What're my chances of getting into these schools? Mechanical engineering; 3.7 UW GPA, applying TO, VA resident

Chance Me / Match Me
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Gender/ethnicity: American chinese (female)

Intended major: Mechanical engineering

Admissions cycle (EA, RD, etc.): EA

Location: VA

GPA: 4.166 weighted / we don’t do uw

Test scores: test optional unless i score hella good on october act

AP/IB/DE credits: 6 DE credits after senior year & 18 AP credits

Total taking 12 aps (not taking a single ap exam for senior year) and 1 de

Sohpmore year: AP CSP

Junior year: AP physics c mech, ap calc ab, ap psych, ap macro, ap micro, ap stats (all As)

Senior year: dual english, ap chem, ap bio, apes, ap gov, and ap calc bc

(Only reporting 6 ap exam scores since they’re all 4s and 5s)

Extra-curriculars:

Joined local community FRC team since it was the only one available within a 20 mile radius of me. Participated for 1 year during Junior year as one of 3 cadders and we won judges’ award.

learned solidworks before joining frc team and earned a certificate (cswa)

STEM club member (it dissolved.)

Volunteer at food bank for about 10 hours total (not impressive)

worked at my parents restaurant for the past 8 years. 20-30 hours/week during school weeks and 60 hrs/week during summer break. Up to 110+ hours during christmas week. Small restaurant with literally just my parents and I working there. I do everything from paying the bills, translation, writing emails, negotiations, setting up menu, fixing anything that goes wrong with technology, disputing orders with doordash & uber, packing orders, closing, casheering, working the fryers and etc.

worked at my parents’ friend’s restaurant for a summer. (About 2-4 hrs/week) nothing much honestly i was just a crew member.

Colleges:

Boston University

Duke University

Georgia Institute of Technology

Johns Hopkins University

Northeastern University

Purdue University

Santa Clara University

The University of Texas at Austin

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

University of Michigan

University of Virginia

University of Washington

Vanderbilt University

Virginia Commonwealth University

Northwestern University

Penn State

Texas A&M University

Virginia Tech

University of California Irvine (UCI)

UCSD (San Deigo)

USB (Berkley)

UCD (Davis)

Waterloo

UofT

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Can you calculate your unweighted GPA yourself?

State of residency?

Cost limits?

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Can you calculate your unweighted GPA yourself?

I believe its a 3.4-3.6

Virginia

None. My sai is too high to get any aid and my family has assured me they’ll pay full.

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Don’t guess - 3.4 to 3.6. Figure it out.

Add up your grade 9-11 classes minus PE. Give a 4 for an A, 3 for a B, 2 for a C.

What is your foreign language and how many years? Did I miss it? I’ll assume at least three years.

And what was the test score you don’t want to submit - because that’s not really a thing with many of these - whether they require it or the # submitting are so high they might as well.

AP classes are self report and you should report all based on the school. Some of your schools accept 3s, so why wouldn’t you report them? If you don’t, a school that is looking might think you bombed? In most cases, it’s unlikely to impact your admission chances. TO is not going to help.

I’ll go with you hae a 3.5 and great rigor. Here is my guessing:

BU - no - but full pay could help. I wouldn’t expect an in.

Duke - I wouldn’t bother applying.

Georgia Tech - no chance - and it’s test required. If you get a 1500, you can try but OOS, no chance.

JHU - no chance

Northeastern - unlikely Boston…maybe another campus

Purdue - I feel unlikely. Easier than Ga Tech but test is required

Santa Clara - you’re from VA and have money - so there’s a shot.

UT Austin - wouldn’t waste my time

UIUC - 84% submit with a 1490 being the 25th percentile - so unlikely

U MIchigan - no

UVA - no

U Washington - reasonable reach

Vandy - no - and I wouldn’t spend that much for engineering there. Locals seem to chose Bama, UTK and Auburn.

VCU - absolutely

Northwestern - no shot

Penn State - yes

A&M - maybe

Va Tech - too hard to say as some pockets seem to be harder in state

UCs have a special GPA calculator - so - you need to run those. I can’t speak to Canadian schools.

So here’s the thing about engineering - short of a few schools, there isn’t a prestige factor. For example, Bama has higher salaries than Penn State and a higher placement percentage than Ga Tech (with a much higher knowledge rate) - as examples.

