Chance Me: CA resident applying to top public engineering schools [4.0 UW GPA, 1540 SAT, Aerospace engineering, <$80k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: California, LA county area
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): public charter hs
  • Other special factors: none

Cost Constraints / Budget

under $80k overall cost of attendance

Intended Major(s): Aerospace Engineering, Mech for alternate major

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.56
  • Class Rank: Not published by high school
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1540 SAT superscore (1510 submitted for nonsuperscore schools)

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: H English 9, H English 10, AP Lang (4), AP Seminar (current)
  • Math: Algebra 2, AP Precalc (5), AP Calc BC (5 + Ab subscore 5), HL Math 2 (current)
  • Science: AP Physics 1 (3), AP Physics 2 (4) + AP Physics C Mech exam self study (3), AP Chem (5), H Bio (current)
  • History and social studies: H World History, APUSH (4), AP Gov/AP Macro (current)
  • Language other than English: Spanish 1, 2 and 3
  • Visual or performing arts: intro to Theater (community college)
  • Other academic courses: Programming in C++ (community college), AP Comp sci principles (5), APCSA (current)

A in all classes

Awards

AP Scholar Award w Distinction x2

Collegeboard’s Nat’l Recognition Program for Outstanding Academic Achievement

National Merit Commended Scholar (220 index)

TEAM AWARDS (VEX v5 robotics competition):

#1 Autonomous Points (regional) (100% me as lead programmer)

Excellence Award (regional) x3

Tournament Champions (regional) x2

Tournament Finalists/Semifinalists (regional) x4

Extracurriculars
lead programmer for high school’s VEX Robotics Team (11, 12) - handle general programming of robot subsystems

director of finance for high school’s VEX/FRC Robotics team (12) - recovered from $8K income loss from last year by generating $14K in new funding this year through grants and new budgeting initiatives

tutor at mathnasium (10, 12) - tutor students at various grade levels w/ math concepts they struggle with

local leadership program (11) - went to la city hall, collaborated w city council members/peers to brainstorm solutions on key city challenges

private VEX IQ team mentor (11, 12) - nentor elementary school students on VEX programming, teach proper building technique,and more

high school math team member (9, 10) - Collaborated w peers to solve complicated math challenge problems, competed in AreteLab’s Math Madness (placed top 20 nationwide), participated in AMC 10/12 and SMT

General Hobbies (listed as ec on apps)

rubik’s cubes - I can solve a 3x3 in under 20 seconds (not that impressive anymore :(( ), and solve the 2x2, 4x4, 5x5, and Pyraminx

ukulele

recreational basketball

Essays/LORs/Other

LOR from my AP chem teacher, expecting 10/10 in strength

LOR from APUSH teacher, expecting 7-8/10 in strength

LOR from robotics coach, expecting 9-10/10 in strength

Essays: common app essay is STEM-oriented, shows the progression of STEM throughout my life

Schools

I really don’t know how i should be organizing my schools, esp cuz my stats are very average. These are the schools which I’ve already applied early action to expect Caltech and the UCs. I’d like to avoid applying to more safeties because I have an acceptance from the University of Alabama as my top safety, but I’m here to js see how likely an avg stem student like me can get into these top stem schools.

rejected Stanford rea :frowning:

  • Extremely Likely: SDSU
  • Likely: UC Davis, Purdue, UCSD
  • Toss-up: UMD, UCSB
  • Lower Probability: Cal Poly SLO
  • Low Probability: Caltech, UCB, UCLA, GA Tech, UIUC, UT Austin
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Just to clarify, you’ve already applied to all of the schools on your list, you are happy with your safety school, you’re good with your budget, and you don’t want any more suggestions?

I don’t think you need to worry about how your schools are categorized at this point. The purpose of categorizing schools is to build a balanced list, but you are already done with your list, and really the only thing to do now is wait for decisions.

Have a good senior year and good luck! :slight_smile:

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Apologies, what I meant was that I’d like to add even more non-safety top schools for regular decision (such as mit, umich, maybe more). I want to know how competitive I am for the top engineering schools which I’ve already applied to, to see whether it’s worth it to apply to some other ones.

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You’re a strong student. I’ll leave the UCs to others as I’m out of state, but I’ve followed our robotics team’s results for quite a few years now. UT Austin is tough out of state for even the strongest of students. We’ve had good luck with Georgia Tech and Cal Tech - better than stats would show. As for other schools to shoot for if you love your safety, we’ve also had good luck with CMU, but not sure it’ll hit your budget. Do you qualify for any need based aid at the priciest of privates? That will swing recommendations dramatically.

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What is your math SAT score?

