My rising sophomore son is starting to show interest in colleges. We travel a lot — or we did before COVID-19 — so I’ve been starting doing some research on possible colleges to visit when we randomly end up in various areas of the US.
Here’s him:
Chicago-area white male
ACT of 35 in a talent search freshman year; will probably take it again (not that he needs to, but he wants the 36)
Will probably end up with about an UW 3.9 GPA taking almost all honors/AP/DE courses
Will have taken about five post-AP Calc BC math courses and three post-AP CS A courses by the time he graduates, most through colleges
Looking to major in CS, Math, or Stats — or more likely double majoring in two of them
Doesn't at this point hold many preferences on colleges — big v. small, close to us v. far away, etc. Nerdy is good, or a large university with a nerdy honors college within. Very into puzzling/escape rooms/etc., if there's a college that has that as major extracurricular.
Here’s us:
We're willing to pay the $150k or so it'll cost for him to go to UIUC CS, but no way on $300k+ to anywhere. And of course, we'd rather pay less.
I've run a few financial aid calculators from schools known for good FA, and we get a few thousand at most, so the HYPSMs of the world are out
Here’s some ideas I came up with, mostly looking at posts here:
UIUC (in-state, great CS, but the CS program's not a safety for anyone)
Purdue (not much more than UIUC in-state, even without scholarships)
UT-Dallas/Florida (free rides for NMF...at least for now)
Michigan State (seems to have good scholarship money)
Arizona State (good CS program and money)
Maryland (good CS school, some larger scholarships)
USC (but only with the full-ride NMF scholarship, which isn't automatic)
Northeastern (like the co-op idea)
Rose-Hulman/Grinnell/St. Olaf (if he's looking for a smaller college)
But I want to add to the list, so I’d appreciate any ideas you all have. Thanks!
For a very strong math student it would be worth looking at Oxford, because the cost there (for 3 years) is comparable to 4 years at an in-state public.
Within the US, Utah has a strong math program and good merit aid.
UIUC’s CS acceptance rate for class of 2024 was 4%, so a reach for all. I am not sure how the acceptance rate breaks down for in-state vs OOS. Get the app in early!
Possible additional schools not mentioned so far:
UMass Amherst
Georgia Tech
Iowa State
U Iowa
Temple
DePaul
WPI
Sounds like he is NMSF:
Like UTD, U Alabama, and many of the Florida publics (Benaquisto) would be full rides, assuming he becomes NMF.
Do run the net price calculators. I would be surprised if NEU gets down to $40K.
If he majors in math, look up how extensive each college’s upper level and graduate offerings are, so that he does not run out of math offerings due to entering at a very advanced level.
Statistics may be within the math department or a separate department.
The size of CS departments and the coverage of their upper level offerings can vary.
Many of these schools, whilst lower in ranking, will have specialized selective programs geared to advanced students. One such example is Randall Research Scholars at Alabama. I’m sure there are many others, but you need to dig into the schools’ individual offerings.
Just clarifying - USC’s NMF Presidential scholarship is 50% tuition. The NMF scholarship is guaranteed if you are accepted and are a NMF (and list USC as your first choice by May of senior year). However, if you are NMF, you are not automatically accepted to USC. https://ahf.usc.edu/meritscholars/merit-scholarships/
As was mentioned above, admission into CS is very competitive at most schools. If he is flexible with what he wants to study, has he looked into Data Science as a major?
He’s not yet, but it seems like a good possibility, based on his previous ACT/SAT talent search scores. We’re not counting on it, but we’re keeping it in mind when looking at schools.
Absolutely right, but I thought I read here there was a competitive, not automatic full tuition NM scholarship as well. But I think it’s fairly tough to get — USC’s probably the biggest stretch on the list.
Many colleges have limited stacking, where merit scholarships first replace the student contribution (student loans + student work expectation, usually $4-10k) and unmet need (if any), but then replace need-based grants before replacing parent contribution. However, policies vary across colleges, so checking individually is needed.