business/engineering suggestions

mac&cheese · 08-05-2009, 11:43 PM

hey everyone. i was hoping to get some suggestions for 1-2 reaches and 2-3 matches.

stats
my gpa is 3.8 which is top 5%, 2150 sat, most rigorous courseload, large uncompetitive hs in nj, asian female, no outstanding extracirriculars (sports & music)
i wanna major in civil engineering but i could potentially switch to finance if i find that i like it more than eng

- a reputable business and/or engineering program
- slightly religious/conservative
- lots of school spirit/athletics
- anywhere in the midwest, east coast or texas
- medium or large campus
- not cutthroat competitive
- good food

schools i have now: nd, va tech, villanova

suggestions please! & thank you in advance

RML · 08-06-2009, 12:36 AM

super reaches: MIT, Stanford, Berkeley (reach for in-state), Columbia, UPenn

reaches: Northwestern, JHU, Rice

Match: Georgia Tech, CMU, Michigan

MPD14 · 08-06-2009, 12:45 AM

Boston U- Match
University of Delaware- Safety/Match
Lehigh- Match
Bucknell- Match

mac&cheese · 08-06-2009, 09:35 AM

Thanks guys !
I'm not applying to any like top 10-15 unis but I'll look into the other suggestions.
Would purdue be a good choice? Even though they're known just for engineering I think.

Chuckmandu · 08-06-2009, 09:45 AM

Yeah Purdue would be a good choice because I go there. Just kidding, but they do have a great engineering program and I believe Krannert (their business school) is pretty good as well.

Erin's Dad · 08-06-2009, 10:05 AM

What about NJIT and Rutgers since those would be in-state?

mac&cheese · 08-06-2009, 09:40 PM

^ yup those are my safeties
I looked into all the suggested schools & added Michigan & Delaware. I wanted to try out a lac but I couldn't find any I particularly liked. I guess it's the size + frattyness

so now I have
Reach
-Nd
-Michigan
-Purdue
Match
-Vatech
-Villanova
-Delaware
Safety
-rutgers
-njit
Is that accurate based on my stats ?
Michigan is more of a reach than match for me right?
I actually really like all the match & reach schools. Is 8 schools too many ? Haha

pierre0913 · 08-06-2009, 10:14 PM

if you are in the top 5% of your school and have a 3.8, treat Purdue more of a safety, also don't waste your time with NJIT, I've heard bad things about that school (as well as Rutgers but it has a good enough reputation to make it ok to stay on the list)

look at Carnegie Mellon as a reach school

rogracer · 08-06-2009, 10:37 PM

Lehigh with the IBE program should at least be on your list. If you are specifically interested in the structural branch of civil, it should probably rocket to the top.

mvmanno · 08-06-2009, 11:51 PM

Other suggestions:

WashU - reach with solid programs in Engineering and Business; very flexible as far as taking classes and majoring across schools

Lehigh (see above post)

Miami (OH) - very similar to lehigh in many respects; reputable Biz program and decent engineering; would probably be a safety

Wisconsin and Illinois - big schools; similar to Michigan but not as strong as Michigan overall; They might be cheaper, though, and are easier to get into. Illinois engineering is arguably as good or better than Michigan's

I agree with pierre; I think you can definitely find better safety schools if you look hard enough.

Randum Persun · 08-07-2009, 12:13 AM

University of Maryland, College Park seems to fit what you're looking for and. Very good engineering and business programs, sports are huge, it's in the east, it's not overly competitive, large campus, and good food (there's fast food on campus and multiple dining halls).

As some people also pointed out, University of Delaware may also be good for you, but it's a step below Maryland.

mac&cheese · 08-07-2009, 04:12 PM

pierre: yeah i really dont like njit. no one ever has anything good to say about it lol. i wanted to take off rutgers too but idk any better safeties.

rog: i really like the IBE program but im just worried i wont like the atmosphere at lehigh. i heard its extremely frat-oriented

so is this accurate in terms of stats?
reaches: nd, michigan, rice, lehigh, washu
matches: vtech, villanova, maryland
safety: delaware, purdue

would purdue really be a safety? i thought it was competitive for engineering.
what about jmu's business/engineering programs? would it be a match oos?
i probably need a financial safety as well? curse nj public schools @_@

chuy · 08-07-2009, 04:56 PM

If you want to be a civil engineer you'll likely be wanting to get your Professional Engineers license. Make sure whatever school you pick is ABET certified (I figure most/all of the ones mentioned so far are) since that is usually a requirement for taking the PE exam.

pierre0913 · 08-07-2009, 04:59 PM

definitely a good point by chuy, go to ABET and there is a list of engineering schools that are ABET accredited. Not all engineering majors at engineering schools are ABET accredited. For example, at my school, Clemson, bioengineering is not ABET accredited but my major, civil engineering is.

I was accepted to Purdue engineering ranked in the 49th percentile of my school, a 3.06 GPA and a 2010 SAT score. Now compare that to your stats and see how that matches up. I do go to a US News top 100 high school (like that means anything haha) but still your stats are way better. I treated it as a safety school and so should you.

chuy · 08-07-2009, 05:05 PM

And just to clarify, not being ABET certified isn't a death sentence on a program (though it is for Civil and possibly a couple other majors.) The majority of engineers will never have to take the PE exam; only if you work on certain, usually government related things. For a, say, bioengineering or computer engineering program the school may choose to not be ABET certified because they consider it to be unnecessary. It's good to check rankings and ask around to make sure programs are well regarded though.