Critique my college list please!

Hello! I am a rising senior from suburbs of NY I have a 4.0 GPA , 33 ACT,
Lots of extracurricular activities and leadership positions.
Looking to major in computer science.
Right now these are may list of schools in no particular order:

University of Pennsylvania
Georgetown University
University of Michigan
University of Pittsburgh
Georgia Tech
University of North Carolina
Tulane University
University of Buffalo
Temple University

UW Madison ?
Purdue University ?
Northeastern ?

I guess what I’m looking for is advice as to if this is a good list. I’d like to make it smaller.

Are all of those schools affordable?

How did you come up with the list in the first place? Also as stated above are they even affordable as an OOS student. Outside of your intended major and cost, what other things are you factoring in? What is your wish list for a school to have and do these schools check the box for those items. For example, are you wanting a large setting or small? Do you want to be within a certain travel range? I know a lot of people that start making list of schools simply because they’ve heard of them but know nothing about them.

In order to come up with a good list you really need to try and get clear on what are your wants and needs and which of those are non-negotiable or deal breakers. That can help you make a better target list.

Have you checked out the Tulane Computer Science “major”? As a coordinate major, it’s run differently than a lot of other schools. Is that ok with you?

Are you interested in Computer Science in Engineering or School of Arts and Sciences? That can vary by school. Have you researched that aspect?

@Kristen117 You have a good range of schools (Penn is a reach for anybody, Buffalo and Temple are safeties for you). But the very first post you got asked the key question, what can you afford? The lower you go in selectivity, the more likely and the greater the merit. What state are you in? If you are looking at OOS publics, what is in your state? And have you considered any smaller schools?

Yea I really want a big school in a city which good school spirit and less than a three hour flight from my home in NY which all of these schools have

Okay, I can see that. Still gives you the whole East Coast and Southeast and Midwest. Having 10 or 12 is a good number. Still the question is, how much can you pay? (not to be nosy, it is confidential). Only school I know anything about is UNC, which has a mandate to stay over 80% in-state. You’d get in if you lived in NC, only a maybe being OOS.

Yea I know some of the state schools are going to be tough the most I can pay is around $35,000 but I am probably going to have to see if I get money from any of the easier schools before I can decide on going to one of the more expensive schools

I would run the NPC for every single school on your list, that is a good place to start.

@Kristen117 just so you know, $35k a year doesn’t go as far as you may think if you are OOS. Plus don’t forget about the all the hidden cost of going to a school.

Also, remember that there is going to be a bit more travel than just your flights. Let’s take Purdue. You would fly into Indianapolis, then need to rent a car or find a way to get up to West Lafayette which is a good 1 1/2 hour drive from Indianapolis. That is an added expense versus a school like Georgia Tech where you can fly into Atlanta and then just take the Marta train to campus for a few bucks.

If I were you, I might start by going to visit some schools within a reasonable distance from you. Even if you don’t have them on your list. My D found it easier to create her list after stepping foot on a few different campuses and figuring out what she liked and didn’t like. Then we created her target list by searching for schools that better fit her.

We did some day trips on the weekends where we just got up, drove to the school, walked around and then drove home so the only real cost was gas money and food. Or we took advantage of other trips. When we were visiting family in Atlanta, we went and visited UGA since we were so close to it. We visited Michigan State because we had to pass through East Lansing on our way to another city. There are lots of creative ways to get visits in and see schools to help you figure out what you want.

We also then took her schools of interest and ran the Net Price Calculator on them to see if they were affordable and also to see what automatic scholarships they might have to help offset cost.

Does the Net Price Calculator only show theoretical financial aid or scholarships also?

It’s been a while since I’ve run it but I don’t believe it showed scholarships for the schools we ran. I don’t recall on the financial aid as we don’t qualify for most of the schools my D is looking at. I know it did show the $5500 loan she could take. I would just pick one school, run the NPC on it and see what you get.

For scholarship information, I looked at the website for the schools we applied to. One of them we were invited to a special event put on by the office of scholarships so I was able to get a better idea of what my D would get if accepted there.

The top OOS publics like Michigan and UNC and Wisconsin are not only harder to get in but tend to give less fin aid. Other publics like Alabama and South Carolina are actively recruiting OOS students. Alabama especially gives automatic merit aid for certain SAT and GPA. If by school spirit you mean interest in sports, they’d be great.

I’d also consider for CS schools like CMU in Pittsburgh and Case Western in Cleveland and NC State in Raleigh. These might give an edge in admissions to females? Considering they are over 50% male.

for some schools, it did and some schools there was also a separate merit calculator. The best npc’s are the ones custom to the site and not the standard college board ones.

*I should clarify, seemed the best, In the ones that we ran, probably 15 of them

If you want to make your list smaller, I would think taking UNC off would make sense. I was surprised last fall with the number of kids around us that were applying there, considering the high in state requirements the school has. However, with your stats and being female, that would increase your chances at a lot of schools. I want to echo Petula Clark and ask why you aren’t considering CMU?

Run the NPC and cut anything that’s above budget.

Unusual list for CS - what did you base your selection criteria on? Unless there’s a specific reason you want to go to the following, I would drop: Georgetown, Tulane, Temple, Pittsburg

Michigan would be great, but make sure you can afford it as you’re not likely to get any aid and you will be paying OOS. UNC is the same problem. If you can’t afford either of those without merit, scratch them from your list.

GTech is a good pick.

As others have mentioned, I would add CMU. Honestly, the chances of getting into CMU for CS are slim, but it’s worth applying to as a reach, and as a girl you have an advantage. It’s arguably the best CS program in the country.

I would also add RPI. You’ll almost certainly get accepted (again being a girl helps), and with your stats are likely to get merit aid potentially putting it within your budget. It’s a good CS/Eng school, in the same ballpark as GTech and Mich.

From your ?? list, I would add Northeastern and Purdue - both good for CS. UW Madison only if you can afford OOS pay without merit (same problem as Mich).

Any reason why you’re not considering Stony Brook?

BU is another option.

PS - Oh, I see later you said you wanted a big school, that might rule out CMU and RPI - though I’d still suggest you consider them–you might find that 5000 students is big enough.

Wouldn’t take Tulane off the list so fast. It has exactly what the OP is looking for in terms of a great city with tremendous school spirit. In addition, in the event the OP wants to switch out of computer science, Tulane is among the easiest schools at this level for switching majors or, better yet, combining computer science with another discipline and crafting your own interdisciplinary major. If I were the OP I would do more research to make sure none of that appeals me.

Oh, I missed the part about switching out of CS. Ignore my recommendations then - they were made very much with CS in mind. And I agree Tulane would be good with that in mind.