Please Help Suggest Low Reach/High Target/Target list for Engineering Majors

[Anonymous]

Does Emory even have an engineering program?

[Anonymous]

Emory doesn’t have an engineering program. GA Tech may be a low reach if OOS with those stats

[Anonymous]

I think it also depends on what kind of engineering. If it’s computer science or computer engineering, that’s a whole different ballgame.

My kid, with a similar profile but a little higher on some metrics, used Ohio State as a safety. And also UMD in-state because they admit first into the school and then the programs, so he could have been a physics or math major there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it also depends on what kind of engineering. If it’s computer science or computer engineering, that’s a whole different ballgame.

My kid, with a similar profile but a little higher on some metrics, used Ohio State as a safety. And also UMD in-state because they admit first into the school and then the programs, so he could have been a physics or math major there.

Oh, I see you didn’t ask for safeties. Because of yield protection and randomness, I didn’t think it was possible to define targets for him, especially at a granular level.

[Anonymous]

No! Do your own research based on your 14 years of experience with your child. Also, many many things can happen in the next fews years. You have at least 2.5 year to do research. Don't start here. Just wait until you see the results from the DCUM experts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS is similar. In the old days, his reach would be Michigan, his target Purdue, and his safety Lehigh. But who knows? Now, they all feel like reaches, and he should ED to one if he really loves it.
I'd say our son's actual safety is Penn State and maybe VT. Hard to figure out reach and targets because I suspect schools will yield protect kids like ours. But those are big schools.
Since you're looking for smaller schools, I'd say take him to tour Lehigh and Johns Hopkins

No way this kid is getting into Hopkins. No way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boy, 14 APs by end of 12th grade, 1570 SAT with 4.97 WGPA and 4.0 unweighted from MCPS school. Thinking about Engineering, but might be open to other fields. However, he will have to consider a direct admit situation so I guess will have to lean into engineering just in case as it's probably the limiting factor to get into some schools?

Haven't taken his 11th grade APs obviously, but the 9th and 10th grade APs were all 5's. State level music achievements, rec sports, started a club that he is passionate about, President/VP of some other clubs in school, write for the school newspaper and served as section editor, and some leadership in community projects. Have done some side passion projects that mean a lot to him on a personal level, but nothing where he entered into competitions or won an official award. Works part time in something completely unrelated to his potential career field, mostly because he wants to interact with adults and earn money. Has done trivial shadowing in engineering, but no real tech internship.

Frankly, most colleges seem to be a Reach for engineering majors and I cannot seem to distinguish between Low Reach/High Target/Target. I feel like the College Vine numbers are particularly inflated for him because of his stats, and do not consider major or any other school demographics. Also, does being a boy make it more competitive for admissions to engineering? To me, he seems to look like every other high performing kid.

Looking for colleges that are not too small, maybe 5000+ undergrads. At the least, the school can be in city or suburban areas but not out in the middle of nowhere.

Would appreciate your wisdom and suggestions with categorizing the Low Reach/High Target/Target lists, and whether it's worthwhile to ED.

What is your kids definition of engineering?

[Anonymous]

My kid with similar stats started with a very wide list and slowly narrowed it down based on fit.

GA Tech
Pitt
UMD
NC State
Duke
Rice
Northwestern
Hopkins
VT
U Michigan
RIT
RPI
Lehigh
Bucknell

Ended up EDing to Hopkins and loves it there

[Anonymous]

Omg college fools there is no more college ugh wake up

[Anonymous]

Assuming those stats are accurate and that the APs are in science and math, I wouldn’t hesitate to apply to any school in the country. Your child has outstanding grades, a near-perfect SAT score, and multiple 5s on AP exams. They’ve earned the opportunity to take a shot at highly competitive schools.

If I were in your position, I’d start by reviewing the U.S. News rankings for top undergraduate engineering programs. From there, I’d filter based on school size and other important factors to narrow down the best fits. Keep in mind that while many elite universities are highly regarded, not all are known for engineering, so you may want to expand your list accordingly if the name on the university is as important than the engineering education.

People on DCUM often overcomplicate this process. While admissions to schools like Harvard or Yale can feel like rocket science, gaining acceptance to a top engineering program with your child’s stats is much more straightforward.

[Anonymous]

DS had similar stats. His list was:

Cornell
Michigan
UMD
GA Tech
NC State
Pitt
Rice
Wisconsin
Virginia Tech
Colorado School of Mines

Went to UMD Honors College.

[Anonymous]

Most prospective engineering students know which major(s) they want. Not all engineering schools offer all majors. So once you have a list of candidate schools, then filter for schools that actually offer the desired major(s).

If not MIT or Caltech, verify the E School is ABET accredited (most are).

[Anonymous]

You can also be selective and look for schools that offer direct admission to the major, as well as flexibility in switching majors in case your child wants to make a change. Keep in mind that, for the most part, public engineering programs don’t place much emphasis on extracurriculars, so don’t stress too much about that when considering public schools.

[Anonymous]

Other colleges to consider: 1.) University of Tulsa for engineering. 2.) University of Oklahoma. 3.) Missouri STEM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does University of Pennsylvania place in terms of college list for a high stat student?

It is among the highest of reaches as with every other T10 that has engineering.
DS is a freshman in M&T, 1560 straight 5s, top of his stem high school tons of ECs and glad he did ED or he might not be there.
UPenn had an overall engineering admit rate under 3.5% the past 3 cycles, according to the dean. The 3% is inclusive of ED and RD together. It is the hardest upenn school to gain acceptance to, harder than Wharton and has been for a few years due to engineering's popularity among top students interested in STEM. Out of an incoming freshman class of 2400, SEAS only has about 425 spots yet 16-17k of the 65k total apps are to SEAS or one of the SEAS duals (M&T, VIPER).

It's not just UPenn, engineering has become more common in the applicant pool of elites than the previously-popular pre-med stem students. Engineering applications soared everywhere since 2022 but especially at ivies/stanford/T10 types where there is a separate application to the E school and it can be tracked.