Chance Me - Computer Science major [MO resident, 3.98uw/4.24w, 34 ACT, <$10k]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US resident
  • Missouri/suburban
  • Public High School (about 500 in my class)
  • White Male
  • First Generation, low income

Intended Major(s)
Computer Science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.98
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.24
  • Class Rank: Top 5%
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 32 composite, 34 Superscore - 35 English, 34 Reading, 33 Math, 33 Science.

Coursework
AP: CS Principles(5), English Lang(4), Physics 1(3), US Hist(3), Euro Hist(3)
2 Dual-Enrollments, 11 Honors.
Senior Year: AP Gov, AP Psych, AP Calc Bc, AP English Lit, AP CS A

Awards
AP Scholar w/ Distinction
Hack Club Electronics Project Grant

Extracurriculars
Volunteering - Project Linus Blanketeer: Self-funding and handcrafting 100s of blankets for hospitals & shelters. Benefitting children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need. >100 hours.

Internship - Summer Software Engineer at healthcare saas company: Directed metrics dashboard project; unified 10 yrs of JIRA data, reducing query times. Collaborated with CEO, CHRO & CFO. Mentored fellow interns.

Summer Program - Biogen in Action through Lemelson MIT & Biogen Community Lab: Delved into biotech research for Alzheimer’s solutions in a lab. Developed hormone therapy methods; showcased findings to MIT faculty & industry professionals.

Training Program - MIT IDSS: Data Science and Machine Learning: Completed projects & case studies in data science & machine learning with MIT faculty. Devised impactful software solutions alongside industry experts.

School Club - Jaguar Coders: Led initiatives in coding club; mentored peers, facilitated projects, and provided hands-on guidance for complex coding challenges.

School Club - District Robotics Team: Led in schematic design & hardware development; created a custom tennis ball launcher for contests. Supported peers in coding robotic functionalities.

Summer Camp - UMKC GenCyber Camp: Teamed with university students on cybersecurity; designed Python-based Minecraft game. Presented to faculty, top 4 placement.

Part-Time Job - Hyvee Produce Clerk, 2 years.

Missouri Boys State

Essays/LORs/Other
Counselor - Moderate
CompSci/Math Teacher - Strong
English Teacher - Moderate
Internship Boss - Strong

Cost Constraints / Budget
Hopefully merit, parents < $10k per year

Schools

  • Safety
    Uni of Utah, UMKC
  • Likely
    UMN, Penn State, UWM
  • Match
    UIUC, UMass, UMD, VT, NC State, UC Davis, Case Western, UT Austin, UNC
  • Reach
    UVA, UW, Purdue, BU, UMICH, WashU, Georgia Tech, UChicago, Cornell, Northwestern
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@G3timo - when you say low income, are you talking $65K ish or less.

If so, you should look at Questbridge - which might be your best bet. I posted below for you. It’s an awesome program with deadline approaching.

So - you want $10K - have you run the net price calculators or rather have your parents run them for schools like Cornell and Northwestern. They offer no merit aid - only need aid and while your family may want to pay $10K a year, it’s the school that will determine what they can afford. Often, it’s more than the family wants to pay. You may look at Rice and the Rice investment - also below. Note, these “income” based programs also look at assets - so if someone is low in income but high in assets, they’ll still be expected to pay.

So I’m going to evaluate this as you have more than $10K in need and rate you honestly and offer a few suggestions.

Safeties - yes to both. If you’re pell eligible you’ll get free tuition to UMKC - but still have to pay room and board unless you live home and that will be more than $10K. Utah - you can get residence after first year but cost of attendance is $53K. Yes, there can be merit but not to get you anywhere close to $10K. Even if you were a resident -it’s not affordable. So you’ll be hearing that a lot unfortunately. A safety you can’t afford is not a safety.

UMN is a likely but not affordable. They do have merit. UWM is a match at best but near $60K and not affordable. Penn State is likely- but you’ll get no merit - again, it costs more in one year than your four year budget.

Your matches - UIUC, UMD, CWRU, UT Austin, and UNC are all reaches - and not affordable with one possible exception. UNC (and UVA) are the only two publics who assure to meet need for students nationwide, not just residents.

You have a better shot at Purdue than the matches I just mentioned.

Bottom line - your list is way over reach financially. They’re great schools but kids ilke you are a dime a dozen to them - so you have to follow the money.

So here’s a few recommendations.

U of Alabama - you get $30.5K off of $33K tuition - so all in you are $18K or so a year. Still over budget but with an internship/job you can get to budget. It’s why 338 Missourians and over 1,500 from your neighbor Illinois are enrolled there.

Mississippi State - you’d get either $23 or $25K off of $39K.

