<p>Hi guys, I have a long list of schools that I'm considering but would like some help dwindling it down. For now I won't reveal them just so I get an unbiased answer on where I should be aiming.</p>
<p>Class of 2012
Male Uzbek/Russian living in Georgia, USA (I've heard that this might give me minority status?)
Very strong public school (send around 30 kids to top-20's every year.)
3.56 UW GPA
Class rank around 25% (abysmal, I know)
Will have taken 12 AP classes by graduation.
SAT 800 W 720 M 680 CR
Superscored SAT of 2200
31 on the ACT
Have not taken any SAT 2's but plan on taking Math 2, Biology, and 1 other (not decided yet.)
EC's:
Volunteer Club (4 years)
FBLA (2 years)
Secular Student Alliance (2 years; President; the only chapter in Georgia)
History Club (2 years)
Democrats Club (2 years)
1st Place winner in the state of the Math Kangaroo Competition (Participated for 4 years)
Played the saxophone for 5 years (won a recital award)
Published in school literary magazine
Newspaper staff (1 year)
Played baseball for 5 years
Volunteered as a counselor at a writing camp for little kids this summer.
Volunteer at a writing lab at our school year round (editing essays, etc.)
Tutored kids in math, writing, SAT prep, etc. for the past 3 years.
Attended a CNN Leadership/Media Camp at Georgia Tech for a week.</p>
<p>Writing is my strength, so I predict that my essays will be the strongest point of my application. I have a really good piece about perseverance that tells the story of how i've gone from being cut from 11 baseball teams throughout my life to gaining an 85 mph fastball and some college recruiting interest.</p>
<p>My recommendations should be pretty good as well as I have pretty good relationships with all of my past teachers. </p>
<p>Here's the thing, I've recently become very interested in computer science (I'm reading several textbooks on the subject, studying various programming languages, following the online lecture course on MIT OpenCourseWare, etc) and am seriously considering majoring in it in college. However, my lowest grades have been in math, and while I know there is much more to CS than just math, most of the schools with the strongest CS programs are "techy-math" schools. It's not that I'm not capable (as I think my SAT and first-place victory in the math competition show), its just that, well, I've been a little lazy when it comes to academics in high school *gasp. I know that's just about the worst thing in a college application, so what do I do? Where should I be aiming?</p>
<p>I would prefer to stay on the east coast. As far as finances go, my family is pretty stable and should be able to support me at pretty much any institution assuming that I get the expected financial aid.</p>
<p>You have a very good writing SAT score…if you are interested in writing courses and earning a good degree in such fields you should apply to Swarthmore, Haverford, College of the holy cross, Columbia (reach school though), and Cornell (also a reach, but has good technical programs if you are interested in those).</p>
<p>At the moment I’m mainly interested in artificial intelligence and CS theory (I’m a philosopher at heart) and as a result will probably pick up psychology as a minor. And yes, I should recieve HOPE (what an aptly named scholarship) and have been to/toured Georgia Tech quite a few times for various reasons. I’m going to be applying there and would be pretty happy to attend.</p>
<p>@Erin’s Dad,</p>
<p>I haven’t done the exact calculations but most families in my area with similar economic backrounds have been able to afford pretty expensive private colleges with a combination of FA and the money that they had saved up. I have already secured some scholarships and am trying not to let finances get in the way of where I should apply.</p>
<p>@Nova2011,</p>
<p>Thank you, writing has always been my strength but I see it as more of a useful tool than a possible career path. Who knows though? Cornell is one of my dream schools (I am aware it is a reach) due to its top ranked CS program, so I wil probably apply. As for Columbia, if I do something substantial between now and application time then I might throw in my name with the hope that lady luck is shining on me that day.</p>
<p>By the way, I do plan on retaking the SAT/ACT one more time. I didn’t really intensively prepare for either and really feel like I could get a perfect score (or close to it) it I did. Would that help me at all?</p>
<p>It’s fine to apply some places where you disregard finances, but you should “let finances get in the way of where you apply” at least to the extent of having at least one school on your list that you like, where you know you can get it, and that you know you can afford, based on an analysis of that school’s merit and non-merit aid profile and your detailed financial circumstances.</p>
<p>I don’t disagree; I’ll definitely be looking at the price tag for whatever colleges I do end up considering seriously. The reason I’m trying to disregard it here is just so that I get a clear view of the type of colleges that I should be aiming for. </p>
<p>You should be aiming at schools your family can afford. If your family is low income then you should look at schools with good FA. If your family is high income or has many assets then you probably need to look at merit aid. Your answers seem to be intended to not tell anyone which set you would be in.</p>
<p>My family is middle class, if that helps at all, and I have a little brother who we’ll be sending off to college as well in about 6 years. My parents’ combined income is probably around $180,000 and we’ve been saving up for this for a while. I’m sorry if my answers regarding our financial situation are too ambiguous; I am not trying to mislead or keep anyone in the dark.</p>
<p>^ what are your safeties? maybe add a few more matches, a lot of those schools are reaches, even for everyone (hopkins, cornell, columbia, MIT, Penn).</p>
<p>Well, I consider UGA a safety and Ga. Tech a match. Otherwise, I don’t have a lot of thoughts about that. That’s actually why I created this thread; to help me find some schools that are compatable for me and my interests.</p>
<p>$180K is not middle class and won’t get you any FA. It’s in the top 5% of US wage earners. As far as good schools for Comp Sci you could add UIUC and UMich if your parents are willing to pay for them. I was going to add UT Austin but your rank kills that.</p>