How are you supposed to get into college for engineering now?

[Anonymous]

The three most brilliant people I have ever worked with are engineers who went to LSU, Hawaii, and Miami.

Expand your horizons, OP.

[Anonymous]

STEM kids (and parents in STEM fields) don’t appreciate how important essays are in the admissions process.

Sure you can code and do calculus but can you write?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Purdue EA decisions recently came out, and it was shocking how selective they were. I seen kids with straight As, a 1570+ SAT, and strong extracurriculars in research, building model rockets, Eagle Scout, varsity team captains, and more who got denied. Not even deferred. Just flat out denied. It is just so frustrating that here in NOVA, just getting into these extracurriculars and being top of the class is ridiculously hard. Yet, many of these stop students can't get even get into Purdue. I honestly don't know what Ivy Leagues or schools like Berkeley and Michigan are looking for.

Go to a less selective school for engineering. Problem solved.

One thing about engineering is that there are plenty of less selective schools where you can get an excellentr engineering education.

Non-engineer here. I was under the impression it does not matter much where you go for engineering as long as it it ABET accredited. Is that true?

Depends on engineering. I recruit BS engineers. Some schools don't do enough math and physics for EE and computer engineering. Some aerospace programs are not rigorous enough in my opinion as well. Purdue is amazing so are UMD, Michigan and many others. You have to look at the requirements for the major and how much math there is and also what the options are for 400 levels as in some schools there are easy senior project courses but challenging one in others.

+1 ABET is the minimum needed but to maximize top recruitment in Engineering from the best companies and also if the kid has interest in start-up/emerging tech culture, you need certain classes: a lot of math and physics already accomplished by soph year is a leg up in getting paid summer E jobs, which then puts one ahead for jobs after junior year.

The weaker schools are not targets for high paying E jobs because mostly because the students are less prepared

True, but it is a small sliver of E-jobs at the very top of the market that preferentially target MIT/Ivy/CMU/UCB level over Purdue. Purdue does better than the vast majority of E-schools looking at jobs after BSE.
Not being a target for the super elite tech jobs is not important for most undergrads. Similar issue with those who always point out on DCUM that you cannot go into top finance(quant ala Jane Street, 2Sig) or top consulting(MBB) from non-ivy+. So? There remain plenty of regional finance and consulting careers that pay very well and hire from SMU, Fordham, UMD. Most grads do not care about the tip-top segments of the job market.

Within Computer Science, often part of the engineering school and definitely part of the tech job market, we are on a bubble. Too many grads and less and less jobs. WSJ article from May has been hashed out before, and it is imperative to note the take-away, “comp sci majors from top-tier schools can still get jobs”, outlining the typical elite schools, ivy+ a few others. In a downturning tech market top-tier matters! Engineering has become a very popular interest, all areas of it, with more and more ABET programs over the past 5 yrs. A tech bubble is upon us and the elite grads will have the edge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Purdue EA decisions recently came out, and it was shocking how selective they were. I seen kids with straight As, a 1570+ SAT, and strong extracurriculars in research, building model rockets, Eagle Scout, varsity team captains, and more who got denied. Not even deferred. Just flat out denied. It is just so frustrating that here in NOVA, just getting into these extracurriculars and being top of the class is ridiculously hard. Yet, many of these stop students can't get even get into Purdue. I honestly don't know what Ivy Leagues or schools like Berkeley and Michigan are looking for.

Go to a less selective school for engineering. Problem solved.

One thing about engineering is that there are plenty of less selective schools where you can get an excellentr engineering education.

Non-engineer here. I was under the impression it does not matter much where you go for engineering as long as it it ABET accredited. Is that true?

Depends on engineering. I recruit BS engineers. Some schools don't do enough math and physics for EE and computer engineering. Some aerospace programs are not rigorous enough in my opinion as well. Purdue is amazing so are UMD, Michigan and many others. You have to look at the requirements for the major and how much math there is and also what the options are for 400 levels as in some schools there are easy senior project courses but challenging one in others.

+1 ABET is the minimum needed but to maximize top recruitment in Engineering from the best companies and also if the kid has interest in start-up/emerging tech culture, you need certain classes: a lot of math and physics already accomplished by soph year is a leg up in getting paid summer E jobs, which then puts one ahead for jobs after junior year.

