CS suggestions that are realistic

Chance Me / Match Me!
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I need some matches!

Demographics:
US citizen/ Texas resident
large public HS (with terrible counselors who are largely unhelpful, which is why I’m here)
White male
Non-legacy (parents went to Tx schools)
I don’t have any “hooks”

Want to major in CS and I really cannot imagine majoring in anything else. (But I’m open minded and realize I could change later)

UW GPA 4.0/4.0 (but I think I am about to make my first B. It kinda hurts)
Ranked 25 out of 556

Haven’t taken SAT but my PSAT stunk, so I’m not too hopeful and may have to go test-optional.
(1220) But I’ll try to bring it up!

9th grade took all honors core classes (math, science, English, world geo) plusAP CS Principles and Spanish

10th grade took honors cores (math, sci, English) and AP World History plus AP CSA and Spanish 2

11th grade taking AP Lang, APUSH, AP Physics, Dual Precal, an upper level CS class

In 12th grade I intend to take AP Lit, APES, AP Calc AB, APGov, AP Econ (I’ve maxed out the CS classes at my school so if you have any suggestions on how I can keep going in my senior year, that’d be cool. But FYI, attending classes at a “local” community college is not an option since there are none near me)

Electives:
Orchestra- 4 years (will be 4 years); couple of contest awards but nothing amazing; principle violinist (concertmaster)
Computer Science competition team (have not officially competed yet- I’m new to the team and we are still in practice phase. So no wins yet)
NHS
A lot of community service hours (over 400). I’ve done a lot of work with an animal rescue group because this is a passion of mine. Won an award for it.
I’m not one of those kids who will rattle off the internships/research/and apps I’ve developed. I’m just a normal guy who likes programming, gaming, creating mods, helping my friends understand programming.

My ECs are just meh…I know that. But being entirely remote my freshman year threw a wrench in my flow. Robotics teacher left the school and no one stepped up to sponsor. I’ve lost teachers, counselors, superintendents, and our principal. It’s craziness here. Anyway, I rarely practiced for orchestra because I was alone and unmotivated and we didn’t get to compete. So I’m still trying to “catch up” in life. (As are many of you, I’m sure) I’m being hard on myself now but I am a hard worker, great student, loyal friend, good guy, huge animal rights advocate, and very much determined to study CS!

Essay will probably be pretty good because I’m a decent writer. I’m guessing LOR’s will be lame because teachers here are lazy and don’t take the time to write good letters (according to my older siblings and their friends).

I’m concerned because I’m not a standout applicant. I’m not looking for top 20 programs. But I would like to find a CS program that I can get accepted to and is affordable. (In TX, I will not get into UT CS and TAMU CS is not direct admit, so that worries me a lot!)
I want to apply to Trinity U. (Target?) and will probably toss in Tx Tech, to be safe. I do not really want any other Texas schools. I don’t like them. Maybe TCU? :face_vomiting:
I’m willing to go OOS. Pretty much anywhere. Problem is that OOS schools can be expensive. Parent contribution is around $35,000 year because I have two siblings in college too. They’re both at OOS privates and got great money. So privates are definitely a possibility (if I can get into them and if they’re a good CS program)
At this rate I don’t think I can be too picky about large vs small vs liberal etc. HOWEVER, I will go ahead and list some things that I prefer:
Not too small/ not too large: 5,000-20,000 students (negotiable)
Not a huge fan of urban campuses like NYU but otherwise I don’t care where it is as long as the campus culture itself is fun.
Hate Greek life for myself but I can live around it, (maybe…hopefully it doesn’t dominate)
Don’t care too much about sports but I’m ok with a big traditional sports culture…or not. Either way. I’m flexible with this. Although if everyone there IS an athlete and I’m the only violinist, then I’ll be lonely. So there’s that.
Prefer campuses where the students live there! (As opposed to everyone living off campus ASAP…ahem, TAMU, I’m looking at you)

Personality wise: I’m a calm, super laid back, semi-quiet guy but not antisocial. I’m moderately liberal and prefer not to be surrounded by todays version of super conservatives (they stress me out…so no Liberty U for me) But I don’t have to be at a super liberal school either. I get along with most people. I prefer nice student bodies though.
I literally have no idea what would be safeties,likelies, etc just because CS is a beast all of its own! So please help! I’m worried.

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Run the NPC at University of Dayton to see if it returns favorable results. You may just receive enough merit aid there to get to your budget.

University of Dayton fits many of your preferences. It has just under 9K undergrads. Most students live on campus … and campus housing/dining options are well regarded. Greek life doesn’t dominate campus culture. While basketball has a following on campus, neither sports nor frats dominate campus culture. Well-defined campus with fun/active campus life.

