I am applying to college this fall from a medium small rural school in Texas and my rank just came out at 31 out of around 250. I was homeschooled for the first 1.5 years of high school and took CBEs to get credit when I transferred from it. My CBE grades were just changed to my grades from homeschool, which are weighted by the district on a 4.0 scale (at this school, on level classes are where a 100 is a 4.0, a 99 is a 3.9, and so on, honors classes are where a 100 is a 5.0, a 99 is a 4.9 and so on, and AP/Dual Enrollment classes are where a 100 is a 6.0, a 99 is a 5.9, and so on). Basically, my GPA dropped tons as my school does not do unweighted GPA and my rank did as well. I know this disqualifies me from most instate colleges for aerospace engineering, is it possible to explain this in the additional info section of the essay or do I need to look into community college? My SAT is only 1520 and my ECs are mid as well so I am not in a great spot overall.
UT Arlington has aerospace engineering and assured admission for frosh applicants with top 25% class rank.
Numerous other Texas public universities have mechanical engineering and assured admission that your rank (and SAT score if necessary) should qualify for.
Is my situation explainable to get in under holistic review or am I just screwed? My grades are really good they are just weighted in a way that makes my rank horrible.
You don’t need holistic review to get into UT Arlington or most other Texas public universities through assured admission for your stats.
What about places like UT Austin, Rice, or out of state private colleges? I was probably not competitive for T20s before but how much does this set me back?
You’re not “screwed” unless you have no good options. I don’t know what your financial situation is, but admissions-wise, there are excellent aerospace schools that would be happy to admit you; some will even give you merit money.
The foundation of your list should be schools you are sure you can get into, and schools that you’re reasonably likely to get into. Look at these first. Look at schools like Iowa State and U of Alabama Huntsville - both safeties for you, and top-notch for aero. At CU Boulder, you might or might not get into the aero major, but there’s still a path into the major if you enter through Exploratory Studies or an alternate STEM major. Purdue would be worth a try, although all engineering majors have to go through secondary admissions to get into their specific major after the first year.
Most “T20’s” aren’t top aero schools anyway. If you’re sure you want that major, look at the strength of the program - schools like UAH, Iowa State, Colorado and Purdue are excellent. And as noted above, you have assured-admission in-state options too. So it’s hard to see why you’d be “screwed” even if you don’t get into your reaches.
Rice is a T20. It’s a high reach but there’s no harm in trying.
Do you have budget constraints? Do you qualify for need-based aid at schools that meet need?
My finances are a dumpster fire, my parents are going through a long divorce that likely won’t be settled for a while, so all of my stepdad’s assets and income will be counted against me even though none of it will be used to help me pay for college, so I need merit aid. I was hoping for a full ride to colleges like UTSA but my new rank disqualifies me from that. How much of a setback is this rank or do you think it can be explained away in the additional info section?
The rank can’t be “explained away” at Texas universities even if they WILL take the circumstances into account under holistic revi - the issue is I don’t think you’d get in via holistic review at UT Austin for Engineering, they have plenty of excellent applicants within the top 5% already and can’t admit them all to Engineering. No harm in trying though but keep expectations in check.
Rice will do whatever they want since they’re a private university but it’s a reach for everyone regardless of class rank. In addition, it will use your mother’s, father’s, and stepfather’s income to calculate your financial need. Run the NPC with all three adults’ incomes and see if it’d be affordable. If not, applying would not be the best use of your time imho.
You do have 2 excellent instate universities that are likely to offer merit and if you’re willing to major in Mechanical Engineering there are more.
Run the NPC on the universities listed upthread, too – Iowa State, UAH.. Outside of Texas rigor&grades will matter more than rank. You can also look into Union, Lafayette, Bucknell - these universities may offer you merit (they offer Mechanical Engineering).
Texas Tech should be another affordable instate option with AE: Incoming Freshmen Scholarships | Scholarships | Texas Tech
Can you calculate it yourself? It may be relevant for scholarships at some colleges.
Well, that makes it more challenging; sorry you’re dealing with that.
Is your weighted GPA still a 4.0 or higher? (Sounds like the problem, rank-wise, is not your unweighted GPA but rather a lack of weighting relative to your classmates, correct?) If so, you’d get close to full tuition merit at UAH: UAH | Admission & Aid | Undergraduate Admission | Financial Aid | Scholarships | Freshmen | Freshman Out-of-State Academic Scholarships | The University of Alabama in Huntsville Huntsville is a hub of the aerospace industry, and the major is the school’s greatest strength, so this could be a really good option if you can afford the remaining costs (around 17.5K). The ability to get started on research and internships relatively early could be an advantage over the community college route.
