Anonymous wrote:My kid had 2 and didn't need them. Their counselor wanted safety-heavy (suggested like 6+ safeties my kid had zero interest in). We didn't take that advice and he applied reach-target heavy and 2 safeties.

He got in pretty much everywhere. WL at 2 HPYSM and in everywhere else. It was a waste of application fees and time to do more.

That said he was a strong applicant perfect 4.0 uw gpa, 35 ACT, 5s all AP exams and very involved ECs --sport, community service, job, academic club.

I do think counselors don't want to face a kid/parents if they don't get in anywhere so they tend to be very cautious. I feel like many have you shoot below your weight too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

are those the usual safeties for engineering?

Some of these are part of a group of schools that are sort of like the LACs of engineering schools: they are small, mostly undergrad focused (some are only undergrad), engineering-only schools. Given that niche, they are self-selecting and so some, but not all, are a little easier to get into by percentages (but not by grades, etc.), than the big universities that also have engineering programs. Some of them include: Olin, RPI, WPI, Rose Hulman, Stevens, Colorado School of Mines, Harvey Mudd, Cooper Union.

ok thanks-this really makes sense, my DD is getting tons of mail from these schools based on Ap comp princ she took as a freshman--which ones would you consider the better in the group?

Can't go wrong with any of them. They are really spread all over the country, so geography might be a good way to narrow that down. Also since engineering programs tend to be male-heavy, she may want to compare the M/F ratio (haven't compared recently, but I think WPI has a reputation for being balanced in that regard, as they have had female Presidents for quite a while.) Harvey Mudd is 50/50 but it is a reach for everyone.

WPI had been moving towards 50/50 and were at about 60/40 a few years ago. Now it's back to 70/30 and the female president is gone.

The current WPI President is a woman: Grace Wang.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

are those the usual safeties for engineering?

DP: case, RPI, Rochester are not Safeties for anyone. They can be targets for many higher stats/good students. WPI can be a safety since acceptance rate is 57%.

Those are definately a great list of Target engineering schools. My kid applied to all of those, except RPI (hated it). Case, Rochester and WPI were actually their final 3. All 3 let you switch your major, choose minors without having to "reapply/compete to get your major" so IMO they are excellent schools.
I'd personally have my kid apply to a few of them as well along with Pitt. Just so you have a few more choices

thank you-this is really helpful! I know Case has premed as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

are those the usual safeties for engineering?

DP: case, RPI, Rochester are not Safeties for anyone. They can be targets for many higher stats/good students. WPI can be a safety since acceptance rate is 57%.

Those are definately a great list of Target engineering schools. My kid applied to all of those, except RPI (hated it). Case, Rochester and WPI were actually their final 3. All 3 let you switch your major, choose minors without having to "reapply/compete to get your major" so IMO they are excellent schools.
I'd personally have my kid apply to a few of them as well along with Pitt. Just so you have a few more choices

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

are those the usual safeties for engineering?

Some of these are part of a group of schools that are sort of like the LACs of engineering schools: they are small, mostly undergrad focused (some are only undergrad), engineering-only schools. Given that niche, they are self-selecting and so some, but not all, are a little easier to get into by percentages (but not by grades, etc.), than the big universities that also have engineering programs. Some of them include: Olin, RPI, WPI, Rose Hulman, Stevens, Colorado School of Mines, Harvey Mudd, Cooper Union.

ok thanks-this really makes sense, my DD is getting tons of mail from these schools based on Ap comp princ she took as a freshman--which ones would you consider the better in the group?

Can't go wrong with any of them. They are really spread all over the country, so geography might be a good way to narrow that down. Also since engineering programs tend to be male-heavy, she may want to compare the M/F ratio (haven't compared recently, but I think WPI has a reputation for being balanced in that regard, as they have had female Presidents for quite a while.) Harvey Mudd is 50/50 but it is a reach for everyone.