UAH - smaller school - would be similar - high teens

Schools like Mizzou and Truman State might work for you. Berea College charges no tuition.

So - what am I missing? If you have need. If you do and it can get you to your price point, then you should look at schools that meet need. Some of them will factor in what you’ll cost into their decision (need aware) but others will not. I put a list below.

Step 1- if your family income is $65K or lower, get cracking on Questbridge now - it’s a full ride.

Step 2 - have your family run the NPC for Cornell, Northwestern, UNC - see what they say.

Step 3 - adjust your list based on what you find. btw - I didn’t mention but SMU Presidential and W&L Johnson - difficult to get full rides but if you have spots yet, worth the app because you never know.

You’re a smart, accomplished student and you’ll make your mark. But we do need to see how you look for aid first - but unfortunately, many of your schools will need to come off.

I also, for fun, put the schools in other states than Missouri has reciprocity with - but they’re still too pricey.

Good luck.

QuestBridge

The Rice Investment | Office of Financial Aid | Rice University

Here’s Every College That Offers 100% Financial Aid (prepscholar.com)

Institutions | Midwest Student Exchange Program (mhec.org)

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UC Davis like all the California UC’s offer little to no need-based financial aid and highly competitive merit aid to OOS students. You should expect to pay close to the current estimate of $74K/year to attend. Even with merit aid, the costs would not be substantially impacted making UCD unaffordable.

Questbridge is an excellent suggestion along with the other schools mentioned by @tsbna44

Best of luck on your college search and applications.

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Your matches are reaches and your reaches are super reaches. And most will not fit in your budget. Sorry. But better to hear it now so you have time to adjust your list.

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Assuming that my family could pay for much more of the cost & budget wasn’t as much of a problem, what would be the best match schools that I would have a shot at for comp sci? And thank you all for the feedback!

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Give posters a budget number since it is a waste of time to be chancing you on schools that are unaffordable.

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You have a list of a lot of public universities which are funded by their state’s taxpayers. They prioritize their seats for in-state resident students.

Re: UTAustin: Texas is famous for their automatic admittance of their top 6% state residents, as well as filling their schools with 75% of Texas residents at all of their universities.

Re: UC Davis: California has some merit which averages at ~$2k per year. That’s $1000 per semester off of $74K per year. Remember that these are public universities whose funding comes from taxpayers. Also, you can only borrow $27,000 over the course of the whole 4 years. You will still owe $269K for any UC.

And, here’s another issue, a large number of schools are impacted for CS. That means too many students applying for a finite number of seats in CS. We’re talking rejections even with excellent 4.0 GPA’s, EC’s and SAT’s. It is extremely competitive.

Look at the suggestions listed above, and think about your NPC numbers, and how much your parents can afford. In CS, it doesn’t matter WHERE you go to school because you will be employed with a good return on your investment.

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After doing the NPC forms, my EFC is $71,443 and my NPC is $47,302. I do have a brother whose also applying this year so that would lower my budget, and my parents will pay for most of it. I’m mostly focused on schools with a good value for price, if I could get the same cs education from a cheaper school then that would be best, but a cost on the higher end isn’t a deal breaker for me. I’m mostly focused on finding schools with good industry connections that can set me up post college, not necessarily their ranking. Sorry if I’m wasting anyones time, I’m just not too sure of what else I should be including in this for proper feedback.

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G3timo - not sure where the $47K was for (which school - they’re all different) - but with two kids I’m assuming your parents don’t want to throw around a lot of cash.

So you have a couple ways to go:

I’m mostly focused on schools with a good value for price, if I could get the same cs education from a cheaper school then that would be best

Here’s the reality - you know and see which schools are higher ranked - but you have no idea which teach better if you will. I would personally start from the position that most teach similarly - at least the basics - and obviously some may have expertise or niches others don’t - like game design. Is that why you have Utah?

If you need relatively low cost, you can leave Utah on - there’s a way to get residency. UMN has scholarships but if you’re in the 40s, is that ok?

UIUC will be too much. UMASS can get down to the 40s but I’d assume it’s too much. VT, NC State, UC Davis will all cost too much as will UT Austin and UNC. CWRU has merit - but best case likely 40s.

UVA will be too much. UW is your hardest admit - accepting 3% OOS. Purdue can be about $40K-ish. Michigan will be too much. WUSTL and add Vandy and Rice - do offer some deent merit. You’ll need to see if the NPCs work for the last three. I think Chicago offers rare merit aid.

