<p>I want to attend engineering school, but I am not sure what my GPA will be at the time of application. Assuming it is 3.1-3.39, what are my choices? I have lots of schools I would like to go to but prob. won't get into (UBC, McGill, Tulane, CSU:SLO (maybe I could get in there and BU)) and many "matches" (Northeastern, Purdue, Case Western?, WPI) and only one safety (Iowa StateU). I don't want to go to ISU because my brother goes there. I need to get more safetys + matches and close reaches. Any suggestions? Canada is no limitation and I am not afraid to leave the US :D. EC's are not bad, and I anticipate a 770+ on my SAT math so SAT scores should be good. I know I can get perfect on the SAT Math, so I will retake if needed (shouldn't be). I'd just love to sit back and think I could get into McGill, but at this point I am thinking of even cancelling my visit this summer because of my GPA :(</p>
<p>There are two places to study engineering. One is in a specialized engineering school such as MIT. The other is in the engineering departments of a large public university. </p>
<p>Most larger public universities have engineering departments. You indicate on your application that you want into the engineering programs and the admissions committee may treat you differently from everyone else. The professors themselves want to have more input in the decision, and the selection is more numbers driven. Engineering professors want to have more say in who is selected than professors in the other departments. They probably tend to put more emphasis on the SAT math score than anything else.</p>
<p>Specialized engineering schools are not as hard to get into as you might expect. Obviously, MIT, Caltech, Georgia Tech, and Carnegie Mellon are hard to get into. The other schools are not necessarily that hard to get into. The problem is to stay in after you are accepted. Engineering schools tend to have very rigorous freshman years. </p>
<p>Other engineering schools besides MIT, Caltech, Georgia Tech and Carnegie Mellon include:</p>
<p>Case Western Reserve Univ
Clarkson Univ
Colorado School of Mines
Drexel Univ
Illinois Institute of Technology
Michigan Technological Univ
New Jersey Inst. of Tech.
New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Tech
Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst.
Rochester Inst. of Tech.
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.
Stevens Inst. of Tech.
University of Missouri - Rolla
Virginia Tech
Worcester Polytechnic Inst.</p>
<p>As said, the public universities have engineering departments that operate semi-autonomous from the rest of the university. You might consider Rutgers - New Brunswick.</p>
<p>also Lehigh Univ and two mid-size universities are Bradley Univ and Bucknell Univ</p>
<p>One important thing to check about any engineering program is whether it is ABET accredited. Here's a link to their accredited schools:
<a href="http://www.abet.org/accredited_programs.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.abet.org/accredited_programs.html</a></p>
<p>If I were you, I'd start with this list, go state by state looking for the type of engineering you're interested in, and then contact each school to see what the stats of people accepted into the engineering program are.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. I have visited Bradley already, I believe I could get in there. Anyone have any match/closer reach predictions? Thanks for all the replys.</p>
<p>It seems that the top things that adcoms look for are (in order) difficulty of curriculum, gpa, and standardized test scores. The standard response for a low gpa and high SAT scores is that the student is lazy. The standard response for a high gpa and low SAT scores is that the high school may not be that rigorous. A lot about what you read about being accepted concerns the importance of extracurricular activities and essays. Applying in engineering is different and admission committee are composed more of actual engineers. I believe that they tend to care most about how you did on your math and science courses and how you did on the math SAT. You might also want to take either the Math SAT IC or Math SAT IIC. I'm not saying that it doesn't matter (because it does), but grades in other courses and the SAT Verbal exam are less important. </p>
<p>Another aspect is that applicants in engineering tend to have an easier time getting in than they do staying in. Freshman year in most schools is a time when the schools care for their students and try to help them succeed. Freshman year in engineering is intended as a time to thin the herd. Expect to take Physics, Calculus, Chemistry, and Computers all at the same time. I'm not saying that they flunk people out, but they try to move them into other majors. However, except for the top schools like MIT, Caltech, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, and a few others; some excellent engineering programs are not that hard to be accepted into.</p>
<p>I can not judge your changes at getting in. However, the colleges I listed above are the engineering schools listing in Princeton Review's Top 357 Colleges. I only listed the engineering schools. There is an engineering department in almost all large public schools that works pretty much the same way within the university. Check the 50% SAT ranges for any schools that you are interested in. A safety school for a non-minority, non-legacy applicant is a school where you are in the upper part of the 50% range.</p>
<p>I would mention one thing in particular about Drexel (Philadelphia). The dominant program there is a co-op program where you work in industry half of the time beginning with sophmore year, but it takes five years to graduate.</p>