Mechanical engineering- what are my chances [4.0 GPA, 35 ACT, 1550 SAT]

Demographics

  • (US citizen or permanent resident)*
  • State/Location of residency: Out of state for all colleges listed below
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): public high school
  • Other special factors: (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.)

*Cost Constraints / Budget
N/A

Intended Major(s)
Mechanical engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: (calculate it yourself if your high school does not calculate it)

4

  • Weighted HS GPA: (must specify weighting system; note that weighted GPA from the high school is usually not informative, unless aligned with the recalculation used by a college of interest, such as CA, FL, SC public universities)
    4.7

  • ACT/SAT Scores:
    ACT 35
    SAT 1550

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: AP Lang
  • Math: (including highest level course(s) completed) AP Calc B/C
  • Science: (including which ones, such as biology, chemistry, physics)
  • AP Physics II
  • Biology Honors
  • Chem Honors
  • History and social studies:
  • AP World History
  • Language other than English: (including highest level completed)
  • AP Spanish
  • Visual or performing arts:
  • Other academic courses:

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

Eagle scout
FIRST Robotics Lead
Model UN exec
Several Volunteering awards
Research project in Gen AI
Math Honors society exec
World Lang Honors society exec

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

My list of colleges in order of interest
Georgia Tech
Cornell
UMD
UIUC
Purdue
Northwestern
U Mich

Have you used the net price calculator on each college’s web site?

3 Likes

Budget is an estimate… looking into loans and other resources

You can only take $5.5k loans first year, increasing slightly in later years.

Out of state public universities tend not to give much or any need-based financial aid.

3 Likes

Purdue will meet your budget without loans and you are a competitive applicant.

I agree with ucbalumnus to run the NPC with your parents for each of these schools. For example, Northwestern’s COA is over $90K/year now and doesn’t give merit. Unless you qualify for need based aid, IMO, it’s not worth taking out loans.

I would encourage you to be sure to have a well balanced list with safety and match schools. If you are OOS for all of these state schools, they are going to be varying levels of reaches for your intended major.

1 Like

Thanks, I’ll take the budget off in that case, since I’d like to understand my chances based on other factors

Admission that is too expensive = rejection.

If the net price calculator does not indicate affordability on need-based aid, chances must be based on getting a merit scholarship sufficient for affordability, not just admission.

6 Likes

Thanks, if budget isn’t a constraint, what are the chances of getting into any of these schools…appreciate the feedback.

What year are you in high school?

High school junior

1 Like

Where do you live? Are you instate for GT?

No, OOS for all of the colleges in the list

Your list is comprised of some of the toughest MechE schools to get in to in the country. Given you are OOS at all the publics listed, they all should be considered reaches. Not a knock on your record because it is very good, but rather based on the large number of applicants that these schools receive.

Balance your list with some schools in the likely and match categories.

And as others have said, look at the cost of these schools. Nothing worse than gaining an acceptance you can’t afford.

8 Likes

Thanks yeah I’ll be looking at some higher match schools with better affordability.
Just wanted to know where things stand with my Reach schools.

It is very hard to know whether or not you will get accepted to any of your reach schools. You might get accepted to half of them, in which case we would be hard pressed to predict which half. You might be rejected from all of them.

Perhaps a more likely scenario is that you get accepted to one or two of them, but with acceptances that will be very expensive. As others have said, an unaffordable acceptance is not much different from a rejection. In some ways an unaffordable acceptance might be worse than a rejection, since you might be tempted to go to an unaffordable school and then run into financial problems down the road.

If I had to guess, my wild guess is that Purdue and UMD might be a bit more likely compared to other schools on this list. This is only a wild guess. How these two schools compare to your in-state public universities I have no idea since I do not know which state you are from.

Your stats are excellent (although I wonder about the split between math versus English on your SAT score, since math is quite important for a potential ME major). You are a competitive applicant at any university. However, so are the majority of other applicants at the schools that you have listed. This makes them very hard to predict.

Given how well you have done up to now, I would expect you to do well at whatever university you attend, and to do well with a degree in ME from any ABET-accredited university.

3 Likes

Thanks for the feedback.
I’m based in the Northeast US

My SAT is 790 Math and 760 English

Is there anything that’s missing from my portfolio that I can do in the coming months to boost my chances?

I’ve heard mixed reviews about pre college summer programs … is the $5 to 10k investment worth it?
If yes, which ones hold value?

I’ve been trying hard to get into internship programs but it’s super tough and competitive.

U.Mass Amherst is very good for various forms of engineering, including mechanical. It is worth an application, particularly if you are in-state.

Given your excellent overall SAT score, and your interest in things related to engineering, I was guessing that the split might go this way – which is very good for a potential engineering major.

I do not think that my younger daughter got into appropriate internships until she was half way through university. Yes it is super tough and competitive.

I do not think that anything is missing. I would recommend that you take the approach that is recommended in the ā€œapplying sidewaysā€ blog on the MIT admissions web site. Be yourself. Do what is right for you. Whatever you do, do it well. Treat people fairly. This sounds like exactly what you have already been doing.

Mostly I think that you should keep your budget in mind, make sure that you apply to solid safeties, and understand that there are a lot of universities that are very good in general, and very good for engineering.

And I think that up to now you are doing very well.

3 Likes

So you only have two social sciences ?

At Purdue you need three years minimum. I looked them up because you are likely but not if you don’t meet the minimums.

If you’ll graduate with only two you need to check each school.

I didn’t see a budget.

You are competitive for all but stat wise Purdue is your best chance. Tons of great Meche schools. I’d ensure you include affordable schools - you can go as low as $18k with your stats. My son turned down Purdue for one of those and works with Purdue/Michigan kids - if your budget is low.

Good luck.

Thank you all for your inputs.
Can you help identify the next best schools that match up?

The ā€˜applying sideways’ article is one of the best I’ve read, so thank you!

2 Likes