After lurking for several months, I thought it was time to finally ask for some guidance from this experienced and helpful community. My son, rising senior, is making his list with an idea of majoring in chemical engineering. We would really appreciate feedback on how we are thinking about all of this, and suggestions for schools to add.
Reaches:
U. Southern Calif.
Matches:
University of Michigan (in-state)
Northeastern
RPI
WPI
Case Western
Tulane
Safeties:
Michigan State (in-state)
U. Alabama
Stats:
*4.0 unweighted GPA; 4.24 weighted (APs count +1; no bump for honors)
ranked #1 or 2 in his class
*6 AP tests completed: 5s on chem, calc AB, APUSH, comparative gov, macroeconomics; 4 on US gov
*2 AP classes (Lit. and Bio) for senior year (smallish, rural school so that will max out AP classes available)
*dual enroll for Calc. II and a few other classes TBD
*1540 SAT (800 math, 740 EBRW)
*SAT II: 800 math 2, 760 chem
*Sports Extracurriculars: Varsity XC and track, captain of XC junior year
Service extracurriculars: Key Club with officer positions grades 10-12, President for gr. 12; Youth Advisory Board for Discovery museum grades 9-12; Nat’l Honor Society Red Cross Blood Drive Chair; recipient of $3000 from United Way’s Make a pitch competition, to improve education on opioid addiction at high school
*Other: Business Professionals of America competitions: 1st at Regionals and finalist at States for variety of team and individual events, grades 9-11
*Research: volunteering in Material science engineering research lab this summer
*Summer programs: variety of science/engineering/math programs every summer since middle school
*Honors: nothing big; 1st in school/4th in state for TrigStar math competition; USNCO top qualifier from school
*Very likely National Merit Semifinalist (explains U. Alabama on list - may want to add in this area)
Considerations:
*would like the ability to combine chem. engineering major with chemistry double major or minor OR at least be able to change his mind at end of year one if engineering is not what he wants. Thinking best to start in engineering.
*we will be full pay, but Merit will be needed for any of the private schools (making the matches into reaches in many cases?)
*we have toured a variety of types of campuses- ruled out LACs; he prefers urban or good-sized college town, not rural
Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts on this list - have we sorted the list correctly? What schools could we add? Many thanks!
A couple of schools to consider popped into my head. A good match would be the U of Minnisota. They have a very strong Chem E program, it’s urban and is on the whole less expensive for OOS than other B1G schools. I would consider it a strong match. Another safety would be the U of Akron. They are very strong in polymers due to the tire/rubber industry in Akron. It would not be as strong in other fields if he chose to change his major.
Is your son interested in coop programs? It’s an excellent way to gain experience in the field and gain true work experience while in college. It can also provide significant funds towards his education. Certain schools have more robust professional practice offices than others.
Based upon your son’s potential desire for curricular flexibility, he may want to consider the University of Rochester. As another opinion on his list generally, he seems to have chosen his schools well.
Thanks for the heads up on progression requirements- had not been on our radar! Interesting that the core GPA requirement ranges from 2.8 to 3.5, depending on major.
The variation in GPA to avoid being weeded out at Wisconsin is probably due to varying levels of student interest relative to each department’s capacity. The most oversubscribed majors have the highest weeding GPAs because they need to weed out greater percentages of students.
If you are considering smaller engineering-oriented schools in the Northeast, like RPI and WPI, then two comparable options would be Stevens Institute and Lehigh.
Stevens is located on the west bank of the Hudson in New Jersey, directly across the river from Lower Manhattan. So it’s attractive for urban access.
Lehigh is noted for interdisciplinary programs between the Schools of Business, Engineering, and Arts & Sciences. Their “Integrated Degree in Engineering, Arts, and Sciences” (IDEAS) honors program seems like it would be well suited for combining the studies of chemical engineering and chemistry.
I can’t speak to the schools on your list but generally Chemistry is in the College of Letters & Science. At many schools it is easy to transfer from Engineering to Letters & Science but difficult the other way. Something to research at your schools.
Note that his classes first year are not really going to help him decide if engineering is the right career. Most of the classes will be standard math, chem, physics. Nor, for that matter, will any of the undergrad years give as much info as you might think. If you find you hate the topics I suppose there’s that, but the week-to-week work of the engineering undergrad bears little resemblence to the working world of engineers. He will, of course, get to decide that 1st year if a heavy workload is something he’s willing to do for 4 years
@mikemac , yes, he is thinking it would be easier to transfer out of engineering, than in. Your second point is interesting, and I can see what you mean. If he goes to a program with coops, I could imagine that might be more helpful than classes to get a sense of an engineering career? Do you have any suggestions on out-of-class experiences that help students try to figure this out? Thanks!
Some programs have intro to engineering classes that have real world projects and speakers related to each engineering discipline that can help in the decision making process as well. One of the schools on my daughter’s list had a mandatory 1 credit seminar course for first year engineers that was industry folks coming in to talk about what a career in their field look liked. Some programs also do company tours as part of the first year experience.
Another vote for UD…daughter is a rising senior ChemE major and has had a great experience so far.
She chose UD over Carnegie Mellon and is on a full ride+ merit scholarship. UD has been a USNWR top 10 ChemE school (graduate and undergraduate for a few years now.
