I think this student should definitely seek out some of the long-shot competitive scholarships. He should also apply to some highly selective meets need schools that are super generous with FA. I think he’s already seen that schools like Harvard, MIT etc. will give him enough to come in at or close to budget (close enough where he could close the gap with a student loan or work). Of course, these schools are long shots, but as a URM with fantastic stats, being first gen and having an interesting back story I think his odds at these schools are better than the typical applicant - of course, odds are still not in his favor, but it’s definitely worth shooting his shot.
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Yes!!! I should have emphasized that as well.
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I have you had a chance to visit CMU or will you get one? It’s worth it if you can. CMU is very much a “fit” school. We visited last summer and my son thought it was great, but absolutely not for him. He wasn’t as competitve as you are, but even outside of that, the word that kept coming up during the tour was how “passionate” their students are, and how driven they are by all their projects – ie, do you dream about this stuff? When you’re done with your required work, do you then start on your related side project which is pretty much the same stuff you’re studying, etc. It’s pretty cool, but also a bit niche…
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Great info, but I’m not sure if you saw the OP’s CMU NPC came back over $30k and the OP has a $10k-$15k budget (with federal loan).
Completely off-topic… back to back “Thor” posters. 
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I dont think ive had a single month over the last like three years where I havent been working on a side project. That being said, I definitely do want to visit the campus. Not just for student culture, but also the physical campus itself (e.g.: MIT doesnt look particularly flattering in pictures)
Yeah, I saw that but they are also pursuing big outside scholarships and if they get those it can bring it into range, and CMU, IMO, if it’s a fit, is a place worth considering going into some reasonable debt (basically the federally backed loans of roughly $7500 per year)… and I don’t generally recommend taking on debt if it can be avoided. CMU just strikes me as a place that if it’s a fit, it could provide an amazing experience. But I don’t think it’s worth going $80k into debt… $25-30K, sure… but that would be my limit.
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Cool, it might be a good fit for you.
The campus is in down town Pittsburgh, not far from train tracks, so that was a turn off for us, and didn’t have a traditional campus feel (a bit spread out). But the buildings and facilities were all nice, and there were some quads… definitely worth a visit if possible.
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As long as you have one assured, affordable and that you’re absolutely not going to gripe about later if you are forced to attend….
Then absolutely, throwing the Hail Mary pass or 6 as OP mentioned - is fine.
And it’s been noted repeatedly.
But OP is coming off (to me) as if I apply to so many, one will come in.
And just trying to ensure they are covering the most important part of their list - which is that affordable and desirable safety.
Thx
Really? I attended Carnegie Mellon and that’s not a way in which I have ever heard it described.
First of all, I didn’t even realize there were train tracks near it. I totally believe you, but in 4 years and countless return visits, I have never seen them. I can imagine where they probably are, but it isn’t part of a student’s daily life.
Also, it isn’t in downtown Pittsburgh. “Downtown” is 2-3 miles away. It’s on the edge of a neighborhood called Oakland that is primarily higher education and hospitals, and has a very large park on one side, and two more residential neighborhoods (Shadyside and Squirrel Hill) on the other two sides.
It’s very much self-contained for a city school as there aren’t other businesses running through it. There was a large capital improvement campaign that now means there are academic buildings on both sides of Forbes Avenue, but it has not expanded to the point that it intermingles with non-college-related businesses like Pitt or some other urban campuses do.
So, to the OP, this is evidence that a visit is helpful because reasonable minds can disagree!
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It’s possible I’m not remembering exactly correctly – it’s been a year and we were there for an afternoon. The impression we were left with was a more urban campus and not as quiet. Agree that a visit it the best way to get a sense of it.
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Still, the OP is on the +1 math track, so it is not like the OP is “behind” in math, even though it may seem that way on these forums where the math acceleration race is fully represented and anything less than +3 seems “behind”.
In any case, math placement decisions made in middle school reflect a state of the student that may be significantly different from now.
