Am I Cooked? [MD resident, 3.1 UW, 1490 SAT, MechE/AutoE]

Applying to College
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Scroll down to skip my yap session. I am a junior in high school looking to major in MechE/AutoE. The problem is that I have a really low GPA(see stats below). For some background, I go to the best public high school in my state(it is a magnet school). The GPA is caused by my sophomore slump, and freshman year adjustment struggles. I did well in my AP exams(taken 12 total). I have a strong upward trend, 3.6 GPA for current school year . My EC’s are okay(shown below). My essays were described by my AP Lang teacher as incredible. Am I cooked for U of Maryland (in-state), Clemson, RIT, Virginia Tech and my other desired schools, and does anyone have any achievable recommendations for MechE/AutoE?
Stats:
GPA: 3.1UW, 4.5W
SAT/ACT: 1490
Rank: Atrocious/333
Number of APs/dual enrollments taken: 12 AP, 16 Honors, 4 GT Classes
Any impressive extracurriculars:

  • Varsity Football(Captain)
  • Varsity Tennis(Team is regional Champs)
  • 400+ regular followers for music, several songs with 1k+ streams, 1 with 23k+, another with 15k+.
  • FBLA State Qualifier(3rd In Region for UX)
  • Led Church service Recording(Camera Operation, Streaming for 4+ Years)
  • Won regional Pinewood Derby against 100+ competitors(Won Twice)
  • Developed and led UI Design team for open source Operating System.
  • Competed in Electric Gran-Prix with school, won best design.
  • Engineering Firm Internship for Sr Year.
  • Won the best Mechanical and Plumbing System for A.C.E Building
    Design(Headed Sustainability Team, was able to make a building plan that was
    LEED Gold Certified)
  • Vice President of Indoor Drumline Club
    Any hooks (first generation, residency, awards, etc):
  • Don’t know if these are hooks but, MATLAB Onramp Certified, Autodesk
    Inventor Certified, Excel Professional Certified, Black Male.
    State residency: MD
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You are a junior. See what your grades look like at the end of junior year. Do you plan to retake the SAT?

If you apply to UMD CP make sure you do so in the early action round where they accept 90% or so of their incoming class.

What other colleges are you considering? Is cost a factor? Do you know what your parents will pay annually for college? That will help folks here give you better suggestions.

Do you want low cost options, or what?

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What is your weighting system ? Most are .5 for Honors and 1 for AP but your weighted?

What is your budget?

Maybe RIT but likely not the rest.

You don’t need Auto but Southern Illinois, Kettering, Purdue in Indy could be good. Indians State for Auto Engineering Trchnology.

But frankly an Alabama, Mississippi State, and WVU would be outstanding. Auto was my auto kid’s goal and he interned two summers in automotive although he’s now working in aero.

Not only do tons of campuses have Formula SAE but these schools have ecoCAR. And before you panic on school name - it doesn’t matter. ABET accreditation does. My son had two Ga Tech kids in his cohort for intern. Neither received a return invite. He did. He said they also had Ole Miss and LSU co OPs there. Today much of the automotive world is in the south and even the domestics are building in the south.

Ps engineerimg has a 50% fail rate so are you ready (strong in math, physics) might be the bigger issue.

That and budget if there is one.

Good luck to you.

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Budget isn’t really an issue. I am going to retake the SAT to hopefully get above a 1500. I just want more colleges that may select me.

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Budget isn’t truly a problem. Yes, our weighting system is .5 for honors and 1 for AP, but GT Classes(Gifted and Talented) are weighted the same as AP. I am quite good at physics, and generally good at math. Where did your son go?

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The SAT isn’t a problem as is. A 1500 changes nothing. Your gpa is the issue but it’s not crippling at all.

Many colleges will select you.

So your folks can pay $250k-400k over four years ? And are willing ?

In state UMBC may or may not work - can’t tell - most show a 4.0 but that’s due to weighting. It’s ABET so would be low cost.

There’s 400 MechE in the US. 100+ would take you. Maybe 200 or 300+.

Any geographical desires ? Size thoughts - sounds like large but there’s tiny and mid size too. City or rural ? Sports ? Weather ??

You’ll be fine but need an open mind. And to figure what you like/want in a school.

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Look at your weighted. It’s wrong. If every class you ever took was Ap the most it could be is plus 1 over UW.

Engineering is heavy advanced calc. What math will be your highest in HS?

He chose Bama over Purdue, UMD, UF, and others.

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I don’t really mind conditions, I just kind of want a well ranked, ABET school. Do you think I would have a shot at Rutgers or maybe even NC State?

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That is great and very kind and thoughtful of your parents to have planned and made that sacrifice for your future.

