STEM/Engineering Major College Suggestions

[ucbalumnus]

@Orsouthought

Re: The line, “Look to your right & left…one will be gone?” It’s a dated phrase that I oddly still hear. But in certain majors, the reality is it sheds some gravity. I think of so many HS seniors who lightly state, “I’m going to med. school, I’m going into engineering…”

It is probably still true at less selective universities where engineering major curricula are rigorous enough that many students change out of engineering majors due to difficulty.

It could also be true at some state flagships where engineering departments are too small to handle the demand from interested and capable students that they admit, so that they have high weed-out GPAs (e.g. University of Wisconsin chemical or biomedical engineering requires a first year college GPA of 3.5 technical and 3.0 overall to stay in the major).

[Knowsstuff]

@ucbalumnus

@Orsouthought

Re: The line, “Look to your right & left…one will be gone?” It’s a dated phrase that I oddly still hear. But in certain majors, the reality is it sheds some gravity. I think of so many HS seniors who lightly state, “I’m going to med. school, I’m going into engineering…”

It is probably still true at less selective universities where engineering major curricula are rigorous enough that many students change out of engineering majors due to difficulty.

It could also be true at some state flagships where engineering departments are too small to handle the demand from interested and capable students that they admit, so that they have high weed-out GPAs (e.g. University of Wisconsin chemical or biomedical engineering requires a first year college GPA of 3.5 technical and 3.0 overall to stay in the major).

This was 4 - 5 years ago at UIUC. All the parents were shocked when we heard it. It was the only engineering college were heard it from. Everyone was sorta stunned.

[ucbalumnus]

@Knowsstuff

@ucbalumnus

@Orsouthought

Re: The line, “Look to your right & left…one will be gone?” It’s a dated phrase that I oddly still hear. But in certain majors, the reality is it sheds some gravity. I think of so many HS seniors who lightly state, “I’m going to med. school, I’m going into engineering…”

It is probably still true at less selective universities where engineering major curricula are rigorous enough that many students change out of engineering majors due to difficulty.

It could also be true at some state flagships where engineering departments are too small to handle the demand from interested and capable students that they admit, so that they have high weed-out GPAs (e.g. University of Wisconsin chemical or biomedical engineering requires a first year college GPA of 3.5 technical and 3.0 overall to stay in the major).

This was 4 - 5 years ago at UIUC. All the parents were shocked when we heard it. It was the only engineering college were heard it from. Everyone was sorta stunned.

UIUC does admit many students directly to engineering majors, so weed-out should not be an issue for them (but it can be difficult to change majors).

However, UIUC also admits many students to “Pre-Engineering”. The GPA thresholds to get into the more popular engineering majors can be quite high (e.g. for BioE, ME, and CS, 3.75 college GPA minimum just to enter into a competitive admission process).

[RichInPitt]

@Orsouthought

. For dual credit, Illinois uses a site, Transferology, that outlines direct class equivalencies for students taking CC courses during H.S./Summer. Indeed, fulfilling GenEds/Intro. classes can open schedule for minors, research, part time internships, applied engineering clubs etc. Similar tool in other states?

Purdue’s Transfer Credit Course Equivalency Guide is at https://selfservice.mypurdue.purdue.edu/prod/bzwtxcrd.p_select_info

[bopper]

All ABET accredited Engineering Schools are going to give you a similar education w/r/t engineering. So your state school is your best ROI.

He may want a different geographic area, he might want a smaller school, he may want one with more liberal arts, he may want a strong COOP program…