Chance/match me! Chemical Engineering from a mid school [3.96 UW, 35 ACT (superscore), top 1%]

I agree that retaking Graphic Design would be a waste of energy at best, and possibly even counterproductive. Colleges will still be able to see the B, and the retake will only call attention to it and make them wonder how you have nothing better to do than to retake an elective from 9th grade that you did fine in the first time.

Since you’re specifically interested in pharmaceutical engineering, you might want to look for programs that allow you to emphasize this area. As one example, Program: Chemical Engineering, Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering Emphasis (BS) - University of Southern California - Modern Campus Catalog™ - how does your financial aid look at USC? At Purdue, there’s a Pharmaceutical Process Engineering track within Biological Engineering, and also a pharmaceutical concentration within ChemE - do you definitely like the ChemE pathway better, or not necessarily?

Northeastern has a 4+1 accelerated masters in PharmE - how does your aid look there? Pharmaceutical Engineering, MS, Master's - Northeastern University

URI’s School of Pharmacy offers this minor to ChemE majors: https://web.uri.edu/pharmacy/academics/minorpharmmanuandform/ In addition, the engineering school offers an International Engineering dual-degree program that includes both study and internship abroad. If you had any interest in the European pharma industry, this could be a great way to get your foot in that door. There’s potential for pretty good merit from URI.

CWRU has this masters program which could be done on an accelerated-masters pathway: Master of Science in Translational Pharmaceutical Science | Pharmacology | School of Medicine | Case Western Reserve University They give both need-based and merit aid; how do costs look there?

Likewise, undergrad ChemE at CMU can feed into this masters program: Curriculum - M.S. in Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering - Carnegie Mellon University

In the reach category, JHU’s Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering department could be worth a look too - lots of pharma opportunities there.

It is hard to make the best suggestions without a better understanding of budget and aid eligibility. Keep in mind that you’re likely to need a graduate degree in this field, so make sure your financial plan accounts for that possibility.

And if you’re going to apply ED at Cornell (or anywhere), you absolutely must verify that the projected costs there will work, before committing to the ED application. Yes, you can back out if a school isn’t affordable, but the expectation is that you have run the numbers and that the projected costs are acceptable.

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