Mech Engineering colleges for B student

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41

However, if the main college uses flat rate tuition for any number of credits for a “full time” student, then taking 12-13 instead of 15 credits in a semester is getting less for one’s tuition (and room and board etc.) money there, so having to catch up in the summer would be an extra cost (and less or lack of work earnings) beyond the originally budgeted 8 semesters that would still cost the same.

I.e. if the student is likely to take more than 8 semesters (including additional summer sessions), be sure that the college budget allows for that.

42

My son applied golden application to Colorado School of Mines for EE and was accepted last October. Their application was free. It gave my son a boost getting accepted to a school BEFORE he even applied to the California schools. Not the best GPA, a bit higher than your sons, but ended up at Cal Poly SLO off the waitlist in April. If he wants, look at enrollment numbers at cal poly slo. He will more than likely not get admitted for ME there but he could choose a different engineering platform (manufacturing, materials) and then transfer to ME winter or spring. Cal Poly Pomona is a hidden gem in our CSU system and SDSU is outstanding as well. I do not know how anything is planned for this coming fall as they have dropped SAT and ACT scores. Best of luck!

43

Be aware that changing major at CPSLO is not automatic:
https://eadvise.calpoly.edu/Changing-Majors/Within-the-College-of-Engineering

44

Clearly your son has worked hard and done well by all objective measurements in a very challenging academic area. Exclusiveness has value but we should no overlook value in other areas.

I’m a big proponent of the community college approach for a number of reasons including the value of having more of your hard earned money in your pocket.

If mechanical is your passion, I would give a look at RIT

45

Great school Calpoly. So is Colorado of the mines

46

Is “Golden Application” their early decision? That’s great about your son ending up at Cal Poly. It’s definitely one we would love if he went to but it is incredibly competitive so we’ll hope for the best and hope his first semester senior year is a good one.

47

Senior year is important. No slacking or senoritis. Schools are seeing if your getting ready for college or not. It’s more important for some then you would think

48

Yes but doable - w/in the college. Thanks!

49

Yes their early decision. I hope they still have it for this coming fall. There was talk to remove it but I know they want our California kids. Also, tell your son to buckle down if he truly wants to go to a California school. I am truly blessed having both boys at Cal Poly - back to back - as EE’s! Best of luck!

50

This was my daughter. Entered college without one credit from AP or DE. Needed 131 credits to graduate with civil engineering degree. Her scholarships (merit and athletic) were for 8 consecutive semesters. Guess what she had to do?

She took 16-17 credits every semester (I think one 19, but it included tennis and beginning Spanish). She took Calc I and more than 50% of the class had already had calc in high school but not her. She studied hard and got an A. If she’d known more about getting credit for hs classes, she would have tried to get the English and history requirements out of the way through DE and done the science and math the way she did, starting at the lowest level in college but with a really firm foundation in math, chem, and physics.

131 credits, 8 consecutive semesters, no credits going in, no summers. It can be done.

51

The most important piece of advice I can give is to believe in your son and to believe that his goals are obtainable. Provided there is a baseline of intelligence / aptitude, he might be better prepared to succeed in engineering than you think. Some kids are just late bloomers and there is a wide variance in the competitiveness and difficulty of grading at various high schools. One high school’s B in physics might be another high school’s A or even C. There is also an incredible variance in how well different high schools prepare their students for college. A kid with 3.4 GPA from a solid high school with academic rigor might actually be far more prepared to study engineering than someone from another high school that has achieved a 3.9 GPA with less rigor. Test scores and one off AP scores are not the be all and end all of everything but in aggregate they can give strong insight into potential.

Unfortunately, for a smart kid with a lower but upwardly trending GPA, there might be a strong disconnect between what colleges they can handle the work at and where they can actually get admitted to.

I think Cal Poly and Colorado School of Mines are great schools and should still be applied to but might be tough admits given the GPA. For Cal Poly I would defer to the CA experts on this board. My own son squeaked into (but did not attend) Colorado School of Mines with a 3.3 or 3.4 GPA but he is an URM and had a 34 ACT. There is no doubt in my mind based on his grades at his current university that he could have handled the work and thrived there. We loved RIT when we visited - very nice modern classrooms, labs and facilities. I could be wrong but I think I remember reading that ME is a very difficult major to get into at RIT. We toured Clarkson and liked it but could not get over the middle of nowhere location. I personally think some of the lesser known state flagships or regional state schools are the way to go in this situation provided he can be a direct admit or there is a realistically obtainable pathway into the major.

To me, going where you can get into and stay in the major is key. It is the major not the school that will largely determine future earnings.

52

Cal poly Pomona is a more realistic target with a cumulative GPA of 3.43 cumulative.

For the Cal states and UC’s, the CSU/UC capped weighted GPA will be far more indicative of his chances at these schools (which use 10-11th grades for the a-g courses only), however, SLO is the exception with 9-11th grades in their GPA calculation.