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Well, I’m not entirely sure of our weighting system, but in our grades portal it says Cumalitive Weighted: 4.5

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OP can clarify, but budget doesn’t seem to be a problem from what they wrote.

@CookedApplicant if your parents are able and willing to fully find any college, please please give them a huge thank you and a big hug. This is a wonderful gift they are giving you. Some folks don’t do this even if they can, so really…give your parents that huge thank you!

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AP Calc BC (Highest Level Offered at School)

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You’re a junior now, and you have already taken 12 AP exams and written your college essays??

Any interest in HBCU’s? NC A&T is the top producer of Black engineers, and they have both MechE and Automotive Engineering Technology… and your stats are in range, although I don’t know how much competitiveness varies by major. (COLDSTEEL Drummers (@coldsteeldrummers) • Instagram photos and videos)

U of Cincinnati could be worth a look. They’re very strong both in engineering, and in the industrial design aspect of automotive design; and the various disciplines come together in research labs like this one: Integrated Vehicle Design Laboratory - Research Centers & Labs | University of Cincinnati Cincinnati is the birthplace of the co-op education model, so if you’re interested in co-op, it could be a particularly good choice. (Cincinnati Drumline (@cincydrumline) • Instagram photos and videos)

As Thumper said, junior year grades always carry a lot of weight, and especially so when you need to show an improving trend.

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No, sorry if that’s misleading, I take 3 more next year, thats just the total at the end of high school. But I have written my essays, yes.

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Ok so it’s weighted differently.

No to NC State. Doubtful to Rutgers.

Rank is meaningless. You need ABET.

My kids work cohort includes kids from Michigan, Purdue, Case Western and more and W Michigan, Akron, Buffalo etc.

Companies care about ABET and for automotive short of Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State (you might try) being in the South gives you access to plants.

So Bama (Mercedes plant), UAH (Mazda/toyota in Huntsville, Auburn (Honda and Hyundai not far), Ms State, LSU, Ole Miss, Louisville (Ford), Memphis (Ford building multi billion dollar plant not far) and more will be great

Again I named three up top you can get into and have ecoCAR in addition to formula SAE. Bama. WVU. Miss State - all produce auto engineers.

Find the admissible school that is ABET and don’t worry about rank.

My son interviewed at 19 places with 5 offers by xmas. His intern offer came later.

Many schools will want you and if you bust tail, you’ll be just fine. And if you don’t, you won’t no matter where you go.

But for automotive look at the former IUPUI, Kettering, and Southern Illinois. UNCC too.

But automotive is very narrow vs MechE.

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I’m open to doing MechE, it’s just that my desired career is automotive engineering.

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So get through the year.

Figure out what you like in a campus. Go visit UMD, UMBC, York, Drexel, Temple, GMU, VCU, anywhere close. Marshall if not too far or Pitt Johnstown.

Get a feel for size, density. For example, and I’m
not saying go now but Clarkson is rural and small. Perhaps that’s your kind of school. Only way to know is start visiting some. So you want to visit to develop a school type preference.

Saying I just want well ranked and ABET isn’t what you should want. You want a place and environment of comfort.

At year end, the revisit this thread with an updated UW GPA.

And in the meantime triple check with your parents - can they, are they willing to spend $30k, $50k, $70k, $90k a year - without significant loans (over $27k over four years - so less than $7k on average). It sounds like you said budget isn’t an issue but have you formally confirmed with them ? Many parents have no idea what college costs.

Then at that point you’ll be list build ready.

You’re a Junior so take the SAT once more but a higher score is unlikely to matter. But it won’t hurt if it comes through. But no pressure - it’s already great.

You’ll be fine.

Good luck.

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Have you looked at your RAI for Iowa State? That formula tends to be very helpful for lower-GPA/higher-test kids. My guess is you would be comfortably above the line. This means it is sort of a sink or swim vibe in engineering, but really when isn’t it?

And in fact Iowa State has an excellent MechE program. To my knowledge, Automotive Engineering is not a specific major, but they have engineering faculty in that area, an SAE chapter, and so on.

Edit: Just adding this research ranking for Automotive Engineering–Iowa State came in at #21:

This isn’t the only thing that matters, of course, but it is just indicative of the fact Iowa State does in fact have significant resources devoted to this area.

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Yea, i have. i am above the cutoff, and im not opposed to it.

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Great!

This sort of sets a floor, and obviously you are not “cooked” with a floor that high. To be honest, it may be true your grades end up somewhat limiting in terms of “better” options, because again Iowa State is usually among the best few engineering options for a numerical profile like yours (not by default, in a good way).

But see how it goes, and if you like we can help you revisit all this in the fall as you finalize your application list.

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