Did you take the PSAT? Any chance you’ll be a National Merit Semifinalist? Your SAT makes that seem possible, though I suppose you probably would have mentioned it.
For in-state publics, your rank will be considered based on your school’s calculation. But many schools, as they consider GPA for admission and merit, will do their own recalculation of your GPA based on your transcript, because they know that different high schools use different weighting systems. Can you calculate your unweighted GPA, and tell us what your transcript shows now for a weighted GPA? And also tell us what you’re actually able to spend each year, out of pocket. (I understand that you were hoping for an in-state full ride, but in the absence of a full ride, what can you pay?)
Is there any four-year school that you could commute to from home, or is community college your only commutable option?
Also in the Huntsville area is AAMU with a full ride if GPA is at least 3.75: Scholarships - Alabama A&M University
There is an in state full ride if you have a 3.50 GPA: University Merit Scholarships – Office of Scholarship Services
Another full ride with a 3.8 GPA: Scholarships | Tuskegee University
These all also have a test score criterion, but your 1520 SAT qualifies for that.
Others in the Northeast with potential for merit and with aerospace majors include RPI and Syracuse in Upstate New York and WPI and University of Hartford in New England. Hartford, in particular, is surrounded by over 500 companies involved in the aerospace industry, e.g. Raytheon, Pratt & Whitney, Kaman, Barnes, Ensign-Bickford, Infinity, Rotair, Aerogear, etc.
Wichita State offers significant discounts to Texas residents via its Texas Shockers program. Your SAT score qualifies you for automatic merit aid in addition to the discounted tuition. While the school itself is not well known outside its region, the aerospace program is well-regarded within the industry.
What are those two universities? I don’t think I can do TAMU as I will likely fail the ETAM process (I also am not in top 10%). With all three incomes I probably can’t get aid but I can try to appeal the aid process with updated info as my situation has changed a bit from when the snapshot is taken for financial aid.
My weighted GPA is still around 4.6 but it is really bad compared to classmates. I failed the PSAT and only got a 1430 so there is no chance of national merit, I may get commended through which only shows colleges I wasn’t good enough for national merit and will probably hurt my application. In terms of commuting, the nearest college is UT Austin, which will reject me, both community colleges are an hour away from my house, but once I graduate we will probably have to move so I can’t use location as a factor unless I move in with my dad after high school.
UT Arlington and UT San Antonio.
Add Iowa State and UAH and you’ve got a solid foundation for your college list.
WPI, RPI as mentioned above (in addition to Bucknell, Lafayette..) are worth looking into/running the NPC for.
Btw you didn’t fail th PSAT, you simply didn’t get a score in the top 1%.
If you were my student I would suggest that you contact UTSA now. I remember a couple years back one of our students had a rough sophomore year that caused ranking drop but still got a sizable scholarship from UTSA after getting in touch with some people there. Do it as soon as you can before the bulk of applications go in.
Many HS students are not familiar with the engineering landscape from the employer point of view. Employers know that engineering students at ABET accredited programs take roughly the same classes, that the major is tough everywhere, and consequently view grads from just about any school as loosely equivalent. Sure there are a few premier engineering schools (MIT, Caltech, etc) but a student who earns good grades and does an internship or two is going to be a competitive candidate from anywhere. You don’t need a T20 to become a successful engineer.
An “insider” tip is to consider co-ops where you spend up to 6 months instead of just the internship summer. A few schools have programs that facilitate these breaks but it may be an option at many schools. Because it takes longer to graduate not a lot of students want these which in turn makes them easier to get, even at top-notch companies, than internships. Second, immersing yourself for longer lets you really know if the career is a fit for you. And incidentally they tend to pay very well for a college student.
Please do not use this kind of “Eeyore” tone when you write your applications!
The premise that National Merit Commended status would hurt your applications is silly. It either helps or is neutral. Finalists are top 1% - great for certain scholarship opportunities if one can get it, but not a blemish on the record of those who don’t.
If you knew that you would continue to have a family home within commuting range of UT Austin, that would be useful information, because it could be a viable transfer destination.
For schools that use weighted GPA’s to evaluate for merit aid, your GPA is great. You’ll be in the top auto-merit category for UAH, for example, putting your costs under 18K/year. The aero opportunities there are top-notch. Would this work financially? (There are also competitive merit scholarships - 12/15 deadline - so it’s possible you could get even more.) You could cover about 1/3 of that cost with guaranteed loans if you needed to.
Maybe there will be other options that are as affordable or better, but this one is certainly “proof of concept” and a terrific safety as long as the out-of-pocket is manageable. Not much more expensive than community college (considering you’ll have living expenses regardless), but for that you get a highly-regarded aero program with fantastic industry connections.