Hello there! I’m new to CC forums and I’m a first generation college student interested in attending USC, SJSU or UCB any other good school for CS in Northern California (Any suggestions are welcomed)Here are my stats:
-Male, Black, 1st generation aspiring college student
-Family size and income: 5 (Oldest sibling) and 70k per year
-I currently attend a public high school in San Jose
-4.0 UW GPA and 4.37 Weighted GPA
-33 ACT and 1480 SAT (Took the ACT twice)
-SAT Subject tests: Math 2 (800), Chemistry (800), Physics (800)
-Valedictorian Candidate
My course load: 15 AP courses (AP Scholar w/ distinction), 2 Adv English courses, Completed Calculus BC my Sophomore year.
My EC’s:
-President of the Computer Science Club
Captain of Robotics Club
1 year of Basketball (Decided that it wasn’t for me)
-NHS Treasurer for the chapter at my school
-Math club President
-Internship over the summer at a tech startup
-built a video game written in C# and built a mobile app for IOS to add the game onto
-Once again, IDK what other schools would be a fit for me
USC is not in Northern California… or did you mean SCU (Santa Clara University, formerly University of Santa Clara).
Be sure to get financial aid estimates at each college’s net price calculator on its web site.
Among California public universities:
Some UCs are test-blind, some want to be test-optional, but that depends on court cases.
All CSUs are test-blind.
For UCs and CSUs, recalculate your GPAs here: https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/ . CSUs use weighted-capped, while most UC stats list weighted-capped unless otherwise specified (but all three variants are seen by UC admission readers).
UCs and CSUs do not consider race/ethnicity or gender in admission.
Regarding specific colleges:
For UCB, you can apply either to EECS, which is probably the most selective major, but is direct admission. Or you can apply to L&S, which is not as difficult to get admitted to (but still very competitive), but then you need to earn a 3.3 college GPA in CS 61A, 61B, 70 to enter the L&S CS major.
For SJSU, CS is the most competitive major (far more competitive than most majors there), but if you have a top-end GPA, you have a good chance. The SJSU admission formula is shown here: https://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/index.php . Note that you get 200 bonus points (equivalent to +0.25 GPA) for being about to graduate high school in Santa Clara County, and 40 bonus points (equivalent to +0.05 GPA) for being first generation to college. Also, another 40 bonus points if you get a fee waiver for CSU application fees.
@ucbalumnus I meant the University of Southern California. IK that it is in Southern California though. I applied for the merit scholarship and if I can get a Trustee or Presidential scholarship and get in then I’ll go there. I also am considering CS L and S at Berkeley. Do I have a decent shot at these schools? Would UCSC be a good safety school for me?
@ucbalumnus pretty much covered the possible NorCal options for CS. Do you have any safety schools on your list? SFSU, Chico State, Sac State???
UC Davis and Santa Cruz should be on your list as noted.
First generation will be considered, but Race/Ethnicty is not a consideration for the UC’s and Cal states.
Santa Clara University is a good option if NPC shows affordability.
You look like a competitive applicant but USC and UCB should be considered Reach schools so you need to expand you list with some Target schools: UCD and UCSC along with a few safeties.
But note that CS is generally a more competitive major than the campus overall. However, for UCB L&S CS, you would be applying to L&S, which should approximate overall admission rates.
Several of the UCs are quite likely, but it may be risky to say that they are 100% chance safeties, due to consideration of subjective factors like essay reading, increased competition for CS, variation across years (competition level seems to be increasing generally), and uncertainty due to COVID-19-related factors.
Ask your counselor about some top 10 schools and consider the HBCU’s. You have a good resume.
A lot of the reach schools strongly consider your first generation and URM status! The UC’s can’t use URM because of their public university requirements, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go for it and try some Top 10s.
@Gumbymom I guess I should go ahead and apply to SFSU as my safety. Is their CS program okay? My dream job is to work as a SWE within FAANG and I’m curious about SFSU or even Stanford. (Maybe Stanford, I’ve heard that the curriculum is extremely challenging and bland at Stanford when it comes to specific content like Game Development
@ucbalumnus I’m planning on retaking the ACT and SAT this spring.
@“aunt bea” I’ve ruled out HCBU’s because I’m genuinely interested in going to a diverse school such as USC.
