Chance me/Match me: Asian girl from California, 3.5/1390, aiming for Comp Sci

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics: Female, Asian (race isn’t being considered anymore though, so), public school, california, no hooks

Intended Major(s): CS

ACT/SAT/SAT II: 1390

UW/W GPA and Rank: UW: 3.5, W: 3.6, (UC: UW 3.4 W 3.6) no rank

Coursework: Ap comp sci principles (5), honors english junior year (5), taking AP Physics, AP Calc BC, and AP comp sci A (school only allows APs junior and senior year) I take the schools advanced math track (but it’s not honors/AP)

Awards:

  1. Mock Trial award
  2. Poetry contest winner

Extracurriculars:

  1. peer support committee secretary sophomore and junior year, vice prez senior year (3 years): basically look out for the student’s needs and find and propose solutions to issues concerning students to the school board
  2. theater department head (4 years)
  3. President of large club (2 years)
  4. Secretary of another club (2 years): (made film centered around the struggles of being a minority student)
  5. Helped do presentations for women’s voters club during voting season
  6. student member of safety council (3 months (was disbanded after)): gave student input on student’s safety (mentally and physically) within the school
  7. Some extra courses in comp sci and astrophysics

Essays/LORs/Other:

LORs: 8/10, 10/10, and 7/10

Schools:

Safeties: ASU, UC Merced, UArizona, SFSU, SUNY Stony Brook, UMBC, Utah, CSU Chico, Rutgers

Targets: UCR, Drexel, RIT, UCD

Reach: UIUC (cs+ x program), Cal Poly Pomona, RPI, SJSU, UCSC, Cal Poly Slo, SCU, Purdue, Northeastern

Notes:

I’m currently narrowing down the list while simultaneously looking for more target schools, located preferably in New York, Massachusetts (Boston, etc.), and California with a nice CS program!

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Welcome to College Confidential.

I will only address the UC’s and CSU’s for CS. Below are the 2022 admit rates for CS at the UC’s and some CSU’s. To be very honest, CS is probably the most competitive major at these schools and below a 4.0 (Capped weighted) will make it a tough admit.

2022 CS admit rates if available. What the admit rates do not show are the stats such as average GPA required for admission.

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%
Cal Poly SLO 9%
Cal State Long Beach 54%
San Diego State 40%
San Jose State 31%

Below is the UC overall admit rate using the Capped Weighted UC GPA and not major specific. As noted above, CS will have much lower admit rates even with a competitive UC/CSU GPA.

Campus 4.00+ 3.70-3.99 3.30-3.69 3.00-3.29
Berkeley 17% 3% 1% 0%
Davis 58% 20% 5% 2%
Irvine 35% 10% 3% 0%
Los Angeles 13% 2% 1% 0%
Merced 97% 97% 95% 85%
Riverside 95% 83% 42% 17%
San Diego 37% 8% 1% 0%
Santa Barbara 41% 8% 3% 0%
Santa Cruz 69% 45% 16% 4%

UC Davis should go in the Reach Category and UCSC would be a Low Reach. UCR a High Target and UCM would be in the Likely category but not guaranteed unless you are ELC eligible and you need to apply directly.

What is your local CSU which would be a solid safety unless CS is impacted which could put it in the Likely but not Safety category? https://www.calstate.edu/apply/freshman/documents/csulocaladmission-serviceareas.pdf

Non-impacted campuses such as Chico State, San Francisco State, Sacramento State, Monterey Bay, East Bay would be Safety schools. https://www.calstate.edu/attend/impaction-at-the-csu/Documents/ImpactedProgramsMatrix.pdf

CS is a very marketable degree so look for an ABET accredited program among the Non-impacted Cal States and you should be set as long as you are willing to attend. https://www.abet.org/

Best of luck.

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Don’t know if Rutgers is a safety and Drexel is I’d say

The list is great. A few reaches are near impossible and you might replace with more realistic reaches - such as a Col School of Mines instead of UIUC/Purdue. A Syracuse vs an NEU. They’re still unlikely but there’s a glimmer of hope.

or add Cincy since it seems you like co op with Drexel and NEU.

For Mass, look at Umass (unlikely) and Umass Lowell.

Both UNH and URI aren’t far.

SUNY Albany would be a nice safety in NY. You can try Bing or Buffalo but lots of solid schools in NY.

Seems like you have CA covered but you might look at USD or Univ of Pacific.

But the list is great as is.

You’ll do well with it.

