I am now in my senior year and have completed an academically rigorous International Baccalaureate curriculum. My class rank is 8 out of 411 ( tope 2.%) with a weighted GPA of 4.52. However, I have taken the SAT twice - my Math SAT was 660 and the verbal was 630 - total of 1290. I have great extracurriculars, such as participating in Varsity Cross Country and Track and Field all four years in high school -even state honors for the latter and I am the captain of the cross country team this year. Also, office of the Physics club and Chinese Club. I have won a number of local awards such as the IB Award and the Chinese Award. I am concerned though because most of the schools that have aeronautical engineering are high ranking schools such as Georgia Tech, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, Maryland, and Cornell University and I am not sure that my SAT scores will allow me to get into these schools. What are my chances of applying to these and should I consider a different major? ( also , my parents went to Cornell and Northwestern University )
Bring up your score a little bit and you may have a chance at Purdue. Your current score is not likely enough for any top schools on your list. Particularly, your Math section score is going to keep you away from good engineering schools. Do work on that. Last, odor calculate your uwGPA. Most people don’t know how your school do wGPA.
There are 66 schools with ABET accredited aeronautical engineering programs in the US. http://www.abet.org/ I’m sure you’ll find a program that meets your needs. Use their search tool to find schools by program such as aeronautical engineering or by state. http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx
We hire from Embry-Riddle, Purdue, UT, Texas A&M, and just about any other college that has AE. Our most recent intern was from Iowa State! There are lots of good programs out there!
See post # 21 on this thread:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/569439-which-college-has-the-best-connection-with-nasa-lockheed-boeing-p2.html
See post #7 here:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/11116006#Comment_11116006
And post #7 here:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/12851062#Comment_12851062
(you can also read the rest of those threads, of course)
^post 25 on that first thread listed above is also very insightful
Thanks for the tips – I will look at the ABET site and see where I can fit in - I appreciate your help on this!
Make sure you consider Ohio State. Despite the fact they are a big school, they do review applications holistically and you have an excellent class rank, rigor in your coursework, great ECs with demonstrated leadership and a strong gpa. My D was the same way (low standardized test scores compared to other university applicants with strong gpas and great ECs) and did very well (was granted a direct admit to engineering ACT mid-high 20’s) there.
If you haven’t taken the ACT you may want to consider that. Some students do better on ACT than SAT, others better on SAT than ACT.
I guess I am not sure I have enough time left to take the ACT or SAT again. I am a senior this year and it is already Sept. dates available are not until Nov or December ( I am taking subject tests in Oct) . What do you think?
OSU encouraged my daughter to take the tests as late as the December sittings because those results would be updated in their system. Even if she was already admitted by then because they would use the best scores to determine merit aid. Scores after the December tests would not make a difference because they would be too late for the merit consideration process but would be recorded in student files. My S is taking in October and may take again in December depending on score. Definitely try to get one more test in whether that is November or December.
It also varies on what NASA center you are interested in. Different centers hire more form certain schools.