A few T30 schools but especially Duke ED [VA resident, 1560 SAT, 4.0UW/4.9W GPA]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US citizen or permanent resident
  • VA resident
  • Public, well-known STEM magnet

Cost Constraints / Budget
None, thankfully

Intended Major(s): Engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.9
  • Class Rank: School does not rank
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1560

List your HS coursework

  • English: AP Lang and AP Lit
  • Math: MV Calculus, Linear Algebra, AP Calc BC as junior
  • Science: Magnet (Honors +) Biology, Environmental Science, Organic Chemistry, Immunology, Thermodynamics, Analytical Chemistry, AP Physics C
  • History and social studies: AP World History, AP Gov, AP US History
  • Language other than English: (including highest level completed) AP Spanish Lang
  • Visual or performing arts: Newspaper

Awards: NM Semifinalist, National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society

Extracurriculars

  1. Firefighter - fully credentialed, average 15 hrs per week (more in summer) - definitely over 700 hrs for the year - this is the biggest commitment and the thing most passionate about

  2. Also EMT - hours above are for both together - started sophomore year

  3. Medical outcomes research with UVA faculty, will eventually result in first author publication

  4. 4 year school sport (varsity) but will not be recruited, now team captain

  5. 4 years of volunteering with elementary school weekend program in STEM

  6. School newspaper x 4 years

  7. Other more 1-2 yr volunteering and activities that round out activities list but will not be meaningful in decision

Essays/LORs/Other
Essays are strong - maybe 7.5-8/10

LOR - think they will be strong, teachers seem very eager to write, will get recommendation from Rescue Squad leadership as well

Schools

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability): UPitt
  • Extremely Likely:
  • Likely: UVA, Wisconsin, UMD (but out of state so maybe not), Case Western
  • Toss-up:
  • Lower Probability: Wash U
  • Low Probability: Duke ED, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Yale, Cornell, Rice, Princeton, Penn
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Congrats on a great record.

Unless you’ve been accepted to Pitt, let’s call it extremely likely. You will be but it’s not assured on the merits.

Express interest to Case but I’d agree those are all likely, including UMD From OOS. No interest in Va Tech ?

I like your list and wouldn’t be surprised if you get into one or more of your low probability.

My question is - you are NMSF and likely will be NMF. You have no cost concerns but would you want to take advantage of that and potentially save hundreds of thousands with possibly a similar outcome? Engineering and I don’t know your discipline, but typically isn’t prestige based. This year Duke is $99k (x4) vs less expensive or even free thanks to the impending NMF. It will be more in the future. Something to think about.

Fine list and fine profile. I’m sure you’ll do well.

Good luck.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to reply.

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Q: Do you know what fields of engineering as possible majors - can be more than one?

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Biomedical or mechanical

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Q: Can you share any AP scores?

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Note UMDCP has a fire protection engineering major (ABET accredited), so it may be of particular interest to you in this context.

Be sure to apply EA to UMDCP, since they fill up over 90% of their space in EA.

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All 5s. Nine as of now, and 4 this senior year pending (pending is AP Span Lang, Macroecon, AP Physics C, AP Eng Lit).

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Thank you

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Q: Is D27 taking Mechanics, E&M, or both?

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OP is a parent

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Your kid has an very good academic profile. I would recommend touring as many schools as your can and specifically look at the department offerings for the specific fields your DC is interested in. There will be a big difference among some of the schools you’ve mentioned. Certain companies will also target certain schools for specific engineering fields. When you visit these schools make sure take the opportunity to talk to some students in these majors and their experience with this. Duke is very good for Biomedical. Also, as tsbna44 points out, weigh the cost benefit of each school and ROI. Good luck!

Per USNWR 2027

Top Biomedical Schools

1.JHU 2. Georgia Tech 3. Duke 4. MIT 5. Stanford 6. UCSD 7. Rice 8. Michigan 9. UCB 10. Penn 11. UT Austin 12. Cornell 13. BU 13. Northwestern 15. Columbia 16. UIUC 17. Wash U 18. UCLA 19. U of Washington 20. CMU 20. Purdue 20. Vanderbilt

Top Mechanical Eng Schools

1. MIT 2. Georgia Tech 3. Stanford 4. Michigan, Purdue 6. UC Berkeley 7. Cal Tech 8. UIUC 9. CMU 10. UT Austin

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I think D27 will gain admission to all five of these schools. What may matter is how much he can win in grants & scholarships, lowering the overall four-year out-of-pocket price tag. You’d be comparing financial aid offers with other schools that do not offer any merit aid, assuming D27 is admitted to at least a couple of them.

Do you know why D27 has selected these schools to apply to; why she’s interested? I would recommend adding or replacing a couple of these with MIT & Stanford, for mechanical engineering, in particular, if D27 is interested. Also, why Duke ED especially?

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I think in many ways, the US News rankings, are kind of crap. Read the methodology. It’s a popularity contest amongst academics. It doesn’t mean these aren’t great schools in regards to careers. But look at Ga Tech - I’m not sure when their last snapshot was but only 61% of biotech grads who wanted a job found a job (in 2025). There was a poster here whose daughter couldn’t find a job and I think it was 10 months later got a contract role.

For Mechanical, it’s only 71%. And that’s of people who want jobs (not including those who go to school).

Most other public schools - for example neighboring Alabama where your NMF would get you 5 years free tuition and 4 years housing plus a stipend - only had 5% still looking (for mechanical) - and their average is a few thousand less - but their knowledge rate is over 90% (so they know the outcomes of most) whereas Ga Tech knows of only 35% (in the college, don’t know the major). So quite honestly, their data is much more trustworthy - and their grads have a much higher placement rate but slightly lower salaries.

