Apparently I’m considered a URM, as I’m a female overseas american citizen (ethnicity = Asian) who’s applying for electrical engineering next year.
My grades are pretty decent (I do IB and I’m getting at least a 40/42- 7/7 in physics HL, Comp Sci HL, Spanish B Sl, Chemistry SL, and at least 6/7 in math HL and English A SL. Not sure what this is in terms of GPA, and these are only predicted grades, not final) and i have a 2150 SAT (700 CR, 780 M, 670 W) which I’m probably going to have to retake.
Anyways, my question is, how much does this URM status help me in my application? does it increase my chances significantly? Right now, my reaches are Berkeley and Upenn
The California UC’s do not consider race (URM) in their admissions, so no help on for UCB. Being female should give you a slight boost for EE. Asian is considered ORM not URM.
Asian is ORM, not URM. It’ll be neutral for Berkeley, since CA public schools are barred by law from considering race. It will hurt u significantly at UPenn.
Do u need financial aid? If so, how will u afford Berkeley as an out of state (OSS) applicant?
Lol, Asians are over represented in colleges/ college applications. Being Asian isn’t an advantage here but being a female engineer is!
I don’t think all minorities of Asian descent are the same in terms of college makeup. For instance being Japanese or Korean would be very different from being Cambodian or Sri Lanken
Can you stop using the term URM inappropriately? There are tons of females applying to engineering schools, there might be a tip compare two similar candidates but there are no shortage of females with high SAT applying to engineering.
There is indeed a shortage of female engineers in industries. Most big companies have male engineers as majority and would love to hire female engineers for diversity reasons.
In California universities, the situation could be different due to higher population of Asians. There are many female Asians who excel and choose STEM fields. I see no advantage in California.
Post #6, both my kid and her friend with high GPA from a decent engineering school have been rejected at some internship jobs. Yes they love to hire is the mantra but whether they will hire you is another question. Same with applying to engineering schools. I’m a female engineer working for 35 years so I will tell you that advantage does not happen for high tech companies. Only in defense or indirect government or direct government work where female engineers would count as a plus.
My observations have been different. At Fortune 100 firms where I worked, I’ve been actively involved in interviewing engineering candidates. Female engineers were highly sought after for internships & full time positions.
By URM, i was referring to my gender and the fact that I’m applying for engineering.
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not the Asian part. I realize the my intrinsic Asian-ness (Indian actually) will probably work against me