I need some help on college selections for my junior who is interested in becoming a computer science major. We live in Massachusetts. His preference is to attend an out of state coed school that is not too small, but he is fine with us adding some in-state school as safety choices.
He is my first child so I am very inexperienced with this stuff. Please help!
Stats:
GPA (weighted): 4.22
SAT (1st try, no prep and treated it as a trial run): 1250
Second SAT: Scores are not yet published (but he feels he did much better so I am hoping for 1350 or more)
Senior year: will be taking 2 APs and the rest Honor classes
Extracurriculars:
He played many years of team hockey but is not on the varsity team. He does community services and has taken some computer courses in the summer.
Here is the list of school we came up with so far:
** Top choices
Purdue
Rutgers
Penn State
Ohio State
Virginia Tech
** Little chance of getting in?
U of Pittsburgh
UMD College Park
U of Rochester
** Safety?
Umass Amherst
Syracuse
Uconn
U of Delaware
Texas A&M
Binghamton SUNY
Stony Brook SUNY
Wentworth Ins of Technology
I have heard that UMass Amherst is quite good for CS, and have worked with software engineers from there. Rutgers is also a good choice. I would definitely keep both of these on the list. If he gets into both, ignoring cost, it is not obvious to me which one he should prefer other than “both are very good”.
As the parent, do you have your financial plans in order so that you know how much you can contribute for the college costs of each kid without compromising your other financial goals like retirement savings?
You really do not want to get into any of these situations:
A. Your kid’s admission offers are all to schools which are too expensive.
B. You spend a lot of money on the first kid, then have much less money for the next kid, who asks why his/her college choices are more financially constrained than the first kid’s college choices.
Try using each college’s net price calculator on its web site to see what it may cost.
Thanks for the reply and great advice! I have college funds established for both kids and have been contributing aggressively every month since they were born.
Be sure to let them know what your contribution limit is, and check the net price calculators to see where they and you would stand financially at each college.
SUNY Stony Brook is excellent for Computer Science and I wouldn’t classify it as safety, though I would call the office and see what the differences (SATs, GPA etc.) between in-state and out of state applicants.
You have a lot of out of state publics on your list. I’m not sure that they would be worth paying double what UMass Amherst costs. Instead of the publics. I’d look at privates, where at least you get some personalized attention for the increased cost.
U of Minnesota Twin Cities; I wouldn’t categorize it as a total safety, but it is has a good CS program in a nice city. Their rolling admission is a nice feature, so you can apply early. You should look at RIT, and see if their coop program is appealing.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. If your DS is very good in science and math, ask his guidance counselor to recommend him for the Rensselaer Medal as a junior. If accepted to the school, the scholarship that goes with it is worth $25,000/yr.
I did look into WPI and RPI, both are quite a reach for DS becuase of the average GPA and SAT scores. They seem to be more selective than some of the reach schools on my original list.
As a site note, DS got a letter from the director of admissions at RPI encourageing him to apply. I wonder what this means? Or is this just one of those mass mailings?
The mailings are like flyers in the mail inviting you to buy a pizza. It’s just marketing.
The SAT scores and admission rates at public schools will be misleading because the scores for students entering any techy majors will be much higher than the average scores. The acceptance rate for computer science is much lower than the overall admission rate as well. At RPI and WPI, everyone is a tech major, so the reported scores will be more representative of what is required to get into CS.
CS is very very hot right now. I wouldn’t count any state flagship as a safety.
I would recommend Northeastern as a reach school. Their coop program puts you at a pretty big advantage above other CS majors because you get real workplace experience before graduating at top companies like Google and oftentimes the companies offer the kids permanent positions after graduation
@Syrxis Northeastern is extremely popular and a lot of kids from MA apply there, it is very difficult to get in. DS said some of the top students in his grade are aiming at that school and he does not feel like he can complete with them.
One of the reasons we choose mostly OOS schools is to avoid competing with other applicants from Massachusetts. Schools like BU, Umass Amherst and Northeastern are very difficult to get in now for in-state applicants.
I looked at the 2016-17 CDS for RPI. If I’m reading it right, you DS is good for GPA and close on the first SAT score. I wouldn’t count them out. They sent our DS a post card, extending the application deadline. He applied and was accepted, committed and is ready to go, biochemistry, not CS. I’m impressed with the school.