So I think there’s definitely an ROI thing to look at - whether Bama, UTD, Tulsa or more - if you have NMF.

But back to the US News rankings - I’d take them with a huge grain of salt, especially given their criteria for picking best in the major.

I think when you look at engineering - some of your schools aren’t “renowned” for it like Vandy (local kids here in Nashville go to Bama, Auburn, or UTK over Vandy for engineering) - and at others like a Wisconsin (great school).

U Wisconsin (on your list) posts comparable salaries - but then you’re paying $65K a year for something you can get for much less. But I’m sure there’s a reason you picked the school for the list.

Now, money (you say) isn’t a factor but you noted the NMF - and that’s what it’s for, is money. So that’s why I bring it up - but if that’s not a factor for you, then you can ignore - and you’ll be 100% fine with your list.

Now the low probability schools will have higher salaries than the publics - including Ga Tech (not on the list) - but the reason is they might get into non engineering high pay fields - consulting, I Banking, etc. For example, Cornell has 22 grads they have job info on for Biomedical but doens’t report salary data because only 9 people gave a salary. 3 went into financial services, 2 into tech, and two into consulting. So that’s nearly a third.

For Mechanical info, their median and mean are both $89K so $10K more than a Wisconsin or a free Alabama and about $7K more than a Ga Tech - but you have what I assume is a higher % of consulting and I Banking - and they’re placing in the NE, so higher cost of living - per their maps.

But unless you’re seeking a name for bragging rights, if you’re NMF, you might look long and hard about value - because you very well could end up in the same job. My son interned with Ga Tech kids (actually shared an Air BNB) and at his current company they have Michigan and W Michigan, top schools like the UCs and then Utah and Bufalo, etc.

Duke doesn’t show salaries - that I see.

Just another perspective to think about.

Good luck to your son. He’s a great student and will have many options given your list - but you might consider taking advantage of his NMF status since he has it. The thing with the NMF rewarding schools - they have hundreds of brilliant kids - whether a Bama (might have the most), UTD, Tulsa (at one point 25% of their kids were National Merit Scholars).

But he’ll be good no matter where he goes and you list a lot of great schools - because he’s a stud and that’s what matters most - whether he’s at Duke, UMD, or anywhere else.

Good luck.

2024-2025-Annual-Report-ECS-FINAL.2026.03.13.pdf

Student Career Outcomes Dashboard – Cornell Career Network

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This list seems very well-considered to me. Assuming Duke is their ED because it is actually their favorite, I can understand why the list is largely made up of other similar sorts of colleges, with similar approaches to engineering, and not places like MIT or Virginia Tech.

I agree about the suggestion to really make sure to demonstrate interest to Case, and now WashU as well (since they recently adopted demontrated interest as a consideration). WashU also now has a non-binding EA option, which might be worth considering.

Finally, I assume you know Pitt is rolling, and the earlier the better if they have not already applied.

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I too agree that your child will be a very competitive applicant to any of the schools on the list and absolutely has a shot at the reaches.

I just want to ask you a question about intended major - Does your child have pre-med aspirations? If so, I’d encourage your child to give majoring in engineering a second thought. It certainly can be done but it’s a much more strenuous road than necessary if med school is the projected future.

If engineering is indeed the intended career path, I’d strongly suggest majoring in ME over BME as there is much more flexibility with the major and keeps more doors open for future employment.

With those questions in mind, have your child do a deep dive into the 4 year plan of study at each of the schools on their list. Look to see what electives are available (some of my D’s ME friends were able to take many BME courses for their electives). Look at what kind of research is happening on each campus in the areas of interests. What facilities do they have? Which employers recruit heavily on campus? (Or what med school outcomes look like). What percentage of students are doing internships or co-ops as undergraduate work experience is crucial for engineering majors? Etc…

Lastly, take a look at the honors programs at some of the likely schools on your list. There are great differences between programs and if your child ends up being shut out of their reaches, it’s good to understand the differences between the other options. Some honors programs guarantee undergrad research, have separate advisors, smaller classes, etc…

Best of luck to your child! I have a feeling they’ll have plenty of choices!

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Hopefully this student has already applied to Pitt, and UMD. Pitt is rolling admissions and if they applied when the application went live, they either have or will have a decision very soon.

UMD..you must apply EARLY because they accept over 90% of their class in the early round.

I think your kid has a chance everywhere on your lists…so…apply and see. Best of luck to your student, and looking forward to hearing the results.

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For OP’s reference:
UMD’s application deadline is Nov 1. As long as your student applies by then, they’re good. There’s no admission benefit to applying earlier than Nov 1.

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Thanks to everyone above who responded.

Yes, already applied and accepted at Pitt. Will apply EA to UVA, Maryland, Wisconsin, Case, Wash U, and ED to Duke. My kid is pre-med and I have definitely advised her that engineering is a harder path but she really likes it. We will see if she changes her mind once there but they have to walk their own road. But to those wondering why she isn’t applying to more well-regarded engineering programs, it is because she likes engineering but it isn’t the long term goal.

Again thanks to all of you!

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If the long term goal is med school, are you budgeted for another $400k plus on top of undergrad? Given where you go undergrad hardly matters for med school, why not take advantage of NMF largesse to help pay for med school - if help is needed (ie she can avoid or lessen loans)?

I put this from another thread (school list of residents at top academic hospitals) plus a special pre med program at one of the NMF schools where you’d go essentially free. There is more than one, of course. You mentioned NMF - this is how you can take advantage.

Just curious - but congrats - she’ll be great anywhere. I hope you post her results when done.

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