissions index and is the GPA with just required STEM classes.)
The average incoming GPA is 3.86 for mech Es, but that should help people feel more comfortable about the process, not have concerns!
Also note that CODO (change of degree objective) is not the same as the first year engineering Transition to Major process. CODO is for students who are NOT starting in the college of engineering and are trying to switch in. Those GPA thresholds are much higher and subject to space availability. Mech E is typically closed for CODO, regardless of GPA.
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Did you get an email about your likely OOS Merit Trustees Scholarship?
It is clearly stated on the website. Strictly a numbers game.
This is GREAT!! Thanks so much
Interesting. I didn’t see any numbers for how you decided the likely award. Would you mind sharing a link? This is all I could find. Thx
IOOS Trustees Numbers from other students and previous postings on the net are about 1530 SAT and a 3.75+ Unweighted GPA.
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Previous blogs, first hand family knowledge and reddit search.
I would echo this comment.
Son is a junior in Aero.
He got an internship last summer and had 5 offers extended to him for next summer already. One is at his “dream company”, his words.
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@momofboiler1 Pretty much all of the Mech Engineering programs we are looking at “Strongly Recommend” taking ALL AP Calculus and Physics OVER at the University level. What is Purdue’s feeling on this?
Purdue posts old final exams. We were told if a student could score 85% or higher, they should feel comfortable in skipping the class.
My D skipped Calc I and didn’t have to take physics mechanics because it was integrated into honors design. She did retake Chem because she didn’t feel like she had a strong enough foundation (terrible HS teacher) but said in retrospect, she should have skipped that too.
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We met with two advisors during our visit (one going through training), and they were super helpful. They recommended taking credit for Calculus I and II if able. It seems those tend to be “weed out” classes, or at least the two classes the advisors hear the most complaints.
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Jimdlt1 often posts misleading information. I don’t think he is doing it on purpose, but he has posted numerous misleading and incorrect information on the Texas A&M group as well as the Auburn group. Take what he says with a grain of salt.
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Only info I am reading. Son has been accepted to A&M, Auburn, and UCF. Waiting on Purdue.
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Congrats to your son!
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My son is currently FYE at Purdue. He came in with credit for Calc 1-3 and DiffEq. Talking with his advisor last summer, their recommendation was to grab the exams from the Math Dept website as @momofboiler1 mentioned and see how they went. Based on that he decided to retake DiffEq, but take the credits for Calc 1-3. This has worked out well for him, none of the material is brand new, but he feels like it is more than just review.
Based on his conversations with current classmates, he’s happy with the decision to skip over Calc 1-3. My impressions of his classmates feelings (so now third hand) is that Calc 2 in particular isn’t covering new material, but the structure of the tests and homework are making it “overly hard”. I’m sure everyone’s mileage will vary, but in no way did he feel like he HAD to take Calc over again.
And since he’s in the Honor’s College, Physics is combined as part of the Honors FYE courses, so taking credit really wouldn’t have helped anything. He says the workload for ENGR161 feels more like 5 credits than 4, but it isn’t the complexity of the material as much as the total amount of topics they are covering (6 hours of class time alone per week).
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Late to this latest thread but a current parent so have been through this process from admissions to job hunting by my student. First, anyone who thinks Trustee scholarship is a given should expect to be disappointed on January 15th. Admission isn’t a given with superstar stats, especially if the application treats Purdue as a safety/sure thing. pump the brakes.
Second, Transition to Major is competitive but there are several ways students navigate this. Some start in the summer and transition a semester before the rest of the class, some delay or retake courses and transition later than the rest of the class. and the majority do it at the end of freshman year. And the vast majority get the major they want.
Purdue engineering job fairs are more of a long shot for people not at the top of the class when it comes to Big Name Employers. The fairs are so huge and the interest in “name” companies so great that a lot of kids don’t strategically pursue opportunities at smaller or less familiar companies.
Purdue is a full of serious students. There’s support from multiple sources—peers, grad students, professors—and amazing affinity groups to make a huge school more personal. It’s not for everyone but it delivers what President Chiang calls “excellence at scale.” Personally I’d be more concerned about the lack of housing and inordinately long food lines at overwhelmed/understaffed dining halls.
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There’s no magic formula. The level of vitriol when people post the GPA and test scores of their students who do get Trustee scholarships that are lower than the stats of those who didn’t is utterly predictable year in and year out. Purdue does not award purely on stats.
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