Computer science kid, low GPA, what colleges to apply to?

College Search & Selection
1

My son will be a senior this year. He has a 3.05 GPA on csu mentor if we did the calculations right His SAT scores were: reading: 590 Math: 660 writing: 560, ACT scores were: act comp: 28 act english: 26 act math: 29 act read: 27 act sci: 28 act writing: 25 act stem: 29. He has another SAT (new one this time) he will take in october but doesn’t plan on taking the ACT a second time.

He has taken quite a few computer programming classes outside of school including, web development, python intro and programming, programming with java, game development. He has these programming skills: Python, PyCharm IDE, Git, Basic, Java, JavaScript, HTML, CSS. He is interning this summer in the tech dept at a research faciility at Stanford University and they have already told him he will be asked to intern again next summer.

His grades are decent i thought until we started looking into colleges for him to apply to for Fall 2017. He’s love to stay close to home in California, but the competition is unbelievable. I can’t even believe he doesn’t even qualify in EI for SJSU in computer science or software engineering. I was born and raised in the bay area and i would have never believed it would be a reach to go to SJSU. Things have really changed.

I’m not a good college coach, never applying for or going to college and his father is not involved in his life. Add to this the fact that he has been suffering the last couple of years with anxiety and depression and my ex-husband, his father, has a drug abuse problem that is causing all of us much stress.

I am thrilled, however, how he has changed over the summer. He wrote a software program for the financial dept that they are beginning to use to replace an outdated system. The kid has had a hard time of it lately but i feel like he is coming out of his shell and has renewed confidence doing so well in his internship. He absolutely hates High School and was absent from school like 30 days last semester because of anxiety. He passed all of his classes except an incomplete in AG Calc but can make it up this coming semester.

My question is, since his choices are so low, at least close to home, maybe a smaller liberal arts college might be good for him. He’s super intelligent but socially awkward and maybe the extra attention would do him good. Also, maybe he should take an online class or two at a junior college this next semester to try to bring one of his C’s up to an A to raise his GPA.

Can anyone give me some ideas of what colleges would be a good fit for someone like him? He loves computers and always has, since he was 4, but he also loves history and politics… Any help would be so appreciated!

thanks much!

2

Looks like his CSU EI are 3690 based on SAT and 890 based on ACT.

Fall 2015 thresholds at SJSU were 4300/1021 for CS and 3600/862 for SE, according to http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/static/admission/frosh-f2015impact.html . There is an unspecified preference for students who graduate from a high school in Santa Clara county. Of course, they may change in the future.

Within the region, CSUEB is not impacted on the campus level or for CS (according to http://www.calstate.edu/sas/impactionsearch/ ), so it should admit him if he meets minimum CSU eligibility. SFSU is impacted at the campus level, but not for the CS major, but does not publish past thresholds. However, SFSU’s local service area is fairly large, according to http://www.sfsu.edu/future/apply/impacted.html , so if graduates from a high school in that area, he can get admitted at minimum CSU eligibility.

What kind of cost constraints?

3

CSUEB has a very good track record with employers for CS majors, so definitely worth a look. Possibly Chico state, Sac State, University of San Francisco and UC Merced.

Would you consider a community college for 2 years and then transfer into a 4 year? This will give him time to work on a better GPA and acclimate to the college environment. If he does well at a CCC, it will open up more college options than he has now.

4

Thank you ucbalumnus, but i saw that the 2016 EI for SJSU have risen to 4550 for CS and 4050 for Software engineering, making it much! bigger number. http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/index.html
He isn’t crazy about CSUEB, just doesn’t like the are but we have never been there. He will be graduating
from a high school in the San Mateo County but i’m not sure if that is in the SFSU local area or Santa Clara County area for SJSU. I will look into this.
Cost is a factor. I have a tuition grant because I work at Stanford so my child can get up to about 20k tuition covered by that as long as i am not laid off (which could always happen). Other than the grant, i have some money saved up but not enough to cover anything other than housing, if it lasts that long. Other than that it would be loans.
I will look into SFSU as well. Thanks very much!

5

Thank you Gumbymom, he actually wanted to go to a CC but i thought it would be best to get him started at a 4 year because of the grant and the faster he gets started the sooner he would finish and the less chance i would be laid off. we will take a second look at CSUEB and the others you mentioned.

I guess you don’t think that a smaller liberal arts school would be a good idea since he’s shy?

6

SFSU’s local area includes San Mateo County and five other counties, according to http://www.sfsu.edu/future/apply/impacted.html .

SJSU’s local area includes only Santa Clara County (which is also included in SFSU’s local area).

CSUEB’s local area is “State of California” since it is not impacted, according to http://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/CSULocalAdmission-ServiceAreas.pdf .

Can the $20,000 only be applied to tuition, or can it also be applied to other costs of attendance? CSU in-state tuition is considerably less than that, so if the rest of the money can be applied to other costs, that means lower overall cost than if it can only be applied to tuition. From San Mateo County, all three of the above CSUs are in commute range, but probably on the longer side and undesirable for a new frosh student, though it can an option later if finances become a problem (well, maybe SFSU is an easy commute from the northern end of San Mateo County like Daly City).

For various colleges, have you tried the net price calculators on their web sites to get financial aid estimates? Note that one wrinkle for many private colleges (not CSUs or UCs) is that they may require the CSS Profile with Non-Custodial Parent Profile, so if you ex-husband is not cooperative with that, or has significant income and/or wealth but will not pay, there may be no or not enough financial aid from such colleges.