With a GPA range of 4.07 – 4.28 for the College of Engineering at SLO, this school will be a definite reach.

The majority of the CSU’s and UC’s do not break out GPA admit ranges by major or College, but using the following link for the Cal states, it can give you an idea of CSU capped weighted averages for each campus.

https://www2.calstate.edu/attend/counselor-resources/Documents/freshmen-2019-admission-impaction-chart.pdf

There are several CSU’s where he would be competitive for ME and if costs are an issue, then a CSU is a great bargain.

For the UC’s, below is some admission data and for ME you would want to target above average GPA for the best chances. UC’s are test optional, so a competitive SAT/ACT score along with a high Math 2 subject score might help.

2019 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 1%
UCLA: 2%
UCSD: 9%
UCSB: 6%
UCI: 7%
UCD: 9%
UCSC: 40%
UCR: 53%
UCM: 80%

2019 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range:
UCB: 4.23 (4.15-4.30)
UCLA: 4.25 (4.18-4.32)
UCSD: 4.16 (4.03-4.28)
UCSB: 4.16 (4.04-4.28)
UCI: 4.13 (4.00-4.25)
UCD: 4.13 (4.00-4.26)
UCSC: 3.96 (3.76-4.16)
UCR: 3.90 (3.69-4.11)
UCM: 3.73 (3.45-4.00)

2019 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT totals:
UCB: 1340-1540

UCLA: 1330-1550
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1280-1520
UCD: 1230-1490
UCI: 1250-1510
UCSC: 1200-1450
UCR: 1130-1400
UCM: 1020-1290

25th - 75th percentiles for ACT composite + language arts
UCB: 28-35
UCLA: 29-35
UCSD: 26-34
UCSB: 26-34
UCD: 24-33
UCI: 24-34
UCSC: 24-32
UCR: 21-30
UCM: 18-26

53

@Gumbymom thank you. This is very insightful regarding the UCs and CSU. I did not realize that most UCs/CSUs except SLO. Did I understand that right?

54

Regarding GPA, yes SLO is the exception for GPA which uses 9-11th grades for the a-g courses while the rest of the CSU’s and UC’s only use 10-11th grades which could be an advantage for a student with an increasing GPA trend for 10-11th grades. Your son does not need to go OOS for a good ME program. I am a big fan of the Cal states and if his Capped weighted CSU/UC GPA is in the 3.5+ range, there are several good options. Take a look at the less impacted CSU campuses for Engineering.

https://www2.calstate.edu/attend/impaction-at-the-csu/Documents/ImpactedProgramsMatrix.pdf

55

It looks like cost is a concern, which would mean you should start with CSUs, UCs and maybe even community college, which you may be doing, before going out of state.

Maybe I missed it, but was your son able to take a standardized test pre-Covid? If not, I’d first suggest your local CSU if they offer engineering, because you could get a gpa boost for being a local applicant. At SJSU you get a .25 bump if you live in the country, so the 3.43 could be a 3.68, of course others in the same county will get that benefit.

56

Given that he had a couple of hiccups early on, but was on track until COVID (P/F disaster), and costs are an issue, I’d highly recommend a community college for two years to build a strong GPA and transfer to a UC or Cal State. Some privates could come into play, such as USC which has a strong Eng program, is transfer-friendly, and offers good need-based aid.

Good luck.

57

If Aerospace is an interest nobody sends up more experiments with NASA than Utah State.

58

Iowa State University engineering is very good but I think you’ll need stronger grades to be admitted because you’re an out-of-stater. And for better or worse, some have characterized ISU as a weed-out school.

Be aware that as far as future employment is concerned, engineering can be very regionally focused. Yes, some schools attract “national” recruiters, but at many regional companies dominate the career fairs. For example, UTC, a major technology/engineering firm, does most of its recruiting in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states neaar its Connecticut and New York State base. Other firms, such as Ford Motor, Microsoft, Boeing, General Mills and ConAgra recruit nationally, for obvious reasons.

For a ‘B’ Student and aspiring engineer on a budget, I would suggest these schools for Mechanical Engineering:

SUNY New Paltz
Clarkson University
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Cleveland State University
South Dakota School of Mines
U of Rochester
Rochester Institute of Technology
Texas Christian University
Louisiana Tech University
U of Tennessee-Knoxville

59

Does Iowa State have a weed-out process like Wisconsin (college GPA to stay in an engineering major may be as high as 3.5, depending on major) or a competitive secondary admission process to declare an engineering major like many other state flagships? It does not look like either is present at Iowa State from its web site.

However, a high school B student may be more likely to find that college (perhaps even more so for engineering) is “hard” or seems like a “weed-out” environment than a high school A student.

60

WPI and URoch would be a high reach for a B student.