Chance Me Please: 3.98 UW, 4.23 UCGPA, ACT 32 (retaking), [aerospace or mechanical] Engineering [CA resident]

Chance Me / Match Me
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ABET accreditation matters 100% more than school prestige - which doesn’t mean prestige for engineering btw.

And there are sooooooooooo many great aero programs you like haven’t heard of - from Embry Riddle to Florida Tech to UAH - which is just surrounded by defense companies. Huntsville is Rocket City - and we are moving Space Command from Colorado to there.

That’s not the say the big names, the Michigan, UIUC, and Purdue’s of the world aren’t fantastic because they are and they are certainly leading schools.

But as I noted above with my Bama kid who turned down Purdue, yes, they all work together. That’s just the real world…no different than any company I’ve worked at.

So make a true list - decide what type of school you want - environment - urban, suburban, rural, size, weather and more - and stop dropping names for sake of them being names - like Pomona, Swat, Vandy (the last two are fine engineering programs but most could think of 100 more suitable).

Now - aero is a fine major but MechE works too.

My son had two aero offers as a Meche (his goal and internship was automotive). But he accepted a job in aero because of the leadership rotational which he liked (it allowed him to live in four places over two years).

But guess what - non aero companies hire aero majors and aero companies hire CE, AE, MechE, EE, etc. and more.

So step back from the name - and figure out - what do I truly want in a college - and go from there to build a list.

Go look up some jobs - many of them state - ABET accreditation required. So yes, short of Stanford, that’s the very most important thing.

Whether you choose a $20K school (like Alabama) or an $80-100K school, you will likely end up with a similar career result - if you work in engineering. Stats show only about 25% of engineering majors work in the field.

Good luck.

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22

For most situations where you want to work as an aerospace or mechanical engineer (as opposed to finance or consulting or some such), choose a school that is ABET accredited for the major (schools with ABET accredited general engineering majors with mechanical or aerospace subareas may be suitable). Even the few high-prestige-in-engineering schools that have discontinued ABET accreditation for some engineering majors retain it for mechanical (and civil of course).

Stanford retains ABET accreditation in mechanical and civil engineering, even though it has discontinued ABET accreditation for some other engineering majors it still offers.

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Accreditation is important in certain areas of the engineering profession such as Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and if you plan to pursue a Professional Engineering (PE) license.

The schools choice such as Berkeley or Stanford to not pursue ABET accreditation for some programs, allows for greater curriculum flexibility.

Some sources suggest that top-tier schools like UC Berkeley and Stanford can rely on their strong reputation, and their graduates are highly recruited by top companies despite the lack of specific ABET accreditation.

In conclusion, I would strive to apply to ABET accredited programs but there are exceptions.

Here is some Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering admit date for 2024 Freshman applicant so you can see where you stand.

Campus Aerospace Mechanical Engineering
UC Berkeley 3.3% 3.8%
UC Davis Around 34% Estimated <25% Selective Major
UC Irvine 18.4% 12.5%
UCLA 3.3% 4.2%
UC Merced New Major Fall 2025 No Data 90%
UC Riverside Major Not available 51.5%
UC San Diego 18% Selective Major Estimated <20% Capped Major
UC Santa Barbara Major Not Available Estimated <15%
UC Santa Cruz Major Not Available Major not available
Campus Aerospace Mechanical CSU GPA
Cal Poly SLO Projected 11% Projected 15% College of Engineering SLO GPA 4.13-4.25
Cal Poly Pomona CPP Major threshold 4710 so a GPA of 4.26 without other factor points CPP Major threshold of 4536 so a CSU GPA of 4.08 without other factor points See CPP major index thresholds
San Diego State 44% 40% Avg Campus CSU GPA of 4.06
Cal State Long Beach 47% 50% Avg CSU GPA 4.03 overall 4.07 for Non-local applicants
San Jose State Impaction threshold of 4230 Impaction threshold of 4620 Calculate impaction index using threshold numbers
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Regarding CPP and SJSU impaction thresholds:

  • CPP index is GPA * 1000 + 450. There are additional unspecified points for local area or other characteristics.
  • SJSU index is GPA * 800 for most majors, but add math_GPA * 400 for engineering majors. There are some additional points for local area or other characteristics.

The above can be found on their web sites.

CPSLO, SDSU, and CSULB are less transparent about how they calculate their admission points and what their thresholds were.

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Both UCB and Stanford retain ABET accreditation for mechanical engineering.

UCB also has an aerospace engineering major that is too new to be ABET accredited. You may want to ask directly if it is seeking ABET accreditation for that major, which cannot be granted until after the first students have graduated in the major. If it does become accredited, the accreditation will be retroactive to those students who attended while it was seeking ABET accreditation.

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OP, in job listings, you’ll often see them like this - they won’t care if you went to Western Michigan, Montana State, Washinogton or Ohio State in most cases. This is the reality of life - so one thing your stats do is allow your family to decide - do we want to save $$?

