Engineering with 1450 SAT?

[Anonymous]

My ds got 1440 sat (690 reading, 750 math) and 4.15W and 3.9UW and mid ECs, ok essay and got into engineering at Pitt, case western, Delaware, Penn state, MN, Binghamton, with good merit at all but Pitt and Penn state although still waiting on those if any. We are also waiting in 9 other schools.

[Anonymous]

696 M
665 R
4.1 gpa

VT engineering admit stats per the engineering info session last spring.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the engineer who posted about the similarities of all accredited engineering schools. However there are huge differences in expectations of the students by the schools. Variations in academic toughness.

[Anonymous]

Your son's stats are very competitive.

Georgia Tech
Illinois
Michigan
Bucknell
Purdue
Cooper Union
Texas
Virginia Tech
Texas A&M
Maryland
Ohio State
Penn State
NC State
Florida
Virginia

[Anonymous]

My DS got into Cornell Eng with a 1450 and many state schools. Don’t sell yourself short. It’s not about the Test Scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS got into Cornell Eng with a 1450 and many state schools. Don’t sell yourself short. It’s not about the Test Scores.

Wow. Fantastic! Could you expand with his experience with the application process?

[Anonymous]

My DS got into Cornell Eng with a 1450 and many state schools. Don’t sell yourself short. It’s not about the Test Scores.
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I think this is right. My daughter got into Cornell engineering with a 1450. 710 math. My sense is that at 1400 or higher (with a good math SAT 680 690 700?) they start to look at other parts of the application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son has a 1450 SAT (though will retake) and weak ECs. Good grades and will take rigorous courses in the IB.

What sort of colleges should we be looking at? I am a foreigner so don’t understand the system here well. Thanks for any advice!

Which state?

[Anonymous]

CU Boulder is world class for aerospace engineering but is very expensive OOS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son has a 1450 SAT (though will retake) and weak ECs. Good grades and will take rigorous courses in the IB.

What sort of colleges should we be looking at? I am a foreigner so don’t understand the system here well. Thanks for any advice!

Which state?

Maryland. But he wants to go further afield than College Park if possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son has a 1450 SAT (though will retake) and weak ECs. Good grades and will take rigorous courses in the IB.

What sort of colleges should we be looking at? I am a foreigner so don’t understand the system here well. Thanks for any advice!

Which state?

Maryland. But he wants to go further afield than College Park if possible.

UMBC is another in-state option which offers Engineering. They are particularly strong in cybersecurity, which is not really a surprise given their neighbor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what was the math score?

I would also look beyond admission to getting through the major, to completion of the degree. Engineering is hard everywhere and may be harder to get through at top schools. Attending a top school is not necessary for success in engineering as a field of work.

Have some reaches on the list, but I would suggest focusing on not super-selective schools. Many of the suggestions above are good - if your kid wants a large public, there are many at various levels of selectivity that offer engineering. Same for mid-size privates - several lower-ranked ones offer engineering are a bit easier for admission than top schools - I'd look to these if the particular kid wants small class sizes.

Thanks for all the thoughts so far.

700 math. We were surprised as we thought he would do better.

I am not worried about him completing the degree. He has always had straight As in school and is completely self-motivated, we have never pushed him at all.

He is doing HL physics too and is predicted 7s in math and physics.

We can afford full pay if necessary (though merit aid would be nice).

He would prefer to be in a town or city rather than the middle of nowhere.

He has talked about doing aeronautical engineering- no idea why though. I haven’t noticed any particular interest in airplanes otherwise.

That 700 math is low. VT and UMD will be reachy. Aim lower. The lower the engineering program the slower paced the classes. If he has had no problem getting As in math with a 700 then his high school has significant grade inflation. Many engineering schools give Cs to almost half of the kids in first year engineering (calc physics chem ); go to a college where the 700 math puts him in the top 1/4 or at least top half.

According to the VT website:

Fall 2023 first-year student profile:

Average high school GPA is 4.26
Average SAT Math score is 689
Average SAT Reading score is 669
Total SAT average is 1358

So I am not sure why you would consider a score above the average as reachy, nor how you have any basis to claim his school suffers from grade inflation- he is doing the IB which is an international standardized test.

But thanks for your input.

+1. Also, I have never heard grade inflation associated with the IB program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son has a 1450 SAT (though will retake) and weak ECs. Good grades and will take rigorous courses in the IB.

What sort of colleges should we be looking at? I am a foreigner so don’t understand the system here well. Thanks for any advice!

Which state?

Maryland. But he wants to go further afield than College Park if possible.

My son was 1490- got into UMD honors, Ohio State, Michigan, denied from GT,

[Anonymous]

Colorado School of MIT

RIT

RPI