College search for a rising junior friend

College Search & Selection
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<p>I never thought I'd make another search thread, but I have a sophomore friend with very different preferences from me and I'm not sure how to advise her. Basic info follows:</p>

<p>Gender: F
Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese)
FA: Yes, need-based (permanent resident, so applying as domestic)
Stats: 3.9 UW GPA, most rigorous courseload (more APs than me), 224 on sophomore PSAT (reasonably well-balanced, I think)</p>

<p>Major: tentatively Computer Science (but probably applying undecided), with either finance or art/design minor. Flexibility is nice.
Size: preferred 3k-10k students; min. 2k, max. 15k</p>

<p>Not conservative; no religious affiliation.
Preferably not urban, though if it's a really good school the setting doesn't matter as much.
No heat, either dry or humid; rain is good, though [which screams Pacific NW to me]. East coast would be optimal, but not necessary, and no other geographical preference except not in the South or southern California due to heat.</p>

<p>Thoughts? Suggestions? She is generally looking for a combination of tech and art (but not engineering); had vague thoughts of interior design but has ruled out such early specialization. LACs are probably not a good fit, even if they fall within size parameters, because she likes the anonymity of lecture classes.</p>

2

<p>Carnegie Mellon?</p>

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<p>How open is CMU to cross-school major/minor combinations?</p>

4

<p>At CMU, you can double major across the schools or major/minor but if you double major you have to have a ‘home school.’ Take it for what it is but IK a freshman chem/photo major who isnt having to much of a hard time. </p>

<p>Brown seems like a great fit. Providence is a city but its nothing too stiffing. Dual enrollment with RISD would be good too. </p>

<p>Stanford and Yale seem like good reaches—ik they have art departments but I’m not sure If they’d suit her needs</p>

<p>Williams would be nice too if she could get her head around the prof-student interaction</p>

5

<p>Perhaps the University of Rochester? The size is right, their CS is strong, and the curriculum is quite versatile.</p>

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<p>Anonymity is not a good thing in college no matter what size the school.</p>

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<p>^I agree wholeheartedly, but then, I’ll be attending a small LAC this fall. It’s not my place to judge my friend’s preferences in her college search.</p>

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<p>Missouri University of Science and Tech (aka Rolla) may work for her.
[Missouri</a> S&T, Undergraduate Degree Programs](<a href=“http://futurestudents.mst.edu/degrees/undergraduate/index.html]Missouri”>http://futurestudents.mst.edu/degrees/undergraduate/index.html)</p>

<p>Merit scholarship information:
[Missouri</a> S&T, Undergraduate Scholarships](<a href=“http://futurestudents.mst.edu/costs/scholarships.html]Missouri”>http://futurestudents.mst.edu/costs/scholarships.html)</p>

9

<p>Tell her to look at Rochester Institute of Technology. Great for people who like computers and art/design - a minor from another “college” within RIT is fine with them: <a href=“http://www.rit.edu/colleges.html[/url]”>http://www.rit.edu/colleges.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The computer science is strong and the art is strong.
<a href=“Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences | RIT”>Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences | RIT;
<a href=“http://cias.rit.edu/[/url]”>http://cias.rit.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Regarding finance, there is a business school there but I do not know anything about its reputation.
<a href=“Saunders College of Business | RIT”>Saunders College of Business | RIT;

10

<p>CMU seems like a perfect fit.</p>

<p>MIT - for computer science/finance (or economics, more likely). Not sure about art, but they have Media Arts and Sciences major. </p>

<p>RPI - for computer science and excellent electronic arts program. They also have game design major, which overlaps heavily with computer science. But RPI is a special place, very techy and 70% guys. Social life is not for everyone, so she should research carefully. Also, probably not a great place for finance.</p>

11

<p>University of Maryland College Park has everything that she is looking for.</p>

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<p>Georgia Tech, without a doubt.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone for the suggestions! She’s reading this thread herself, though she doesn’t have a CC account.</p>

<p>I never considered the tech schools, but if the art departments are OK, they seem like an unexpectedly strong option. Socially, I suspect she would fit well at RPI (other than being a gender minority). </p>

<p>Minor notes: UMD is outside size parameters and GA Tech outside weather parameters (she’s lived in Atlanta and Michigan before, and strongly prefers cold to heat).</p>

14

<p>Hotlanta is only Hot in the summer. Its lovely in the winter. GaTech has an awesome architectural school, which as you know is a combination of art, science, math and engineering. </p>

<p>Its a fabulous school with amazing activities and school spirit and sports. Plus if she already knows Hotlanta its going to make the transition even better the second time around. Trust me.</p>

<p>At GaTech you have all sorts of people with either artsy or nerdy engineering or even LAC types. Pick one. &lt;/p>

<p>But of course neither you nor I are her…and she has to make the choice. Just saying…</p>

15

<p>Many of these suggestions don’t work if she’s relying on need based aid. CMU and the OOS publics for example.</p>

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<p>How about University of Puget Sound?</p>

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<p>The art and tech combination screams CMU to me, and not just because I’m going there ;), but if she wants to apply undecided, then I agree it’s probably not the best. Doing double majors/minors is surprisingly easier than I imagined, and there’s also the BCSA program. Also, the other good thing is that it’s a lot easier to transfer out of SCS than to transfer in. Nonetheless, as much as it sounds like CMU matches her interests in so many ways, I would reluctantly agree that “CMU” and “undecided” don’t go all that well together. </p>

<p>To me, University of Rochester sounds like a good possibility, but I figure you would know more about that than I would, having actually applied there! </p>

<p>Going off the PNW idea, the University of Washington? That’s a lot larger than some of the others suggested, I know, and I don’t know about the whole OOS public thing, but it does have great CS; not as sure about art. </p>

<p>Hmm…the no LAC thing does make it a little hard…how about Case Western Reserve? They’re always looking for more female students and geographic diversity - there definitely might be some merit aid in store. They have a decent arts scene (I was mostly looking at dance). I think it’s similar to CMU in terms of having a nice tech/arts combo, though it doesn’t have the big MT program and is perhaps not quite as artsy as CMU overall. But it’s certainly a safer option. </p>

<p>Any interest in HYPS/Columbia/Brown? Those all have good CS programs, arts opportunities, and some larger classes. The atmosphere is definitely not that of a tech school, though.</p>

<p>In general, some mid-size universities such as WUSTL, Northwestern, etc.? Again, not much of a “tech-y” kind of flavor (compared to RIT or something), but worth a look, perhaps?</p>

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<p>She’ll probably apply to Ivies from parental pressure, though not all of them. Thanks for the thoughtful post, CaliD!</p>

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<p>Oh, I saw this, read it, and thought, “This sounds so much like me!” Particularly the art + technology emphasis (when searching for colleges, one of the major things for me was finding a school that wasn’t purely engineering-tech-science based). I also do a lot of small-scale campaigning to get more girls into technology, so this is mildly exciting for me.</p>

<p>People have already mentioned CMU, Brown, RIT, so I really have nothing to add here. Just one question: how much would she weigh gender balance in? Does she want a ratio that’s fairly even & would balk at a 60:40 or 70:30 ratio?</p>

<p>Hope the college search goes well. ;)</p>

20

<p>WashU might work. It has a school of art, as well as a business school. It is easy to take classes across schools. Meets the size requirement, is flexible, isn’t conservative, and has no religious affiliation. </p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon was also the first school that came to mind for the tech + art.</p>