Family choice but many do - for this reason - related to likely outcome, career trajectory, salary, etc.

Education/Experience Requirements

  • Minimum B.S. degree from an ABET accredited school (or global equivalent) in one of the following engineering disciplines: Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Biomedical Engineering, Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering Technology, Bioengineering Technology, Aerospace Engineering or Aeronautical Engineering.
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If it were MIT or Stanford then prestige might matter a bit, but both are ABET accredited for mechanical engineering. Both are also “fit” schools that are only appropriate for strong students who want to work very hard for a full 4 years without let up in a tough environment where they suddenly became average the day they showed up on campus.

Otherwise, ABET accreditation is going to matter more. Engineers really do not care about “prestige”. They care about whether whatever you designed actually works, or if it falls down.

One rare exception might be if you wanted to get a bachelor’s degree in engineering, then go to law school, and then work in investment banking or management consulting (possibly on legal issues somehow related to engineering). This seems like such an unlikely niche thing that I would just forget about it.

And yes, an engineering graduate is going to find themselves working alongside other engineers who graduated from a huge range of other universities, and as long as you all graduated from an ABET accredited school no one is going to care where you went to university.

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It matters.

2026 WSJ Best Salaries (Schools with most impact on graduate’s salaries)

1.Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2.Stanford University
3. Princeton
4. Harvey Mudd
5. Georgia Tech
6. Cal Tech
7. UPenn

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Top Feeders for Top Engineering Employers.

link won’t post :frowning:

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I noted in post 7 - short of a few schools.

But kids at Ga Tech and Michigan - getting the same internship/job companies as kids at Bama as mine saw and another parent posted.

And I noted the kid at Columbia in Utah with mine - made less.

Companies pay by location.

But not all kids are doing engineering and yes, at some higher level schools, you’ll have more kids in consulting or other high end things.

But if you’re talking about a UIUC vs. Colorado vs. a UTK, etc - I think the difference is on the margins.

And a lot is based on the where, moreso than the school. So when my son was in Irvine, he got an extra $700 a month over Utah and Arizona - because if he was hired there to begin with, they have to pay more.

Also, the WSJ is not solely engineering.

And then there’s cost differential.

I’m not telling a student to go to UAH instead of UCLA out of state.

I’m saying there are many, many variables and in many, maybe even most cases, it will be hard to recoup the delta of expense if they choose to go to a school that’s on the pricier side.

There’s so much that salary stats don’t equalize - mainly cost of living. Are you better to make $150K in the Bay area or $100K in Phoenix or in Huntsville?

And of course, this study is not engineering but the entirety of the school - but yes, it’s relevant.

So much is - what will I do (if it’s high level work at boutique-y type firms, yes, a name matters) and where it is.

31

define top engineering employers?

To my kid, it was Ford, GM, Stellantis and to anyone else who produced a car.

To others it might be Lockheed or Gen Dyn.

To others, high tech.

To others, oil companies or mines

There are beyond thousands of companies hiring engineers - so I wouldn’t take much stock in a “top” list when it comes to engineering employers.

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Reminder that this is a chance me thread. Please take the back and forth about prestige/salaries and all the other off topic posts to PM. TIA.

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This is one of the few times on CC where you really seemed to undersell yourself in the OP. In reading your responses to questions, your rigor is significantly better than you indicated. Be sure your applications don’t reflect the same type of underselling - not saying to brag, but accurately reflect what you’ve accomplished.

Are you completing the full IB diploma? I ask as some schools do value it more than others, and CMU is one. It’s also very much a fit school, be sure you visit if you haven’t already. Some of the others that like IB and have mechanical engineering are Purdue, University of Denver, University of Washington, RPI, University of Rochester, Lehigh, Case Western, Washington University St. Louis, and Rice. Many of these are a much better fit than a Swarthmore or Pomona if you want to be an engineer. CU Boulder has a great aero program and lots of California’s who didn’t end up in the UC they wanted. Good luck.

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I suggest swapping some reaches for CSUs. Cal Poly SLO is an excellent school for engineering but even that isn’t a safety for you.

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I agree that it is probably not a safety, but I also agree that it is worth an application. Some other CSUs are also. As examples perhaps SJSU and/or Cal Poly Pomona – again not because they are safeties but because they are very good schools (and both are ABET accredited for multiple types of engineering including ME).

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S24 had 4.0 UW and 4.31 UCGPA. He came off UCD waitlist for Aerospace Eng. He got rejected by rest of the UCs he applied, except UCR.

Before he came off waitlist, he intended to attend uDub. He also accepted by tOSH, TAMU, Oregon State, Arizona, CPP, SDSU…

Like other said, apply for more targets and safeties. Since cost is not an issue for you, doesn’t hurt to have more option on May 1st. Good Luck.

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