Is your high school student thinking of possibly becoming a future engineer?

Engineering Next helps students find and apply to their best fit engineering college programs!

Welcome! We offer personalized, up-to-date professional college admissions advising services for students considering engineering majors. We also offer engineering resources for counselors. These services complement the many resources already available on college admissions with our experience-based insights from the engineering industry.

While the college process has its ups and downs, we aim to keep the process educational, calm, inspirational, and fun! We offer these services (as grade-appropriate) for students and families from 10th - 12th grades:

Services

Inventory Assessment

Program Visit Guidance

Application Support

Interview Preparation

Decision Support

For more details or to schedule an initial consultation, contact us.

Counselors, click here for specific additional resources!

About

MARGARET CORTES, MS, PE
Educational Consultant, Professional Engineer, Maker Enthusiast

Highlights

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MS in Technology and Policy

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MS in Transportation

• McGill University, B.Eng, Civil Engineering

• UC Berkeley, Professional Certificate in College Admissions

• Active Member, WACAC, HECA, IECA

• MIT Alumni Admissions Interviewer for 6 years

• Judge, EngineerGirl Essay Competition, 2017-Present

• Judge, Girls Inc. Design Contest, 2016

• Community Volunteer, East Bay Schools, Engineering Week, College Track

• Licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in California with 20 years of experience

I’m Marge Cortes, and I would be honored to support you and your family in your engineering college journey! 

As an Educational Consultant, I offer a unique combination of industry experience, admissions expertise, and knowledge of engineering programs.

I'm a registered Professional Engineer (PE) in California. In the course of my engineering career, I've scaled bridges, inspected gas pipelines, programmed traffic controls, and designed voice-recognition applications. My managerial responsibilities also included college recruiting and interviewing. I can bring these industry and recruiting perspectives to your college planning.

As my career progressed I realized firsthand how much we still need to strengthen, and diversify, our engineering workforce. At the same time, through family and community activities I became increasingly aware of student and parent concerns about college. Putting these together, I completed the Professional Certificate in College Admissions at UC Berkeley so that I could more effectively mentor students interested in engineering as they were starting to make career and college choices. I keep this admissions expertise current through regular visits with engineering programs, along with collaborating with my professional colleagues.

I've personally visited and evaluated all ABET-accredited engineering programs in California, US service academies, and many more engineering programs throughout the US. I've actively participated in engineering design days and project showcases speaking directly with students and faculty about their cutting-edge programs. I've also explored amazing campus maker spaces! We can leverage these insights to inform your college search process. We can also discuss traditional engineering paths as well as a growing number of innovative engineering programs. 

I welcome the opportunity to work with you and your family to determine which engineering programs would best fit your academic and personal aspirations!

ENGINEERING NEXT IS A PROUD active member of these professional organizations
and adheres to NACAC'S Statement of Principles of Good Practice