Engineering Purdue/UMich/Wisc/GTech/UMD from NOVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to figure out if it is worth taking my junior to visit any of these schools during the spring/summer — if anyone can give them thoughts on whether the following kid has any shot at Wisconsin, Purdue, VT, OOS if appreciate it:
3.2 UW, but all high rigor so 4.2 weighted, from big public school. 1550 SAT. 10 APs through junior year, and let’s assume 5s on BC Calc, physics mechanics, physics c, AP chem, apush, AP lang, AP gov, and 4s on CS principles, CS Java and AP world history. Will talk MV Calc and Physics EM senior year along with an engineering elective and some humanist APs. So basically a good candidate except lots of Bs on report card.

I think you need to aim lower will be lots of kids with same rigor and perfect or near perfect grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The top 10-15% of students are "top track":AP CalcBC in 11th and DE MV/LA/DiffEq in 12th, as well as AP physics C, AP Chem, often before 12th.. Those are the kids that have a decent shot at GT OOS as well as Stanford/Ivies/JHU for Engineering, and all of them get into VT and UVA for Engineering, as well as Purdue easily.

This is my MCPS kid -- except he is the only student at his school taking this kind of sequence. (Obvs not a "W" school, and we are low income.)

I would have imagined this would have positioned him well for UMich/Wisc/GTech/UMD but now I'm nervous that none of these schools are going to care -- and since his school is pretty much unknown by these and other top engineering schools, it's not gonna go well.

I guess we'll know soon enough.

If he has done well in these classes, being low income will help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to figure out if it is worth taking my junior to visit any of these schools during the spring/summer — if anyone can give them thoughts on whether the following kid has any shot at Wisconsin, Purdue, VT, OOS if appreciate it:
3.2 UW, but all high rigor so 4.2 weighted, from big public school. 1550 SAT. 10 APs through junior year, and let’s assume 5s on BC Calc, physics mechanics, physics c, AP chem, apush, AP lang, AP gov, and 4s on CS principles, CS Java and AP world history. Will talk MV Calc and Physics EM senior year along with an engineering elective and some humanist APs. So basically a good candidate except lots of Bs on report card.

I think you need to aim lower will be lots of kids with same rigor and perfect or near perfect grades.

So your view is that it is not worth even visiting any of these schools? I wasn’t considering these as “safeties” or anything — but don’t know if they are reaches or don’t even bothers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to figure out if it is worth taking my junior to visit any of these schools during the spring/summer — if anyone can give them thoughts on whether the following kid has any shot at Wisconsin, Purdue, VT, OOS if appreciate it:
3.2 UW, but all high rigor so 4.2 weighted, from big public school. 1550 SAT. 10 APs through junior year, and let’s assume 5s on BC Calc, physics mechanics, physics c, AP chem, apush, AP lang, AP gov, and 4s on CS principles, CS Java and AP world history. Will talk MV Calc and Physics EM senior year along with an engineering elective and some humanist APs. So basically a good candidate except lots of Bs on report card.

I think you need to aim lower will be lots of kids with same rigor and perfect or near perfect grades.

So your view is that it is not worth even visiting any of these schools? I wasn’t considering these as “safeties” or anything — but don’t know if they are reaches or don’t even bothers.

Visits can be a waste of time and money once you know the type of school you are interested in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so is vtech and uva eng better than purdue?

God no

then why denied at vtech and got into purdue?

Purdue - the easiest engineering school to get into and the hardest one to get out of.

Can you please share what you mean?

DP here... I think the poster is referencing Purdue's reputation for grade deflation and weed out classes. Purdue prides itself on tough grading and brags about the low grades given to its favorite alumnus, Neil Armstrong.

[Anonymous]

I agree. We learned after my first that we wasted some time/money on campus visits when a virtual tour or meeting might have been fine for “possibilities” and to demonstrate interest.

The SAT is great and classes demonstrate wanting to push one’s self so that may help. I feel why not try with the application but be selective with visits if money is a concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to figure out if it is worth taking my junior to visit any of these schools during the spring/summer — if anyone can give them thoughts on whether the following kid has any shot at Wisconsin, Purdue, VT, OOS if appreciate it:
3.2 UW, but all high rigor so 4.2 weighted, from big public school. 1550 SAT. 10 APs through junior year, and let’s assume 5s on BC Calc, physics mechanics, physics c, AP chem, apush, AP lang, AP gov, and 4s on CS principles, CS Java and AP world history. Will talk MV Calc and Physics EM senior year along with an engineering elective and some humanist APs. So basically a good candidate except lots of Bs on report card.

