Based on experiences would love to hear suggestions on universities list as I start planning to apply this fall (current junior in HS). I want to major in CS/Informatics/Data Science/Comp Eng. I hear this is an impacted major so I should think about lot of safeties. I am not looking for a specific location but would prefer west coast and am looking for a medium size school. Finances are not a concern. I toured Virginia Tech and liked the campus town feel but would prefer proximity to the airport. Stats: UW GPA 3.7, SAT (780M, 680R), 8 APs, lots of community service with awards media, robotics worlds, and other club leadership roles in school. What university would you suggest that I ED based on my stats that will have a higher acceptance rate? In my research, I saw something about rolling admissions so any suggestions on universities will also be helpful so I can get a headstart and apply in August. Thanks.
Well Va Tech isn’t medium size. It’s enormous. But with your #s you might look at U Denver for medium size or even Col School of Mines.
Larger would be U of Arizona but unlike Va Tech it’s in a city. U of New Mexico and UNR are others - not overly large.
Arizona has rolling admissions. Pitt too but not out West. ASU is another but much bigger than Arizona. But yes these schools put you in a solid position of having something early so you wouldn’t have to be nervous.
Most the mid size in CA have religious or Jesuit bent - a USD, Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara, USF and up the coast to Portland, Seattle, and Gonzaga. There’s U of Pacific in Stockton- more a regional school but is not religiously affiliated.
You might also try the Cal State schools or schools like Oregon or W Washington for smaller or even the Montana Schools.
Lots of options with your stats.
Good luck.
Ps what is your home state? If it’s out West you might qualify for WUE.
If you’re thinking of EDing to a school, you ED to your favorite one that you would love to attend.
I was going to mention Oregon State, but I don’t think it’s overly near an airport.
The California publics are test blind, so they won’t look at your SAT/ACT scores. But if you’re looking for a mid-sized California public for CS, one of these might have potential, though an expert like @Gumbymom has the best sense of how competitive the California publics are for CS.
Cal Poly - Humboldt: about 5400 undergrads, but unlikely to have close airport access
Cal State - Chico: about 14k undergrads
Cal State - Monterey Bay: About 6700 undergrads
I am not an admissions professional, but this is my very fallible guess as to what your chances might be at these schools that you may want to consider:
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
- Gonzaga (WA): about 5k undergrads
- Seattle Pacific (WA): About 2600 undergrads
- Seattle U (WA): About 4k undergrads
- U. of Nevada - Reno: About 17k undergrads
- U. of New Mexico: About 16k undergrads
- U. of the Pacific (CA): About 3300 undergrads
- Western Washington: About 14k undergrads
Likely (60-79%)
- U. of Denver (CO): About 5900 undergrads
- U. of San Francisco (CA): About 6k undergrads
Toss-Up (40-59%)
- Colorado School of Mines: About 5500 undergrads
- Loyola Marymount (CA): about 7100 undergrads
- Santa Clara (CA): About 5900 undergrads
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Low Probability (less than 20%)
Thank you. I am in WA state thanks for the tip on WUE. Do I need to apply to that separately during application on common app?
You’re super lucky to be a Washington resident. Here is the info for applying to WUE schools: Tips For Students | Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE)
Look at University of Utah in Salt Lake if you are thinking about mountains. Good merit and good program for Data Science. Early Action.
I suggest you look more into each major.
At some schools CS will be in the engineering college and Comp Eng certainly will be. Comp Eng at many schools is a variant of Electrical Engineering and you’ll take many of the same courses EE’s do but with an emphasis on digital design and CS. An EE major is essentially 4 years of applied calculus so expect more than a healthy dose in Comp Eng.
At most schools it is difficult to change majors into the engineering college, but it’s often more difficult to get accepted as an engineering major.
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