7

Yes, the 20K is only for tuition, no room and board so anything less than that amount disappears for that year. It does not accumulate. I have not tried the net price calculators on private college sites because i’m having trouble figuring out which private college to look at. Do you have any opinions of these: Univ of Redlands, Santa Clara Univ, Union college in NY (wow, that’s quite a bit from home, but looks fabulous), Suny, RIT, Macalester, Evergreen?

My ex would never disclose his financial information, however, I have full custody so maybe that wouldn’t be an issue.
What about Sonoma State, UC Davis, he’d never get in?
thanks again!

8

SSU may be worth a try, and markets itself as being more LAC-like than most CSUs. It is also more residential than most CSUs (most CSUs have large numbers of commuter students). However, switching to commuting from San Mateo County if needed for cost reasons in the future would be impractical.

Among UCs, probably the only realistic one to try for is UCM, and that would probably be a reach with a 3.05 GPA.

SCU is well regarded, but would be an admissions reach, is expensive, and does not have a good reputation for financial aid. Note that SUNYs are public, as is Evergreen State.

Evergreen State CS is kind of odd. It has three 16-quarter-unit core CS courses, but not that much else besides an 8-quarter-unit computers and cognition course. 16 quarter units would mean taking just that one course as one’s entire schedule that quarter. Overall, it looks like it covers the frosh/soph level CS course work, junior/senior level theory and languages, and junior/senior level projects, but may not cover other common junior/senior level topics like operating systems, compilers, databases, networks.

But run the net price calculator on the web site of each suggested college. But if the college requires the CSS Profile with Non-Custodial Parent Profile, you would have to ask for a waiver, which is not guaranteed and may be unlikely at many colleges.

9

thank you UCbalumnus, i appreciate the information on Evergreen, it was very enlightening. It doesn’t seem at all enough to keep my son interested. He’s pretty quick at computer stuff and would need to be challenged. I’ll look into UCM and SSU and see what his chances look like. Also, yes SCU is too expensive, I was reaching with that one.

UCLA, thank you as well, very good information. No harm in applying to some reaches. I hope his practical experience helps him.

Am I correct that his senior grades and any CC courses won’t help him at this point because the apps will be turned in before he receives grades from these?

thanks again!

10

If you are willing to expand your search to Southern California, he would have more options. Below is a link for CSU impacted majors, although slightly dated, shows many more campuses where CS is possible.
http://www.calstate.edu/SAS/documents/impactedprogramsmatrix.pdf

Also an LAC is a good idea, unfortunately trying to find an LAC with a solid CS program that is not a Reach is an issue. I would take at look at the University of Redlands which could be generous with aid.

11

UC and CSU will see self-reported 12th grade courses from applicants currently in 12th grade, but will not see the grades in them until the final transcript is sent at matriculation for verification.

12

Redlands’ CS offerings appear to be rather limited.
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/486522a6#/486522a6/134

Some common junior/senior level courses like algorithms and complexity, compilers, and networks do not seem to be offered, and some other courses are listed as “offered as needed” (probably infrequently).

13

thank you Gumbymom, I am expanding my search now to the entire USA!

Ucbalumnus. You seem to know a lot about computer science, which college search engine would you suggest we use for a comprehensive list of good CS, CS engineering schools? thank you!

14

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19190340/#Comment_19190340 is a comparison of upper level course offerings in CS at some smaller colleges, including LACs.

For other smaller colleges, you may want to check the course catalogs and schedules to see what is offered and how often.

15

Look at CPP and cal State San Marcos, too. Seconding UC Merced since financial aid will factor in room and board costs, which CSU’s don’t.

Out-of state:
Clarkson, RIT, Marist, UMN Morris all have good CS offerings and are academically accessible.
A possible reach may be Connecticut College. Excellent financial aid, trying to attract more boys, strong brand among East Coast prep schools but less so on west coast hence less competition.

For OOS schools make sure the competitiveness of the school appears in the gc 's school profile since CA colleges will be aware but not necessarily smaller oos privates (ask to see the school profile?)
Privates WILL factor in first quarter/semester grades, context, essays, recommendations, and cc classes taken senior year.
If your son attends a school near Stanford, it’s quite possible his highschool is super competitive and his 3.05 will be considered as slightly higher by private colleges aware of its rigor.

Are you URM?
First generation can help, too.

16

I’ll second UCM, Sac, SF and Chico (though that could go either way) as 4 schools worth the application fee.

17

thank you everyone! My S and i are hard at work researching the schools you recommended and the tuition, financial aid and computer science class offerings. UCbalumnus, the chart is most helpful!! We are just beginning to look at applications and the common app, essays, etc. it is a lot of research, a lot of work, but fun!

thanks everyone! I’ll keep you updated.

18

It may be outlandish, but you could consider studying abroad. I don’t know if the grant could still be used but tuition may be more affordable. There, CS and similar majors may be taught in english even in undergrad, and some would say that course content abroad is more current than that of programs in the U.S. What you also may want to look at is CS adjacent majors, meaning they may have a different name, but they still teach a subject that overlaps with CS.

Here’s an example of an abroad (english) program that is CS adjacent: http://www.ru.nl/english/education/bachelors/artificial/programme-outiline/