Chance a nervous junior for CS

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Hey! Current junior here. I decided to do a chance me just to see what others think of my application/chances… I know that chance mes are very subjective, but I thought I may as well give it a shot!

Major: CS

SAT: 1550 (770 EBRW, 780M)

GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.4 W – *side note: currently have a B- in BC Calc, but will try to bring it up to a B+/A- by end of the year… if I cannot, then my GPA will obviously go down

AP’s (former): APUSH (5), APCSA (5), APCSP (5), APHUG (5)

AP’s (current): AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Calculus BC, AP English Language & Composition, and AP US Government + Politics

Demographics: Asian dude, US Citizen, PA

EC’s

  1. Software Developer for [REDATCED]. Developed iOS/Android Applications focusing on computational projects (think WolframAlpha stuff). Additionally connected with sponsors, designed UI/UX, and am part of the recruitment/hiring team.

  2. Featured by the US House of Reps and IBM for apps that I developed. Was able to present my app to members of congress, and was also written about by IBM (two separate apps).

  3. President of CS Club at my high school – essentially was able to bolster CS participation in the school (revived club from 0 → 50+ members). I connected with employers (found CS jobs for people in the club), found opportunities (competitions), and also am developing/training the club for an ASCL team.

  4. Independent software development projects – mainly iOS and Android native development, GUI programming, and data analytics. Proficient in Swift, Java, Kotlin, C++, Python, R, and Ruby.

  5. CS Fellowship Program at Brown – applied to and accepted into the program, worked with a group of students all around the world to develop a python webscraping application, and learned a lot about python along the way

  6. Senior Patrol of Boy Scout Troop – Part of highest leadership team of a troop of 30-40 boys. Worked with scouts to help them learn fundamental scouting skills, directed advancement, planned meetings, and coordinated with different groups to execute volunteer/service projects.

  7. VEX Robotics – Private team with friends. Prototyped, designed, built, and programmed roots to accomplish certain tasks as part of a competition game (changes every year). Worked numerous times per week (avg of 10 hrs per week) to get the robot competition ready… placed highly at state competition. *NOTE: hoping to get to worlds this year!

  8. President+Founder of school Debate team – Founded the club and grew it to 30+ members. Was able to teach members fundamentals of debate, connect with opportunities, and attend competitions.

  9. Cabinet position of Model UN – Trained members of the club to do well at conferences, helped with speech/position paper writing, and was able to help expand the club to 100+ members. *note: hopefully i will be president senior year

  10. Volunteering at Middle School robotics club – 2x a week I go to the middle schools robotics club, and help the students with learning the engineering+design process. This used to be my former team (then I switched to a private one in HS), so it has a lot of meaning/value to me, and is very fun in my opinion!

Awards:

  1. Programming competitions: Congressional App Challenge district winner, 11 Hackathon wins (3 1st place)

  2. Model UN: 3x Best del, 4x Outstanding del, 2x Verbal Comm/Delegates choice

  3. Robotics awards, biggest one is placing 9th in state

  4. Eagle Scout (in 2 months)

  5. NHS, German NHS, National German Exam Bronze placement, school student achiever award (given to best students in certain academic fields, mine was technology/engineering)

Chance for: CMU, Penn M&T, MIT, Cal EECS, Dartmouth, GT, UIUC, NYU CAS (CS+Econ)

Recommend: Schools to ED to as well as to apply for in general. Also, how much would a B in BC Calculus hurt me?

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The school you ED to is the school you 100% want to attend and can afford. You don’t, on a binding decision, apply just because you can get in - because what happens when you could have gotten into a preferred school but now can’t go.

So - yes, math will work but so what. A student today was wait listed at UMASS - a fine school - I believe with #s better than yours (yes, a 1500+ SAT) - so that shows you how tough CS is.

First thing you need to do - stop being nervous. There are loads of great schools where you will be able to study CS. No reason to be nervous.

Second thing - have a chat with your parents. Have them fill out a net price calculator of two schools that meet 100% need - let’s say an Ivy and U of Miami. Are you full pay or will you get aid? Assuming you are full pay - the question to ask your parents is - what are you willing to pay? It’s not a question of what they can afford - but rather, what do they want to afford?

You need to know that before you can build a list.

Finally - I’m not concerned with your math grade. I am concerned with your ability to know/master the subject because you’re going to need that in college. That’s fine - it’s likely you’ll retake the class and that’s no issue. it is a concern to me you are in Calc BC as a Junior…too soon.

Certainly Pitt and Penn State will be on your list as safeties.

So tell me this - other than reading about these schools in a ranking, why these schools? and Yes all are unlikely - although there’s a shot at NYU.

