What do you think, Parents?

frazzled2thecore
Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:21:03 +0000

OP - How did you prepare for these exams the first time you took them? I am asking because frazzled kids have had several classmates with GPA higher than test scores would have predicted, who were able to raise SAT scores by over 100 points with cursory preparation (the math score seems especially amenable to coaching), and some of these have been successful in engineering majors as well as other majors requiring good quantitative skills at some of our nation’s top universities. Other students with SAT scores in the mid-600’s or so have been successful in engineering majors at less selective schools as well, including students who have not taken AP classes.

HOWEVER, all of these schools except for UMd remain reaches even if you are able to raise your scores, and I do not know enough about UMd to know whether or not it would be a safety.

I would also take a closer look at your safeties even if you do get admitted to one or more schools on your reach list. Since you have already been accepted, you can even try reaching out to professors at these schools, in areas where you might want to do research.

One advantage of schools that admit a wider range of students is that intro classes in math and science- even the honors versions - do not assume that incoming engineering students, even those with aptitude and willingness to work hard, have already taken BC calc and beyond and AP classes in both chemistry and physics, and they are more likely to be run as true intro classes rather than review classes.