4

Rutgers NB is not a safety for you.
I’m curious, why UMBC?

What is your budget? Do you qualify for need based aid?

5

Stony Brook and Rutgers are not safety schools for you. I agree about Albany and you should take a look at Buffalo (not a safety, but it is a possibility).

I think you have a nice list of possibilities (with some reaches). Congrats!

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My local CSU is East Bay, I’ll add it to my list. I’m not sure if it’s abet accredited, but I’ll try to find if the other cal states with non impacted cs are. The third link you posted to check if they’re abet accredited is broken, what was it supposed to be?

Also thank you!

7

Thank you!

8

Here is the link again and then search programs: https://www.abet.org/

East Bay’s program is not ABET accredited but has a good reputation with local employers. ABET accreditation is very helpful but not necessarily required for CS. It does provide assurance that the CS program meets quality standards.

Chico state, Sac State, Northridge, Dominguez Hills are ABET accredited but not Monterey Bay or San Francisco State.

9

Davis is not a target but otherwise you have some good safeties, namely ASU and SFSU. Good luck!

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Have your parents assured you that all of the colleges on your list are within their price limit?

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CS is one of the most difficult majors to be accepted into.

What extra comp sci course did you take?

It looks like you took two CS classes in HS. Were you involved in any CS related activities outside of school? What made you decide that you wanted to major in CS and what do you think you might want to do after college? Depending on what your goal is, there might be majors other than CS that would work for you.

12

Contrary to popular opinion around here, one does not have to take 4+ CS courses in high school (and nearby college if possible) and do hundreds of hours of computing-related extracurriculars to find an interest in CS. The OP has taken both AP CS courses (principles and A), so that should be enough for the OP to determine interest in the subject. Also, the OP is not aiming for only the most selective (generally or for CS) colleges, so it is not like 4+ CS courses and hundreds of hours of computing-related extracurriculars are “necessary” for admission. Indeed, some of the colleges on the OP’s list* look like automatic admission safeties (including for the CS major), assuming that they are affordable.

*SFSU, Arizona State University

13

That wasn’t my intent. I’m sorry if it came across that way. I was trying to figure out if another major, such as cognitive science, might be a better fit (and possibly an easier admit) for OP. What is it in the courses she took that sparked an interest in CS? What does she think she might want to do with it in the future? There is a parent on the Davis forum whose daughter is interested in UX/UI design. She ended up double majoring in Design & Cog Sci.

14

I know nothing about your budget, but in the New York City metro area, these are three schools you may want to consider:

  • Manhattan College (about 3200 undergrads)
  • New Jersey Institute of Technology (about 9200 undergrads)
  • Stevens Institute of Technology (about 4100 undergrads)

In Boston you might want to consider Wentworth Institute of Technology (about 4k undergrads) which is also part of the Colleges of the Fenway consortium where students can take classes at some other Boston colleges. I would look into its finances as well, as I think I may have heard it may be having some financial difficulties, but I may be mistaken.

Seconding U. of Cincinnati based on your fondness for coop programs.

Not in the NYC metro, but in New York, Clarkson (about 2900 undergrads) might be worth checking out, too.

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15

I took a comp sci course from EDX. I haven’t done much CS involved activities outside of school, which I know is going to be a drawback when applying to such an impacted major. A lot of the reason why I like CS is because I really like programming apps/games and having all that code turn into the finished product was satisfying. I’m mainly interested in stuff like game developing, but I didn’t want to major directly in game development/design in case I changed my mind. CS gave me the flexibility and also the skills to go into game development or something similar, which is why I chose it. If you do have any ideas for other majors though, please let me know! I would really appreciate it because currently I have very low chances to get into CS for a lot of schools.

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Thank you!

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I’ve discussed budget with them and we’re mostly flexible, they can pay around 50k-ish but if I end up needing more I might consider taking out a loan. Nothing really set in stone.

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Thank you

19

You can apply to ASU and UofA now - no letters of recommendation needed and ASU doesn’t require an essay
(optional at UofA). That might help narrow down your safeties if the schools work with your budget and you would like to attend them. You should have an answer within 2-3 weeks (which is a nice feeling).

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I don’t think a lack of CS classes will impact you in any way getting into safeties.

It’s just that you mentioned California, NY and MA so does Arizona fit ? I assume since it’s on your original list.

But URI and UNH are a stones throw from Mass as is SUNY Albany so you’ll have no shortage of suitors depending on how you ultimately design your list.