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Blockquote So tell me this - other than reading about these schools in a ranking, why these schools?

I have visited all of these schools, and have absolutely loved the campus and surrounding areas. I know a lot of the schools – such as NYU and Dartmouth – may seem like polar opposites in terms of campus; however, they really do appeal to me a lot.

In terms of safety schools, I am thinking UMD, Penn State, and Pitt.

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OK - go back to my 2nd instruction after “calm down” :slight_smile:

Money wise - what’s the situation? Do you qualify for need based aid?

If not, did your parents give you a budget - because most of these will be full pay.

B4 you decide where to apply, you need to understand the monetary landscape. Maybe you do and that’s fine.

Yes, Pitt and Penn State are fantastic. UMD is OOS and not easy, but also strong.

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The monetary amount is not a huge concern for us. I am an only child, and we have been saving for a while, and should be able to cover most schools. However, financial aid is obviously preferable. We have tried net price calculators before, and we do not generally qualify for any aid (200k+).

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So this is where your list is off.

So it’s great you are doing this now - what’s the budget? i.e. how much per year all in does your family want to spend?

That’s the very first question - you need that discussion with your folks b4 you start looking at schools.

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Thats fair, thanks for the help. Disregarding cost though, are there any other CS target/reach schools you would recommend I look into that I have a decent shot at?

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I can’t disregard cost - because you throwing out a bunch of $80K schools if you are parents only want to spend $30K is not relevant.

When my kids and I toured - after the first school said - they don’t have merit aid - at that point I realized, and then we chose schools to consider based on cost - and fit and not just - i like them.

You give me a $ amount per year and I’ll give you schools. Talk to your folks and come back in a few days.

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There are LOTS. Do you want a big school, small school, east coast, west coast, hot, cold? You have to give some guidance beyond “where can I get in?”

They are all very competitive, but if you like smaller classes, I’d look at Harvey Mudd, Cal Poly, Olin and Pomona.

And, I agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY with @tsbna44, budget needs to be considered.

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So here’s the reality - with your stats, there are solid flagships that are going to be $20K-ish…and $80K+.

The more your folks can spend the more options you’ll have. But if they’re like - we only want to spend $20K or $30K, that can work too - it’s just that your list isn’t as prestigious as you’d like - and that’s ok, it doesn’t necessarily need to be in that major…or any major for that fact.

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Alright, ill have a talk with my folks and ill get back to you some time tomorrow. Thanks so much for all the help thus far.

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sure - and many of us will have suggestions. College is not cheap and for many it’s a financial stress.

The wonderful thing about you - should you keep it up - you’ve put your family, if you so choose, to be in a position to literally saved $200K+ if you want to go that route.

And that’s certainly a lot of money. It’s not to say you should go cheap - it really depends on their comfort level.

Talk tomorrow.

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I know many people on this forum start recommending that you create a list based on cost immediately. That might make sense if your parents have a hard budget and no flexibility to pay more or it is important to them that you attend the least expensive option.

However, many families have a target budget that can be adjusted based on certain factors. In that situation, I like the approach of having schools that are reaches, targets, and safeties from an academic perspective AND reaches, targets, and safeties from a cost perspective (and there is plenty of overlap).

For example, a student knows some schools are easily within budget (financial safety). Other schools are in budget, but would leave no funds left over to help with grad school, OR will be in budget if the student succeeds in obtaining one of the school’s larger scholarships (financial target). Some exceed the budget, but the student could get there if they won some outside scholarships or took out loans (possibly worth it to some families for a world-renowned institution)(financial reaches). Or maybe a financial reach school offers a bachelor/masters accelerated program that makes it more affordable. Of course, schools that are above your family’s upper cost threshold are out of reach, no point in applying.

Cost then becomes one of the factors the student will weigh when acceptances come in. One school might be higher ranked with smaller classes, but might force the student to borrow for grad school, for example. Is the trade off worth it? It is just important to make sure you have more than one financial safety — schools that you would be happy to attend. Just like you don’t want to apply to all reach schools and risk getting accepted at none, you don’t want to apply to only financial reach schools that will strain your family resources.

I know it was difficult for our family to evaluate the relative value and cost of a school until AFTER our senior was well into the application process and had a much stronger impression of majors and programs and campuses and available scholarships after doing visits, interviews, and admission events. We also discovered there was more merit aid or accelerated degree programs available at some schools than we were previously aware, so I am glad we didn’t reject them out of hand at the start of the process.

