S24 from NC has been accepted to these schools as engineering major. It’s been really helpful to read others’ threads debating about how to make a decision btw schools.
We like Wake bc of size, reputation, small class sizes, proximity (easy drive), several students from his HS attending (1 a close friend) and you don’t have to declare major until Sophomore year (flexibility). However, it’s engineering program is relatively new albeit accredited and it doesn’t accept any AP credits and has more liberal arts requirements.
Penn St has awesome engineering program and accepts all his AP credits so maybe he graduates early or able to double major etc. Love the campus and town and Big 10 sports.
Wonder if its too big and cold and hard to get to - 7.5hr drive, closest major airport 3hrs min, , my son (introvert) won’t know a single person, and he isn’t a partier or into Fraternities.
NE global studies intriguing but could be a bit overwhelming with freshman year 1/2 in London and 1/2 in Oakland. However, great overall rep/engineering prgm, Co-op prgm+, big Boston fans and Grad Op with extra year. Thoughts?
These are really such different engineering programs–I don’t think there is an inherently better or worse, but your kid has to decide what they really want out of an engineering program, and college in general.
One thing I will say, though, is be careful ruling out Penn State for social reasons.
A college like Penn State (University Park) is basically like a city onto itself.
This can seem intimidating, and I do think some people can feel lost at times. So that is worth thinking about.
But on the other hand you definitely do not need to do anything in particular to fit in. Because whatever you like, there will be hundreds, probably thousands, more people who like that too. You just have to find each other, which can require a little more initiative than some people are initially comfortable with, but on the other hand pushing yourself that way is part of maturing. And you can do that by doing things like joining clubs just for fun.
And then my sense from the people I know who did engineering in college is engineering is almost like a club in itself. Basically meaning people often meet a lot of friends and build a broader social network grounded in a shared passion for engineering.
But that doesn’t mean I am saying he has to choose Penn State. I just personally think if he was really excited about their program, that would quite likely lead to him meeting his people there.
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I wouldn’t go to Wake for engineering (that’s me) and I’m not a fan of the schools that force you elsewhere - that’s me.
I’d want to be in one place, where I can start in engineering - and start following the course flow.
Engineering is hard - and being somewhere established, in my mind, will be better than a Wake. Getting to know others for future projects and study is a better thing. 40-60% of kids (depending on the study) drop out of engineering - so I’d want stability.
Good luck whatever you decide.
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PSU is actually higher risk of weed-out, since it has secondary admission to engineering majors by college GPA. GPA thresholds for secondary admission do vary by major.
For Northeastern, I believe you mean Global Scholars admit. First year engineering is already tough, I would be concerned with the changes in locations, supports, who is teaching the London courses, etc…Have your child ask to speak to a current Engineering student in this year’s Global Studies cohort and last year’s to see how it is going.
Penn State is a solid option. (I can’t help but think NC State has some similar qualities, but NC State is seemingly a better location and cost. Do they just want to go out of state? )
Wake Forest is ABET accredited, but the course offerings are limited and the upper level courses should be reviewed and compared to other options at bigger programs with vast choices in engineering majors before committing. Do not make this decision based on brand name.
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WL at NC state and UNC (for biology) which is INFURIATING given 4.3W GPA 1520 SAT (790M) and great recs, decent EC’s but sport heavy which nobody values anymore which is absurd (i think bc so many kids ride bench and just slap it on resume) but he was All state YR Wrestler and Poet… also WL at CMU and UMich which both of which would take in a heartbeat.
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This leads me to recommend against Wake. Wake can be an unforgiving social environment, IMO of course. Combine that with relatively weaker engineering and would be the easiest one to drop.
There are plenty of non-partiers and non-Greek students at PSU, but the travel sounds onerous for you. Does he feel he would be able to navigate everything a large university requires? I agree with others who have said he would find his peeps.
NEU could be the happy medium…I expect like many others who spend their time away from campus first year that he would bond with some kids from that group. I would dive into the engineering classes that he would take in London and Oakland.
Is he making any visits to these three?
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Did he apply for engineering or bio at NC State? What county are you in? I don’t think nobody values sports anymore…why do you say that? My kid’s app was sports heavy and she got into NC State and UNC. I think the GPA is what kept him out, not the sports. UNC has a 4.45 average GPA. If he wasn’t top 10% of his class and applied for engineering at NC State, that was likely the issue.
