You as a student are limited to $27K for 4 years in Federal loans: $5500 Freshman year, $6500 Sophomore year and $7500 Junior and Senior year. Anything above the $27K will have to be taken out by your parents.
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OK - so you know your finances - you are needing full pay.
I would look at Questbridge. Your profile is well above. I’m not a Questbridge expert - but I believe if you don’t find a match, you can apply to others later.
I would use Questbridge and look at including some less competitive on the list - a Denison, Grinnell, Tufts (not easy - but need aware so Qbridge works here).
And schools like U of Miami, Franklin and Marshall - that are on the list I sent earlier or meets need though again a need aware school might reject a student for how much they need - so look up the list of need blind schools to match.
This is the average profile - so you should exceed it (for a tough major). I’m not the expert - will let others weigh in - but on paper, assuming your income is under the $65K target that 93% of their recipients are - I’d be going there for sure!!
- Average GPA: 3.91
- Class rank: 87% from the top 10%
- Scored above 1260 on the SAT or 27 on the ACT (if reported): 80%
I will think about questbridge and probably will be revamping my college list, but I am wondering: what do you think I should ED Rice or UPenn. I really like both schools and I would be glad to attend either of them and I would have no regrets if I were to ED either them and somehow get in. (Both give excellent financial aid). In your opinion, what college (Rice or UPenn) would like my application more (maximize the chance of getting in)? The reason I am asking this is because some colleges seem to want acadmics more than extracurricular activities, while the converse is true for others.
They are similar but different.
You want to do CS - so why Penn?
I would apply Qbridge- but Penn isn’t on the list.
Run the NPC for both - see what’s cheaper. Rice likely an easier admit but neither seems to have ED 2. In the end, which do you like better.
If you are under $65K, I’d be doing Questbridge. Frankly, if you’re going free for a full ride, I would be less concerned with where - but that’s me- and you have lots more choices.
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I would get on their mailing list and learn more.
Why do I keep going there - assuming you hit the income and again, there’s others expert on Qbridge - wait for them to weigh in - but if I understand it right, it’s like many EDs in one.
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I do not think that the various universities of California are going to be affordable for you. They give very little in the way of financial aid for out of state students.
Run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) before applying ED anywhere.
The University of Washington is very good for CS. While it might be a reach, since you are in-state with excellent stats it seems like it should be a possibility. I do not think that I would apply anywhere else ED unless I was sure that I preferred the “anywhere else” over U.Washington.
I would also try to minimize loans even with a very marketable potential major.
Why are you considering U.Penn or Rice for ED? Did I miss this? Why not ED to either UW or Stanford for example?
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UW doesn’t have ED or EA unfortuantely, and Rice and UPenn both give me a better ED chance than Stanford (I think at least). Also, both Rice and UPenn provide very good aid.
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The issue is what if I don’t get into UW CS? I am trying to maximize my opportunities to go to strong CS colleges.
WSU is strong and should you qualify, it’s my belief that QB gives you that chance.
Short of a few colleges, it likely doesn’t matter where you go.
Going for free - matters.
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Yeah I agree with that, but I do want to attempt to go to a school with a strong CS program like Rice (https://financialaid.rice.edu/). Based on the cost calculator and from what I read, everything including Full Tuition, Fees, Room & Board are all covered.
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Another WA student here to help you out, also applied for CS… (not in your district but one close by)
- UW will transfer all of your Running Start credits VERY nicely. It’s a super great option + very affordable, so I would consider it very highly. It was an extremely hard choice for me to give up UW CS when it came down to decision day
- UCs are very expensive. I will be paying almost $60k next year for UCLA CS. They offered no need-based financial aid, so I was very lucky to be able to afford it.
