Which engineering programs is your DC applying to?

[Anonymous]

For Twin boys in Va EE/CompE/CS

Cornell(Dream)
UIUC
Georgia Tech
UT Austin
Purdue
UMCP
Wisconsin
UVA
VTech
UMinn(Already Accepted)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t seen anyone mention Rice - strong engineering programs, including BioE and Aerospace

I have one at Rice engineering - mechanical. Excellent overall. And the internships he's been getting from freshman year on have been outstanding.

My impression is that rice is a hard admit—is that right? So not as hard as mit, caltech but harder than Pitt, Delaware, WPI, Stevens, right?
Not sure if it’s too much of a reach for my kid who has mostly Bs in math.

The reality check is that any student with mostly Bs in math is going to have a tough time getting admitted to any engineering program.

And yes, Rice is a reach for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undecided engineering major, BioE or chemE/materials; only applying to top schools that allow deciding later and easy to switch:

Penn ED
Princeton
Northwestern
Harvard
Hopkins
MIT
WashU
UVA(safety—100% accepted from past 6yrs with class rank and SAT, regardless of rigor and ours is top kid in everything)
Mich OOS(match from our private for top kids)

Is it difficult to switch between majors within engineering? So for example, switching from BioE to EE. My impression was that most kids take similar classes and that they can easily switch by 2nd year?

It depends very much on which 2 majors. BioMedE might require different courses from MechE starting as soon as 1st semester. Between AeroE and MechE probably one could switch as late as 4th semester.

DS was interested in Biomedical (still is) but is also considering EE. There is an overlap in what he wants to do between the two majors. He had applied for Biomedical, but depending on this year's summer internship might choose to switch. How easy is it to switch in the 1st or 2nd semester of freshman year?

All top schools (ivy-MIT-Stanford-et al) allow easy switching, and in fact you do not apply to the major, you apply to the E -school in general, and declare major after the first year. Some publics are the same. Other big state schools admit into the major, have caps on majors, restrict change, etc. Investigate each thoroughly, including "weedout" ness: how many freshman engineers continue engineering sophomore year? Persistence is 98% in top schools; other schools it can be 60-70%%. The atmosphere when 30-40% drop engineering is remarkably negative compared to schools in which almost no one drops. The latter creates a much more collaborative and supportive environment, despite the misery that comes with the courseload.

Not true for Georgia Tech. They allow for easy switching within the Engineering School. The trick is to be admitted first and from there it's very easy to switch among Engineering disciplines. In fact, you can switch once automatically before starting classes as a freshman then once automatically after your 1st year. Very collaborative and supportive.

Is this written from experience, i.e., your child went to GT and switched within Eng?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undecided engineering major, BioE or chemE/materials; only applying to top schools that allow deciding later and easy to switch:

Penn ED
Princeton
Northwestern
Harvard
Hopkins
MIT
WashU
UVA(safety—100% accepted from past 6yrs with class rank and SAT, regardless of rigor and ours is top kid in everything)
Mich OOS(match from our private for top kids)

Is it difficult to switch between majors within engineering? So for example, switching from BioE to EE. My impression was that most kids take similar classes and that they can easily switch by 2nd year?

It depends very much on which 2 majors. BioMedE might require different courses from MechE starting as soon as 1st semester. Between AeroE and MechE probably one could switch as late as 4th semester.

DS was interested in Biomedical (still is) but is also considering EE. There is an overlap in what he wants to do between the two majors. He had applied for Biomedical, but depending on this year's summer internship might choose to switch. How easy is it to switch in the 1st or 2nd semester of freshman year?

All top schools (ivy-MIT-Stanford-et al) allow easy switching, and in fact you do not apply to the major, you apply to the E -school in general, and declare major after the first year. Some publics are the same. Other big state schools admit into the major, have caps on majors, restrict change, etc. Investigate each thoroughly, including "weedout" ness: how many freshman engineers continue engineering sophomore year? Persistence is 98% in top schools; other schools it can be 60-70%%. The atmosphere when 30-40% drop engineering is remarkably negative compared to schools in which almost no one drops. The latter creates a much more collaborative and supportive environment, despite the misery that comes with the courseload.

Not true for Georgia Tech. They allow for easy switching within the Engineering School. The trick is to be admitted first and from there it's very easy to switch among Engineering disciplines. In fact, you can switch once automatically before starting classes as a freshman then once automatically after your 1st year. Very collaborative and supportive.

Is this written from experience, i.e., your child went to GT and switched within Eng?

2024 cycle, my kids portal had an button/option to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t seen anyone mention Rice - strong engineering programs, including BioE and Aerospace

I have one at Rice engineering - mechanical. Excellent overall. And the internships he's been getting from freshman year on have been outstanding.