As far as your list is concerned, I think you will be a strong candidate and I don’t think one B will be damaging, especially if you have strong test scores to submit to schools that accept them and/or do well on the BC AP exam. MIT may be the most difficult— I have the sense MIT is one of the pickiest when it comes to test scores and grades. And, of course, your list is full of schools that are reaches for everyone, so there is no way to predict an acceptance with any confidence.

You might consider adding Harvey Mudd, Rice University, Pomona, and University of Washington to your list. All are very selective for CS, but may be happy to add a student from Pennsylvania to add to the geographic diversity of the class (perhaps an edge for you?). And maybe Cal Poly SLO is a potential target?

I also hope you are considering Penn State and University of Pittsburgh. Those could be more affordable (safety?) options with good CS programs.

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Pitt and Penn State would be good safeties. UMD out of state for CS is not a safety. Every school on your list is a reach. I think you have a better chance at UIUC and GT. GT for CS can be stressful.

If NYU is appealing what about Columbia?

Boston is a great college town. Maybe look at Northeastern or BU?

For other options maybe Michigan, Virginia Tech or NC State. I’ve worked with VT CS grads and know NC State CS grads. Very good schools.

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Thanks so much for the response. Pitt and PSU are definitely on my safety school list… both amazing universities with beautiful campuses.

I have looked into Mudd and Pomona before — and will probably apply — however they are very difficult to get into, even ED.

Cal poly and Rice are also schools that I really like… in fact, I have been considering EDing to rice.

I’ll definitely take a closer look at the schools you mentioned, thanks a lot for the response, it really means a lot.

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Thanks for the response! The only reason I had UMD as a safety is because historically, they seem to like my school a lot, and most people with similar stats as me have been accepted before.

I absolutely adore Columbia, but the issue with it is that in the past 20 years (naviance) nobody from my school has been accepted to it. I will definitely apply, but will not ED to it for this reason.

VT and NC State are schools I had not considered yet… I’ll do more research about them, as they seem pretty appealing to me.

Tech and UIUC are both on my list as well, but are very competitive to get in. I’ll definitely give them a shot though.

Thanks a ton for the reply, it really means a lot. Have a great rest of your day!

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@Swift4Life,

A few other thoughts in addition to what others said:

  • safeties: these will be your most important picks so choose them carefully. They have to not only be easy to get into, but schools that you’ll be happy attend (and can afford)

  • cost: very important consideration, and also make sure you and your parents have a solid plan to pay for all 4 years without getting into a lot of debt. You will not get any merit based (non-need) aid at the T20s so keep that in mind.

  • Early action: you have high stats, so as we found out for my daughter - you will get deferred at a lot of schools, especially at target schools. Be prepared for that. And if you plan to apply to UMD, definitely apply early since they fill 95% of their class in the early round! Same with UIUC - CS will fill up in the early round.

  • Early decision: 3 things to keep in mind when picking your ED school a) has to be a school you’re totally happy going to b) you are able to pay the college’s net cost c) you are ok saying no to other colleges that may have been higher up on your list (example: you get accepted ED at Rice as well as EA at MIT - and MIT is you preferred school. You now have to say no to MIT). A lot of kids don’t look at it this way.

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I totally agree. We had a target that as full pay I could move if I chose to.

We applied to the knowingly dirt cheap but also brutally tough schools that offered merit even if it was unlikely.

So we ended up with a mix of dirt cheap to us, about hitting budget schools, schools that have $ but offered no money and at $80k and we’re easy to eliminate (dad’s decision) and we had rejections…which I personally like to see. Without rejection I believe you didn’t apply ‘high enough.’

But if the student says our target is $40k, Rice and Vandy type schools are possible (but not likely). Tufts and Georgetown and any Ivy, just to name a few, are out.

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Only 4% got in overall last year. Nobody from a lot of schools is getting in :slight_smile:

You need to be smart with ED. If money is important, why waste time applying to Columbia.

That’s $350k for four years.

Have your folks run the NPC. If you get no money since you’ll have a much lower budget, move on and spend time on schools where it’s at least possible to get $$.

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UMD might be likely but I wouldn’t call it a safety for CS. Did your prior classmates that got accepted all apply for CS? CS is a more competitive admit. Would you go there over Pitt or PSU if it costs $20k more per year?

Rice would be a nice option for ED but you’d have to walk away from MIT/CMU etc if you were accepted.

You only really need 2 safeties but they have to be likable and affordable. Spend some time and thought in safeties and matches.

You don’t have to go to MIT or spend a lot of money on a CS degree to do well. Our neighbor’s son went to NC State. He’s worked for several companies in cool cities. He’s working on his PhD at Georgia Tech.

Good luck. You’ll land in a good spot.

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