Chance Me: Asian Male (Valedictorian) from Alabama with high hopes in MechE [3.98, 33, $25-30k]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics: Male, Indian, Alabama, Large public school (650 students),

hooks first generation
Intended Major(s): CS and business
ACT/SAT/SAT II: 33 superscore. 33E, 35M, 31R, 31S
UW/W GPA and Rank: 3.98/4.56 . 1 out of 663
Coursework: AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores, etc

9th: No AP/IB allowed but did pre-IB english and history, Math Team, and all advanced classes

10th: AP CSP(4) had a first year teacher. All other courses were PreIB and advanced.

11th: IB English 11 and History 11 (HL), IB Math AA (SL), IB Spanish (SL), IB Business and Management (SL), AP Physics C: Mechanics. (Scores yet to come)

12: IB English 12 and History 12 (HL), AP Calc BC, AP CS A, AP Physics C: E&M.

Did or doing Engineering Academy all four years of high school

Awards: AKYSB Scholarly Spotlight, ICDC Qualifier (DECA), NHS, National Stem Honor Society, and other basic stuff.
Extracurriculars:

  1. Robotics Team (Captain) August 2015 ā€“ Present ā€¢ Lead a team of +25 students in building, coding, and driving VEX V5 robots (June 2022 ā€“ Present). ā€¢ Placed 4th in TSA Vex Robotics Alabama (2022). ā€¢ Build the team from the ground up, securing grants of +2,500 dollars. (2023) ā€¢ Placed top 15 in State for Vex Robotics. ā€¢ Winner of VEX Robotics Tournament (March 2020). ā€¢ Refereed a VEX IQ Robotics Competition (2023).
  2. Autonomous RC Car Project/Research (Project Lead) May 2023 ā€“ Present ā€¢ Built, wired, and programmed an RC car to make it run autonomously. ā€¢ Implemented machine learning to make the car stay on track and detect obstacles. ā€¢ Worked on +10 hours/week. ā€¢ Guided and mentored by College Professor
  3. Business (Owner/Founder) January 2022 ā€“ Present ā€¢ Created a business where I customize, buy, sell, and trade shoes. ā€¢ Sold over 35 pairs of shoes. ā€¢ Made +3,000 dollars in profit and +5,000 dollars in sales.
  4. STEM Team (Captain/ Treasurer) September 2021 ā€“ Present . ā€¢ Placed first as a team in national TSA competition building aspect (2022).

Placed top 5 in the State for TSA Teams competition and qualified for the National TSA Competition (April - July 2023) ā€¢ Placed 3rd in Regional Science Olympiad Detector Building Competition (March 4, 2023). ā€¢ Ranked 4th as a team and qualified for State Science Olympiad Competition (March 4, 2023).

  1. DECA (Member/Participant) February 2023 ā€“ April 2023 ā€¢ Placed 1st Place in Team Decision Making Entrepreneurship in Alabama State Career Development Conference. ā€¢ Qualified and competed for the International Career Development Conference in Orlando (ICDC).

  2. Java Coding Class Passion Project (Host/Teacher) April 2023- Present ā€¢ Teach a class of +25 students how to code in Java. A six week free course offered to middle schoolers in the Birmingham/Hoover region. ā€¢ Introduce middle schoolers to the world of computers.

  3. McWane Science Center Volunteer (May 2023- Present) ā€¢ 100 hours of teaching kids science in different camps and engaging with different people.

  4. Internal Operations Youth Volunteer June 2015 ā€“ Present . ā€¢ Volunteered at my place of worship since the age of 8. Helped almost every Thursday and Saturday night for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Assisted seniors to their chairs. Cleaned bathrooms. ā€¢ Helped guide younger and newer volunteers by teaching them how to do their duties.
    Essays/LORs/Other:

Writing personal Statement rn with help from smart people (could be a 9/10)

LOR : AP Physics teacher (7/10): good bond thinks that I am a great person.

Lor: Engineering and Robotics Teacher (8/10): Good relation and has seen leadership qualities in me.

LOR Counselor: (5/10): do not know very well trying to establish a relationship by meeting with her over the summer.
Schools:

Safety: Auburn, Purdue, Washington (CS all of them)

Targets: GT, Michigan, UIUC, UT Austin, UNC, WashU (ED II), all UC schools

Reaches: MIT, Stanford, CMU, CalTech, Princeton, Cornell (ED I)

150K income with 3 people going to college.

