Can I get into Columbia with a 2.9 in Aerospace Engineering? Forum

[ensign85]

Retake the LSAT.

[markakis]

...georgia tech doesn't have a wrestling team. on tech/uva/duke/unc/nc state/maryland wrestle in the acc, in the ncaa at least...

oh boy...this cannot be good. OP, your response, sir..

[Omaha2006]

Georgia Tech has a nationally ranked, and well known club team. Not NCAA.

[muddywaters]

I don't think you'll get into a top ten school....or top twenty for that matter with those numbers.

Getting good grades at an engineering school is no big thing. You know what you're getting into, you just have to work harder.

Well put.

[Urig]

Yeah, we're NCWA, not NCAA. I only added it as a time consumer. A NCAA wrestling team would probably take up ~70 hours a week.

[mgrogan]

Oh, I was unaware they had a club team, and pretty surprised with it being so far south. As for the 70 hours or so ncaa wrestling demands, yah, its absurd.

[20160810]

Look dude, since you're still posting here I'm assuming you're not a flame. So I'm going to keep it real. First, look up the "2008 Law School Rankings." The link is at the top of your screen right now.

As you now know, your 2.9 is going to be seen as a 2.9. Tough, but them's the breaks. That said, here's where you break down given your predicted LSAT range.

2.9/163: You might be looking at a shot at some bottom tier-2 schools. I'd apply anywhere from Santa Clara down, with your best bets being schools like UNLV, Mercer, Stetson, South Carolina, etc. The general rule of thumb is that if your GPA is below the 25th percentile (which yours is at every top-100 school), you want to best their 75th percentile LSAT by 3 points, which you start to do around Kansas/Pitt territory.

2.9/157: Things are not looking nearly as rosy. Here you're going to need to polish your PS and try like heck to get into a T3 school.


Again, this all assumes you're not a flame. This isn't the response you wanted, I'm sure, but tough. Acting like an elitist D-bag isn't the best way to draw sympathy.

[USCtrojan86]

Maybe its true that all the dumb 3.8 Econ majors couldn't hang with you and your 2.9 in GT....

....but your 159-163 wouldn't be hanging with the big boys in the top 6 law schools even if you had a 3.9.

GG, thanks for playing.



PS - I really am sorry about your lamentable LSAT performance, bro.

You'd better stick to building planes so that the future high powered attorneys of America have something fun to purchase in a decade or two.

HTH!


PPS -

Just for the record, this was pretty terrible

[Urig]

First of all, I apologize for sounding elitist. That wasn't intentional. I was looking for some support and direction from making this post. I got some pretty negative responses and I guess I felt I had to defend myself. I didn't mean for it to come of as elitist.

To be honest, I currently wish I had 3.8 in History from somewhere. AE was clearly a poor life choice on my part when it comes to getting a law school worthy GPA.

I really don't know my LSAT score and won't until July 7th. I only guessed what it would be based on my previous performance. I guess if it isn't up to par then I may retake it in October.

Thanks for the replies.

[playhero]

Dear Engineering Kids,

Please explian to me why if half your gpa is from general ed, and another fourth from lower division, you are sure you would smoke anyone else taking another major, despite your 2.x gpa? I mean even if you got all c's in your upper division engineering, you should still be pulling near all A's in all other course work if you are so smart. Is their something I just don't get, about engineering as a major.

[aguyingeorgia]

2.92 GPA? 157-163?

If that ends up being the case, you need to re-evaluate your goals and school choices. As a Georgia Tech grad, you don't need to be thinking about Columbia with those numbers. In all honesty, your numbers aren't even in UGA's range (if you happen to be in-state and can make a good case you might jump in).

I'd take an honest look at your GPA and numbers, and really consider school choices outside the top 50. In-state, Mercer might be your best bet.

But, hopefully, you did better on the LSAT than you think. Good luck.

[jgarr]

Dear Engineering Kids,

Please explian to me why if half your gpa is from general ed, and another fourth from lower division, you are sure you would smoke anyone else taking another major, despite your 2.x gpa? I mean even if you got all c's in your upper division engineering, you should still be pulling near all A's in all other course work if you are so smart. Is their something I just don't get, about engineering as a major.

