Hi
My s is looking to major in comp sci but would prefer not to be at a tech school. He has a 3.5uw and a 32act with great extracurriculars.
Any suggestions as to where to apply. He loves our flagship state school but I fear he wont get into the comp sci major.
Thanks
Home State? How much can you afford? ACT breakdown? EC’s?
HS course rigor: AP/IB or DE courses?
Any cost or geographic restrictions or preferences?
There are lots of non-flagship public schools and private schools with good computer science departments.
Unless you know the school has a particular problem with CS, acceptance to the major usually isn’t a problem. In some cases students need to defer to their Sr. year, but even that is rare.
Almost all CLAs offer CS, and the biggest percentage of CS degrees come from those, not tech schools. I suggest your son look at schools that offer a BA degree in CS. It requires less math and science then the BS or BE degrees do. He will have lots of schools to choose from with those grades.
Unfortunately, it seems to be an issue at many state flagship universities, due to the recent rise in popularity of the CS major. At many state flagship universities, admission to the CS major is more selective than admission to the school, and/or students trying to enter the CS major after enrolling must face a high college GPA requirement or competitive admissions.
To the OP: it would help others help you if you mentioned your state of residency and your cost constraints.
Our state of residency is Massachusetts. We will be applying for financial aid but can pay about $35k/year. Hoping for aid/loans to cover the rest
For Massachusetts - Amherst, it does appear that some students are directly admitted to the major upon admission to the school, but not all are:
https://www.cics.umass.edu/admissions/ugrad-admission
Criteria for changing into the CS major if not directly admitted:
https://www.cics.umass.edu/ugrad-education/major-change-cs
Denison in Ohio has a great CS program, and merit should get it to your price range. Beautiful campus, too. Lot’s of kids from New England enroll.
Good luck!
Good non-tech CS Schools at research universities (which I think is very important for CS) in the northeast that I like for your S are:
Northeastern
Brandeis
Rochester
University of Delaware
University of Pittsburgh
University of Maryland
Penn State
SUNY Stony Brook - affordable for you at list price
SUNY Buffalo
I also don’t see your S getting denied from UMASS CS.
A couple of other options worth considering are Toronto and Waterloo in Ontario. Waterloo has one of the largest CS departments in North America. They also have nice co-op program, and he could do his co-op in Massachusetts.
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He has a 3.5uw and a 32act with great extracurriculars.
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Comp Sci
If his transcript says at least a 3.5 GPA and his ACT is a 32 from one sitting, AND he applies before Dec, Alabama would give him FREE tuition PLUS 2500 per year…this award is worth over $110,000. This is an assured award for stats.
Bama has fabulously new STEM facilities. Their new Science and Engineering Complex is over 1 million sq ft of new STEM space…gorgeous and state of the art.
The campus is drop-dead gorgeous, and over 60% of the students are from OOS. Over 40% of the students have an ACT 30+.
^^look up Jeff Gray in the CS dept at UA too. He is a neat guy and would probably email with you if you have questions!