I think you need to aim lower will be lots of kids with same rigor and perfect or near perfect grades.

So your view is that it is not worth even visiting any of these schools? I wasn’t considering these as “safeties” or anything — but don’t know if they are reaches or don’t even bothers.

I would not visit, but kid could apply as high reach’s. He isn’t going to be a competitive candidate for this tier of schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so is vtech and uva eng better than purdue?

God no

then why denied at vtech and got into purdue?

Purdue - the easiest engineering school to get into and the hardest one to get out of.

Can you please share what you mean?

I listened to an interview with the former head of Purdue who said yes, classes and grading are intentionally tough as they want students to push themselves and learn. That said, support is readily available but students need to seek it on their own. It is not a “hand-holding school”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to figure out if it is worth taking my junior to visit any of these schools during the spring/summer — if anyone can give them thoughts on whether the following kid has any shot at Wisconsin, Purdue, VT, OOS if appreciate it:
3.2 UW, but all high rigor so 4.2 weighted, from big public school. 1550 SAT. 10 APs through junior year, and let’s assume 5s on BC Calc, physics mechanics, physics c, AP chem, apush, AP lang, AP gov, and 4s on CS principles, CS Java and AP world history. Will talk MV Calc and Physics EM senior year along with an engineering elective and some humanist APs. So basically a good candidate except lots of Bs on report card.

I think you need to aim lower will be lots of kids with same rigor and perfect or near perfect grades.

So your view is that it is not worth even visiting any of these schools? I wasn’t considering these as “safeties” or anything — but don’t know if they are reaches or don’t even bothers.

Visits can be a waste of time and money once you know the type of school you are interested in.

FWIW, OP, we were advised to apply (aerospace engineering) and then tour. That was the right advice for us, both from a stress management and financial point of view. A colleague in the same class was taken to every Ivy to tour with his parents. Yes, you can guess the outcome - didn’t get into any of them (also engineering). So after EA acceptance, DH took DD to tour Purdue, Georgia Tech, UVA, etc. Kid picked UVA, which turned out to be the right choice since she changed major to humanities (80% of students change major later in life) and now at Chicago law. She later confided she was.never 100% sure about aerospace engineering so included that in her decision making. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

You will have time to visit after acceptances.

[Anonymous]

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so is vtech and uva eng better than purdue?

God no

Engineering rankings:
Purdue #8
Va Tech #14
...
UVA #35

Purdue is generally a more difficult engineering admit than Virginia Tech unless you are an Indiana resident, where the acceptance rate is around 60%. For out‑of‑state applicants, the acceptance rate is closer to 30%.

Virginia Tech can be an extremely tough admit from certain high schools in Virginia, which is why Purdue can sometimes appear to be, and in some cases is, an easier engineering admit than VT. If you are applying OOS to both schools, then VT typically has a higher, and sometimes much higher, acceptance rate.

VT is also test‑optional and uses weighted GPA, which likely helps some applicants. Purdue Engineering has a reputation for being one of the most rigorous engineering programs in the country. UVA and VT are strong, but generally not regarded as being as rigorous as Purdue

VT is a tough admit in-state because it’s President, TIm Sands, went super woke and pledge to make VT 40% First generation/URM. This he succeeded at. This resulted in many white and Asian In-state Virginians not being accepted to VT and having to go OSS. I know at least a dozen such families. That’s why TJ’s numbers at VT dropped. https://news.vt.edu/articles/2022/09/admissions-fall-census-2022.html.

[Anonymous]

Why not get in state tuition at Virginia Tech? It has a very strong engineering program!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so is vtech and uva eng better than purdue?

All are ABET accredited and ABET sets a high floor. So all are rigorous. "Rankings" are much less meaningful in engineering.

I would happily hire an ECE grad from any of them - or GMU or UMBC or many other places.

EXACTLY! All accredited schools are excellent. Look at where the kids get jobs and see what the differences are among the various schools, if any.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so is vtech and uva eng better than purdue?

All are ABET accredited and ABET sets a high floor. So all are rigorous. "Rankings" are much less meaningful in engineering.

I would happily hire an ECE grad from any of them - or GMU or UMBC or many other places.

wrong

[Anonymous]

Students can switch to humanities degrees from any of these schools, if they realize engineering isn't right for them. All have strong liberal arts colleges too.