Chance and Match Me for Computer Science!

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics: female, white, Virginia resident (not NOVA), meh public high school with STEM magnet program that I’m not enrolled in

Hooks: legacy for UIUC, both parents have worked at UVA for 15+ years (idk if this helps or not)

Intended Major: Computer Science under CAS for UVA, Computer Science under Engineering for everywhere else (if that college has a CS program in their COE)

GPA: 4.0UW/4.6W (5.0 max, honors classes +.5, AP/DE +1.0)

Class Rank/SAT: school doesn’t rank, 1390 (680 math, 710 reading and writing)

Coursework: 8 APs (psych-4, bio-3, micro econ-3, us gov, statistics, human geo, comp sci principles, physics 1), 1 DE (english comp 111/112), 11 honors, took Spanish 1-3

Awards: AP Scholar, National Honor Society

Extracurriculars: National English Honor Society, poetry club, youth group, volunteered at a camp for children with special medical needs (6hrs), hobbies (coding, writing, reading, art, going to the gym, ukulele)

Essays/LORs: supplementals and common app essay are all pretty strong except for the UIUC supplementals, counselor LOR-7.5, english teacher (10th honors and 11th honors)-9

Budget: 35-40k per year, EFC is 64500 (not accurate lol)

Schools:
Test-optional~ UIUC (EA, reach), UIUC (Priority, MEGA reach), UMD (EA, match maybe?), W&M (RD, match)

Submitting SAT~ Clemson University (Priority, match), Virginia Tech (ED, may go test optional depending on the advice I get here, unlikely), Ohio State (EA, match), JMU (EA, applying to honors college, safety+both of my brothers went here and they ask about sibling enrollment)

Please recommend some more match/safeties that I can apply to for RD. Thank you guys!

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I meant to put UVA for the first college that I am applying to under the test optional section!

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For the out of state public schools (UIUC, UMD, Clemson, tOSU), base your reach/match/likely/safety rating on the chance of getting a large enough scholarship to make them affordable, not merely admission.

Also be aware that CS is often more selective than the school overall. So can engineering divisions at many state flagships.

Math level that you will complete by high school graduation?

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Because your EFC is not affordable, you are going to have to apply to schools that give significant merit aid….The plus is that you have great in-state options, assuming the publics are all affordable for you.

Some of the publics where you are OOS will have to come off your list….for example, UIUC is not going to get to your price range. OSU and Clemson probably won’t either, but they do give more merit than UIUC, so makes sense to try.

I can’t find more recent data, But VT’s average engineering SAT math score was 707 for class of 2023, so I recommend you apply TO there. What does your HS GC say about TO or not at VT? About Virginia Tech Engineering | Engineering | Virginia Tech

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Purdue is $40k for out of state and has a very strong program.

Are you taking the SAT again? Getting that score up would open up more doors. Especially in math.

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University of Arizona would come within budget after merit and Honors college might be a possibility.

2022-2023 Incoming First-Year and Transfer Tuition Scholarship Awards | Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (arizona.edu)

Honors Village | Housing & Residential Life (arizona.edu)

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I think you have a very good shot receiving the National Buckeye and Maximus at Ohio State which are stackable merit awards.

Make sure they receive all of your application materials like hs transcript before their deadline so your application is complete by their early action deadline so you aren’t bumped to regular decision due to an incomplete application.

And once you are assigned a portal be sure to also apply for their special scholarships once that portal opens later in the year. Keep an eye on their emails for instructions for that.

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@NJEngineerDad already mentioned it - but your overall at U of Arizona will be $3K ish tuition, maybe $20K total, and an Honors dorm that is unreal with a dining hall on the bottom and gym and counseling center adjacent. ASU - not as cheap but another good one.

Other schools - Alabama (safety), Auburn (safety), Florida State (Match) Ole Miss (Safety), Mississippi State (Safety), Arkansas (Safety), Denver (will be over but close) - likely),. Alabama Huntsville (safety) is a solid mid size - and then you can try some privates and hope such as Case Western (high match, Rochester (high match) - these go TO. U of South Carolina (match) is another that could work as well as App State (safety) to be close or WVU (lots of merit - safety). Arizona State too (safety) - and then there’s New Mexico (safety) and Utah (safety). Pitt is worth a try for merit but gonna miss the price I believe. UTK is another - safety and would work.

I would drop UIUC - you can’t get close $ wise to $40K when you factor in surcharges and room and board. You might try MN - which has more merit.

Good luck.

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You haven’t really said what you are looking for in a school beyond CS and required budget, or the geographies that could work. If you like JMU and can see yourself attending, you might measure any additional schools against that benchmark. IMO it’s going to be hard to be beat, so think of it as trading up from there.

With that said, I second Purdue and West Virginia. I don’t see Rochester getting even close to your budget, probably not CWRU either.

I will add U Dayton to the list…academically you are highly likely to be accepted, and there is a good chance they give you enough merit to get at, or even below, your budget. Plus, it’s a great school with good outcomes for CS majors, with happy students and a high level of school spirit.

Apply early action at every school on your list that offers that round, CS is a very popular major and can fill up quickly. So applying EA at Purdue, OSU, UVA, UMD, Clemson, JMU, Dayton, and any other additional schools you add that have EA, is a must. WVU is rolling admissions, so get that in soon too, if you add that school.

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OP - If you are adding schools to your list like Purdue, get on the applications now. EA deadlines for merit and honors is Nov. 1st and Purdue fills the vast majority of their class in EA. Historically many popular majors are completely closed after EA.

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