@Gumbymom I did just look at UC Santa Cruz’s CS+Game Design program and I am gonna apply there also. It actually looks like a good safety school/match.
USC’s merit scholarships are extremely competitive and aren’t a guarantee for anyone (excepting NMFs, as they receive automatic Presidential scholarships if admitted.) USC DOES meet full need (as FA Office calculates it,) have you tried running the NPC calculators?
Your stats are strong and the SAT Subject Tests complement your interest in STEM, especially as an applicant underrepresented in STEM. I am not as familiar with CS admissions since I applied for pre-med/public health on my apps, but it’s good that you have ECs (internship + game design) that support this interest.
Are you applying to college this year? If not, the Questbridge program is an AMAZING program that makes it extremely affordable to attend schools like Brown, Stanford, MIT etc. with high “sticker-prices.” Even if you are, you’ll still be eligible for your full need to met (again, as these schools define it,) if admitted.
There are lots of computer companies besides FAANG, and one of the advantages of attending college near Silicon Valley (e.g. UCB, UCSC, SJSU, Stanford, SCU, and others) is noticing and being noticed by many of the smaller computer companies in the area (versus most of FAANG that recruit everywhere and everyone applies to anyway).
Stanford CS covers a lot of areas: https://cs.stanford.edu/degrees/undergrad/Tracks.shtml . Note the option of designing your own track or choosing an unspecialized track. Game development needs and touches a lot of areas of CS, such as artificial intelligence, graphics, and human-computer interaction, as well as depending on the core CS concepts and knowledge in algorithms / theory, systems, networking, data management, and security. It also involves art, creative writing / storytelling, social sciences, and often physics (i.e. courses that can be chosen for general education or free electives outside of CS). At many colleges where there is not a specific game design track or major, you can choose electives with a CS major relevant to your interest in game design.
Be aware that game companies hire lots of regular CS majors; a game-specific major is not needed. A game-specific major may be limiting if you choose to seek employment outside of the game industry (which is very volatile and some find less than ideal in working conditions compared to other CS-based jobs).
@notscaryseth: One school which should be on your list although not a safety should be Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Excellent CS and Software majors and as noted by @ucbalumnus you do not have to major in Game Design to work in the industry. You can take some focused electives at any of the schools that offer CS/SE majors.
@PikachuRocks15 Thank you so much for the info about the Questbridge program! I’ll go ahead and apply for that. @ucbalumnus My dad works for a startup. (That’s why we are in Santa Clara even though we are a low income household, my dad got a job with employee housing as a part of the benefits.) I really like startups, I had an internship at one this last summer but my dream goal is to shoot for a large tech company. I have a big interest in large codebases and huge games. I guess that makes sense about why Stanford is the top CS program in the West coast. @Gumbymom I’ll consider Cal Poly San Luiz Obispo and UCI. I applied to the CS program at USC with a minor in game programming. We’ll see how that goes…
@notscaryseth If you’re a Senior this year, then unfortunately the Questbridge program’s already closed, since applications are due in September. You’ll still be eligible for FA, as the schools’ FA offices calculate it—just not to apply “ED” to multiple schools via the Match that Questbridge offers.
Cal Poly has an Amazon lab on campus, which helps with getting internships. Since you are considering So Cal options, LMU could be another safety and well located near tech and startups (and beaches) in LA.
@notscaryseth Oh wow! I’m actually in Northern California also! Wow! I’m a senior also and I’m actually interested in CS also! Wow! What a small world!
For CPSLO admission, a formula called the MCA is used. https://mca.netlify.app/ appears to be an assumed or reverse-engineered version of the previous MCA before all CSUs went test-blind. But it will tell you what things give you extra points. Unfortunately, CPSLO does not publish past MCA thresholds by major.
On the CSU application, be sure to include all high school level math courses (algebra 1 or higher) and foreign language courses taken while in middle school in your self-reported academic record. For whatever reason, it is said that CPSLO’s MCA calculation does not use course validation* when calculating whether you have more than the minimum number of semesters of math or foreign language courses.
*Course validation is a CSU and UC policy where higher level courses assume completion of lower level courses, e.g. completing algebra 2 means that algebra 1 is assumed, and completing Spanish 4 or AP level means that Spanish 1, 2, 3 are assumed.