What Engineering schools do you think I should apply to. I’m thinking of applying to the UC’s, Cal Poly, San Jose State, Urbana- Champaign, Cornell, Georgia Tech, and University of Washington. Do I have a shot in any of these colleges???
My Stats:
ACT: 32 (should I retake???)
E:31, M:35, R:27, S:35
UW GPA: 3.92
W GPA: 4.17
SAT Subject Tests:
Chem: 750
Math 2: 800
Physics: 760
AP Scores:
Physics 1: 4
Physics 2: 3
Stats: 5
My High School is the #11 public school in California
Freshman Year Grades
English 9A: B/A
CP Biology: A/A
PE: A/A
Honors Geometry: A/A+
Spanish 2: A/A-
Geography/Health: A/A-(repectively)
Sophmore Year Grades
Spanish 3: A/A-
World History: A/A
Chemistry: A/A
PE: A/A
English 10A: A/A
Honors Algebra 2/Trig: B/A-
Junior Year Grades
English 11A: A/A
Art 1: A/A
Honors Pre-Calculus: A/A-
AP Stats: A/A-
AP Physics 1: B/A
CP US History: A/A
Senior Year Courseload:
AP Physics C, AP Calc B/C, AP Computer Science A, AP Human Geography, English 12A, CP Gov/Econ
California Resident
I have decent essays.
I do have a 5 week internship at Cisco (200 hours)
130 Volunteer hours at ICC (table tennis center which is known to compete in the Olympics)
10 Hours at my local food shelter
Member of the Comp Sci Club
4 years on Cross Country
as well as other smaller EC’s
You are a very strong candidate. You appear to be a match for all of your schools except Cornell. Cornell is a reach, as you would realize, but as an engineering candidate you appear well qualified for the school. RPI might be a good addition.
Your ACT is fine, but if you feel you performed below your potential, then that would be a reason to retake it.
I’ll add that I realize the engineering programs at the UCs can be very competitive. By suggesting you are a match, this implies a chance of denial.
I agree with merc81 that getting your ACT up a point or (ideally) 2 would strengthen your application. Also consider taking the SAT. A score of 2200+ would strengthen your application,
You have a decent chance at getting in to some of those schools, but if you are looking for a good safety Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology would work.
What are your cost constraints? If you have not talked to your parents about what they will contribute, do so now before you make your application list. Be sure to run net price calculators on each school web site to get financial aid estimates. If not affordable, you will need to build a merit-seeking application list.
Some engineering majors at UCs may be significantly more selective than the general level of selectivity of those campuses. Apply widely to UCs, rather than just UCB, UCLA, and UCSD; if you apply to several of the other UCs, it is hard to imagine being rejected at all of them.
Your CSU eligibility index can be calculated by (UC/CSU GPA) * 200 + ACT * 10 as described athttps://secure.csumentor.edu/planning/highschool/eligindex_calculator.asp . It looks like yours is likely to be over 1100. SJSU’s past thresholds by major are listed at http://info.sjsu.edu/static/admission/impaction.html . Although thresholds can change as application volume and strength change, it appears that SJSU is an almost-safety (not 100% assured, but very hard to imagine a scenario where the threshold will be higher than your eligibility index).
Washington will likely be expensive for you as a non-Washington resident. Also, all engineering majors are highly impacted there. The school does admit some students undeclared if they are not directly admitted to the major, but entering an engineering major later is highly competitive, requiring a high college GPA.
Are the engineering departments still impacted for the CSU system campuses?
If you can get into a CSU engineering campus, there is really no point to attending an out-of-state public university where your tuition costs will be significantly higher. The exceptions are public universities that assiduously seek students from other states and dangle great financial aid in front of them; places such as…
U of Alabama-Tuscaloosa
Clemson U
U of South Carolina-Columbia
Texas A&M
Arizona State U
Neither Illinois, Washington or Georgia Tech will offer you any money, in all likelihood. Investigate some private colleges such as…
RPI
Clarkson
U of Portland
Illinois Institute of Technology
U of Southern California
Northwestern U
WPI
Texas Christian University
Rose Hulman Institute of Technology
In-state California will be your best economic choice. At the University of Washington, you would probably be in the running for a Purple and Gold Scholarship, which are awarded to OOS US students and have been as high as $7,500 to $9,000 per year in recent years.
Based on your excellent academic record, as long as you continue to apply yourself to your studies, you should not be too worried about gaining eventual admission to the engineering major of your choice if you are not directly admitted as a freshman. Good luck!