Can you recommend me some colleges?

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1

I am a junior and I want to get into mechanical engineering in college but I have a bad gpa. Since sophomore year my guidance counselor told me that I couldn’t bring up my grades up enough for a decent engineering school with undergraduate research opportunities.

I ** want ** to find a school with undergraduate research opportunities, summer Study-Abroad-for-credit trips, a BS/MS program, and/or a 1 year Co Op program. I ** need ** them to be a schools that gives out merit aid that I MAY qualify for since I’m likely going to receive very little financial aid.

My Stats
Goal - SAT 1300 (m 650 and cr 650)
Goal - ACT 30 (m27 and cr27)
Goal - Top 25% of graduating class
PSAT – 1270 (600m, 670cr &w)(Will improve)
GPA – 3.42 w, 3.28uw (Will improve – I’m bringing up a 1.9 gpa freshman year)
Class rank: 176/702(Will improve) (magnet school)

My Classes
9th__________10th__________11th _______ 12th

Spanish 2_______ Spanish 3(H)Comp Sci 1(IB)_ Comp Sci 2 (IB)
Geometry(H) Algebra 2(H)_Pre-Calculus (DC) Calculus AB (AP)
Biology 1 (AP)Chemistry 1(H)Physics 1 (AP) *Chemistry 2 (AP)
English 1(H)English 2 (Pre AP)English Lang (AP)English Lit (*DC or AP)
Human Geo(AP)World History (AP)US History (DC)US Gov (DC) / Psychology (DC)
Ac OctAc Oct____ Ac Dec(H)*Algebraic Music or Engineering Design
Art 1 (IB)Film 2 (IB)____ Film 3 (IB)________ Film 4 (IB)
Soccer________Construction mgnt Color guard Color Guard / Ac Dec (H)

My Clubs
Church youth group – founder / president (2010-present) and 1500 hours of community service
Academic Decathlon – President and winner in math, science, music, and economics (2013(or 2011 if you count lone star) -present)
Book Club – President (2014-present)
Film making society – Officer and music composer (2014 – present)
Color Guard / Winter guard – (2014 (Composer) and 2015(member) – present)
Technology Student Association (structural design) (2015-present)

Here’s the list of schools I’m eyeing.
Reach -University of Southern California
Reach - UT (@Austin)
Reach - UT - D
Fair Bet - Texas A&M
Fair Bet - Texas Tech
Safety-Texas State University

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You’re actually an automatic admit at UT Dallas (1200 SAT score + all required credits = assured admission).

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^ EDIT: I didn’t realize that those were projected SAT scores. Sorry about that. But yeah, if you’re confident that you can get a 1200+, then UTD is a safety for you. Also, UTD is very generous with merit scholarships, so you should definitely look into that.

I’m surprised Texas A&M isn’t higher on your list. Doesn’t A&M have a better mechanical engineering program than UTD? I would assume so, but I’m not positive.

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@Nevets04

Texas A&M and USC are my dream schools, but since USC is harder to get into then A&M I put it above. And thanks, I I though UT-D only had the top 15% admissions thing. That’s one less competitive school for me to deal with! :slight_smile: