^ I did not word that correctly- meant to say that RPI is “probably” a match (definitely not a safety), and agree that the SAT Math subscore will be problematic for RPI, especially when it comes to merit aid. Probably balanced out by gender.
OP if you have the inclination, re-taking SAT and focusing on math might be a good idea. It’s uncommon for a school to give merit $$ to a student who is in the bottom 25% on an SAT subscore, as you would be at RPI for Math. 700 on math will make admits to your top choices very difficult. Being female will help, but interest in CS is just not that novel any more; it is the most popular major on campus these days and just getting in to CS classes as a freshman can be difficult.
@MotherOfDragons, Olin may not be a safety for anyone, but as Olin, Mudd, and CMU SCS want to be roughly gender-balanced, they should be easier to get in to for girls (same goes for MIT, actually, but “easier for girls” there still means it’s insanely difficult). The various UC CS departments don’t seem to try to be gender-balanced at all. That plus the UC’s weighing GPA more heavily (which means a perfect UC GPA or something extremely close to it is needed for CS these days) may explain the strange acceptance results that some people see.
@PurpleTitan it’s simply not a safety, and the title of the thread was “Computer Science Safety Schools”. I have a daughter who is applying to Olin this fall, and I know what the stats are for her and for that school. It properly belongs in the “Reach” list for most mortals, male or female.
If you want to do a thread about which schools are much easier to get into for CS if you’re a girl, I think they’re already out there. I think the bennie you get as a woman in CS is a somewhat unmeasurable metric, and we’re not relying on it at all, and I would never recommend anyone do so.
Note that Olin doesn’t have CS as a specific major. The closest it comes is Electrical/Computer Engineering. Students who want more software oriented CS can try to design a curriculum which loads up more CS courses than the ECE curriculum.
Just to clarify, when I suggested RPI earlier I didn’t mean it was a safety - I just meant it could be a good candidate to apply to. I’d say it’s a match with good chance of merit. Bear in mind RPI is very “nerdy” - if that’s what you like, then you’ll probably love it there. Otherwise, you might be happier elsewhere. My D is happy there but likes “nerdy”
And one more thing about RPI - if you get merit aid, it’s good for all 4 years, which means you don’t have to worry about whether it’s going to be renewed each year based on certain requirements (some schools have that - my nephew lost his merit aid at Texas A&M for a year cuz his GPA dropped).
Also, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend UWash because while CS is great, you have the pressure of not knowing if you’re going to be admitted to CS later on (unless you were direct admit to CS, which is relatively rare).
OP should have little difficulty entering the CS major at UW by regular admission if she continued to focus on her studies: “SAT: CR:800, M:700, W:740 (2240). GPA: around 4.5-4.8. A lot of APs (10+ by the time I graduate), almost all 5s.”
Oops, I got the CR and M scores mixed when looking at your stats. I agree with whoever said that score is low for merit aid at RPI - though you’re still a match to get in, and you at least have a shot at merit. If you have the opportunity to retake the SAT and get a higher M score that would boost your chances considerably (my D did that - she had very high CR/W scores but low math on first try, she took it again and went from 690 to 750 – made all the difference; RPI superscores).
Also, what about costs? OOS sticker is ~$50K; FA may be very limited for an OOS applicant. http://www.washington.edu/parents/advice/out-of-state-families/#Financial2
(“Unfortunately, the majority of general scholarship opportunities available directly through the UW are open only to Washington state residents.”)
It seems to me that for the OP’s situation, a good cost-management strategy would focus more on California public universities, selective"full need" private schools, or big merit offers from less selective schools (http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/)
@hs2015mom Average at RPI was 717 on math per collegedata site.
Being below average in the accepted pool is not a safety, maybe a match.
And given this year’s yield at RPI, all time high, they will be more selective in 2017 decisions.
And CS is oversubscribed at most colleges. At RPI it’s gotten so big there was discussion about
limiting enrollment in CS going forward. Not sure if decided yet, but having a higher Math score would
really help move from a match to a safety.
^ Completely agree. OP would likely receive up to an $8,500 per year discount on the OOS tuition, but that might not be enough, since OOS tuition, room and board at UW total around $45K.
