So, it’s my second year taking classes at a local community college (Los Angeles County), and I wanna transfer to a decent 4-year institution. My major is mechanical engineering. 3.48 GPA. No extraordinary EC’s; just some clubs. I work as a tutor, if that counts for anything.
So, I definitely wanna apply to Cal Poly SLO and Cal Poly Pomona. From UC’s, I’d like to apply to SD and SB. I did the TAG thing with UCI, just in case.
Since my family is considered to have low income, I get to apply to 4 UC’s and Cal State’s for free. That leaves me with a free spot in the UC’s and two free spots in the CalState’s apps. I think I might apply to CSULB, because their engineering dep is not bad. Now, I want to apply to places that I have a chance to get into. I am 99.999999999999% sure that UCLA won’t accept me, so I won’t even bother applying there.
What do you, guys, think? Do I have any chances to get into the mentioned colleges? Which other UC’s or Cal State’s should I consider?
EDIT1: Oh, and I don’t know if I should apply to USC… Their average GPA for engineering is pretty high, but every now and then they accept people with just “good” grades, like 3.6, 3.55 etc.
I’m far from an expert on Cal Poly or engineering, but I can say that Cal Poly SLO is notoriously difficult to get into for engineering, especially for those who live outside of the area. I feel your GPA could be be a hindrance to Cal Poly SLO for engineering.
The average GPA for Cal Poly’s engineering is 3.55, which you aren’t too far under, but they also only accepted just under 12% of all applicants for this fall.
Both are in major engineering hotbeds of San Diego and South Bay respectively and both have well known local firms and public entities that are very open to students. Additionally, SDSU is starting construction on new engineering facilities so expect it’s ranking to shoot up very soon. I personally think that for engineering those two are in the same tier as UCR and UCSC. Fullerton seems to be very strong as well in some concentrations as well.
For the UCs, as mentioned above UCR and UCSC are solid choices, but UCM is a wild card because they just got their accreditation last year.
Merced is advantageous in that there are more opportunities (lab work, research work, on-campus mentorships) for you there, due to less competition, but at the same time since they are now accredited there are no inherent roadblocks for job prospects post graduation.
Good to hear @sdgoldenbear re Merced. I have a soft spot for Merced and think in 20 years it will have shot way up in the rankings. In these few short years it’s already nationally ranked in two areas, which is extremely impressive -I forget which ones
I also think Merced will gain status in the environmental arena since the whole place was built to be so eco-friendly. It stands to reason it could be a big focus.
I noticed the link you attached noted environmental engineering. I would hazard a guess that’s a good call at Merced.
