Chance me for Mechanical/EE engineer, CA resident [3.98 GPA (4.28/4.64 for UC), 1560 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Please help to chance me, our main concern is the EC are not very much related to the major — mechanical engineer.

Most mechanical engineer applicants have robotic experience, we don’t have. Son is very worried if his profile doesn’t fit the major. But he likes to build drones and have some activities related.

Any advice on majors especially for public school.

Demographics

  • US domestic
  • State/Location of residency: CA
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): public high school

Cost Constraints / Budget
will not qualify for financial aid. Will pay for out of state tuition

Intended Major(s).
Mechanical Engineer mostly
Some schools will apply for EE, AE

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.98/4.0

  • Weighted HS GPA:
    school does not provide weighted GPA.
    We used UC calculator and for UC weighted GPA is 4.64, Edited: capped GPA is 4.28

  • Class Rank: school does not rank

  • ACT/SAT Scores: SAT 1560 (M 790/W 770)

List your HS coursework

  • English: AP lang, AP lit
  • Math: AP Cal BC, AP stats,
  • From community college: Multi-variable, Linear Algebra, Differentiation Equation
  • Science: AP physics 1&2
  • History and social studies: AP US history, AP European history, AP Econ, AP US Gov
  • Language other than English: Spanish level 3
  • Visual or performing arts: 4 year school journalism
  • Other academic courses: AP CSA, some honor English, Chem, Bio classes

AP tests all 5 except AP stats is 4

Awards

MIT beaver works build a cube sat challenge top 3 team ( team captain, led team from his aerospace club)
IEEE conference speaker
NMSF (1520)
Scholastic Press Association - 1st Place Award (journalism team)
Columbia press organization gold medal critique (Journalism Team)
College board AP Scholar with Distinction
National Spanish exam silver medal
A regional writing competition second place for high school division out of 500~

Extracurriculars

  1. 11th summer internship with acceptance rate 8%, machine learning research, published
    on peer reviewed university journal
    MIT IEEE undergraduate research conference speaker
  2. Another research experience in 9th, 10th grade, using drone to analyze images taken, machine learning related, presented at a conference
  3. Passion project, a local model airplane org, build drones, have a research submitted to southern california undergrad research conference (under review)
  4. Editor in Chief for school journalism
  5. School aerospace club president 4 years, build drones and rockets
  6. Eagle Scout
  7. Aviation museum volunteer
  8. School track and field, three medals, regional tournament
  9. developed iOS app for school journalism, published on Appstore with decent download numbers

Essays/LORs/Other
PS essay talking about hobby to build drones
LOR from science teacher and journalism teacher, i will say will be strong since science teacher give a school wide award at the end of the semester, journalism teacher has been four years and also son’s english class teacher.

Schools
No ED, son doesn’t have a strong preference for school

EA:
all ME except GT for aerospace engineer
UT Austin
UIUC
Purdue
U Michigan
GT
USC
Santa Clara
U Maryland
UW Madison
U Washington Seattle

UC all except UC Merced and riverside. will apply either ME or EE
Cal Poly, San Jose State University, San Diego State

RD:
CMU
Rice
any other RD schools? advice?

2

sorry, UC capped GPA is 4.28. typo.

3

Could you double check those? I’m guessing you meant uncapped for the 4.8? I’m not completely sure 4.64 is possible for weighted capped (unless the student took very few courses)?

Ok! Sorry, I posted the above before I saw this :slight_smile:
So it’s 4.64 uncapped, 4.28 capped.

I’d double check the A-G list to be sure that this counts as VAPA at your school. At our high school, journalism courses are all listed under category G (elective). You can look it up here: University of California A-G Course List

4

Double check that this will meet the visual/performing arts requirement for the UCs. @Gumbymom do you know if this will fulfill the requirement?

5

I would not personally worry about this, given that the student has experience with drones, rockets, model airplanes, etc… those all sound relevant to a MechE application. Schools do not require all applicants to be cookie cutter robotics kids.

The list of schools sounds appropriate to me. For more of a safety / very likely school, the student might also want to throw in an application to an early/rolling school like UMN or Oregon State, so that he has a “sure thing” in his pocket. Both of these will admit quickly and have great MechE facilities, according to my engineer student son. In addition, Oregon State’s honors program is outstanding, with small honors classes throughout the entire MechE degree.

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thank you, check the link above and the class is listed under

Visual Arts F Visual & Performing Arts

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7

thank you, we will add Oregon state to the college list.

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8

They do ? Not needed (matching ECs) and while it’s 6 years after mine entered school, I’m guessing that’s not true.

