African-American
US Citizen (OOS)
University Of Michigan
Public High School
Female
Unique circumstance (physically abusive, drug addicted mother, explains freshman year 3.2)
Computer Science
GPA: 3.82 UW
GPA: W is like a 4.3 (estimated) /4.0
Rank: 98%
8/435
32 ACT
Coursework: 4 Honors Classes, 1 AP, at the time of application it will be 15 DE classes but at the time of graduation it should be more like 20 DE.
Awards: Honor Roll, maybe will win a research competition.
Extracurriculars: Debate, Robotics, Girls Who Code, U of MN coding bootcamp, Community Internship as mental health advocate for the student population in my district, I also am into Voice acting but have nothing to show for it as the things i can do are pretty niche.
LOR: Strong
Essay: Strong
I’ve also held a job since 9th grade
$2000
Schools
University of Michigan, FSU, and some more once I narrow my list (if you have any recommendations based off my stats, i’d love to hear them. Just want a good com. sci program :D)
I’m hoping to win maybe some merit and adversity scholarships.
I am currently a junior, I can still add things etc.
Look into Pitt Cathedral of Learning. Also W&L Johnson.
With the AA some schools may not consider you first year.
Your stats and other factors such as a female in CS and minority could get you into a lot of schools. A lot depends on what you seek. Can you guide us more. Size, urban rural. Have you looked at Michigan State and Tech as in-state fall backs.
oops, i should’ve specified!! my family is willing to contribute 2k/year towards my education. I’d prefer a school that is metro based (so think big city) I’d rather stay out of the midwest as i hate the culture and miss life living on the coast. I am not from michigan I am out in Minnesota I will just auto transfer into the U of M or any minnesota state school as fall backs so I am mainly looking for reach schools or ones that i’d actually like to attend
most importantly I am looking for schools that will help me compete in the job market as a CS major, anything that has prestige or will help me with that (in regards to networking, recruiting, internships) I will gladly look into and appreciate!
most schools consider me a first year student due to the fact that i haven’t graduated HS yet, but I am more than happy to send my college GPA and transfer
Michigan is indeed very good for computer science. However, with your being out of state with a very small budget it is likely to be unaffordable.
The University of Wisconsin is also excellent for computer science. It is very much at the same level as Michigan. I thought that they had a tuition sharing program of some sort with Minnesota and if this is true then it might be more likely to be affordable. I have (many years ago) worked with students and faculty at Wisconsin on a software project and they were excellent.
For software engineering, the University of Minnesota, your in-state public university, is also good. There are lots of jobs in CS and after your first two years on the job no one will care where you went to university. If nothing else comes through as affordable, UMN is a great option. Of course having this as a safety justifies the thought that you are putting in to choose good reach schools – when you have a solid safety “in the bank” it is a great starting place when looking for universities to apply to.
So i’m not sure what state you’re from - I thought Michigan but you went to a camp in MN.
You want to be out of the MW - so why Michigan?
So here’s the first issue. Your parents are willing to contribute $2K. The question then becomes - what type of aid do you qualify for, etc.? You should find a top school like Carnegie Mellon and have them run the net price calculator. Or a meets need school like Rice - just to see.
Them willing/not willing to spend doesn’t impact what you’re expected to spend. No one wants to spend as you can imagine. So if a college is $50K a year and you don’t qualify for aid, and they’ll only give you $2K, then you have a problem.
You can only get for you $5500 in loans the first year and frankly, you don’t want loans.
So I’d suggest setting a realistic budget and part of them is based on - will you qualify for need aid.
There are many schools with auto merit - or perceived high merit - like FSU that you mention - but without scholarships, FSU is still going to be $21K or so (tuition, room and board) and if you only have $2K, that’s not going to happen.
Anyway - that’s the first step - have your need determined. Need is what the school or via FAFSA (the government) says you can afford…which is different than what your parents want to afford…if that makes sense.
That would give us a better sense of what you’re playing with.
As for a leg up and pedigree, etc. you have your top schools - your Carnegie Mellons, MITs, Ga Techs, etc. but any state flagship will be just fine.
But at $2K - it’s not realistic - hence we need the other questions answered first.
Try Duke, Baylor, SMU, and TCU. You’re an excellent candidate for need based aid at private schools. They’ll probably end up being your most affordable options.
Other schools you might consider: Northwestern University and University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign.
Run the Net Price Calculator for each school that interests you and check out their websites to see what scholarships are available to students from out of state.
I might have missed something - but we don’t know if she’s an excellent candidate for need aid. We simply know her parents are willing to contribute $2K. They can be full pay for all we know - unless I missed.
There are many schools that need to balance females for CS - like RPI, etc. and many schools (Ohio State, Pitt and many more) that being a URM can get a big monetary boost.
