Anonymous
11/27/2025 08:18
Subject: Re:Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If he has good grades in advanced math and physics classes and has shown promise in engineering through classes and ECs,
He has good ECs that are engineering focused, and good grades in BC Cal and AP Physics, but unfortunately, those grades only translated to a 3 and 4 on the AP exams (the 3 was in BC Cal). He stopped math after sophomore year because his school does not offer classes beyond BC cal.
A 3 still is a solid score and 4 is a good score. He should be a solid candidate.
He should refresh his math before starting his engineering program, especially Calculus, if he has not been using it much recently.
He should begin with calc 1 in college, since his calc background was a long time ago and not strong.
Anonymous
11/27/2025 08:11
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Vtech for sure those scores are good. dont worry.
+1
VTech is test optional. My ds got in with a lower gpa and test optional.
I'm sorry, but I highly, highly doubt this.
I don’t know what you think it takes to get into VT engineering, but a 4.1 gpa is not a dealbreaker.
What does it take to get into Vtech then? weighted / unweighted ?
It’s hard to say for sure, at least at DDs HS since Naviance doesn’t show what school applicants chose. But DDs friend had at least a 4.2 weighted GPA, high 1400s to low 1500s SAT, and good ECs. She was flat out rejected last year in EA, not even deferred or waitlisted. A 4.1 would be low for engineering from our HS.
Must have been red flags in the application. That SAT is well above the 75% with under half even submitting them.
Always possible, sure, but given what I know about both the student and the applicant pool from our HS it’s more likely that VT engineering is just an extremely tough admit. Lots of kids with stats like this don’t get in and I highly doubt they all have red flags. Anyway, this student is currently very happy where she landed (at a school with a higher median SAT than VT).
Anonymous
11/27/2025 07:56
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Vtech for sure those scores are good. dont worry.
+1
VTech is test optional. My ds got in with a lower gpa and test optional.
I'm sorry, but I highly, highly doubt this.
I don’t know what you think it takes to get into VT engineering, but a 4.1 gpa is not a dealbreaker.
What does it take to get into Vtech then? weighted / unweighted ?
It’s hard to say for sure, at least at DDs HS since Naviance doesn’t show what school applicants chose. But DDs friend had at least a 4.2 weighted GPA, high 1400s to low 1500s SAT, and good ECs. She was flat out rejected last year in EA, not even deferred or waitlisted. A 4.1 would be low for engineering from our HS.
Must have been red flags in the application. That SAT is well above the 75% with under half even submitting them.
Anonymous
11/27/2025 07:39
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Vtech for sure those scores are good. dont worry.
+1
VTech is test optional. My ds got in with a lower gpa and test optional.
I'm sorry, but I highly, highly doubt this.
I don’t know what you think it takes to get into VT engineering, but a 4.1 gpa is not a dealbreaker.
What does it take to get into Vtech then? weighted / unweighted ?
It’s hard to say for sure, at least at DDs HS since Naviance doesn’t show what school applicants chose. But DDs friend had at least a 4.2 weighted GPA, high 1400s to low 1500s SAT, and good ECs. She was flat out rejected last year in EA, not even deferred or waitlisted. A 4.1 would be low for engineering from our HS.
Anonymous
11/27/2025 06:24
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Vtech for sure those scores are good. dont worry.
+1
VTech is test optional. My ds got in with a lower gpa and test optional.
I'm sorry, but I highly, highly doubt this.
I don’t know what you think it takes to get into VT engineering, but a 4.1 gpa is not a dealbreaker.
What does it take to get into Vtech then? weighted / unweighted ?
Anonymous
11/27/2025 06:11
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why do people say "engineering" as though the many forms of engineering are similar to each other?
Admission to engineering programs is generally the same.
But what you do isn't. A kid should know if they want to build ships or roads or computers or reactors.
3/4 of these are mainly build by mechanical engineers. There's a reason why many schools have a common first year engineering curriculum.
Anonymous
11/27/2025 06:10
Subject: Re:Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
He could have at least self studies and retaken the AP calc BC exam junior year for a five, or better yet continued with something like mathacademy and getting the school to accept their accredited courses on his transcript, or just done dual enrollment. A lot of online dual enrollment classes are very cheap, like WTAMUAnonymous wrote:If he has good grades in advanced math and physics classes and has shown promise in engineering through classes and ECs,
He has good ECs that are engineering focused, and good grades in BC Cal and AP Physics, but unfortunately, those grades only translated to a 3 and 4 on the AP exams (the 3 was in BC Cal). He stopped math after sophomore year because his school does not offer classes beyond BC cal.
Anonymous
11/26/2025 21:15
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Anonymous wrote:He has a 4.1 average, but cannot break 1360 on the SAT. I'm not sure what schools with engineering may be realistic for him for his desired major besides Clarkson, Rose, WPI, VCU, and VA Tech as a reach. My concern with Clarkson is that it will be very tough for him to get home.
Any other suggestions? We considered RIT, but our neighbor's son goes there and had a horrible time getting his required coops.
Smoke weed.
Anonymous
11/25/2025 21:53
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Vtech for sure those scores are good. dont worry.
+1
VTech is test optional. My ds got in with a lower gpa and test optional.
I'm sorry, but I highly, highly doubt this.
I don’t know what you think it takes to get into VT engineering, but a 4.1 gpa is not a dealbreaker.
Anonymous
11/25/2025 21:34
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why do people say "engineering" as though the many forms of engineering are similar to each other?
Admission to engineering programs is generally the same.
But what you do isn't. A kid should know if they want to build ships or roads or computers or reactors.
Anonymous
11/25/2025 21:32
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
U of Denver.
Anonymous
11/25/2025 21:31
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Anonymous wrote:Why do people say "engineering" as though the many forms of engineering are similar to each other?
Admission to engineering programs is generally the same.
Anonymous
11/25/2025 21:25
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Why do people say "engineering" as though the many forms of engineering are similar to each other?
Anonymous
11/25/2025 21:17
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Vtech for sure those scores are good. dont worry.
+1
VTech is test optional. My ds got in with a lower gpa and test optional.
I'm sorry, but I highly, highly doubt this.
Anonymous
11/25/2025 21:07
Subject: Son has good grades but middling SAT - wants engineering
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You need to make sure to explain the math issue in his personal statements or get your guidance counselor to do it. No math since sophomore year topping out at a 3 in BC Calc is absolutely going to raise red flags at some of the schools named in this thread. I think not having him do online math junior year was a huge mistake.
The best answer so far.
This is acceleration that is detrimental. What was the point? In a hyper competitive school to keep up with his peers? I have to say the great majority of sophomore's taking calc bc will be at the top of their math class and easily score high on both sections of the SAT. And no math junior or senior year?
And he didn’t take any math Junior and senior year (online) because of his extracurricular commitments? First and foremost, colleges are looking at your transcript and the classes you took. This was a huge mistake. He should’ve dropped an extracurricular and taken an online math class or move down a level in ninth grade so that he could take math all four years