It is getting closer to that time to apply for the Fall 2008 college term, and I will be graduating high school this may. Some random stats:

3.5 GPA
1840 SAT (now out of 2400, about a 1230 on the old scale)

Senior class schedule:

Drafting/AutoCAD (elective)
AP Physics
Religion/Topics Post WWII (elective)
Gov't/Econ
AP English Composition
Pre-Calculus

My GPA is kind of low because in high school, I have never really been challenged. I could easily just listen in class, absorb the knowledge, not do my homework, and pull of mostly A's. I guess it is a gift I should be lucky to have. This senior year so far has proven to be tougher, I have homework . My SAT was first try, I do not have plans to retake it.

I am about 98% sure I want to pursue an education in engineering. I am having a problem picking colleges.

If you went to ANY of these colleges, or ANY engineering college in the south, I would love to get a reply from you.

1.Purdue Univ.
2.Univ. of Alabama
2.Auburn Univ.
3.Clemson Univ.
4.Vanderbilt Univ.

I am probably not eligible for financial aid. My only chance at some sort of scolarship is for constant improvement of my GPA. It started down at a 3.3 my freshman year.

These are the main colleges I am looking at.

Purdue is definitely my main choice. It is in state, and ranked 12th in the nation. One of its cons is that is is very cold most of the year, and no way would I take my baby S2k up there. Pros are a LOT of people I know go there, and it seems to be a very good engineering school.

Univ. of Alabama is where my mom went for a major in education. I could probably get SOME sort of scholarship there for a son of an alumni. I no nothing of their engineering program.

Auburn Univ. I know has a good engineering program. The plus for Auburn, Alabama, and Clemson is a big sports program.

Vanderbilt is probably out of my $ range. (Out of state ~ $52,000/yr)

I kinda just wanna go south for the warmth haha.

As for what school of engineering, I have NO idea...

I love music and instruments (play piano, guitar, bass, drums, anything brass). Is there such a thing as acoustical engineer? Like designing speakers, auditoriums (probably more civil).

Mechanical is always a fall back.

Aerospace/Aeronautical. This is what I thought I wanted to be since I was about 5 or 6. I love airplanes and jets. (not so much aerospace) The only problem I can think of is small career field. Would it not basically be like lockheed, boeing, or the gov't?

Biomedical. This is probably the field with the most promise, but it looks like it might be one of the toughest, and I did not like chemistry. I was good at chem, I just did not like it.

I guess one of my biggest questions right now is ... Will it make a difference when I am applying for a job if I graduate from a well known engineering school (Purdue) or a not so known one? (throw in college X here)

If you just wanna throw something out there for me, that would be awesome.

Back to precal homework, haha.

 

If HS wasn't challenging for you, then my question is why don't you have a 4.0?

Who are you? Peter Gibbons?

My next question is... Did HS not challenge you, or did you not challenge yourself? I certainly hope that your school system offers higher math classes than pre-calc. By the end of HS, I had completed the equivalent to two full semesters of calc (not pre-calc) and a college-level stats course.

My recommendation if you are seriously considering engineering is to swap out the pre-calc for something like the first semester of AP Calc. Pre-calc is generally just a lot of trig review and IMO (if you've already done well in math courses) a complete waste of time. Even if you choose not to test out of the first semester of calc (essentially re-take it in college), you'll have a solid foundation for many of your engineering classes.

As for deciding on a school. Peterson's make a great guide to 4-year colleges. That's a good place to get stats and summaries. A current copy is a good place to get some entry requirements. Of course, this is just a starting point to compare some attributes about the schools you are considering.

Above all, you NEED to visit the schools. Take a tour of the schools as well as the departments that you are considering.

 

High school was the same way for me... I never did hw cuz it was busy work, sat in class then got a's on the test, made low a's in the class at the end of the year. First year in college I did the same and made the same gpa as high school so yea... there are people out there that don't get challenged by learning new things civicsi.

Why not look at Georgia Tech? I'm not sure the SAT scores are adequate enough but the school itself is usually ranked in the top 3 in the nation for most forms of engineering (haven't checked the princeton review this year but I know it was last year).

For your first job, yes it will actually make a difference where you graduate from... Since you have no experience that the employer can look at, all they have to go on is your schooling. Once you start gaining experience in the real world, your college becomes less and less influencial on your resume.

 

I understand this (trust me, I've been there). And while I understand the psychological impact that the level of challenge can have on an individuals willingness to put forth effort, I believe there are many in this world that use the "I wasn't challenged" excuse as a cop-out. Hence my joke.



You did know that it was a joke, right?

Regardless. The OP doesn't have a bad GPA. I'd be more concerned about the level of classes that he has taken, but even that may have little impact.

 

When you say a "small career field", keep in mind how huge Boeing and Lockheed Martin are. I work for a tier 1 supplier for these companies and there are plenty of jobs. But, you are correct that Aeronautical Engineering, in terms of designing the airplanes, is a smaller field than designing the parts.

Also, I agree that the school you go to makes a difference, but not much. I work with engineers from U of M, Purdue, Michigan Tech (my school), Grand Valley State, Michigan State, and many others. To be honest, some of the best engineers I know went to some of the worst schools. After a year or two out of college, the name of your school is almost useless.

 

To the OP, the most beneficial class you can take for going into engineering while still in high school is Calculus... unfortunately it looks like you won't be able to since your taking precal now but I thought I'd just throw that in.

And I dunno about other schools but it doesn't seem Univ of Washington takes what classes you took into consideration :/... I had a 3.7 gpa, 1350 sat and 24 credits worth of AP... still rejected from their undergrad . I took AP and let the gpa drop a bit figuring it would look better if I got a high 3.x gpa w/ ap vs getting straight 4's with normal avg classes. Dunno though, ever since then I've been kicking myself thinking I should have just been happy with a 4.... then again I'd prolly have killed myself from the public school teachers in ga (most are retards that dont want to hear corrections from students).

Designing speakers may be more an EE field. Designing auditorioms is much more an architectural thing than engineering, though architechs may consult or hire CE's for something like that too, I dunno.

Like I said, if you are going engineering, the best school in the south hands down is Georgia Tech. In most fields it directly competes with schools like MIT and Cal Tech. If you are looking for the best education possible in your career field, it will be there. As long as you have adequate extracurricular, I envision it being entirely possible for you to be accepted based on the previous info you stated.

 

Stick with Purdue and the Big 10
Definitely a great engineering school....but be prepared to have your ass handed to you in Football and Basketball by my school....GO BUCKS!

 

you're in indiana now, aren't you? out of that list i'd probably stick with purdue. actually, is it significantly cheaper for being in-state?

and i agree with the other guys...you probably should've been in calc for both semesters senior. i don't think it'll keep you out of engineering, but it will just make it that much harder as you try and keep up with the rest of the students around you next year.

 

Clemson has a very good Enginnering Progam. I have alot of friends that go/have graduated there. A huge plus about clemson is that Greenville SC has a lot of huge engineering firms up here that are always looking for Clemson graduates. Let me know if you have any more questions and i can get them answered for you.

 

To me the school makes no difference at all. I say go to the most affordable one (total cost of attending) so you have a better shot of completing your education.

After your first job nobody cares what school you went to or even how well you did. I'm an engineering manager with plenty of hiring experience. Some excellent students don't make the transition to a real job very well and vice versa. How well you perform under real-world conditions matters so much more than in academic circumstances. Unless you are aiming at a pure research job.

Some jobs require a PhD to get the door open but I swear I meet more clueless hacks among PhD's versus the lower degrees.