The weaker schools are not targets for high paying E jobs because mostly because the students are less prepared

True, but it is a small sliver of E-jobs at the very top of the market that preferentially target MIT/Ivy/CMU/UCB level over Purdue. Purdue does better than the vast majority of E-schools looking at jobs after BSE.
Not being a target for the super elite tech jobs is not important for most undergrads. Similar issue with those who always point out on DCUM that you cannot go into top finance(quant ala Jane Street, 2Sig) or top consulting(MBB) from non-ivy+. So? There remain plenty of regional finance and consulting careers that pay very well and hire from SMU, Fordham, UMD. Most grads do not care about the tip-top segments of the job market.

Within Computer Science, often part of the engineering school and definitely part of the tech job market, we are on a bubble. Too many grads and less and less jobs. WSJ article from May has been hashed out before, and it is imperative to note the take-away, “comp sci majors from top-tier schools can still get jobs”, outlining the typical elite schools, ivy+ a few others. In a downturning tech market top-tier matters! Engineering has become a very popular interest, all areas of it, with more and more ABET programs over the past 5 yrs. A tech bubble is upon us and the elite grads will have the edge.

Engineering writ large is so much larger than the Tech market though. Everything from wastewater treatment to construction to manufacturing/distribution to transportation to medical devices. The bubble is within a pretty particular niche. Also, the number of grads MIT/Penn/Cornell/CMU, etc graduate is a drop in the ocean relative to the overall need for engineers across fields. Purdue graduates more Mech Engineers than CMU/MIT/Cornell/Penn combined. Add in other great schools (Ohio State, Dayton, Virgina Tech, Georgia Tech, TAMU, etc) and their contribution to the overall engineering market is rounding error. Not saying these aren't great schools, but in engineering (I mean actual engineering work - not going into finance, consulting, etc) the notion of 'elite' doesn't matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Purdue EA decisions recently came out, and it was shocking how selective they were. I seen kids with straight As, a 1570+ SAT, and strong extracurriculars in research, building model rockets, Eagle Scout, varsity team captains, and more who got denied. Not even deferred. Just flat out denied. It is just so frustrating that here in NOVA, just getting into these extracurriculars and being top of the class is ridiculously hard. Yet, many of these stop students can't get even get into Purdue. I honestly don't know what Ivy Leagues or schools like Berkeley and Michigan are looking for.

Apply to schools in the 35-100 range. Many of those are NOT direct admit---so your kid can select any major they want (outside of say Music or Nursing, which are almost always direct admit)

So RPI, WPI, CWRU, Rochester, Marquette, Gonzaga, etc.

[Anonymous]

Probably accepted someone else this year (or last) and moved on to the next high school. When you apply they are also comparing you to your HS classmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS was rejected by Purdue EA. Sure, it's a bummer, but now he doesn't have to go to Indiana.

DS is already accepted to Penn State Engineering at University Park.

He has plenty of options though: Marquette; Dayton; Ole Miss; LSU; Penn State

Villanova was a deferral, so that too was a bummer, but not rejected yet...

And we wait on JMU, UVA, and VT...

Just because Purdue or another school rejects, it's not the end of the world. Lots of opportunities out there for all kinds of students.

Indiana is a Red state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What were the GPAs and math and science classes?

Straight As. They took AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics C: Mech, AP Bio, and a community college course in linear algebra

Wow, that is hard. But I hope your son realizes that is a simple case of too many qualified students applying for a limited number of seats at these top schools. He didn’t make any missteps or have a subpar application, it’s very likely just came down to random selection of the top tier applicants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Purdue EA decisions recently came out, and it was shocking how selective they were. I seen kids with straight As, a 1570+ SAT, and strong extracurriculars in research, building model rockets, Eagle Scout, varsity team captains, and more who got denied. Not even deferred. Just flat out denied. It is just so frustrating that here in NOVA, just getting into these extracurriculars and being top of the class is ridiculously hard. Yet, many of these stop students can't get even get into Purdue. I honestly don't know what Ivy Leagues or schools like Berkeley and Michigan are looking for.

I can't take seriously anyone who says, "I seen ..."

Good luck.

Lighten up, Poindexter. Who among us has not been a victim of autocorrect, or revised the wording of their post & forgot to change one word? I’m more worried about the dipstick who gets off on posting “Wut?”