<p>Hello. I have applied to a few schools(UMN-Twin Cities and UW-Madison) but don't think I have the stats to get into either of them. I was wondering if anyone has schools they could recommend and that I could get into with my stats. My intended major is computer science so schools that are good in CS would be appreciated. Any region of the U.S. as well. Here are my stats:</p>
<p>G.P.A: 3.67 W Didn't do the best junior year, but in tri 3 i got 4 A's, 1 A-, and 1 B
Class Rank: Top 11% 51/435
Class course load: By graduation I will have taken 9 AP and honors courses.(Also, I am enrolled in Principles of Engineering, a Project Lead the Way course)
Test Score: ACT score of 26 composite Its bad, I know)
English: 28
Math: 27
Reading: 23
Science: 25
Extracurricular activities:
-Orchestra(Freshmen and sophomore year)
-Tennis(sophomore year)
Volunteer Work:
I have done service for Feed My Starving Children. Only 16 hours.
Work Experience:
I have worked at burger king all of Junior year, so 7 or 6 months. I am currently looking for a job.</p>
<p>A little Bio:
I am a African American male who lives in Minnesota. I attend an average school. I live in a single parent household in a family of 4(Me, brother, mom, and grandmother.) We do not get child support from our father. I do qualify for Free lunch at school. My brother has ADHD. I also might have it(although I am not sure of the symptoms) because lately I have a had a hard time concentrating on my school work. I had another brother who died of leukemia when I was around 5 or 6.(Recently, my moms bank account was emptied by the credit card company because she used that card a decade ago to pay for my brother who died's treatment)</p>
<p>Have you considered UMass Dartmouth in Mass? Good school, at least for math, nursing & engineering (not as familiar with Computer Science program). I know someone who got into the Engineering School (the one that includes Computer Science) with a B average & it’s a good school. However, going out of state is always more expensive than staying in state, and so if you can find a school there, go for it. I’d also find out if any of your community colleges have the kind of deals where you can do your first 2 years there, get an Associates & transfer to a state school for the same tution rates (cheaper) as the CC.</p>
<p>Schools with holistic admission (such as schools that use the Common Application) will take your life story into account - you’ll have to explain what you stated above. Considering how hard your life has been so far, you are doing remarkably well and lots of top schools would be interested in your application.
I’m going to list a lot of such schools.
Go to the out of state private schools’ websites, fill out the “request information” form. read up on them in “Fiske Guide” or "Princeton Review’s best Colleges’ (available at your school library or at your town library.) I guarantee that they’ll be interested and some are likely to waive their application fee (although you must have fee waivers since you’re on reduced/free lunch.)
You need to focus on public state schools (+ Wisconsin due to the tuition exchange with MN) and private schools because Out of state public universities will be unaffordable. Private schools that find your application interesting may end up costing less than in-state public, especially if you’re low income. Some private schools actively seek out first generation students (ie, students whose parents didn’t graduate from a 4-year college).
You don’t need a college of engineering to study computer science.
For CS, right in your state, you have St Olaf, very good for all the sciences. There’s also Macalester in the Twin Cities which is nationally recognized. Both schools are very good with financial aid so that they may cost the same as or even less than UMN.
Further away, look into Grinnell, Muhlenberg, Earlham, Hamilton, Franklin&Marshall, Dickinson, Lehigh, Lafayette, Vassar, Colby, Trinity (CT), Wheaton (MA), Union, Centre, Rhodes, St Lawrence, Whitman, Lawrence (WI), Illinois Wesleyan,
And of course Morehouse, where I hope you’re applying (unless you’re absolutely opposed to HBCU’s).
Plus Berea College, a very competitive college where before they even consider your application you need to prove your family is low-income because all admitted students are automatically granted free tuition, then thanks to work study and generous donors your room&board is covered, so you basically go to college for free.
Finally you have the tech institutes: Illinois institute of technology, wpi, rit, stevens, rennselaer, rose-hulman…
Some of these are reaches, others are matches. Make sure to contact them + to prepare a good Common Application (work on the essay).
UMN-Morris is probably a safety for you and it’s good for computer science.</p>
<p>Case Western is very good for CS. One of D2’s friends is there, brilliant math & CS student, he really likes it. </p>
<p>You will want to run the net price calculator for the schools listed above. And take a look at the CS courses offered. I don’t think of a lot of those as especially strong in CS, although they do offer the major (and between my two kids both applied and were accepted to several of them, so I am familiar with the schools). I do agree that you may get some good aid packages from them as a URM student. MYO, the OP did not actually state that he is first generation (although he well may be).</p>
<p>@intparent: indeed OP didn’t say he’s first gen but I kind of assume he is based on his first post.
I assume that OP wants to go to the best possible school that will admit it, for the lowest possible cost, if possible a full ride (I assume his EFC is 0 since he’s on free lunch) so the schools above would very likely offer good financial aid packages and most have good CS programs + name recognition, even if not in engineering. Mostly they offer a variety of alternatives. And even if Vassar is not ‘especially famous’ for CS, it’s still a top national college and the name itself can really help a low income student, in CS or anything else. I agree that Case Western is an eingineering powerhouse though.
Running the net price calculators on each website and seeing which ones are the cheapest is a good way for OP to select which schools to apply to. He should have 8 application waivers, perhaps more, so he should not limit his options at all.</p>
<p>Yes…I am first generation. So, I should also consider liberal arts schools? You see, I am a pretty shy kid and I heard that most LA kids are…somewhat out there and such. Me, personally, I enjoy Manga, anime, playing card games like magic the gathering, and having discussions about anything and everything.</p>
<p>Most Liberal arts colleges are tight knit communities. It’s important to find the “right fit” for you but as for being “out there” I don’t think that’s true. If you’re shy, I imagine it’d be better to be part of a smaller community than part of a very large one, just like it’s easier to speak up in a classe of 20 than in a hall with 400 people.</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 This is true, but I heard that LA colleges aren’t good for CS because companies don’t recruit.I wanted to go to Macalester college before, but when I heard this I freaked.</p>
<p>You can check with any college’s career placement office and ask who comes to recruit on their campus or ask for where grads have gotten jobs. I haven’t seen a college yet that doesn’t like to brag about where their grads go.</p>
<p>I doubt that there are many CS majors(with decent resumes) who are jobless.
However since this is a very legitimate concern overall, check out 1° the availability of paid and unpaid internships 2° the career center 3° their track record (they should be able to tell you how what percentage of students has a job or is in grad school within 6 months after graduation; and where.)
Macalester is in the middle of the Twin Cities, so I highly doubt it’s difficult to find internships. I also know St Olaf has a very good CS program with students involved in summer research internships in computer science. Both have a good alumni network and organize power “dinners” between students and companies or start ups.
Can you go and visit these schools, and ask questions about those concerns? (Check out the websites first, they should have at least some numbers for you.)</p>
<p>What about some of the smaller in-state schools? I know UW-Stout has a strong CS program, and with Minnesota’s reciprocity agreements, there are a lot of options where you could get in-state tuition.</p>
(unless you’re absolutely opposed to HBCU’s).