My impression is that rice is a hard admit—is that right? So not as hard as mit, caltech but harder than Pitt, Delaware, WPI, Stevens, right?
Not sure if it’s too much of a reach for my kid who has mostly Bs in math.

The reality check is that any student with mostly Bs in math is going to have a tough time getting admitted to any engineering program.

Maybe a top ranked program, but many mid tier colleges would accept the student.

And yes, Rice is a reach for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Regarding changing majors, very few programs administratively make this difficult.

At many engineering programs, but not all, some popular majors will have minimum "Engineering GPA" (excluding non-engineering electives) requirements.

However, changing majors after 2-3 semesters often means that one lacks the needed pre-requisites. This means a change of majors within engineering might force a student to take longer to graduate. Needing a 5th year is pretty common in such cases.

However, the amount of delay / difficulty in changing will vary with how much the Freshman / Sophomore prerequisites overlap between the old major and new major.

ChemE might have the least prerequisite overlap with other engineering degrees. AeroE and MechE have a lot of overlap. CS, CompE, and EE have a lot of overlap. CivilE and MechE have a little overlap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mechanical

Pitt (accepted honors $20K a year)
Alabama (accepted)
RIT
UVA
GT
VT
Purdue
JMU
Vanderbilt
Northeastern
UTK


Maybe depending on Dec results
Rice
Princeton

JMU?

I was skeptical. We toured their department & the pp whose kid can't decide between BioMed & EE, JMU would be the answer for that. We toured JMU Eng & our guide was a biomed concentration who is currently doing research with a prof & lead her to decide she wants a PhD. She started thinking she'd be an EE. JMU Engineers seem to have good employment outcomes: https://www.jmu.edu/career/careeroutcomes/_files/2024/2024-career-outcomes-cise.pdf

If your kid is into a happy, collaborative engineering program, especially if they want to be more of a generalist, it could be a good fit.

Do whatever one thinks best.

As a STEM hiring manager, I never hire anyone with a "general" engineering degree because they lack the entry-level knowledge and skills needed to actually get work done. So I never ever hire engineers from JMU. Maybe such students are targeting Wall Street; I really do not know.

By contrast, I do hire many new grads who have specific engineering degrees (EE, MechE, AeroE, or whatever else).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undecided engineering major, BioE or chemE/materials; only applying to top schools that allow deciding later and easy to switch:

Penn ED
Princeton
Northwestern
Harvard
Hopkins
MIT
WashU
UVA(safety—100% accepted from past 6yrs with class rank and SAT, regardless of rigor and ours is top kid in everything)
Mich OOS(match from our private for top kids)

Is it difficult to switch between majors within engineering? So for example, switching from BioE to EE. My impression was that most kids take similar classes and that they can easily switch by 2nd year?

It depends very much on which 2 majors. BioMedE might require different courses from MechE starting as soon as 1st semester. Between AeroE and MechE probably one could switch as late as 4th semester.

DS was interested in Biomedical (still is) but is also considering EE. There is an overlap in what he wants to do between the two majors. He had applied for Biomedical, but depending on this year's summer internship might choose to switch. How easy is it to switch in the 1st or 2nd semester of freshman year?

All top schools (ivy-MIT-Stanford-et al) allow easy switching, and in fact you do not apply to the major, you apply to the E -school in general, and declare major after the first year. Some publics are the same. Other big state schools admit into the major, have caps on majors, restrict change, etc. Investigate each thoroughly, including "weedout" ness: how many freshman engineers continue engineering sophomore year? Persistence is 98% in top schools; other schools it can be 60-70%%. The atmosphere when 30-40% drop engineering is remarkably negative compared to schools in which almost no one drops. The latter creates a much more collaborative and supportive environment, despite the misery that comes with the courseload.

Not true for Georgia Tech. They allow for easy switching within the Engineering School. The trick is to be admitted first and from there it's very easy to switch among Engineering disciplines. In fact, you can switch once automatically before starting classes as a freshman then once automatically after your 1st year. Very collaborative and supportive.

Is this written from experience, i.e., your child went to GT and switched within Eng?

2024 cycle, my kids portal had an button/option to change.

Yep. 2025 Cycle here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t seen anyone mention Rice - strong engineering programs, including BioE and Aerospace

I have one at Rice engineering - mechanical. Excellent overall. And the internships he's been getting from freshman year on have been outstanding.

My impression is that rice is a hard admit—is that right? So not as hard as mit, caltech but harder than Pitt, Delaware, WPI, Stevens, right?
Not sure if it’s too much of a reach for my kid who has mostly Bs in math.

The reality check is that any student with mostly Bs in math is going to have a tough time getting admitted to any engineering program.

And yes, Rice is a reach for everyone.

