School suggestions for Chemical Engineering

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>My D is a rising senior and she is very interested in studying Chemical Engineering. I have screened some schools with her already, but I am not sure if we have overlooked something. So here I post to ask for some more suggestions. With home state in Michigan, UMich would definitely be on top of the list. Financial aid would be a major consideration. Here is her credential:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.993 (UW in 4.0 scale, all A or A+ except for 1 A- in a semester AP class)</p>

<p>Class rank: no rank at school but should be among the top 5%.</p>

<p>ACT: 35 (1st attempt)
E: 36
R: 35
M: 35
S: 34
Essay: 8</p>

<p>SAT1: 2230 (2nd attempt single sitting)
CR: 720
M: 800
W: 710
Essay: 8</p>

<p>SAT2: Chem (800), Math2 (800)</p>

<p>AP: APUSH (5), Chem (5), Eng Lang (5)
AP to be taken in senior: Calc BC, Physics C, Computer Sci, Spanish</p>

<p>Awards and professional certificate:
AP scholar
Nation Merit Semifinalist (well above previous cut off in Michigan)
District Solo/Ensemble: several 1s (top grade) in piano and string quartet
Michigan State Solo/Ensemble: 1 in piano solo
Nominated outstanding soloist in Michigan 2012 (piano)
Food service certificate</p>

<p>EC: (the weakest link)
Piano: 11 years. Completed all 10 levels SATD test in Michigan with high scores.
Viola: 5 years (mostly self-learned except for a few hours with instructor before auditions)
Orchestra: 4 years including senior (viola section for 2 years in Concert and 2 years in symphony in one of the top high schools in music program)
Church youth group and praise team: 3 years (some leadership role)
Famine 30: 4 years
Volunteering: 300+ hours (mostly in Volunteer Summer camps every year restoring low income or abandoned neighborhood in Detroit area, plus many hours in food bank, salvation army, feeding homeless, teaching vbs, tutoring at school, etc).
Clubs at school:
National Honor Society: 3 years
MUSIC club for community service: 2 years
Volunteering club: 2 years</p>

<p>Job experiences:
Summer interns in pastry and retail departments of a local bakery for 2 years
Private tutor for ACT and ESL</p>

<p>Gender and race: Asian Female
Family Income: ~$75k</p>

2

<p>University of Minnesota is the one of the best and cheapest for Chemical Engineering. However, with those stats, I recommend looking at Stanford, MIT, CalTech, Cornell and Princeton.</p>

3

<p>UMich is definitely a great school she should apply to. You might want to try hitting up the Financial Aid forum on here to find out which schools she’d earn automatic scholarships at with stats like those.</p>

4

<p>Thank you very much for your responses.</p>

5

<p>Any other suggestions?</p>

6

<p>My S graduated from Cornell this year with a BS in Chemical Engineering. As an engineer (EE) myself, I am highly impressed with the quality of education he received at Cornell. He was able to augment his education with research experience and with two strong internships. He accepted his offer from one of his internships last September with an excellent offer and benefits.</p>

<p>We received an excellent FA package all four years. His outside scholarships allowed him to eliminate the student contribution and loans which enabled him to graduate with no debt.</p>

<p>Looking back on our experience over the last four years, we would have made the same decision all over again.</p>

<p>Your D’s background looks very solid. I would have her take on a strong leadership role in HS to enhance her application package.</p>

7

<p>Thank you very much for your advise.</p>

8

<p>Hmmm… she sounds like a great fit for Olin College of Engineering near Boston. Olin is teeny and limited, and I don’t think she could specialize in ChemE. But it has been a great fit for my geek/musician. He really enjoys the project based curriculum. </p>

<p>I call it “the best little school you never heard of”. Oliners have turned down MIT, Stanford, Princeton, etc. Every student gets a half tuition scholarship, but for families relying heavily on need based aid there may be no financial advantage.</p>

9

<p>If she makes National Merit Finalist, Texas A&M may be a good deal, due to the following scholarship:</p>

<p><a href=“https://scholarships.tamu.edu/national_scholars/national_merit.aspx[/url]”>https://scholarships.tamu.edu/national_scholars/national_merit.aspx&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“https://financialaid.tamu.edu/Cost/COA_Undergrad.aspx[/url]”>https://financialaid.tamu.edu/Cost/COA_Undergrad.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Net price after the scholarship is about $12,000 per year.</p>

10

<p>University of Delaware is well regarded for chemical engineering (though not as well regarded for other subjects); there is a competitive full ride to apply for:</p>

<p>[Merit</a> Scholarships, Honors Program, University of Delaware](<a href=“Honors College | Challenge. Enrichment. Community.”>Honors College | Challenge. Enrichment. Community.)
<a href=“Undergraduate Admissions | University of Delaware”>Undergraduate Admissions | University of Delaware;

11

<p>More big scholarships:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-18.html#post15895768[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-18.html#post15895768&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-2.html#post15889078[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-2.html#post15889078&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>UT Austin! Ranked 4th? Or right around there. Great job opportunities (a lot of the freshman i know got internships after their first year) and undergrad research is really made possible by the faculty. UMich is a great choice aswell though considering your from michigan.</p>

13

<p>^ Thanks. She was born in Texas and can speak some Spanish. Also, I got a Ph.D. from UT Southwestern. I am not sure if that counts for legacy. I do have several cousins graduated from UT Austin though.</p>

14

<p>UT Austin does not care about legacy, according to its common data set, section C7 or [University</a> of Texas at Austin Admissions Information - CollegeData College Profile](<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=788]University”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=788) .</p>

15

<p>Her stat is fairly good for most of the selective colleges. Try MIT, Caltech, Stanford, CMU, and Cornell. They all have good CHE majors. Based on your income, she may get her entire tuition covered or even a free ride.</p>

16

<p>^ Yes. I have done the cost calculations with a couple top private schools and they both seem to have pretty good financial aid that even make it cheaper than some public oos before any merit aid. I guess I should look deeper into that although the chance is low.</p>

17

<p>At 75k family income, many top schools should give her close to a full ride if she gets in. Problem usually is getting in. I suggest applying to several and see if one of them admit. You can apply EA to Caltech and MIT together if you want to try that. Both have great ChemE programs.</p>

<p>Rice would be a good school and has access to all the major companies locally for internships and might have full FA package too. University of Houston also has a good ChemE program with similar local access. She should probably qualify for almost a free ride in their honors school.</p>

18

<p>^ Thanks for the great info.</p>

19

<p>Che. E is one of the most difficult majors. I strongly recommend her go to a private school where she can get more help and has greater flexibility of changine discipline.
Her ACT score and GPA are fine even for the most selective colleges. Her AP and EC are good but lack of science and technology elements. A music supplement will help. With her music acomplishment, I even think she may have better chance at IVY and other great non-tech schools.
She can try EA to Caltech MIT UM, ED to Cornell.</p>

20

<p>I plan to major in Chemical Engineering too, with her stats she could do much better than UMich, I suggest MIT, CalTech, Stanford and the like.</p>