Without delving into my transcript, I'm pretty sure it was more like 1/4 of my classes from gen. ed. The difference, as far as I saw, between engineering and other classes was the amount of time and effort required to do well. I took several 300 level history courses, and, as long as you read about half the material and could somewhat reasonably formulate an argument, it was really easy to get an A. Same with the philosophy I took. Econ. 101 was more like a sophomore high school level class, but lots of people [that weren't engineers] really struggled with it. In engineering courses, there is only one right answer. It can take you 4-6 hours to answer one question, and if you don't get it right, you won't get credit for answering it wrong. When you have to do 4-6 of these questions each week for one class [now, of course, they don't all take nearly that long] and you are taking 3-4 of these classes, it's a lot more difficult than taking other sorts of classes, at least in my experience.

I know I'm going to get some crap for hating on other majors, but you asked why we think we could get better GPAs in other majors. It's the same reason I got all As in high school -- it took no effort to master the material.

[savagedm]

I'm going to sound like such an a**, but why are engineering kids from crappy engineering schools complaining about their GPA? If you go to a crappy school your competition isn't as high as going to somewhere like MIT, so you should be able to pull decent grades. Some people from my high school who couldn't even pass Calculus BC majored in engineering and are pulling 3.0+. C'mon, give me a break.

To the OP, I'd suggest aiming for other T-14. Your best shots are NW, Georgetown, etc. Aim for at least 172+.

Georgia Tech is NOT a crappy engineering school. They just artificially deflate grades to keep everyone and their brother from having 4.0s

[Urig]

I'm going to sound like such an a**, but why are engineering kids from crappy engineering schools complaining about their GPA? If you go to a crappy school your competition isn't as high as going to somewhere like MIT, so you should be able to pull decent grades. Some people from my high school who couldn't even pass Calculus BC majored in engineering and are pulling 3.0+. C'mon, give me a break.

To the OP, I'd suggest aiming for other T-14. Your best shots are NW, Georgetown, etc. Aim for 172+.

I assume you're implying that jgarr and I go to crappy engineering schools. We don't. Georgia Tech is 4th overall engineering school according to USA Today 2008 Rankings. jgarr goes to Michigan and I'm pretty sure they're top 10 as well. Maybe you should take another look at just how competitive Georgia Tech is before you dis it.

[savagedm]

I'm going to sound like such an a**, but why are engineering kids from crappy engineering schools complaining about their GPA? If you go to a crappy school your competition isn't as high as going to somewhere like MIT, so you should be able to pull decent grades. Some people from my high school who couldn't even pass Calculus BC majored in engineering and are pulling 3.0+. C'mon, give me a break.

To the OP, I'd suggest aiming for other T-14. Your best shots are NW, Georgetown, etc. Aim for at least 172+.

Georgia Tech is NOT a crappy engineering school. They just artificially deflate grades to keep everyone and their brother from having 4.0s

I wasn't talking about Georgia Tech in particular. I know it's ranked number 6 after the 5 I previously listed. It's a good school. But seriously, it's like engineers from any school expect a boost even if their school is podunk galore. I know I sound like an a** btw, but I feel this engineering self-entitlement is getting out of hand.

edit: I didn't know where jgarr went to school...Michigan is a good school too.

But seriously, you see thread after thread on here saying "I majored in engineering and I want a boost" even if they went to pimplehead college.

I'd have to agree with you on that. Their coursework IS hard, but so is everyone else's in their own way. I know for a FACT that most engineering students would not have the attention span required for upper-division political science at my school unless it involved playing with legos or something.

[Urig]

Georgia Tech is 4th, not 6th. (In Engineering)

1. MIT
2. Stanford
3. UC Berkley
4. Georgia Tech

FIX: According to US News & World Reports 2008. (not USA Today as I incorrectly said earlier)
We were 6th I believe in 2006 but as you may know they redo the rankings annually.

Bobina, you do sound a little like an asshole but then again I'm sure I do too. I think we're all just trying to validate the last 4 years of our lives. It is nearly impossible for me to explain how hard my Spaceflight Dynamics or System Dynamics & Controls classes are to you. On the same token I don't know much about the work you've all had to do and it would be difficult for you to explain 4 years of personal experience to me.


Edit: OMG I love Legos.

[awesomepossum]

It doesn't matter what your major is or how hard it was. You aren't extra special just because you did engineering or your school deflates grades or your school is super famous.

If you don't have the grades you want for a great law school, it's your own fault. You knew or you should have known what you were getting into. End of story.

[20160810]

Look, we all know GT is a pretty good school and that the OP isn't getting into CLS. Can we lock this thread or at least stop its degeneration into catty nonsense?

