Race: Hispanic/White
GPA:3.8 U/W; 4.4 W
Class Rank: 1/25 “Valedictorian”(Not that impressive with such a small class, but still)
ACT: 31 (E31, M30, R31, S33) 32 Superscored for Cal Poly and Georgia Tech
I just retook and will retake and expect a 32 composite and 33 super score.
Income: 200k+
State: Texas
Major: Electrical or Mechanical Engineer
Leadership: Youth Leadership at Church; Sophomore (like 75 hours)
PAL(Peer Assistance Leadership) Program (assist mentally challenged students fit in socially and academically in school); Freshman-Senior (250 hours)
ECs: Golf; Junior-Senior (Practice and compete 5-10 hours per week)
Boy Scouts; K-9 (moved and couldn’t manage the drive but got star scout)
A&M STEM Camp for two weeks; Sophomore Summer
Football; Freshman
Youth Nights every Sunday at church; Freshman-Senior
Volunteer: Local Scholarship Program; 12 hours
Two summer vacation bible schools; 50 hours
Mission to Moore, OK after the tornado; 40 hours
Work: 25 hours a week every week for the past two years since I turned 16
Essays: I believe they are above average for sure
Recommendations: My employer, principal at school, and the president of the scholarship program that gives out 2.5 million a year
Thoughts on chances of acceptance and/or scholarships to the schools mentioned in the title?
Cal Poly SLO’s projected acceptance rate for EE around 36% and ME around 18%. You are a competitive applicant based on your stats and have a very good chance. You will get little to no scholarships at SLO since it is a California Public school and the Cal states are not know for merit aid. Expect to pay full price at $37K/year as an OOS applicant.
Anything under 40 is feasible. I appreciate the comment. I really like the sound of Cal Poly, but how does it compare to UT Austin? Just going by rankings, it is impossible to tell because it doesn’t have a phD program, so it is on a different ranking scale. Rankings put it below Rose-Hulman, Harvey Mudd, W. Olin, and USMA, but above USNA, Bucknell, USAA, and cooper union.
I’ve looked at it, but at 65k/year, I can’t justify it compared to UT’s 26/year. Plus, I would try for UCB and UCLA probably before I go to UCSB.
How is the college life and the feel at Cal Poly SLO? Also, why is the cost of OOS tuition half that of UC schools? Is it the fact it doesn’t have a PhD program?
Cal Poly is not a research institution. You would have more internships and research opportunities at UCSB and UT Austin. Personally, I think all the other schools you mentioned are better than Cal Poly. The only advantage to Cal Poly is that the professors are more focused on teaching (if you care about that). Also, it’s dirt cheap.
@Jpgranier Cal Poly is located in Central California, not far from the coast. It’s pretty isolated with not much city life, but the downtown is very nice. You will have to drive far if you want city life.
@emory323 the main reason is the cost. The lack of merit aid at at a price tag of 65k a year with similar prestige as UT, it is hard to justify. I might apply just for the heck of it. I have all a’s and 1 b in my Sophomore-Junior year which will be like a high 3.9. Scholarships are like impossible but it doesn’t hurt to try and it’d be nice to know I could get into the number 3 engineering school in the nation.
The University of Alabama’s Scholarships are interesting as well. So just to be clear if I went in with a 32 ACT, I would receive full tuition then 2500 a year for engineering? That is really good. Do they do any other scholarships? Valedictorian? Any thing that would lower the cost more through the school.
Also, do are any of these schools lenient on switching majors in the college of engineering? I am split between mechanical and electrical.
I assumed you could pay for the UCs since you are applying to Georgia Tech.
I know nothing about University of Alabama, sorry.
I know Purdue is an excellent engineering school (much better than UCSB and Cal Poly). I’ve heard it’s easy to change engineering majors there. You should consider applying there.
For some reason, my parents have a general disliking towards most of the UC’s. Probably due to their Republican background and feeling like the UC schools are too liberal. They have friend’s kids who have gone to Georgia Tech which is why they are open to the idea.
Purdue is definitely a good idea thanks! What is Indiana like? I have never been there before.
Your stats are strong so apply to all of them. I am a Cornell EE so have some bias but hard to go wrong with any on your list. UT and A&M will be hard to beat in terms of cost, and possibly employment should you choose to stay in state.
@Jpgranier I don’t do chance threads but do want to give you a little bit of advice. For Georgia Tech be sure to reach out to the Hispanic Recruitment Team, the admissions person in charge of Hispanic recruitment (believe it is still Kevin Gonzalez) and attend a visit event at GT hosted by HRT (I think it is called Destination Tech). You must contact HRT and Mr. Gonzalez to get an invite to it. You will increase you chances at GT by visiting and really getting to know the school. In your supplement you need to be specifics as to why GT (programs, classes etc).
For GT you must apply EA- the admission rate is much higher and with GT getting harder to get into every year you want to have the odds in your favor. GT’s EA is due on Oct 15 and that includes sending of test scores and transcripts (which means you have to order them this week since it takes about 3 weeks to get their (SAT or ACT scores). I also suggest you apply EA to SMU. I believe the Hispanic Admissions Recruiter is Rick Diaz.
One final recommendation-reconsider your recommenders. For engineering you must have a junior year science or math teacher. Unless the guy at the scholarship organization gave you, that recommendation is really worthless for college admissions. Colleges want to hear from people who have taught you.
As far as your question about being flexible in majors for engineering, you simply have to do the research yourself. I do not that Cal Poly is inflexible, GT and SMU are flexible. TAMU changed that recently so check with them. Know that going in as an undeclared engineering is not recommended because some of my students have not been able to switch into their desired major.
Cal Poly is a CSU, and CSUs are less expensive than UCs. It is a well respected school among employers for engineering. However, if your goal is to go on to PhD study, some other schools may be better suited for that in most subjects.
UT Austin looks like automatic admission to the school, though not necessarily to any particular major, for you. No other Texas public universities interest you?
Do you mean with open admission to the major (needing only a 2.0 GPA and C grades in the prerequisites)?
Or would having to earn a high GPA or apply for competitive admission to get into a major, like at Purdue, Texas A&M, and many other schools be acceptable?
At many large state flagship schools, the popularity of the engineering majors exceeds the departments’ capacities, so they must choose between a “weed out” system (so frosh are uncertain whether they will be able to get into their majors, and may create a more competitive or cutthroat atmosphere) or admitting frosh directly to the major (which can make it more difficult to change majors).
I have no intention of receiving a PhD, but my understanding is that schools with a PhD program is more desirable to employers (but I may be wrong).
It’s so difficult, and in my opinion just flat out wrong, to expect a senior in high school to have to pick a specific major inside the engineering school then make it almost impossible to switch. UT is the smartest move for me to make (first year tuition free, in state tuition, close to home, great engineering school), but the strict transfer policy frightens me.
On the other hand, there is Alabama (free tuition then 2500$ a year) where I think I could get into honors and be one of the smarter students in engineering so I would have a little more room to switch.
Then, schools like A&M make everyone go in undecided for like a year or semester or something and base your chances of getting into your major of choice on college GPA which would make all the hard work I did through high school mean nothing.
I’m just not sure which one is the best option.
Cal Poly is off my list because I just don’t think think it would be the 40-50k extra to go there over UT and its kinda in the middle of no where California.
SMU’s engineering program is extremely lenient and it sounds like switching majors is not a problem.