I know. He doesn’t want to hear it since it’s been his dream for years. He will have a close to perfect math sat and probably a 5 (at least a 4) on the BC calc exam plus taking multivariate as a senior. We have tons of engineers in my family so I know he’s capable of it but he just doesn’t have the best grades for a variety of reasons. I’m wondering if places like Delaware, Arizona, Connecticut etc are possible. Ideas welcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t seen anyone mention Rice - strong engineering programs, including BioE and Aerospace

I have one at Rice engineering - mechanical. Excellent overall. And the internships he's been getting from freshman year on have been outstanding.

My impression is that rice is a hard admit—is that right? So not as hard as mit, caltech but harder than Pitt, Delaware, WPI, Stevens, right?
Not sure if it’s too much of a reach for my kid who has mostly Bs in math.

The reality check is that any student with mostly Bs in math is going to have a tough time getting admitted to any engineering program.

And yes, Rice is a reach for everyone.

I know. He doesn’t want to hear it since it’s been his dream for years. He will have a close to perfect math sat and probably a 5 (at least a 4) on the BC calc exam plus taking multivariate as a senior. We have tons of engineers in my family so I know he’s capable of it but he just doesn’t have the best grades for a variety of reasons. I’m wondering if places like Delaware, Arizona, Connecticut etc are possible. Ideas welcome.

For a student like that, I would avoid any engineering program with intentional weed out classes (example: VT) and also avoid "sink-or-swim" engineering programs (example: ODU).

Pick an engineering program where at least 90% of students who start in engineering graduate with a degree in engineering within 5 years. Smaller also might be better for that type of student. Make sure the program offers the specific enginering degree that student is interested in. (Example: not all programs will offer AeroE).

Rose-Hulman would be worth looking into. RH is smaller, students are names not numbers, supportive, still well respected, high graduation rate.

UMBC and GMU are good options if they offer the relevant degrees. GMU now is primarily residential, unlike 25 years ago. Both have high admissions rates. People here hate them in part because they are local.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reaches
MIT
Georgia Tech (OOS)
Cal Tech
Berkely (OOS)
Michigan (OOS)
UT- Austin (OOS)

Targets
Purdue
Maryland
Wisconsin

I'm surprised that UMD is a "target." It's pretty competitive, even for top students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t seen anyone mention Rice - strong engineering programs, including BioE and Aerospace

I have one at Rice engineering - mechanical. Excellent overall. And the internships he's been getting from freshman year on have been outstanding.

My impression is that rice is a hard admit—is that right? So not as hard as mit, caltech but harder than Pitt, Delaware, WPI, Stevens, right?
Not sure if it’s too much of a reach for my kid who has mostly Bs in math.

The reality check is that any student with mostly Bs in math is going to have a tough time getting admitted to any engineering program.

And yes, Rice is a reach for everyone.

This is not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t seen anyone mention Rice - strong engineering programs, including BioE and Aerospace

I have one at Rice engineering - mechanical. Excellent overall. And the internships he's been getting from freshman year on have been outstanding.

My impression is that rice is a hard admit—is that right? So not as hard as mit, caltech but harder than Pitt, Delaware, WPI, Stevens, right?
Not sure if it’s too much of a reach for my kid who has mostly Bs in math.

The reality check is that any student with mostly Bs in math is going to have a tough time getting admitted to any engineering program.

And yes, Rice is a reach for everyone.

This is not true.

Which this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reaches
MIT
Georgia Tech (OOS)
Cal Tech
Berkely (OOS)
Michigan (OOS)
UT- Austin (OOS)

Targets
Purdue
Maryland
Wisconsin

I'm surprised that UMD is a "target." It's pretty competitive, even for top students.

For Maryland public high school students, it really depends on your kid's HS. We considered it a target for our kid. He is currently in his first semester at UMD eng with honors and merit. He is having a great time there!

He was either rejected or WL from his reaches which were all private universities in the mid-Atlantic/northeast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t seen anyone mention Rice - strong engineering programs, including BioE and Aerospace

I have one at Rice engineering - mechanical. Excellent overall. And the internships he's been getting from freshman year on have been outstanding.

My impression is that rice is a hard admit—is that right? So not as hard as mit, caltech but harder than Pitt, Delaware, WPI, Stevens, right?
Not sure if it’s too much of a reach for my kid who has mostly Bs in math.

The reality check is that any student with mostly Bs in math is going to have a tough time getting admitted to any engineering program.

And yes, Rice is a reach for everyone.

I know. He doesn’t want to hear it since it’s been his dream for years. He will have a close to perfect math sat and probably a 5 (at least a 4) on the BC calc exam plus taking multivariate as a senior. We have tons of engineers in my family so I know he’s capable of it but he just doesn’t have the best grades for a variety of reasons. I’m wondering if places like Delaware, Arizona, Connecticut etc are possible. Ideas welcome.

He's totally fine in engineering. Look at schools like RPI, Clarkson and RH.