I donā€™t know which schools to apply to as CS and which to apply to as business. Need help determining that stuff. Also be brutally honest about chance at each school.

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All your schools besides Auburn are reaches. Especially for CS as an OOS student. Have you run the NPC for these schools? Are they affordable? Find a few safeties then your reaches.

Figure out what you enjoy most and apply for CS or Business. CS is typically a more difficult admit but top B schools are almost as difficult. Good luck.

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You are obviously an accomplished candidate and any school would benefit from having you. That said, IMO some of your targets are reaches (GT, UIUC and the UCā€™s in particular) and your reaches are high reaches as most/all have single digit acceptance rates.

Youā€™ll need to recalculate your GPA using the UC formula.

Youā€™ll also have to be more specific on cost - 3 people in college at 150k income could mean a lot of things depending on merit money, scholarships, COA, etc.

Be aware that the UCā€™s wonā€™t provide any aid unless you are one of the very few receiving Regent/Chancellor scholarships - so if you cannot afford the $70-$80 cost you may need to cross them off your list.

Iā€™m sure other posters better versed in CS will weigh in as well.

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Any particular reason you arenā€™t considering University of Alabama as it may be your lowest cost option?

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Purdue and Washington are not safeties for CS for anyone.

UIUC, Texas, and many of the UCs are reaches for CS.

Have you and your parents used the net price calculator on each collegeā€™s web site? What is the amount your parents will contribute?

Most out-of-state public universities offer little or no need-based financial aid.

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Congratulations on your record! What was the AP physics C score?
I think you should add at least one true safety and maybe some matches. I am concerned as others are that many of youtlr matches are reaches.

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3 students on $150K. Find out from your folks - what is the budget.

Auburn is a safety and fantastic as would be Bama. Purdue is not although youā€™re a wonderful student. Itā€™s possible but a reach. UW - accepts 3% OOS in CS - so itā€™s a high high high reach.

Ga Tech - Iā€™m learning your odds are better as a valedictorian but Iā€™m not sure you can say target. Thereā€™s no way UIUC, UT Austin, UNC or WUSTL can be. And all the UCs cost half your parents income - and Iā€™m sure their income is before taxes and merit is not going to happen there. So they need to come off.

Two publics guarantee to meet need - UNC (you have) and UVA.

At least you have your reaches right. I find it interesting you have WUSTL a target but Cornell a reach. I also find it interesting that your two EDs are more mid size - Iā€™m thinking UAH in state and the big ones you have are - well big.

So if youā€™re ok with Auburn - youā€™re fine but certainly a Bama and UAH would be great too.

Then you need to run the net price calculator - to see - how much will you get and can your folks afford at the others.

You might also want to add meets need schools that might be a tad easier to get in and check curriculums and NPCs to see if a match - Iā€™m thinking schools like Miami, Brandeis, U Rochester, CWRU.

Also your ACT - do you plan to take again? If you can move up your reading and science, it will help. Note the UCs and UW donā€™t look at test.

Iā€™d urge you to understand your budget situation - and then go from there.

You might also look, based on your automotive interest, at schools that have ecoCAR (or another challenge) - cost wise, Bama and Miss. State will likely be your best followed by WVU Iā€™m guessing. Just to put your ā€œprestigeā€ thought in check - my son interned in automotive with two Ga Tech students at an automotive. He was invited back a second summer - they werenā€™t - so I understand your accomplishments - but youā€™ll find brilliant kids everywhere - including your home state schools. They buy kids in - and the smart ones come. Yes, he went to Bama from OOS and there was no shortage of brilliance around him and rigor in the classroom.

Best of luck - but you have some ā€œaffordabilityā€ homework to do and if Auburn isnā€™t really the dream, then some schol list re-selection as well but this canā€™t happen until the budget is known.

Best of luck.

Competing Teams ā€“ Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions (avtcseries.org)

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Purdue and Washington are huge reaches. Literally every school on your list is a big reach. You have an excellent profile but none of these schools are easy for anyone - especially for someone from out of state for most of the flagship publics you have on the list.

The UCs specifically will be hard at UCLA and UCB. UC Davis and UC Irvine will both be better shots.

Find a couple of safeties - Alabama would be a good pick I would think but @tsbna44 might know more.

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For CS+Business consider the Raikes School at UNL. Itā€™s an innovative cohort honors program with an interdisciplinary core curriculum spanning business, CS, data science, and design, on top of which students can major in any related field. Youā€™d have small classes, high-achieving peers, and many great networking opportunities, for a bargain price. Lincoln is a great small city for students.