WPI had been moving towards 50/50 and were at about 60/40 a few years ago. Now it's back to 70/30 and the female president is gone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

are those the usual safeties for engineering?

DP: case, RPI, Rochester are not Safeties for anyone. They can be targets for many higher stats/good students. WPI can be a safety since acceptance rate is 57%.

Those are definately a great list of Target engineering schools. My kid applied to all of those, except RPI (hated it). Case, Rochester and WPI were actually their final 3. All 3 let you switch your major, choose minors without having to "reapply/compete to get your major" so IMO they are excellent schools.
I'd personally have my kid apply to a few of them as well along with Pitt. Just so you have a few more choices

thank you-this is really helpful! I know Case has premed as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

are those the usual safeties for engineering?

Some of these are part of a group of schools that are sort of like the LACs of engineering schools: they are small, mostly undergrad focused (some are only undergrad), engineering-only schools. Given that niche, they are self-selecting and so some, but not all, are a little easier to get into by percentages (but not by grades, etc.), than the big universities that also have engineering programs. Some of them include: Olin, RPI, WPI, Rose Hulman, Stevens, Colorado School of Mines, Harvey Mudd, Cooper Union.

ok thanks-this really makes sense, my DD is getting tons of mail from these schools based on Ap comp princ she took as a freshman--which ones would you consider the better in the group?

Can't go wrong with any of them. They are really spread all over the country, so geography might be a good way to narrow that down. Also since engineering programs tend to be male-heavy, she may want to compare the M/F ratio (haven't compared recently, but I think WPI has a reputation for being balanced in that regard, as they have had female Presidents for quite a while.) Harvey Mudd is 50/50 but it is a reach for everyone.

WPI had been moving towards 50/50 and were at about 60/40 a few years ago. Now it's back to 70/30 and the female president is gone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

are those the usual safeties for engineering?

DP: case, RPI, Rochester are not Safeties for anyone. They can be targets for many higher stats/good students. WPI can be a safety since acceptance rate is 57%.

Those are definately a great list of Target engineering schools. My kid applied to all of those, except RPI (hated it). Case, Rochester and WPI were actually their final 3. All 3 let you switch your major, choose minors without having to "reapply/compete to get your major" so IMO they are excellent schools.
I'd personally have my kid apply to a few of them as well along with Pitt. Just so you have a few more choices

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

are those the usual safeties for engineering?

Some of these are part of a group of schools that are sort of like the LACs of engineering schools: they are small, mostly undergrad focused (some are only undergrad), engineering-only schools. Given that niche, they are self-selecting and so some, but not all, are a little easier to get into by percentages (but not by grades, etc.), than the big universities that also have engineering programs. Some of them include: Olin, RPI, WPI, Rose Hulman, Stevens, Colorado School of Mines, Harvey Mudd, Cooper Union.

ok thanks-this really makes sense, my DD is getting tons of mail from these schools based on Ap comp princ she took as a freshman--which ones would you consider the better in the group?

Can't go wrong with any of them. They are really spread all over the country, so geography might be a good way to narrow that down. Also since engineering programs tend to be male-heavy, she may want to compare the M/F ratio (haven't compared recently, but I think WPI has a reputation for being balanced in that regard, as they have had female Presidents for quite a while.) Harvey Mudd is 50/50 but it is a reach for everyone.

Anonymous wrote:My kid had 2 and didn't need them. Their counselor wanted safety-heavy (suggested like 6+ safeties my kid had zero interest in). We didn't take that advice and he applied reach-target heavy and 2 safeties.

He got in pretty much everywhere. WL at 2 HPYSM and in everywhere else. It was a waste of application fees and time to do more.

That said he was a strong applicant perfect 4.0 uw gpa, 35 ACT, 5s all AP exams and very involved ECs --sport, community service, job, academic club.

I do think counselors don't want to face a kid/parents if they don't get in anywhere so they tend to be very cautious. I feel like many have you shoot below your weight too.