If you want to be an AE, I get it. But why would you apply for EE? Aero companies hire all sorts of engineers so you don’t need an aero degree to work for an aero company. My son is a MechE and is at an aero company but was even offered a ChemE job. Choose the major you want. It needn’t align with where you work.

Can’t tell you a lot the UCs but I suspect Santa Clara and down (the 4 non CA schools) are acceptances. Santa Clara is odd to me - grouped with the three large state flagships.

Of the initial six, I’d suspect Purdue is an in but not a given like the 4 above but you have FYE there vs having a defined major.

Of the other five, I’m guessing 1-3 admits.

You don’t need more schools. Arizona and CU Boulder are great for aero if you had interest in more though - both safe admits.

The real question to me is - do you want to potentially spend $85k plus at U Mich or $100k at USC when you can, as an example with auto merit go to Bama, UAH (which is surrounded by Aero companies and the U.S. Space Command is moving there from Colorado) or Ms State for $20kish give or take, come out with a similar or same job, and save a quarter of a million dollars or more vs USC. I always give the example of my son who turned down Purdue for Bama, told me to relax because I was concerned, but he said companies don’t care about rank and as he works with kids from many on your list, including Purdue, he was right. As he says, rank is for magazines to sell. Companies want ABET. He had 19 interviews and 5 offers by Xmas with a 6th later by his intern company so I tend to believe him.

In his internship, he worked with (and lived with) two students from one of the top schools on your list - he was invited back a second summer and they weren’t. So the name in and of itself may mean little.

Not suggesting you add for cost savings - and I don’t think you need more names. You’ll have enough acceptances from your list and I haven’t even factored in the in-state schools.

But you asked about RD schools and advice and it’s at least something to think about given your student’s outstanding performance has given you the opportunity to potentially save hundreds of thousands of dollars with automerit.

The other thing - if someone is a true aero geek, Embry-Riddle in Daytona (not Prescott) and Florida Tech near Cape Canaveral may be two to look at. They are both aero dominant schools. ERAU is on the airport and when a plane is taking off or landing, everyone looks up. Florida Tech - you always see them represented at rocket launches ant Cape Canaveral and like UAH, aero companies abound in the immediate area. Both are smaller, smaller than SCU. SCU is the one religious school on your list if that’s an issue as they have a Jesuit core.

Seems like your student is in great shape as is - except for the hardest part -choosing amongst the multiple acceptances.

Good luck

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There are schools on the OP’s list that do not offer AeroE or MechE… at least one school, anyway (haven’t checked every single one): UC Santa Cruz doesn’t have those majors, but does have an ABET EE degree.

10

Ok - I wouldn’t have it on the list then but that’s me. As this student can likely get into 90%+ of Aero and MechE programs - I’d think about desired major over school.

Just how I think given the amount of schools where you can study what you want. Im a fan of major over school and not school over major.

Thanks for the explanation.

11

Thank you so much for your comments and advice. Regarding school choice, if son can get into UCs we apply, we will go instead of out of state universities. UCs are very competitive. For USC, we apply bz of NMSF, 20k scholarship, but still expensive. For UMich, Son likes club and lab. ME is compatitive and for schools like U T Austin, out of state students only have 10% quota. All in all, if we get into UCs, we may give up out of state schools.
As for major, son wants to do ME as under, then AE as master/doctorate. As for EE, we noticed within engineering school, EE acceptance rate is slightly higher than ME. So thought of applying EE for those schools admit by college instead of major or schools don’t offer ME/AE.
Your son has impressive job offers, thanks for sharing and this is very inspiring for high school senior interested in engineering major!

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If your son is pursuing academia, here is a feeder list for PhD from College Transitions.

I prefer the right hand side of the chart (scroll over) which is per capita - so schools like Col School of Mines, Rose Hulman and RPI might be others to look at.

I’m not a UC predictor but guessing you’ll get into some. Why not UCR or UCM ?

13

Journalism courses with Design/Production, Multimedia, Digital media can be categorized as a VPA. So, @Winston20 did confirm the course does meet the F requirement so all is good.

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thank you so much, the table is really helpful.

As for UCR and UCM, son school counselor suggested to wait after submission deadline, these two schools may send invitation for top 9% student to apply for free. So I want to take the risk not applying before deadline.

Worst case, still have SJSU and San Diego state. I am not very confident about Cal Poly, their overall acceptance rate is above 20% but ME is 6.7% for freshman and 10% for transfer according to 2023 data. quite crazy.

