Chancing and Suggestions for Some Universities

A couple thoughts…

Why didn’t you apply to CMU? Was it too expensive? (What good Pennsylvania student interested in CompSci doesn’t apply to the Nerd Farm?)

If you are not hung up on a R1 university, you should take a look at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. It is as small school that does not offer PhDs, similar to Harvey Mudd or Olin. Among schools that do not offer PhDs it is ranked #1 in almost all engineering disciplines, including computer engineering. Their outcomes - salary by major and grad school placement - are on par with University of Michigan, and it appears to be a feeder into grad programs at CMU, GA Tech, Purdue, Cornell, U Penn and RPI. Other advantages of Rose, vs some of the large state schools on your list is that all classes are capped at 30 students, and the professors are there because they want to teach undergrads. Go to Rose undergrad, then a R1 university for your advanced degrees. .

My son’s stats were a step behind yours and RHIT accepted him for MechE with a $26K/year merit scholarship.

Final thought… your stats are impressive, but for competitive CompSci programs, 1530 might be a bit low. Was your math score close to 800? Could you take the test again to get the score up?

Good luck.

Are you taking all of these as classes, or are you self-studying for some of the exams?

I was also unclear on the APs. If he scored a 5 in all of these by 10th grade that’s highly impressive. It also means he should retake the SAT.

I do alumni interviews for a T10 in PA. You have a great academic profile and you have a good chance at all of these schools. If you are looking to broaden your list, I would worry less about the sticker price and look for the best CS and Physics schools that give merit aid.

You are a very strong candidate. My suggestion would be to apply to more private schools and take a few of the tougher state schools off your list.

Also, remember that often times the reputation of a school’s graduate program permeates into undergraduate rankings. What you ideally want is great teaching and name recognition.

With your budget, and stats, just about any school except HYPMS should be in play. Remember that state schools, especially public ivies, do not have revenue targets. Most private schools do.

I encourage you to look at schools like Rice, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Northwestern, Hopkins. Drop the state schools or limit them.

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.