Have you run the NPC for Caltech, or for a few other top schools like Stanford?

I am assuming that this is your budget for a full 4 years of university. If so, then you would need quite a bit of need based aid for Caltech or Stanford to end up being affordable. If the NPC shows it as being affordable, Stanford would be a high reach, but might be worth an application. [Oops, my apology. I see that you already applied and were rejected.]

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I don’t think there’s anything wrong with your qualifications that would exclude you from consideration anywhere. If you love these schools, have time to write the applications, can afford them, and won’t be crushed by rejection (since these schools reject lots of applicants), you could certainly give it a try.

The OP was already rejected from Stanford REA.

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You can apply to Michigan but…

if you’ve missed the EA deadline, it will be a very tough admit for RD,

AND

it will cost more than your $80k budget.

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Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately I don’t qualify for much need-based aid at any of the privates, which is the primary reason why my target is top public schools that can offer me merit aid (with the exception of Stanford, I heard they gave good aid even for low-need based students, but it doesn’t matter anymore anyways).

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790 math, 750 english.

I have not yet for Caltech, but I will soon! How generous is Caltech’s need-based aid for students who don’t qualify for a lot?

The 80k estimate was for the cost of attendance for each year, so I’m hoping Caltech will be able to grant me enough aid to reach this benchmark. I’ll use their NPC to see whether I qualify, but I’m not expecting too much.

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I think you are a very competitive applicant. If you want another match school, RPI would be my recommendation.

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What is your safety under $20K a year. I’m not seeing it.

Schools to meet or approach your budget would be, for example, U Alabama, UAH (an aero powerhouse), Mississippi State and maybe a few more. All are excellent. UAH is surrounded by aerospace companies. Why do they meet or get close? Auto merit based on your stats - brings cost down over 50% to that $20K or less range. At Bama, for example, you get at least $30,500 off of a $50,458 current price. Some kids actually get more after filling out the scholarship app.

Reach, target, etc. don’t matter at this point - and for aero, MechE the where, short of an MIT, Stanford, likely don’t matter - ABET is what does. Like at my son’s company, Michigan works on side of W Michigan. The Purdues, Case Western’s of the world work alongside Alabama, Akron, Buffalo, etc.

Edit: now seeing you’re looking at $80K a year - I misread. I thought it was $20K a year - $40K total attendance. But i’ll leave the above.

U Mich and UVA will be over - and I’d rmove. If you can afford $80K a year, you’re not getting aid. Ga Tech, UIUC, Purdue (you’ll get in I think) and UT Austin will fit.

Now, since you like top and seem to be using US News, Embry-Riddle is tied with Michigan and Cal Tech at #4. It’s in Daytona Beach Florida. It will crush cost. It’s all aero and nothing else.

Others to consider - check the NPCs - Case-Western, Colorado, MIT, Princeton, UVA for aero (they meet need so it could work if it reads ok for you but I’m not sure I’d pick over others like Colorado or Purdue).

For MechE and I’m saying great moreso than reach, but USC (do the NPC to see if hits), Colorado School of Mines (safe but highly regarded), Northwestern (do NPC), U Miami (slight reach, they give merit to many), Rose-Hulman (safety, small, extremely strong and well recruited), Wash U (check NPC and Vandy (check NPC), Cornell and Rochester (high target - check the NPC), Lehigh and Penn (both check NPC), Rice (check NPC) and U Wash. RPI, as was noted earlier, is likely a safety for you with a fantastic rep.

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thanks for your input! I was actually just reading one of your earlier posts where your son turned down purdue for bama. Was it for the internship opportunities, or cost, or what exactly led him to pick bama?

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It sounds like the OP has a safety acceptance they are happy with and is now considering adding more reach schools. Congrats on the acceptance!

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You know, I think there are kids that turn down lots of schools for lots of reasons. There are studs like you on every major campus in America…..Ivy level kids. In my daughter’s cohort at College of Charleston (a regional public), her BFF turned down Vandy, Rice and Penn.

I think folks put too much into rankings…you don’t necessarily know the schools - so when you get there, you will be there four years, day after day. What if you hate cold and you get to Purdue or UIUC. I mean, in the old days, we did this - I went from San Diego to Syracuse U - for sports journalism. Turned out the education was no bueno - but - it was a known entity and they did produce well known talent.

