The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accredits college engineering programs nationwide using criteria and standards developed and accepted by U.S. engineering communities. At Stanford, the following undergraduate programs are accredited: Civil Engineering.

ABET accreditation is important primarily for getting your PE license – you HAVE to have an ABET-accredited degree to get your license. If you wish to become a licensed professional in the states, ABET accreditation is a big deal. The NCEES will require it.

Although accreditation from program-specific organizations such as ABET has not been received for some MIT programs, the university as a whole has always been accredited by the New England Association for Schools and Colleges.

ABET

What is a PE license? A Professional Engineering license is a certification that demonstrates an engineer’s adherence to a higher level of standards. Prior to 1907, proof of skill and proficiency was not required for individuals to work as engineers, thus putting public welfare, health, and safety at risk.

In a similar situation, the Stanford chemical engineering program was using a chemistry course to teach some engineering fundamentals. The ABET examiners disallowed it because it wasn’t taught by an engineer. “They doubted whether a chemist could provide the engineering fundamentals for our program,” Shaqfeh says.

Applying to Stanford: A Quick Review

1. A general university application via Common App or Coalition App.
2. Stanford’s Supplemental Essays.
3. SAT or ACT test scores (optional for the 2020-2021 cycle)
4. Two letters of recommendation from teachers.
5. A school report and letter of recommendation from your counselor.

How to get into Stanford University

• Score at least a 1480 on the SAT or 99 on the ACT.
• Maintain a GPA of at least a 3.95.

Stanford is not technically in the Ivy League. The Ivy League, officially established in 1954, consists of eight universities: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Dartmouth, and Cornell.

In reality, it’s very difficult to fail out of Harvard. Getting into Harvard is as tough as it gets in highly selective college admissions. Staying in is easy (photo credit: chensiyuan). With Harvard’s grade inflation, about half of the grades awarded are either A’s or A-‘s.

Here is the list of 10 most difficult courses in the world.

• Medical.
• Quantum Mechanics.
• Pharmacy.
• Architecture.
• Psychology.
• Statistics.
• Law.
• Chemistry.

Due to the difficulty of the major, only 17 students graduated with a chemical engineering degree in the 2017–18 academic year. From the perspective of most intellectually challenging, physics or math are commonly regarded as the toughest majors.

Even prestigious schools vary in their grading. Some excellent schools tend to give a very high number of As, while others do not. This grading makes it so that although it is not terribly difficult to pass (as long as you do about as much work as everyone else in the class), getting As is very difficult.

1,650 accepted applicants chose to attend Harvard in 2019, giving Harvard a yield of 82.1%. The bottom line is that getting into Harvard is very difficult, even for top students. With such a large and impressive applicant pool, it’s simply impossible for Harvard to accept all qualified applicants.