Please estimate my chances of being admitted into the CSE:
Act: 32 (34 eng, 31 math, 32 reading, 30 science)
GPA: 3.78 weighted
Rank: 66/340
Total of 8 AP classes (all others were honors when available):
Sophomore - Music Theory
Junior - APUSH, Lang, Physics I
Senior - Lit, Psych, German, Biology
I have the disadvantage of being behind a year in math (in Precalculus as a Senior) due to some poor preparation from my junior high. However, I still took honors in math and received As and Bs.
EC:
Two years on lacrosse team
Four years of heavy involvement in church community
Past two years working ~25 hours
I’m beginning to worry seeing all the very reputable admits on here. Anyone willing to offer some insight on my chance of admission? Any and all thought is much appreciated.
What is your unweighted GPA and are you a female or male? The 32 ACT should be OK but the GPA/class rank may be problematic.
Obviously calculus is preferred but not sure it’s actually required for admission to CSE. You have listed most of the required science - did you take Chem?
If you are admitted you’ll need to start with college calculus (assuming you place into it); however, that’s probably fine. Don’t want to rush the math and science courses because they are fundamental to all the majors in that college.
Don’t worry too much about the applications that are admitted so far - it’s still a few months away from Jan. 31.
I’m a male with a chosen major of Computer Science. I have taken chem at the honors level. Unweighted GPA calculates out to a frighteningly low 3.3. However, this is an average, and I had a sophomore slump which I described the origin of in my application.
Very smart to explain what happened in sophomore year. CSE is probably a bit of a reach so it’s prudent to be thinking of other schools or your backup college at UMN, just in case your first choice doesn’t happen. The red flags are going to be the GPA, the class rank, and - perhaps to a lesser extent - the lack of Calculus (although if the poor preparation you mentioned is actually lack of proper honors tracking then they will probably not hold that against you so much if you provide an explanation). Your application is otherwise very strong and you definitely have a chance. You may wish to have a counselor at your HS provide a letter testifying that your academic rebound is for real - and definitely send them an updated transcript once first Tri. or first Sem. senior year grades are out!
You can also put CLA as a 2nd choice college in the application. That way if you don’t get accepted into CSE, you will be considered for CLA automatically.
CLA is a little easier to get into than CSE. CLA has a CSci major. CLA and CSE kids in the same CSci class. The reqs for same majors b/t colleges may be a little different is all. You can read about the major here:
Also, there are slightly different requirements for a degree b/t colleges. For CLA you would have to do 2 yrs of a language or you can test out of it. For CSE you have to do 3 semesters of physics. You can always do more classes than required for your major so you could end up taking the same classes as a CSE CSci major. Then there are the genl distribution reqs for the U for any college.
Finally you can get a degree from another college w/in the U but you may have to apply to that college. My son had to apply to Carlson to take a class he wanted to take there and they had him apply to CSOM to do it. And he had to declare a major in Econ in CLA to take an Econ class he wanted to take (econ is only in CLA). I don’t think he had to apply to CLA in that case, but he had to apply to the major and get accepted. If he wanted a major in Econ eg and a degree in it (dual degree), he would have to do the CLA requirements along w the CSE reqs.
But luckily CSci and some other majors (eg Math) are offered in both CSE and CLA.
CLA is an excellent backup plan! And OP’s stats are fine for that college. Many choose the liberal arts path rather than the more technical BS degree. That way you have a bit more choice for electives you are really interested in, or room for a minor or two or even another major w/o extra time to graduation. The only additional requirement would be the foreign language but OP might be able to AP out of that with the German.
Bio, Chem, Physics, Math, Comp. Sci, and probably a few that I’m not thinking about, are all offered at CLA as well as CSE or CBS.
How do employers view a BA vs. a BS? I put the CLA as my second choice on the application but I worry that a BA may not be held to the same standards as a BS.
I think a lot depends on what you plan to do with the major. The liberal arts degree can be more writing-intensive while the BS can be more math/science-intensive. While the BS is highly technical and specialized, they do recommend that you specialized a bit for the BA as well. And both degrees offer classes from the same CS dept.
Here is a great explanation of the difference between the two degrees. The BA might be better suited for someone who is not exactly sure what they are doing in CS; however, the advantage of starting in CSE is that if it’s not a great fit, it’s MUCH easier to transfer into CLA than to do the reverse.
Employers are looking very well-trained and smart graduates. A LOT of elite schools offer just the BA so I wouldn’t worry about the specific degree too much. As long as you take the courses you need for the job or course of grad study you plan on pursuing once you are out of college, you should be good!
