Advice

I’ve been denied from Georgia Tech, and deferred from Northeastern. These are two schools I thought I had a decent chance at so I’m panicking about some of my other schools. Here are my stats:
Major: Computer Science

GPA: 4.5 W/ 3.95 UW (9 of 190)

SAT: 1460

SAT Subject: 790 (Math II)

AP Scores: 5 on AP Comp Sci and World History

Extra Curriculars: Baseball 4 years, Umping 4 years, Computer Science Club 2 years, football 2 years, National Honors Society 2 years

Taking AP Calc, AP Comp Sci A, AP Calculus, Project based comp Sci class

Reaches: Michigan, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Vanderbilt

Targets: Wisconsin, RPI

What are some things I can do to improve my standing? Should I apply for another major? What other schools should I look at?

What state do you live in?

Where are your safeties? For a major like Computer Sciences, your admissions chances ar often much lower than the whole college’s admission rates are.

" These are two schools I thought I had a decent chance at"

Where did you get the data to support that notion? For example, if every single student from your own high school who has stats and LORs like yours has been admitted to these places in the past few years, then yes you could expect that you’d have a decent chance there.

Which of the places on your current list have admitted every comp sci applicant from your high school in recent years? Those would be places you can consider to be reasonably safe. For a true safety, you need institutions that guarantee admission based on stats.

It looks like from your other thread that you have been accepted to UMass Amherst CS…is that correct? That is an excellent school for CS, as posters on that thread stated. If you would be happy to attend there, and it’s affordable, no need to apply elsewhere.

If you want additional suggestions, what are your parameters? Of course, there will be limitations on what schools are still accepting apps in CS.

I agree with Mwfan1921. UMass Amherst CS is a great option. Are you in state?

If you still want to apply to other schools, I would consider adding WPI to the list. Their deadline is Feb. 1.

@AlwaysMoving Massachusetts

@ProfSD Yes I am

@cptofthehouse my safety was Umass and I was accepted. So for regular decisions, I basically took shots just hoping to hit on one.

@happymomof1 by no notions did I think NU and Georgia Tech were safeties. My safety was Umass which I was accepted for. My school uses naviance, and my friend got into comp-sci at Georgia Tech with a 1430 and a 4.3 GPA. Northeastern accepts kids at my school with usually above a 1380 and 4.0 GPa (according to Naviance). I know Computer science is harder but I underestimated HOW hard. I am admitting a mistake. But now I am asking for advice to fix the said mistake.

@Mwfan1921 yes, I am admitted which I definitely meant to put in this post. So while UMass Computer Science is lovely and I’m psyched to go there, my ideal school was always out of state. However, I’m finding it hard to find a good computer science school to accept me that is also out of state.

“Good” and “popular” are two different metrics.

I’ve noticed that many people (parents and students) going through the college application process interchange those meanings without realizing it.

Do you want to attend a school that will do a good job of preparing you for a career in computer science. Or do you want to attend a popular (highly ranked according to media sites) school?

But you haven’t made a mistake: you have done everything right! You worked hard in HS and built a good resume. Hopefully you had fun along the way. You applied to some top drawer colleges for a super selective major. You already have a super good option in hand, whose only negative is that it suffers from being the hometown option and the (mistaken) idea that because it was your safety it’s not as good as the out of town options).

You can’t do anything about your applications now. All you can do is wait for the rest on the responses.

@collegemom3717 thank you for the needed maternal advice. I’m just so nervous and stressed that I want it in my hands, but truthfully it is not anymore.

@EconPop prepare me for the job market. If you have any schools that do this but our undervalued by the media please inform me.

I’ll jump in and suggest some more CS ‘likelies’ for you (a few are matches)…and I think all of these schools still are taking apps:

-DePaul
-Creighton
-U Alabama
-Ithaca
-Marist
-Miami Ohio
-WPI
-Rose Hulman
-U Dayton
-Rutgers
-U Iowa
-Clemson
-College of Charleston
-UNH
-U Vermont
-U Maine

But not all of these are on par with U Mass Amherst, let alone better. Ones that are in the ballpark (and hopefully others with more CS knowledge will weigh in) are DePaul, Rutgers, Clemson, WPI, Rose Hulman, Dayton.

IMO having U Mass in your back pocket is huge. I wouldn’t apply to any of these schools unless you think you might want to attend it instead of UMA. Some of the apps are due Feb 1, so time is of the essence.