Yeah, my S24’s big ECs were varsity sports (not recruited), and he did great with highly selective universities and LACs outside of NESCACs and Ivies, where he . . . did not do so great. I’m tempted to overread the situation and say a rather traditional prep-school student-athlete was an oversupplied category for the latter colleges, still a big plus for the former. But in any event, I think it is definitely not the case that “nobody” values sports as an EC, I think it may be more a fit thing.
I will say after visiting and talking to a lot of people, this was a bit of a concern of mine as well about Wake. My S24 is social enough to get along fine with the sorts of kids at his HS who then have gone on to love the social scene at Wake, but his actual core friends were not really those kids. On the other hand, I think Wake is sometimes an underrated academic opportunity, including because of all the real focus they put into excellent teaching and student-professor relationships.
So I think for the right kids, Wake is a fantastic place to combine both a traditional sort of college social experience with a top-shelf educational experience. But if the former is not what you are looking for socially? Not necessarily insurmountable but worth thinking about.
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Truth is - no one knows why they are rejected (or WL). It could be something non-academic - like an essay or LOR.
Hopefully your student has an amazing school to attend somewhere - for bio, it won’t matter where.
Good luck
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That is tough instate. Sorry, I understand the frustration.
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Yes he applied engineering everywhere except UNC bc they DONT HAVE engineering major - only Biomedical Eng combined with NC state. Not many people know this. And yes his GPA wasn’t stellar but it got progressively better - he got a couple B’s Freshman and Sophomore year in English/History and then straight A’s Junior/Senior year in harder classes. I guess too little too late - got A+ in BC calc and AP Econ first semester senior year and A in AP Physics CnE and Ap Latin. It’s fine bc we know he will be well prepared for college. We didn’t play the game enough and have him take layup AP’s to boost his GPA etc etc. That was a conscious choice bc we value our kids happiness and feel that they will be fine in the long run even if they don’t go to the most competitive college in the country. But I do feel that he should have been accepted to NC state bc we live in NC!!
Mecklenburg county (Charlotte) and Private school. A lot of people are moving kids to public schools where tons of kids are accepted to the state schools. That’s just the tough part bc GPA’s are not all created equally. That’s what the test scores are for but we don’t look at those anymore.
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And yes the northeastern program is global scholars ….
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He’s obviously well-prepared! And, UNC and NC State do value test scores. If you look at their data of in state kids accepted, about 75-80% of kids who submit scores are accepted to UNC whereas about 30% who go test optional are accepted (and your kid’s scores are obviously stellar). I haven’t run the numbers for NC State, but his scores + GPA combo were likely lower than most applicants to engineering, despite being amazing stats! GPAs aren’t created equal, but as a previous person said, it’s hard to know what kept him out, but his scores were definitely part of the mix!
Unweighted GPA? 4.3 weighted GPA may have come from 4.0 unweighted GPA with light weighting or 3.0-3.3 unweighted GPA with heavy weighting. If it was the latter, then that result is not too surprising.
Any other NC publics applied to?
Where are finding NC state data separated out for engineering? I know UNC is very competitive all around and living in Charlotte makes it more difficult bc they have to take people from all over the state so that makes more sense. Honestly its fine bc he isn’t interested in going to UNC or NC state …
I just feel like he should have the option since we are in state and I think the real problem is a bias against private schools kids. Sorry that we value education so much that we are willing to sacrifice and spend a fortune on private school bc we feel it provides the best possible education. During Covid we definitely got our money’s worth bc our kids went back to school (and played sports) in the fall when public schools remained remote for that entire school year. But my kid isn’t good enough for NC state engineering - sorry but I don’t think so. So don’t bother trying to convince me otherwise.
It’s partly our school’s fault bc it’s much harder to achieve a comparable GPA to our local public schools who send a much higher percentage of kids to the state schools. They literally tell us not to compare GPAs. So they need to be getting that message across to our state schools or adjust our grading system to be comparable to public schools.
Hah UCB - I went there and part of the reason why I don’t want to send my kid to public school.
Not the latter and no def not interested in any other state schools in NC and prefer to experience people from other areas of the country.
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In the end, hopefully you have affordable and fine options - so your student can look ahead.
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