Chance a Nervous CS Major [NJ resident, 3.96 GPA, top 9% rank, 1550 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US Citizen
  • State/Location of residency: Competitive NJ Private Academy
  • Type of high school: Public
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Asian Male
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): No Hooks

Intended Major(s)
Computer Science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.96/4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.55/5.0
  • College GPA (for transfers): N/A
  • Class Rank: 30/~330
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1550 (760 English, 790 Math)

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))
AP Calculus AB: (5), AP Calculus BC (Expected 5), APCSP (Perfect 5), AP CSA (Perfect 5), AP World (4), APUSH (Expected 4), AP Lang (Expected 4), AP Bio (5), AP Chem (Expected 5), AP Physics 1 (Expected 5), AP Psych (Expected 4), AP Seminar (4)

Awards
USACO Gold
6x Assorted Hackathon Winner (Local and Regional/State)
2x PVSA Gold
AP Scholar with Distinction
2x AIME Qualifier
USAJMO Qualifier

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
President of School Coding Club
Founder and President of School Hackathon Team
Internship with Rutgers CS Professor, researched machine learning, working on a paper
Founder of a Hackathon/Coding Discord group with 4k+ members with outreach to states and schools across the east coast
VP of Coding Branch for a Tutoring Organization (2 yrs)
Coding Tutor for Underprivileged Students (4yrs)

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
Essays: Medium, more of a STEM person than writing, especially weak in creative writing but will discuss with Lang teacher
LOR 1 (8/10) AP BC teacher loved me, said I was probably his favorite student that year
LOR 2 (6/10) Participated a lot in the class but nothing outstanding
Outside LOR (9/10) Board member of volunteering organization, we worked together closely for years, she said she’d write me an amazing rec letter

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
No cost constraints, relatively well off family

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)

  • Safety (certain admission and affordability)
    Montclair State
    William Paterson University
    College of New Jersey

  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)
    North Dakota State
    Case Western
    George Washington
    Brandeis University

  • Match
    NJIT
    SUNY Binghamton
    SUNY Stony Brook

  • Reach
    Worcester Polytechnic Institute
    Stevens Institute of Technology
    UC Davis
    UCSD
    UCM
    UCR
    Purdue (ED)

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Case Western Reserve is a match, not a likely. WPI is also a match in my opinion.

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Ok, I’ll bite. Why are you nervous?
(Or is that click bait? :slight_smile:)

That’s great. But if you haven’t already please explicitly confirm that they’re ok paying up to $82k/year. There is sometimes a difference between what a family can pay and what they want to pay.

Now, a bunch of questions from me based on what you’ve listed:

Why isn’t Rutgers on your list? They are a well respected school with a pretty good CS program. It should be a likely/safety for you based on your profile.

Is there a reason you have all these “likely” schools spread all across the country? Why North Dakota State, for example?

Why so many UCs? (and UCM should be more of a match, not a reach. Same with Stevens)

Why not add some excellent public schools that have top 20 CS programs? In addition to Purdue (which by the way has EA, not ED), you could add UIUC and UMD. You could add GT and UMich as reaches and maybe throw in a couple of super reaches if you’re so inclined.

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Maybe I’m off but with your stats and no cost constraints I would reconsider your entire list. Especially for CS. Aim higher.

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I agree. The vast majority of high stat CS applicants here on CC are overshooting. OP is undershooting - but I’m happy he has identified some good safety/likely schools.

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Oh that’s super stupid of me lol, I was moving it up in my school list and I forgot to paste it back into Reach.

For North Dakota, I have a few aunts and uncles including an older cousin that I’m really close with there.

For UCs, I really like the California lifestyle and I’d like to explore the west coast more but I am quite unsure of my chances at higher, more competitive UCs for CS

Ty for the additional reaches, I’m just really nervous because I’ve had people tell me left and right that applying CS is a dogeatdog environment and that It’s super hard to get any good acceptances

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Sorry forgot to clarify, I forgot to move Rutgers back into my list

I confirmed with my parents, they’re super supportive and would be willing to pay

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Thank you! Do you have any recommendations?