So - I look at this differently than others. My kid chose Bama over Purdue (and had merit) for engineering and last Fall had 20 interviews and 5 offers and he’s in a first year cohort at work with 150 kids in, I think 3 fields - and the engineers he works with - come from Purdue and other highly rated schools - as well as lesser rated. In other words, he lost nothing. So for you, Bama is $20K a year because of your stats and that’s why they’re 58% OOS - people follow the $$ - especially from neighboring Illiniois where over 1500 go.

You have in-state Missouri Science & Tech - very good. Plus Mizzou for a flagship. Schools like Arkansas, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, UTK (I know someone with a killer internship this fall), KU, K State, U of Arizona ($25K all in for you), Truman State, Iowa State and more - will all give you great value for price.

Don’t conflate US News Rank with quality - and don’t assume schools give you - vs. you go get - which is life.

I applaud Cornell - their career database for outcomes is the best - clear, transparent. Guess how their CS grads are getting jobs? Mainly the Internet (indeed) and Linkedin. Yes, they have some on campus, etc. but that’s the way of the world today. The Internet is the great equalizer.

I’m not saying one will do better at Iowa State than Cornell. They have a chance to be as good but on average Cornell will likely do better not adjusting or location/cost of living. But like my son and my daughter who is at a no-name school but working at arguably one of the the top think tanks in Washington DC this Fall - you too can make your own success. No one can stop you. Except you.

With two kids in school, unless your parents say it’s ok, you are wise to seek budget options so you don’t strangle them financially - and don’t take loans.

If you get a specific budget, we can give you more options - but your low cost will be in state, the Kansas Schools, Arkansas, Bama, Mississippi State, Iowa State Arizona and there’s more - and frankly, I wouldn’t bat an eye at attending. The out of state will be low cost for one reason - and that is - you kicked butt!!

So if you can afford to chase a UT or UIUC, great - but you came with the premise that you can’t…so there’s other options.

Many companies will give you a test to pass vs. just hire. My daughter’s friend at UTK had to pass one as part of his interview process. My nephew works for a major firm in NYC in CS - and his degree is poli sci from Arizona…but he passed their test. So your future is as bright as you want it to be regardless of where you go.

Good luck.

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You said earlier that your budget was $10,000 a year or less…so which is it? Parents will pay all, or $10,000 is the limit.

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Also…if your FAFSA EFC is 71,000 you are not low income. But how would you know this? The FAFSA for the 2024-2025 academic year hasn’t been released…so where did you get that number?

@G3timo

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Reminder that CC is supposed to be a friendly and welcoming place. Posters are free to ignore any thread they feel aren’t worthy of a reply.

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Most of the schools on your list become reaches or out of reach if your parent contribution limit is $10k, since you will need large merit scholarships that are typically reaches, if they exist.

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Have your parents given you an amount they can pay for you and your sibling, out of income and savings?

Just in case loans were your thought, YOU can “only” borrow 5.5K for freshman year - anything else would be on your parents and based on your stats you really don’t want to pick a college that’ll saddle them with debt when you can have an excellent education with big scholarships at universities like ASU Barrett.

Run the NPC on Cornell, Chapman, UVA. What are the results for each? Cornell “meets need”, Chapman doesn’t but has merit, UVA is a public university with a cap on how many OOS applicants they admit. The NPC should give you different results. What are they? That will help you orient your search a bit for what is the most profitable.
If your FASA EFC is 71K you likely need to hunt for merit and how much depends on what your parents can afford.

Penn State, UIUC, UCs will not be affordable.
UT and Texas publics, NCSU and NC publics have a cap on how many OOS applicants they can admit.
Look carefully at the curriculum and culture at Northwestern and UChicago: they’re pretty antithetical.

UCincinnati would likely work well based on what you share - they have merit scholarships and offer co-ops.

You definitely should have UMKC, Truman State, and Mizzou on your list no matter, and do apply to the Honors colleges.

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Do not count on having a sibling in college at the same time lowering costs, we’ve had 3 in college several years and aren’t eligible for financial aid, plus fafsa is changing next year and no longer giving credit for multiple children in college at the same time.

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You are a student with excellent credentials who could potentially be admitted to any school on your original list (although some of those high reaches are a roll of the dice for anyone).

But it sounds like you fall into the donut hole that many middle-class students find themselves in. Your family is not in a position to pay $100,000 to $350,000 total or more for your education, but you do not qualify for need-based aid.

For students like you, your best bet is often your in-state options and any options in neighboring states that offer nonresident discounts to students from your state. For STEM majors, I often look at the list of land grant, space grant, sun grant, and sea grant universities first because those universities were established to provide strong science/tech programs. In my experience, they usually have solid programs even if they are not the highest ranked on some national list.

In Missouri, I would include University of Missouri (land grant) and Missouri University Of Science and Technology (space grant).