For my son, he turned it down for:

  1. His own dorm room. At the time, Purdue had housing issues, housing kids off campus. He wasn’t interested in looking at Bama but in TN, we have a job shadow or college visit day Senior Year. Three friends asked him to go to Bama with them. He came back, applied - and it was done. Purdue was out. Had he gotten into WUSTL (he was WL), it was also out. The campus is immaculate, he got his own dorm room and shared a bathroom with one kid. Bonus was they had palm trees (he’s a huge tree/plant guy) and he won’t say it but he was 3.5 hours from mom vs. 6.5 at Purdue. Plus, back then, I went to Tuscaloosa for work. I was against the move - even though it saved me $80K because I thought - Purdue, my goodness, what a great school - and it is. But as he told me, rankings are for selling magazines and parents, not what the real world thinks. And I think being in the real world myself and seeing him line up interviews like crazy (19 by xmas and he turned them down 2nd semester except his intern company) - I think there’s a lot of truth in what he thinks.

I’m not an engineer but in sales - and I have an MBA. My boss went to W Georgia. My last went to Auburn but the Montgomery Campus and did her MBA at Memphis. We had, until recently, a Harvard Law working for a Fairleigh Dickinson.

Listen, if you can go to MIT, Cornell, etc, I think it’s great but I’m not sure, for example, that getting a degree at UCLA vs. Arizona is that big a deal - and for Aero, an Arizona or Colorado might be better - if for no other reason than the immediate surroundings of defense companies. Yes, Arizona is not nearly as selective as UCLA but you still have studs go - especially in past years when merit was so strong.

My kid is in aero but wanted automotive and did two years of internships in auto. He lived with in an Air BNB two kids from your list. I’ll send you a DM (green box upper right) as I’m asked not to name the school. He was invited back a second summer. They weren’t….so you just never know.

In the end, and I hope you get into that high ranked dream school, but no matter what, you will be what sells - not the school. A quarter of UCB EE majors, tops in the country, show at last recording of their job board, they were still looking. So going to a top rank doesn’t ensure success. At the same time, going to a lesser name doesn’t mean you won’t succeed.

In the end, you’ll be that determinant in that equation - I truly believe that (others may not but I do).

I wish you best of luck. I’m sure you know this - but as you rated the UC/CSUs, your SAT won’t count…same with U Wash if you applied there but I don’t think you did).

Anyway, hope I provided some match/reach or other names like Rose-Hulman and School of Mines) that might provide value to you.

Best of luck.

Edit - just read @DramaMama2021 note on your accepted safety. Congrats - get into Honors and you’ll be in Ridgecrest, which is what my son fell in love with. But go visit wherever you consider if you can….just to make sure it’s the right fit for you, no matter the rank or cost.

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Your very high score in math will be quite helpful for a potential engineering major.

And this will help a lot also. If it had been $20k/year I would have expected some unaffordable acceptances from your list. At $80k per year these will just be acceptances. :slight_smile:

I do expect that you will get some more acceptances from the schools on your list.

For engineering “prestige” really doesn’t matter. Finding an ABET accredited school that is a good fit for you does matter. As @tsbna44 has correctly pointed out, you can get a great education at a wide range of schools, and will find Ivy-level students at a wide range of schools. Just as one example one daughter attended a university that is ranked somewhere south of 100 (100-120 in most listings) but had a boyfriend at one point (a student at the same university) who had never had a B in his life (that ex-boyfriend and that daughter are both called “doctor” today, one for humans and one for animals with a DVM).

I think that you have applied to a good list of schools, have ranked your chances reasonably, and you are doing very well. I would only apply to additional schools if you can think of some schools that you really want to consider. I do not think that you need to add anything to your list.

Once you are sitting in a few months with multiple offers in front of you, then you will want to pick an affordable school that is a good fit for you. Think about whether you like a city or a smaller town, how you feel about cold weather (it is COLD in the northeast right now), how large a school you want to attend, how you feel about travel (flying home for Christmas from the northern states really might be postponed due to snow at some point), or any other issues that would make a school a good fit for you.

Best wishes.

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nm nm

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You have a great shot at all of these schools. Congrats on your achievements. Top 2 or 3 Aerospace programs like Georgia Tech, UCB etc have the bonus of being public. Since you are in-state Cal Berkely would be financially the best move. However, Georgia Tech is also reasonably priced for OOS if you are able to gain admission. OOS admission at Georgia Tech was around 9% last cycle, but you have the stats and are competitive with all your top choices. Your back up safety you’ve been accepted to is a great fall back option. NASA is building a strong presence in the State of Alabama. Have you looked into Auburn as well? They have a good program. Good luck!

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So you need to not guess. Sit down with your parents, or have them do it separately and run the net price calculators on a couple schools. It makes zero sense to add MIT if you can’t afford it. I’ll also say people are sometimes surprised, so go through the process so you have a clear idea of what you’re looking at financially. Once that’s in place and you have a budget, you can decide if there are any schools that are more interesting then on your current list or better than your acceptance.

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