How would the College of Engineering view academics outside of Math/Science?

Peppino · 10-07-2012, 03:28 PM

For the College of Engineering, do they really only care about your math and science grades? My math and science grades are great, but they are not amazing. But what are amazing are my grades in language classes and I've received tons of national awards in them. Since I'm applying for computer science, would they make the connection between them? Or would they just see me as someone with "good" math and science grades and not care about the rest?

zenzic · 10-07-2012, 04:31 PM

It is good to be well rounded, although what do you mean your grades are "great" but not amazing? Straight A's are what is considered "great" if you're applying for engineering. Anyway, if you're so good at language, why not apply for CS through arts and sciences? They will probably give more importance to those language related things.

Peppino · 10-07-2012, 04:55 PM

I just mean that my grades are good - mid to high 90s - but nothing spectacular. In languages my grades are +98 and I have won 1st place in national exams. And I don't want to apply Arts & Sciences, I want to have an engineering curriculum (as I find science and math classes far more interesting) and I don't want to be forced to take a bunch of humanities classes.

cortana431 · 10-07-2012, 05:08 PM

Those achievements and grades are fine and will certainly help you. What the college wants to see is that you can handle engineering and the tough math and science courses and that you are serious about studying engineering. How does your sat or act and math and science sat iis look?

Peppino · 10-07-2012, 05:14 PM

790 on Math SAT 1, 34 on Math ACT, 790 Physics, 790 Math 2

Those are the good ones. But then there are less good ones: 740 Bio, 720 Chemistry, and (dare I say it) 690 Math 1.

And among other things, I have 800 Latin and 780 Italian. My real question is do they only hone in on math/science and ignore everything else?

zenzic · 10-07-2012, 05:20 PM

Well, it would probably help to have math or science related activities. I don't really know how they look upon "mid to high 90 grades" rather than letter grades, but that sounds like the equivalent of an A, which would be good enough. Grades don't really matter beyond a point, what matters is what you do outside of school. So you probably don't need to worry about that aspect.

By the way, I'm in Arts and Sciences, and I have to take 5 humanities/social studies classes, a writing seminar (because I have English AP credit for the other), and one language class (because I tested out of the intro level language), while engineers have to take 6 humanities/social studies/language classes total, at least 2 of which have to be 2000-level, and 1 or 2 writing seminars depending on whether you have English AP credit. So it's actually almost exactly the same, the only difference being that an engineer could take 6 non-technical classes in 3 of 7 groups, as long as 2 are at least 2000-level whereas an Arts student has to take 5 humanities/social studies in at least 4 of 5 different categories + a 2000-level language. [Arts students also have 2 breadth requirements, but usually they are fulfilled with courses that are already being used for the humanities/social studies classes.] The requirements for the humanities/social studies are pretty lenient - cognitive science and networks, two pretty CS-related courses, can be used to fulfill two different humanities/social studies requirements. Also, the CS course requirements for the CS major for Arts and Engineering are exactly the same, and there's nothing stopping you from taking upper-level math/science courses if you are in Arts/Sciences (and the math and science depts. are in Arts/Sciences anyway; which is why I'm in arts since I'm double majoring). Anyway, that's not a reason not to apply to engineering, but just keep in mind that you'll still probably have to take effectively the same amount of humanities/social science (and this would be true at any school; I think many schools like MIT actually make you take more). You do get a BS degree rather than a BA, I don't know if that means anything since the curricula are the same, but it might be a plus.

Are you allowed to use Score Choice? If so, don't submit Math 1 for sure, and probably not Chemistry either. Otherwise, it might be a good idea to retake Chemistry.

Peppino · 10-07-2012, 05:33 PM

Thanks everyone for their input.

Overall, how much does it really matter what college you attend? I have always planned on applying to CoE because I have always wanted to be an engineer, take engineering classes, and participate in engineering research.

Unfortunately Cornell does not allow Score Choice :/ ... and I haven't taken Chemistry since 10th grade and it might be a little late to retake it before ED.

zenzic · 10-07-2012, 06:53 PM

It does not really matter what college you are in for a cross-listed major like CS. You can take the same classes regardless. Obviously if later you wanted to switch to something like Computer Engineering, you would need to be in the College of Engineering, or if you wanted to switch to Math, you would need to be in Arts and Science. Other than that, there's hardly any difference. I think they are about equally hard to get into.