I'm just wondering how a "smart" kid has a 3.0 and "bad" test scores. Just saying. Sounds like an average kid, not a smart one, which is just fine except average kids don't become engineers.

Northeastern

Anonymous wrote:I was this kid. Got into mech e at a Jesuit and couldn’t hack it. Switched to accounting and had a career as an accountant. My advice is to pick an engineering school that also has a business school. Non selective. Don’t worry about it. He’ll find the right path.

If he's having trouble in HS (as opposed to just immature or something), then engineering at college will be really hard. It's hard for the kids getting As in AP STEM classes. Or maybe your child is doing that but has low humanities grades bringing things down?

Go to a school with options to switch out if needed. In normal times, a CS major or BIS major could also be good. Not sure about now with AI etc.

The state schools out west come to mind…Washington state, Oregon state, Colorado state.

I was this kid. Got into mech e at a Jesuit and couldn’t hack it. Switched to accounting and had a career as an accountant. My advice is to pick an engineering school that also has a business school. Non selective. Don’t worry about it. He’ll find the right path.

This was sort of my kid. He originally wanted engineering, so we applied to some schools for it and other schools for business, etc. His acceptances for engineering were:

Duquesne University
Ohio University
Iowa State University
Kent State University
West Virginia University

All were for mechanical but Kent, which was for mechatronics engineering. Iowa State has a formula. It involves GPA and an SAT score. The acceptance came quick. Maybe 24 hours after submission of the application?

Took a lot (4) of robotics and engineering courses in high school. So, he should some interest in the field.

I told my wife I thought he was going to end up at Ohio University, but he ended up not wanting to pursue engineering, so he picked a school he got into for another major.

My suggestion is to do some project to prove himself.

Look at the medium-sized SUNY schools and the less selective SLACs, some of which have pre-engineering programs. SUNY Oswego and SUNY New Paltz, for example, both have engineering majors and are open to 3.0 students, but still offer real academics.

Highly recommend joining the FB page “College admission advice for awesomely average kids.”

ODU and WVU are a couple initial ideas for a 3.0 student interested in engineering. Michigan State, UNC Charlotte, New Hampshire, Western New England, Clarkson, and Wentworth are others to explore and consider.

Following - I have a freshman in this situation. Hoping GPA goes up but...

The 3.0 is unweighted at least? But yeah, that’s going to make it hard, especially with poor test scores/going test optional.

I don't mean to be mean, but there aren't a lot of engineering schools interested in an applicant with a 3.0 GPA and "bad" test scores. So I have to ask, what do you mean by "bad?"

GMU

So the kid only has a 3.0 AND low test scores?

Smart kid, bad test taker. Strong extracurriculars, good letters of recommendation, volunteering, good essay. Interested in engineering. Open to OOS.