Given your ethnicity, I’m guessing you are looking for schools with a reasonable Asian population. UMN is 12% or so and would be a reasonable reach. RPI is over 20% Asian and is an outstanding school - sort of a safety MIT. Ohio State is another reasonable reach and is over 10% Asian. UMASS would be a good target with more than a 10% Asian population. Pitt would be another reasonable target - but you have to apply early. Michigan State, about 8%, a safe choice

But make no mistake - TO is unlikely to help you in a competitive engineering program. But there are many great ones and most would likely get you to a similar outcome.

Hope that helps - but figure out that GPA for sure - but you’re waaaaaay over reaching I would say. That’s just my opinion.

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3.7.

3 years of regular spanish classes.

1310 sat with 720 in the math

I’m reporting aps since ive only bombed 1 ap exam so far i have 4 4s and 2 5s I could use… just not sat/act until a good score comes in.

I’m aware, except my parents are asian and basically require me to attend a t20 for engineering…

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How many non-A’s is this, and in which classes?

I’m assuming English is not your native language?

I would drop the schools on your list that are test required (Purdue, Ga Tech, JHU, UT Austin.) That will help you pare down this list, and I would pare even further, at least among those that are reaches. The current app list will have many supplemental essays to write…how is your current progress on those? Which apps have you sent in so far?

I don’t think a T20 admit will happen, but certainly send in a few reach apps. But not 10+. Take a look at some of the schools tsbna suggested, but things are getting late for EA, so I won’t suggest more. If Pitt appeals at all, get that app in ASAP.

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I don’t know how you define top 20. Is it US News? Here’s the thing - have you ever looked at the US News criteria? It’s a popularity contest - literally. Here’s the methodology. It’s got zero inputs and it’s based on deans, etc. - how they rate other schools.

So here’s a note to your parents - if you’re using US News, maybe Rice and A&M are possible as noted - maybe.

BU, Duke, Northeastern, SCU, UVA, Washington, Vandy, and PSU aren’t top 20 nor are Irvine and Davis.

Close to top 20 - Penn State and you have fine odds there I think.

You could also look at the non-PhD schools and get into #1 - Rose Hulman, which has outstanding outcomes. It’s about 6% Asian - so it’s not as high as others, but also not none.

#8 Bucknell is another solid choice. It’s about 4% Asian.

The other issue with US News is how they categorize vs. including all on one list. Where would Rose Hulman be on the main list? No clue but they’ve got outstanding outcomes.

Anyway, what your parents want may not match reality. But I do think you have very good odds at PSU and possibilities at Va Tech and Texas A&M but I would not lean toward likely. A&M has secondary admissions as does Purdue and perhaps more -so you may not get your major but you wouldn’t know til second year. You may have to settle for another.

VCU is also safe, of course.

Your record is your record and your parents will have to be realistic.

But also know that me, or anyone else who evaluates you, is not an adcom and moreso not an adcom - and you never know how each school will review your application. But I would lower your sights, remove some names and put in more realistic names. For example, Lehigh is likely stronger in engineering than Vandy. I don’t think you get in but it’s more realistic. A Rochester might even be more realistic since you are full pay, etc. which is a nice card to play.

Being female may help at some schools.

Best of luck.

Methodology

How Programs Are Assessed and Ranked

In spring and summer of 2026, deans and senior faculty rated the academic quality of peer programs they were familiar with on a 5-point scale: outstanding (5), strong (4), good (3), adequate (2) or marginal (1). Individuals who were unfamiliar with a particular program were asked to select “don’t know.”

Each qualifying school or program was sent two peer assessment surveys.

An average peer assessment score was calculated for each program using a trimmed mean, which removes the two highest and two lowest scores to reduce the impact of outliers. Programs with at least 10 ratings after trimming were then ranked in descending order based on this score.

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Have you considered the University of Maryland? It’s a top 20 engineering school and is test optional through fall 2027

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If this poster is a senior, they need to get the University of Maryland application done ASAP and submit in the early round. UMD accepts about 90% of its incoming class in the early round.

I’m going to suggest University of Delaware. I know it’s not top 20 but this college has excellent engineering programs. It would be a good sure thing for you, in my opinion.

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Secondary admission to engineering majors is also required at VT (3.0 college GPA for automatic admission, if initially admitted as engineering undeclared) and PSU (college GPA threshold varies by major).

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@Peakingz U Del is about 5.5% Asian