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I heard that Case Western is strong but not particularly so, I think Likely would be a good spot for it

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I would assume Rutgers and NJIT would be good safeties. Apply early.

After that, what type of environment do you like? What part of the country do you like? Cold? Warm? Small or big school? Do you want to stay close to NJ?

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You should be able to get into most schools on your list plus you have a good shot at the others I mentioned (other than UMich and GT, which are a crapshoot these days for high stat OOS students).

Re. CWRU: they want to see a ton of demonstrated interest and they tend to defer/WL a lot of applicants so I’d classify it as a high match/low target.

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Okay, sounds good!

I really am not a big fan of the New Jersey winter but I can brave it if needed, I generally prefer warmer weather but I have a feeling I might get too hot there as well (I’m a bit picky :sweat_smile:) Generally a more southern/southwest coast preference but not that important

Honestly I’m really open to either smaller or larger schools, it all depends on the fit with my interests in CS

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I see, thank you! What would constitute showing demonstrated interest?

Also I really appreciate your kind words and confidence in me, are there any ivies you feel I should apply to?

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If you want to be near your family in ND by all means apply to UND or ND State. Maybe Minnesota too? Family is important and CS is employable anywhere.

I don’t think the UC’s will look at your SAT scores for admissions plus it will be expensive.

Some good matches/low reaches would be Pitt, NC State or Virginia Tech?

Throw in a few reaches like GT, CMU or even MIT. If you’re interested in the UC’s throw out an application. Good luck.

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Thank you so much, what do you feel about my chances for some low ivies?

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If you are going to include UCM and UCR, why not include some CSU schools. Cal Poly SLO and Pomona, SDSU and SJSU may all end up being a better choice than UCM for what you have generally described as wanting from a college.

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Opening every email they send and clicking on links, visiting campus, and the ultimate DI of all: applying ED.

You could pick one of Cornell, UPenn or Columbia and ED if that’s your top choice and you would attend no matter what. But the “top 20” list of CS schools has plenty of public schools, that are easier to get into. So shoot for an Ivy or two, but also apply to these top publics.

(also: p.s. there are no “low Ivies” - they are all super reaches)

Then North Dakota would not be a good choice :slight_smile:

They won’t - they are test blind. I also don’t think they are a good value for OOS students.

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I don’t think there’s any such thing as low Ivy. Plus, CS is one area where Ivy prestige isn’t a big deal. I’m no expert with Ivy’s but it seems like they’re very different. Fit is very important. I worked with a Columbia CS grad in a prior engagement. Very sharp.

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Below are the overall UC admit rates based on Residency. I would put UC Merced as a Likely and Riverside as a Match. The UC’s are test blind but you can aim higher than UCM or UCR as long as being full pay at around $72K/year is affordable. UCD could be a target and UCSD probably a Reach.

I also have the 2022 CS admit rates by campus listed.

2022 Freshman admit rates

Campus CA RESIDENT OUT OF STATE INTERNATIONAL
Berkeley 14.5% 8.6% 5.5%
Davis 32.3% 59.8% 43%
Irvine 18.2% 36.6% 21%
Los Angeles 9.2% 8.9% 5.8%
Merced 100% 78.6% 81.7%
Riverside 66% 88.1% 68.%
San Diego 23.8% 31.5% 15.5%
Santa Barbara 26.7% 28.8% 19.7%
Santa Cruz 43.2% 70.7% 55.4%

CS admit rates if available

Campus CS
Berkeley 2.9%-L&S EECS-4.5%
Davis No data but <20%
Irvine 5.8%
Los Angeles 3.8%
Merced 85%
Riverside 36%
San Diego No data but <10%
Santa Barbara No data but around 5-6%
Santa Cruz 60%

I agree with @DadOfJerseyGirl that the UC’s are not worth the OOS costs unless you have an unlimited budget. Plenty of wonderful schools that would love your exceptional SAT score and offer merit.

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I think you’d get into both easily but tcnj has a 62% acceptance rate and NJIT had a 69% acceptance rate (tcnj gets no love on CC for some reason).