Next, it looks like you would get a nonresident discount at Oklahoma State. It may still be too much, but there are some competitive nonresident scholarships that you might have a shot at. It is probably worth an application.

But rather than apply to many expensive schools like UC Davis or UVA where the price will never come down from the stratosphere, focus instead on places where it might. Especially because to get the merit aid you seek, you may need to complete several additional scholarship applications. It will take some effort, so you want to keep your list manageable.

Regarding future employment, just keep being a star at your internships and you will continue to create great opportunities for yourself regardless of the school on your resume.

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Although this is a bit confusing, would it be fair to say that maybe your parents can pay $50k/year total, which would be about $25k/year for you and $25k/year for your brother @G3timo? For now, I’m going to assume that’s the case with my recommendations. Additionally, it looks like you prefer medium to large schools, so I will keep that in mind with my recommendations.

Have you investigated the Midwest Student Exchange Program (MSEP)? Missouri participates, which can get students discounted rates at some midwestern schools.

Schools that could make budget (assuming $25k, but some schools here are as low as $13k, and you could compete for some full rides at others) include:

  • Kansas State: About 15k undergrads. You would receive the Missouri Match Tuition Program (source), giving you in-state pricing, leaving you with costs slightly below $21k/year. Offers through a doctorate in Computer & Information Sciences.

  • Missouri State – Sprinfield: About 18k undergrads. You would receive the Board of Governors Scholarship ($5500 toward tuition + $1k on-campus housing credit, and auto entry to Honors College with a $1k study abroad voucher). You’d also be eligible to compete for larger scholarships. Your costs here would be about $13k/year. Offers through a Master’s in CS.

  • Missouri S&T: About 5500 undergrads. Your grand total would be $13,062 here as the estimator indicated you’d qualify for the Bright Flight, Groundbreaker, and Trailblazer scholarships, the last of which is for first gen students). You’d also be able to compete for additional scholarships. Offers through a doctorate in Computer & Information Sciences.

  • North Dakota State: About 10k undergrads. The MSEP tuition rate is $9504 (source) and other scholarships may be awarded. With room & board, costs would be under $19k/year. NDSU offers through a doctorate in CS.

  • Southern Illinois – Carbondale: About 8k undergrads. You’d receive $5500/year in merit aid and would be eligible to compete for a full ride (source). So your costs here would be less than $21k.

  • U. of Kansas: About 19k undergrads. You would receive $16k/year in merit aid (source), bringing costs down to about $23k. Offers through a doctorate in Computer & Information Sciences.

  • U. of Minnesota – Duluth: About 8800 undergrads. Through MSEP, your tuition would only be about $600 more than in-state tuition (source). I suspect that you may be eligible for additional scholarships as well. But worst case scenario, costs would be a little under $25k. Offers through a Master’s in CS.

  • U. of Missouri – Columbia: About 24k undergrads. You’d receive the Chancellor’s Award ($7200) and might receive the Bright Flight (up to $3k), or other scholarships, too. Worst case (only Chancellor’s), you’d be looking at a little under $16k.

  • U. of Nebraska-Lincoln: About 19k undergrads. You would receive $18k/year in merit aid (using the estimator as directed by UNL’s MSEP page), bringing your costs down to about $19k/year. Offers through a doctorate in Computer & Information Sciences.

  • U. of Wisconsin – Milwaukee: About 18k undergrads. The MSEP tuition rate is $13,638 (source) and room & board would make it about $25k/year. You may be able to receive additional scholarships as well. Offers through a Master’s in CS.

  • U. of Wisconsin – Whitewater: About 9400 undergrads. The MSEP tuition rate is $11,014 (source) and room & board is listed as less than $8k, so you could attend here for about $19k, and perhaps even less if they award additional scholarships. Offers through a Master’s in CS.

Schools that came out above budget (but mentioning should others be thinking of them):

  • Iowa State: About 25k undergrads. You would receive $11k/year in merit aid (source), bringing this school down to about $27k. Offers through a doctorate in CS.

  • U. of Arkansas: About 26k undergrads. You’d receive a 90% discount on the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition (source). This would bring your costs to about $27k/year.

  • U. of Iowa: About 22k undergrads. There’s no specific amount of merit aid you’d receive, but scholarships would stack (source). Perhaps run the NPC to see if it asks for academic stats? But with sticker price coming close to $44k, I’m not optimistic that you will get as good of a price here as at some of the other schools.

  • U. of Kentucky: About 23k undergrads. You’d receive at least $12,500 in merit and could compete for larger awards (source). That would still leave you with costs of about $35k.

Missouri S&T is such an awesome school and giving you such an awesome deal that it’d be hard to walk away from that one. But you can get a quality education at any of these schools.

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