[Omaha2006]

This debate comes up a lot in college. I got a 3.9 in Philosophy and Political Science (I actually thought Philosophy was a billion times harder than Political Science...besides the point). I love how people in the School of Business and the Engineering would imply, "Well, your GPA is so high because you're a Liberal Arts major."

But these same people have a 2.6 in engineering. It is not the GPA that makes them look foolish...its the fact that they were dumb enough to take something you're not good at. If you have a 2.6 in Engineering but it is good enough to get an engineering job...GREAT. But don't knock on us because we actually took something we can do well in. It was your choice to take engineering. If law school was an option, you should have researched the importance of grades before choosing it. Why should we be punished because we were smart enough to avoid something we would get a 2.6 in?

This is not directed at the OP specifically, but ALL engineering majors.

[Urig]

But these same people have a 2.6 in engineering. It is not the GPA that makes them look foolish...its the fact that they were dumb enough to take something you're not good at. If you have a 2.6 in Engineering but it is good enough to get an engineering job...GREAT. But don't knock on us because we actually took something we can do well in. It was your choice to take engineering. If law school was an option, you should have researched the importance of grades before choosing it. Why should we be punished because we were smart enough to avoid something we would get a 2.6 in?

To be honest, I currently wish I had 3.8 in History from somewhere. AE was clearly a poor life choice on my part when it comes to getting a law school worthy GPA.

I completely agree with you Omaha2006. As a junior in high school I didn't know I would want to go to law school. Now I do and I find I'm having problems I would not have had had I known I would do this initially.

[savagedm]

This debate comes up a lot in college. I got a 3.9 in Philosophy and Political Science (I actually thought Philosophy was a billion times harder than Political Science...besides the point). I love how people in the School of Business and the Engineering would imply, "Well, your GPA is so high because you're a Liberal Arts major."

But these same people have a 2.6 in engineering. It is not the GPA that makes them look foolish...its the fact that they were dumb enough to take something you're not good at. If you have a 2.6 in Engineering but it is good enough to get an engineering job...GREAT. But don't knock on us because we actually took something we can do well in. It was your choice to take engineering. If law school was an option, you should have researched the importance of grades before choosing it. Why should we be punished because we were smart enough to avoid something we would get a 2.6 in?

This is not directed at the OP specifically, but ALL engineering majors.

QFT I suck in business, I learned that after taking 1 business course and getting a C in it. So I NEVER take business now

[chiller]

One reason for the perception from eng. majors/students is due to the fact that eng. majors have to take on a lot more coursework. Most (if not all) eng. majors cannot possibly graduate in four years without taking summer school or taking on a significant number of units during the school year. I know some of my liberal arts friends had to take on a second major just to fill out enough classes for four years.

This is not saying that one is easier than the other. Just want to give an input as to why eng. majors have this perception, albeit an erroneous one. I don't think most eng. majors take into account the significant amount of writing involved in liberal arts majors.

[Urig]

Yeah Idk what most majors are but AE at GT is 132 hours.

Another of my downfalls is trying to graduate in 4 years. Most people do it in 5 taking ~14 hours or so a semester. My scholarships/grants/loans only last 4 years so I'm kind of constrained to that and I have to take about 16-20 hours a semester. (I'm taking 21 in the fall and I'm not looking forward to it) taking too many hours at a time hasn't helped my GPA to say the least. Yet another poor life-choice made by yours truly.

[playhero]

Yeah Idk what most majors are but AE at GT is 132 hours.

Another of my downfalls is trying to graduate in 4 years. Most people do it in 5 taking ~14 hours or so a semester. My scholarships/grants/loans only last 4 years so I'm kind of constrained to that and I have to take about 16-20 hours a semester. (I'm taking 21 in the fall and I'm not looking forward to it) taking too many hours at a time hasn't helped my GPA to say the least. Yet another poor life-choice made by yours truly.

132 hours for just engineering classes or for the degree itself?

[Urig]

132 hours for just engineering classes or for the degree itself?

Good question. Here's how it's broken up (for me anyways).

Major Classes 54 hours.
Sciences 12
Electives 10
Non-Major Required 11
Mathematics 16
English/Humanities/SS 24
Other 5
Total 132

So this means that major classes take up 41% of the degree and engineering classes (major+electives+non-major required) take up 57% of the total degree.

I don't know what this means to you or me one way or the other, lol but hopefully it answers your question.