Also look at the combined major programs at Northeastern https://www.khoury.northeastern.edu/programs/bs-combined-major-for-computer-science-and-business/ and USC Computer Science and Business Administration - USC Viterbi | Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science (With your family income and multiple kids in college, if you want to study in California, USC would be more affordable than a UC, and more attainable than Stanford or Caltechā€¦ and a better fit in terms of interdisciplinary Business+CS than any except perhaps Stanford.) Santa Clara U could also be a good option although affordability wouldnā€™t be guaranteed.

OOS direct-admit rate for CS at UW-Seattle is in the low single digits. Very much not a safety.

Run the Net Price Calculators for all schools you are considering. UCā€™s will not be affordable, and some of the other OOS publics may not be either. You need some less-reachy private Uā€™s that will still give you need-based aid. Lehigh, for example. https://csb.lehigh.edu/

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Just to make sure youā€™re interpreting this hook correctly: neither of your parents went to college anywhere in the world?

I agree with the others that you have a lot of reaches on your list, and you need to figure out your budget.

In the meanwhile, here are a couple more suggestions (need to check affordability but both schools provide merit aid to top students)ā€¦

(High target) Stevens business + tech major

(Reach) NEU CS + business administration

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Hereā€™s the UC GPA Calculator, please let us know your 3 UC GPAs: GPA Calculator for the University of California ā€“ RogerHub

I agree with the others that the only non-reach school on your list is Auburnā€¦and make sure to apply before Nov 1 to ensure admission. The earlier the better, first EA round deadline is Sept 15.

If your family has 3 people attending college and a $150K income, that seems like your budget may be relatively tightā€¦first step is to get a budget from your parents. You will (probably) be full pay at the UCs, UIUC, Michigan, UT Austin and UNC (I assume Chapel Hillā€¦why that school for CS?). Posters will be able to suggest schools for you once we know the budget.

Run the net price calculators at each school on your list. Hereā€™s MITā€™s: Net Price Calculator

The NPCs may not be accurate if your parents are divorced, own a business, or own real estate beyond a primary homeā€¦are any of those the case for you?

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I have heard that it is more of a party school and does not have the best cs program.

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@An_D
Here are the UC admit rates for CS.

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

If you are interested in Business, only 3 UCā€™s have Business schools: UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and UC Riverside. Only UCR will be a Target with both UCB and UCI as Reach schools.

As noted several times, the UCā€™s offer little to no financial aid so expect to attend as a full pay student at $72K/year. They are also test blind so your ACT will only be used for course placement.

You are a competitive applicant so focus on schools that fit your profile and where you would garner good merit aid if you do not qualify for need based aid. The UCā€™s are not those schools.

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Thanks for sharing and given your proximity, I will defer to your experience.

Several CC posters frequently convey very positive experiences so you may want to do a search. I respect your opinion but please then ensure you identify financially viable options.

Congratulations on your achievements.

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Whenever I ask my parents about budget they are not direct with me. They keep saying that money should not be my concern and they will make sure to pay for it no matter what. Idk how possible this will be. Iā€™m going to try to have a proper talk with them in the near future.

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So I would trust your parents and not a bunch of strangers on CC. It is none of our business and your parents are best suited to guide you. Trust them but make sure they are aware of the price points so no surprises down the road if possible.

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Chapel Hill meets full need based on the Fafsa EFC, despite also needing the css profile.

I donā€™t know how/if the new rules regarding number of children in college will impact this student, but I do think it is worth investigating.

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Some of the schools on your list have a cost of attendance of $80K/year. Make sure that your parents understand the price.

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This could be a setup for a big letdown when you get into desirable colleges but then they tell you that they are all too expensive. Not that this is intended by them, but sometimes parents do not realize how expensive colleges can be until it is too late.

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UNC Chapel Hill does meet full need. All schools use the FAFSA to make sure the student does/does not qualify for federal financial aid. UNCā€™s NPC clearly uses CSS Profile information to calculate need.

UNC also meets need in a less generous way than some schools. For example, they package student loans above the federal direct loan amount to ā€˜meetā€™ need. They also use relatively high student work income in meeting need.

OP and their parents should run NPCs at all the schools and go from there. NPCs are not currently set up for 2024-2025 students (so increase tuition/room/board by 4% or so on the output), nor do they reflect the coming financial aid changes.

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