That sounds like a plan that could put your parents’ retirement at risk. You need to look for schools that would cost around $25K per year plus federal loans ($5,500 freshman year, a bit more each year after). But some schools will give need based aid (probably not out of state public schools, though - you should take those off your list for the most part).
@intparent Do you have any colleges like that that come to mind with a good CS program as well?
Without running net price calculators, no one can say for sure. Also, are you male or female? Consider:
Reach: Harvey Mudd, USC
Match: Case Western, RPI, Lehigh, Bucknell
Safety: Rose Hulman, WPI
Skip all the OOS publics. Run the calculators on all these to see how they look. Study for the SAT to get that CR score over 700. If you have any schools that require subject tests, get those taken.
@Greymeer I’ll be sure to pass this info alnog to the rencent UTD CS grads that are working R&D jobs in my DH’s international high tech company (I promise you’d recognize the name). His office is located in Austin though they have offices worldwide, and they beat out UT CS grads that were applying for the same possition.
Santa Clara University. https://www.scu.edu/news-and-events/press-releases/2018/december-2018/santa-clara-university-sends-early-admission-decisions-to-the-class-of-2023.html
Test department really doesn’t count as R&D.
@intparent I just ran the net price calculator on Lehigh and Case Western, my estimated net price I will have to pay after grants is only $15,000. That is so much lower than expected. I was also doing some other research on other schools and found that Northeastern, Northwestern, Notre Dame, and Vanderbilt are also around that price after grants. I was wondering if these schools will be a match or a reach with my stats?
Previously, Washington admitted a small percentage of CS majors directly as frosh. Most entered undeclared and had to compete for admission based on college grades and essays. Because the CS department is undersized, most who take the latter route fail to get into the CS major. The new method will be to fill most of the CS spaces by frosh direct admission, so that students can be sure of being in the major and do not have to try to grade-grub their first year. So more frosh admits will get direct admission to CS. But those who enter undeclared have an even lower chance of getting into CS than previously.
No FA for the OP at UWashington, I’d assume. OP, those 4 go on the reach list. Honestly, I wouldn’t pick any particularly for CS — maybe Northeastern.
For merit consider, Iowa State University, North Carolina State., Michigan State and Alabama. Bama could be a free ride for you. The others can be half merit and Iowa will be financially affordable once you get the merit package.
But if your instate is like a free ride then go for it. Little to no debt is great. You will be successful in life at any of these schools and other ones mentioned.
Don’t rule out Michigan. They do give decent OOS financial aid to some. UIUC gives very little to none. Purdue is the same and Wisconsin is not much better for OOS kids.
@intparent I just went based off of lists online from sites like Niche or usnews. Based off of the sites, the schools are about top 50, if not at least, in CS.
@Knowsstuff How do you think my chances are in getting accepted to UMich?
@Greymeer when did I say “test department”??? So do tell, where do you work? DH who is a PE, about busted a gut when I told him you thought his group was a “test department” feel free to PM me if you don’t want to public disclose your employer.
Do you want a good CS program or a “big name” that gives little benefit in good CS training?
@intparent I looked at the list based off of schools that have good computer science programs, not just good overall (“big name”).
In the case of U.S. News, you’ve consulted graduate department rankings, @appzle, which could serve to derail your search for an excellent CS department for your undergraduate studies.
@appzle US News is ranking graduate programs and it’s 100% by surveys of other schools, so I wouldn’t put too much stock in those. Many other rankings rely on iffy self-reported data like Payscale. Generally, undergrad CS rankings can actually be somewhat hard to find reliably.
IMO a better resource for graduate/research strength is http://csrankings.org/ which only looks at published CS papers to top conferences. Again though, this has only so much effect on the undergrad experience.
This study has flaws (focused only on Silicon Valley big-name firms (biased to CA schools) and is biased to CS department size as well) but is another single data point to look at (new grad slide). It also cuts off at 25 when there are plenty of great schools out there.
https://www.scribd.com/document/346963694/Hiringsolved-Ideal-Hire-Report-in-Tech
Still, studies like that miss great schools like Harvey Mudd, for example.
It sounds like since you will qualify for a good deal of aid, private schools will be a good target.
@intparent’s list is a good starting point, and I would say Northeastern/Northwestern are good additions, though Northwestern probably is more competitive than their CS department is worth. Northwestern would be a reach, Northeastern a match.
I would also add RIT to that list as a good safety. Note that Northeastern and RIT are both co-op schools, which you should research into.
I’d also spend some time focusing on fit, as for example Harvey Mudd and RPI are very different schools both in academic philosophy and in factors like location and weather, which matters to some and not to others.
@PengsPhils What is a co-op school?
Co-op is commonly used to describe a situation where a student takes a summer plus a quarter or semester off school at an extended job or internship (paid). This means graduating a quarter or semester late (unless the student would otherwise have taken fewer than 12 quarters or 8 semesters of school), but without any added tuition-paying semesters.
Many schools do have formalized optional co-op programs, particularly for engineering and CS students. Some make co-ops a central point of their curricula (Northeastern, Drexel, Cincinnati). At schools without formalized co-op programs, a student may be able to make his/her own informal one if the school’s withdrawal and readmission policy would accommodate that, and courses in his/her major are offered so that being a semester or quarter off will not result in an entire year delay to graduation.
you work for two semesters so graduate in five years, and it’s mandatory if you attend.