15

Here is some Freshman 2024 admit data for Mechanical/EE and Aerospace:

Campus Mechanical Engineering Electrical Eng
UC Berkeley 4.9% UC Capped weighted GPA 4.20-4.30. Uncapped weighted 4.30-4.79 Unweighted 3.89-4.00 7.6% EECS
UC Davis Estimated <25% Selective Major UC Capped weighted GPA 4.09-4.29 Unweighted 3.80-4.00 Estimated 38%
UC Irvine 12.5% UC Capped weighted GPA 4.11-4.29 Unweighted 3.83-4.00 25.2%
UCLA 3.8% UC Capped weighted GPA 4.25-4.32. Uncapped weighted 4.55-4.81 Unweighted 3.95-4.00 9.4%
UC Merced 90% UC Capped weighted GPA 3.59-4.15 89%
UC Riverside 51.5% UC Capped weighted GPA 3.95-4.24 71.4%
UC San Diego Estimated 18% UC Capped weighted GPA 4.15-4.30 Unweighted 3.84-4.00 Estimated 25%
UC Santa Barbara Estimated <15% UC Capped weighted GPA 4.20-4.30 Estimated 21%
UC Santa Cruz ME Not available. Robotic Engineering 71% UC Capped weighted GPA 3.87-4.22 61.7%
Campus Mechanical Eng Electrical Eng
Cal Poly SLO 15% /SLO GPA range 4.14-4.25 30%
Cal State Long Beach 50%/ CSU GPA Average 4.01 44%
San Diego State 40%/ Campus Average 4.06 45%
San Jose State 61%/ Impaction index of 4620 so around a 4.0 CSU GPA with a Math GPA of 3.8 or higher. 82%
Cal Poly Pomona CPP index of 4536 needed a 4.08 CSU GPA without other factors to meet threshold.
Campus Aerospace
UC Berkeley 4.5%
UC Davis Around 34%
UC Irvine 18.4%
UCLA 3.3%
UC Merced New Major Fall 2025 No Data
UC Riverside Major Not available
UC San Diego 18% Selective Major
UC Santa Barbara Major Not Available
UC Santa Cruz Major Not Available
Campus Aerospace
Cal Poly SLO Projected 11%
Cal Poly Pomona CPP Major threshold 4710 so a GPA of 4.26 without other factor points
San Diego State 44%
Cal State Long Beach 47%
San Jose State Impaction threshold of 4230
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16

If you want in-state due to low cost, then maybe add schools outside the state that will be comparable or even lower when you factor room and board.

Schools like Oregon State if you get WUE, the Southern schools I initially mentioned and schools like Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas Stare, and Utah could be alternates that keep your cost in line - if that’s ultimately a concern.

Would you choose a UCD over Purdue or Illinois or Georgia Tech ?

If so why - would it be cost driven - retain CA costs ?

If so, that would be reason to readjust your OOS schools.

But honestly your student is in such great shape as originally listed.

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There are good options in CA if costs are a factor. If not, there are some great schools you listed OOS. Some of them have very low OOS admit percentages, however. But, your son will definitely be competitive. Good luck!

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I understand but I’m asking OP.

It seems like they want in-state so I’m asking what would get them to go to an OOS.

And I’m noting if they would choose the UC due to lower costs then their OOS list likely isn’t optimized to their needs.

They may think differently than you. I’m trying to understand the thought process.

Given future goals, I don’t think the rank is that relevant. Even if they ended up in a job…don’t forget, the U.S. News engineering rankings are a popularity contest amongst academics. They are not backed by anything tangible. Ga Tech is obviously a great school but their grads get hired alongside other school’s grads.

Just trying to understand the mindset. The original post made it seem money isn’t an issue but I wonder if it may be based on a recent comment about SDSU or SJSU etc.

This student will have great options both in and out of state. Maybe the OP is less confident than I am.

19

thank you so much. this is the first time I see GPA, major and acceptance rate all listed in such a comprehensive table. For UCB, UCLA, EE acceptance rate is much higher than ME. For UCD and UCI, I believe their out of state acceptance rate is higher than in state. As we are in-state student, the acceptance rate should be lower than the published data.

20

With the UCs (and with other universities that admit by major), be careful how you interpret this data. It isn’t recommended to apply for one major with the intent of switching to another major, for a number of reasons.

UCs have holistic admission, and this student’s background would seem to support an interest in MechE or AeroE more clearly than it would support interest in something like EECS. So it’s not clear that a slightly higher admit rate would translate into better chances.

Switching from one engineering major to another can be complicated. At some of the UCs, it’s more difficult than at others; each has a different process. But even in the best case it would generally require one or two semesters (or 1-3 quarters), during which time a student would be required to make progress in the initial major (which might involve classes that wouldn’t be required in the new major).

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