CS Major interested in schools that value service

College Search & Selection
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I am a junior in high school and want to major in CS/Data science. I am also very passionate about community service and received the US congressional gold medal (highest honor for youth in US) and have over 1000 hours of service over last several years and am featured in several media as well. I am not sure where to start with research on colleges where service is given importance so I can continue in college and on campus? Are there any colleges that offer any financial assistance or scholarships for community impact? Thanks

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Congratulations on your medal. Most colleges do value community service and you will see that when completing college apps next year by completing the Activities sections as well as the short essay questions. Both public and private colleges will have organizations where you can get involved in a myriad of volunteer activities. Depending on which cause you’re passionate about, the physical location may be important. For example, if you want to help socio-economically disadvantaged youths or families in person, then selecting a college in an urban location would give you easier access. Or if it’s for environmental causes, you may want to select locations that are near projects, be it conservation projects or education outreach projects. It is easy to go to specific college websites and search for student organizations and you can browse for existing ones that match your interest or you can even start you own!

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There are competitive scholarships (such as the Morehead-Cain @ UNC-CH, or the Danforth @ WUSTL) that recognize community impact in their selection process, but it is just one element of the selection process.

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Have you considered applying for the Cameron Impact Scholarship? It is very competitive and a long application but might be worth a shot.

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If you are interested in supporting underserved populations, the Shephard Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHEP) works with students across a number of schools. I’ve linked the page to the partner schools, many of which offer generous merit (some more competitive than others). SHEP provides funded internship opportunities to students in the program.

Shepherd Consortium Member Schools

Another organization focused on civic engagement and community support is the Bonner Foundation. Many schools offer scholarships through the Bonner Program. Link to the partner schools below.

Bonner Partner Schools

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My daughter has a scholarship (based on active service at school - she started a club and campus task force in support of refugees. CU Boulder had the same.

I’m sure most campuses have ways for you to serve.

Some may reward you via admissions benefit (but some won’t care). Others may not reward you admissions wise but may reward you financially. Others may reward you in neither way but still reward you through the positive feelings you accrue through your hard work and the good you do for society.

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These are a couple of lists that you might find interesting (and there are several overlapping names on each list):

I suspect that these schools also place additional weight on community service when evaluating the applicants to their colleges and may have additional scholarship opportunities for students with a strong record of community service.

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You probably should research liberal arts colleges with available data science (as well as CS) concentrations. Hamilton, for example, offers a data science concentration and, as pertains to service, is a SHEP member school and consistently produces a high number of Fulbright grant recipients (see link, below). Along similar lines, Macalester offers a data science major, Wesleyan University offers an interdisciplinary quantitative analysis center, Davidson offers a data science minor and Denison offers a data analytics major. All of these schools offer generous need-based financial assistance. Some offer merit scholarship recognition.

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Consider your home state’s agency for higher education, there may be some service scholarships that are publicly funded.

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No scholarships but you might look at Georgetown and their Center for Social Justice - their CS program has a pretty cool (imo) focus on ethics/technological responsibility.

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Notre Dame?

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The Jesuit colleges weave community service and giving back to the community into their curricula. You might want to look at some of those schools. Yes, Jesuit schools are Catholic, but in our experience, very ecumenical and welcoming to all.

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I thought of the Jesuit schools as well. University of Dayton is not Jesuit, but Marianist, which is super service-oriented. My son applied there and they seem to really walk the talk with lots of opportunities and emphasis on service. They have a big engineering program and I’d think CS is significant too. And no, you don’t have to be Catholic. My son is an atheist and was totally cool with them.

They also have good financial aid, and transparent costs. My son applied EA and got his merit award in November and his full aid package in January. They guarantee the costs for all 4 years, so you know exactly what to predict.

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With respect to the recommendation of Jesuit colleges, it might be helpful to note those that offer a data science major, which is an interest of the OP.

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There are 17 Roman Catholic-affiliated colleges that offer data science as a major.

These are the Jesuit ones:

  • Creighton (NE)
  • John Carroll (OH)
  • Marquette (WI)
  • St. Joseph’s (PA )
  • St. Louis (MO)
  • Xavier (OH)
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