<p>Not all universities will allow someone to transfer into engineering as easily as changing one’s major. Many colleges on your list have separate Engineering schools which may require a transfer application which may be evaluated more rigorously than a mere change of major. </p>
<p>Moreover, a few colleges on that list like Columbia have historically been such that being admitted to A & S has been much harder than their Engineering school assuming one’s Math SAT passes muster.* </p>
<p>In the '90s, it was common practice for dozens of classmates from STEM oriented public magnets like BxScience and Stuy to apply to SEAS for the purpose of gaining entry to Columbia College through the backdoor as back then, all one needed to do was complete 1 year at SEAS in good standing and submit inter-transfer paperwork. Practice probably became so prevalent that Columbia has put a stop to it sometime in the '00s. </p>
<ul>
<li>In my year, lowest GPA admitted to SEAS was barely above the mid-80’s/100 while the lowest GPA admitted for the College or Barnard was around a 90/100. Yes, it was actually harder to get into Barnard than SEAS back in the early-mid ‘90s. I should also mention that SEAS was much more forgiving of lowish Verbal SAT scores than the College was of lowish math SAT scores according to the GC stat sheet of our and previous class years’ admission stats.</li>
</ul>
<p>You can see for yourself that the 25/75 % range for the SATII in math is even higher than it is on the SAT itself. </p>
<p>One reason I suggest redoing the subject tests is that potentially at least you could move two of your scores into the “zone.” If you retake the regular SAT, you can only change one score. I think it would be better to move two scores–math 2c and chem–into the zone and have only one outlier, SAT math than to just change one score. </p>
<p>I hope you will be happy going to one of your safeties. If you won’t, you might want to add some match schools to your list.</p>
<p>Well… you are kind of in a tough spot. You SAT I score is actually in the 90th percentile, but it is below the minimum pretty much every college on your list is going to consider for an engineering major (or acceptance at all in any major without a hook) except College Park. Your SAT II Math II is 60th percentile, and that is pretty damning as well. I guess you have to get the SAT I up there, and then hope they overlook the SAT II as an anomoly. I don’t think it would do you any good to get the SAT II up, with that SAT I score they are not going to get far enough to look at it. And to be blunt, the math is easier on the SAT I, so you have a lot better chance of getting your score up on that one.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the sugfestions, guys.
I guess I should have provided some more background info. </p>
<ol>
<li>I’ve only taken the SAT once. Last March. I kept pushing it off because I wasn’t in a good mental state. </li>
<li>I took both of my subject tests in November. </li>
<li>My research isn’t mentor driven. Ive actually been honored by a national magazine for my work. </li>
<li>Students from my school with comparable stats have been accepted to MIT, Duke, and Princeton. The Columbia admission rep says we’re regarded as one of the top schools in the country. </li>
<li>Money really isn’t an issue. My parents are well aware of the financial committment they’re making. </li>
<li>I have recieved full tuition scholarships to upitt and northeastern.<br></li>
<li>I’ve cut down my list: Columbia, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, northwestern, UMD, Cornell </li>
<li>My college counselors say I’m one of the most diverse students ( even though I’m white ) my school has produced in years.</li>
<li>There are professors at Princeton and Yale that are very interested in my research. </li>
</ol>
<p>Right now I’m leaning toward retaking the SAT. I really feel like I can do much better, especially since I’ve only taken it once.</p>
<p>@slyvan - I’d have to say my research. It’s the only thing that makes me somewhat competitive. My school has never had a student conduct research at the caliber I’ve done.<br>
Maybe my nonprofit work as well . I know many white guys have started charities in Africa, but mine is specifically related to my research.</p>
<p>For the class of 2016 at UMD College Park, according to the admissions person I spoke with last spring, the average math SAT score was over 700, and the average weighted GPA was over 4.2. Sounds like your GPA will be fine, and because of your other stats I’m pretty sure you’ll get in there, but none of the schools you mentined are easy. My son applied engineering to Georgia Tech, UMD, Case Western, and RPI, and UMD had the lowest acceptance rate to engineering, at about 32%. For some reason, the SAT was hard for my son also. He had top scores on the SAT 2 and the ACT, but barely broke 700 on the SAT 1. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Dear lord, the parents on college confidential given even worse advice than the students. </p>
<p>You have a 4.0 GPA and a 2150 SAT. Relax, first of all. All these people telling you don’t have a shot at anywhere except Umaryland are out of their respective minds. </p>
<p>I would retake the SAT, mainly because your CR+M score is low for the schools you’re applying too. You seem to have good ECs, and you don’t overinflate them like everyone else on CC. I respect that.</p>
<p>Mechant, sorry to restate what others here have told you, but despite having many schools on your list, other than UMD, these schools are highly unlikely to accept you. (I hope that we are wrong, but it doesn’t look good). What are the “safety” schools that you have been accepted to? Have you considered some of the excellent smaller liberal arts colleges like Colgate, Hamilton, Bucknell? My DS1 just graduated from Colgate (in 3 1/2 years) and has a great job lined up in the computer field. A recent Colgate alum hooked him up with an amazing internship last summer which led to a great job (which he will be starting in a few weeks). Good luck</p>
<p>I’m thinking posters here are missing something in this analysis. OP has been offered a full tuition scholarship to Pitt. When D and I were there this summer, we were told that an applicant would need CR/M of 1450 to even be considered for merit, and then they might get $1500 or so. Maybe. Don’t even bother if you aren’t in that group. </p>
<p>Now, OP has a CR/M score of 1380 and has netted an early spotting of full tuition. Clearly, he has something that schools are anxious to acquire. One should hardly discourage him from applying to the elite schools when it seems like he has a much better chance than many are giving him. </p>
<p>Op, since it doesn’t seem to be your SAT score that interests them, I would not trouble myself all that much about taking it again, only if I really had the time and inclination.</p>
<p>I would not dissuade this student from applying to some of these schools. I think it is good the list is trimmed. Those schools are all very different in structure. Some of them just aren’t the elite in engineering. Also I’m not one that believes that kids do well no matter where they land. That is rare. Northwestern is fine…but for engineering why Northwestern instead of Michigan. The whole list felt a touch random to me like someone who had heard of some of these schools but hadn’t done the research on their area of interest.</p>
<p>OP - Are there any other subjects that you might be able to take a SAT II in? Perhaps that might be a better option this point rather than retaking the SAT. Also have you thought about Georgia Tech or U of M?</p>
<p>It may be that we are all missing something, but this is CC. Someone asks for advice and provides information. That’s all we know. Sometimes advice helps. Sometimes it’s worth what they pay for it. </p>
<p>The OP presented math standardized tests that are low for the most competitive engineering programs. OP asked which tests to retake. IMHO, the OP’s situation would be most improved by retaking the SAT I and getting a 700+ on the math. Higher is better. For schools that use SAT IIs, they use it for a reason and the math score is low. There are a lot of applicants. From what we’ve been told, I’d guess the probability of admission of each of the reaches to be around 0-10%. </p>
<p>The OP already has full tuition scholarships at Northeastern and Pitt. Of the two, I’d pick Northeastern for engineering. This isn’t a dire situation if the OP would be happy at Northeastern.</p>