- That being said, if you do end up choosing a UC (hopefully UCLA !!), they will give you VERY good transfer credit for your Running Start classes (as I found out in my transfer eval today)
- This one is weird: UW CS very often rejects highly qualified applicants like yourself for yield protection. This is a known but not much discussed phenomenon (happened to me and many others I know). If you get into UW but rejected CS, DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED AS I WAS. File a nice appeals letter and they will let you in. They want to see you go the extra mile before letting you in.
Good luck and you’ll land at a great place with your stats and your list!
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Thanks a lot for the advice!
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Not thinking about financial aid, I honestly want to know my chances of getting into Rice/UPenn ED for CS?
Rice: 9%
UPenn: 6%
Those are the RD acceptance rates for Rice and Penn. Their ED acceptance rates are reported to be around 18% for Rice and 15% for Penn.
Your stats/ecs/etc show no reason you are not a suitable student for those school. There is no reason to assume a significant portion of ED applicants to either school are unsuitable for admittance. Thus we can assume you might have, at best, a 20% chance for admission via ED; at worst, maybe a few points lower.
The bottom line is you are, at best 4 times as likely to be rejected as accepted - maybe 6 times as likely to be rejected as accepted. That has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you are qualified. The majority of applicants to those schools are qualified, and the majority of qualified applicants will be rejected. There simply aren’t enough seats to accept all of the tsunami of qualified applicants.
If you wish to give it a try, you should certainly apply. Your stats are great and your anticipated test score is perfectly fine for submitting. Hope for the best, but do not think anyone should assume they will be accepted into a highly rejective university.
Some members have more insight into events like USACO. It’s possible your silver there might provide a better chance. @hebegebe might have some insight
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Thanks for bringing me into the thread @EconPop. But I don’t know enough about USACO to know how much it helps (I have a much better understanding of the math side, such as USAMO).
Aside from that, I think for the OP a good strategy would be Rice ED and Vandy ED2 (assuming that the predicted score of 1520 happens). If the OP is open to LACs, I think that a place like Harvey Mudd ED would also make sense. Harvey Mudd also has the benefit that it is part of the Claremont Colleges, which together feel more like a mid-size university than a small LAC.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you got into your ED or ED2 college. But as others have said, you should have a plan for if that doesn’t work out and which is affordable for you. Unless a college meets your full aid requirements or comes very close, it shouldn’t be on your list. That eliminates the UCs.
Instead you should be chasing merit, such as places like Alabama, and possibly Arizona. I didn’t see anything about PSAT scores. Would you qualify for National Merit?
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I agree with this. Why apply ED, which is binding, to any school if its CS program isn’t as good as UW’s and when you have a good shot at UW? On your list, with the exception of Stanford, UW arguably has the best CS program.
On the question of USACO Silver, it may be helpful in a school like UW (especially when you’re in state), but not at schools like Stanford (you’ll need to reach higher levels in USACO to be helpful at those schools).
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You have a few schools that you say are the “top colleges” on your list. However, I would say some of them are not considered that way for CS. If they are there because they are “needs met”, then I completely I understand why they would be on your list. However, I would say that UW is actually considered better for CS than most of those other reaches.
It might be worth checking out UIUC. It is one of the best CS schools (T5), yet has a much higher acceptance rate for CS than most places.
Some people here will tell you that it doesn’t really matter where you go to do CS. I don’t think that is completely true. But I do think it is much less important than most subjects.
Also, I do wonder whether you will be able afford USC. But perhaps there is some chance of getting a scholarship.
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Don’t disagree with the premise although as top 5 it’s competitive but he couldn’t afford UIUC.
UIUC’s class of 2026 CS acceptance rate was 6.8% (which is a bit higher than it has been in the past, was 5% for class of 2024).
@MWolf or any experts - if you’re out there can you read the chain and advise on questbridge. I think you are one of the more knowledgeable. I think it’s the smart play here because you can still apply to UW/WSU and it’s more EDs than the normal one but don’t have expertise to say so…
Only Penn can’t be done and not sure it’s the best CS play anyway.
Or am I off on this thought ??