I guess it depends on what his school’s profile says about AP Calculus AB vs BC. At some schools, a student is not required to take Calculus AB before taking Calculus BC, but at this school his is.
Because BC is available but he is taking AB, at a minimum I would want to make sure the school profile makes that math track very clear and there is no ambiguity about whether he could have chosen BC instead.
Yes, we have a skewed view of math tracks being in CC, but his reach schools admit almost exclusively applicants who chose the most rigorous math possible for their situations.
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I’ve notice several people mentioning the strong NMF merit at University of Alabama. Please take a look into UAH (Uof AL Huntsville) and Uof South AL in Mobile (typically referred to as South). Both have fantastic basically brand new state of the art CS buildings and both schools are doing great things. My S23 just walked the CS admissions gauntlet and we are certainly a family with a tight budget as well. We toured both of these campus in the past month as admitted student and he was very impressed.
UAH really impressed him, he liked the approach to the way their CS is divided up into various concentrations but also that there is a lot of overlap for electives (so good opportunity to get a taste of different things within the large arena of CompSci) And Huntsville (known as the Rocket City because it’s where NASA was started!) is a fabulous growing city; home to the #2 Research Park in the US (which just happens to be within walking distance of UAH (it’s 2nd only to Raleigh-Durham home of Duke and UNC-CH) Huntsville has great restaurants, nightlife (they even have a TopGolf - my kids think that puts you on the map!) but is still very affordable as far as living of campus. UAH is a diverse campus and can I just say their dorms are fantastic (all suite style, all basically new, all students get their own bedroom!) But most importantly they are affordable. Anyway, it’s most likely a good safety for you.
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Thanks for the suggestions! Noted. Ill probably start visiting colleges this summer.
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Not!
Not that I approve, but it was a different-authored interpretation,
“Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation”,
and if I recall, a local decision, not state-wide.
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Great idea… only remember that you don’t get a real snapshot of a college ‘vibe’ as much in the summer as there is typically a skeleton crew of students still on campus.
FWIW my son was torn between CompSci experiences - big tech vs liberal arts. He’s really interested in the gaming/entertainment side of CS but also has a strong interest in economy and how CS can be beneficial to scaled growth within a city/region/country (ie business/polisci/philosophy focused) Ultimately what we found in researching CS is everyone in CS mngt roles tells us that is doesn’t really matter what tier/premier school you attend as long as you are engaged with research/projects on campus and internship/coop/practical experience during the summer or semester. I can let you know our application process and results (it’s not easy in CS and I always considered my son high stats and a strong candidate for most target schools) and I’ll share the financial outcomes privately if you are interested (don’t want to bore you if you aren’t).
Another great school that people don’t tend to ‘brag’ about on CC is UWF in Pensacola (University of West Florida). They have an EXCELLENT cybersecurity (and therefore CS) program - one of the best in the country. They also have a strong business school and many dual major or minor in the two. Definitely another safety based on stats, but we actually have a few friends there and they are loving the big school vibes (football and sports and social life) but the smaller campus feel. Again extremely affordable to live both on and off campus. Don’t let the data set fool you … it’s a very strong school! Good luck in your search!
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Thanks for all the suggestions! I’ll keep it in mind 
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Update 2: Physics grade couldn’t be changed, but my chem lab professor just emailed me saying he’ll change my grade if I can prove there was a mistake. Thankfully, I have photo evidence of every experiment we did, so that brings me down to three Bs and one C (all in college classes and one B in AS Marine).
Not stellar, by T10 standards, but maybe SAT makes up for it?
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What will your GPA look like after all the college grades are rolled in for this semester?
You can certainly apply to a T10 school (though T10 by whose ranking? In what field?). But there have been many, many stories of students who have taken many college classes and have earned "A"s in those classes. So although your chances are not nonexistent, make sure you would be happy to attend the colleges on your application list that are not a Top X school.
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Unlikely a test makes up for grades.
You can check each schools common data set in section c to see what importance they give the test.
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