Great colleges for kid who loves engineering - high GPA/great ECs/strong at math but not genius

WFU has only general engineering (ABET accredited), and BC has only human centered engineering (not ABET accredited).

Wisconsin has both ABET-accredited biomedical and civil engineering, but practices weed-out. For 2022-2023, biomedical engineering majors needed a 3.3 technical and 3.0 overall GPA to stay in the major, while civil engineering majors needed a 2.8 technical and 2.5 overall GPA to stay in the major.

UVA has both ABET-accredited biomedical engineering and civil engineering. UVA admits to a first year engineering undeclared state. It does not appear to have high GPA requirements or competitive admission to declare specific majors, but that should be checked with the school.

Of the UCs, four have ABET-accredited civil engineering, and five have ABET-accredited bioengineering or biomedical engineering. UCs mostly admit by major for engineering.

ABET accreditation is generally very important for civil engineering, with variable importance in other areas of engineering. It is specifically needed or helpful for PE licensing to sign off on designs of stuff used by the general public (e.g. buildings, transportation infrastructure – hence importance in civil engineering) and the patent exam. Otherwise, it can indicate that the program meets a high enough minimum standard of quality. It is more expected and common in more traditional areas like chemical, civil, electrical, industrial, and mechanical engineering than in some other types of engineering majors.

4 Likes