My son’s roommate last year is a computer science major and likes the program. He had a cool internship the summer between freshman-sophomore year where he wrote code and got some real world experience.

With your GPA, you’d be very likely to be admitted. Don’t know if there are direct flights from your airport to Dayton, but it’s not difficult to travel to Dayton. We have a one-connection trip each way, and an uber from the airport to campus is about $30-35.

If the NPC works, this could be a nice one to have in the bag.

EDIT: The school also has a nice mix of academic/majors culture. The top four majors (with the most graduating students) represent a range of “areas”: Mechanical Engineering, Finance, Marketing, and Communications. Also, UD has a significant number of Nursing and/or Health-related majors. You won’t feel like you’re on a one-dimensional campus.

Lastly…
https://udayton.edu/artssciences/academics/computerscience/academic/cps/index.php

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For big school, look at U of Arizona. At a 4.0, you’ll get $32K off - so it’s low $20s - and they have an awesome Honors College. If you take a test, Alabama and/or mid size UAH will be affordable but their scholarship tables have tests although they are test optional. You’d have to check how the scholarships work for TO if intersted.

If you want to be closer to home, take a look at Oklahoma, Arkansas, KU, Kansas State, Iowa State, Arkansas, LSU, Miss State, Mizzou, WVU, etc.

For smaller schools, take a look at Tulsa, Hendrix and more in addition to @EconPop suggestion and he has first experience with affordability.

Having a 4.0 will open doors and you might take the test - study and you might get lucky. That would open even more. You’ll have access to large, medium, and small schools…especially if you’re open to leaving the state.

Of course, TX has many more publics and an in to A&M through Galveston, etc. Or privates such as TCU, SMU and Southwestern that might be more aggressive.

Frankly, there are a lot of opportunities for you - since you are open to leaving). What size school would you really prefer ?

You don’t have an issue - your strong academics are about to pay off!!!

PS - as you are a junior, you are a bit early. And I don’t see blah ECs - i mean you said you did 400+ hours of service.

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Iowa State….they invented the computer and it would likely be affordable. Beautiful campus and great school.

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How firm is the $35k? Purdue, which would be a bit larger, ticks the rest of your boxes. It’s a reach for CS, but not a crazy reach and I think you would be competitive. COA is $40k/yr. The co op program is strong at Purdue and you could earn a fair amount of money to offset the cost difference starting sophomore year.

Why APES senior year and not AP chem? And which AP physics are you taking?

Other options - RPI meets your criteria and you should see good merit there.

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I understand the budget, but it would be helpful if we knew if your parents qualify for any need based aid.

Lots of good suggestions so far, I’ll add U Iowa, Denver U, U Miami, Elon, College of Charleston, U Utah, Oregon State.

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OP said:

So ‘Bama doesn’t seem like a fit at all.

@PicklesnCheese, I am impressed with your write-up. You sound smart, mature and pragmatic. I hope things work out well for you.

I second the Purdue suggestion.

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How about RIT?

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Does the price on RIT come down that low? I have gotten the impression that RIT was one of those schools that ran ~50K after their standard merit awards. They do use the FAFSA only (not the Profile) to determine financial need, so I guess if EFC (or SAI next year) is low enough that might fit in the OP’s budget.

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Thanks. You’ve made me feel a little more confident. I do intend to take SATS, to see what happens. (And I’ll study for them). As for size, I’m not 100% sure. My sibling attends a really small LAC which has its pros and cons regarding size, another attends a medium sized private, and my parents went to a massive public one and they shared the pros and cons. I think I wouldn’t LIKE smaller classes but I NEED smaller classes because I’m quiet and like to fade into the wall but it would be better for me to be forced to talk, participate etc. I would not like classes with 800 students. But if that’s what I have to do to be part of a great program and campus, then I’ll do it.
I think I WANT a medium(ish) sized school 5000 - 15000 students.

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I actually had that one on my list of possibilities. So that’s great.

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sorry - was replaying to @DadOfJerseyGirl but it had your quote.

You’d be amazed how many kids at Bama this describes actually. That’s the “perception” and obviously it dominates vs. other schools - but there are many of thousands, including my kid, girlfriend, every roommate he’s ever had there - that this isn’t an issue.

I think that’s the - at a big school - you can and will find whatever and whoever you want.

Don’t forget, these schools, due to costs and other things like National Merit Scholars - they are buying kids in - and the kids they are buying in are super smart and not necessarily interested in those things. Yes, those folks that are Greek or sports minded are there in droves just like they are at UT, A&M, TCU - wherever.

But there’s far more non-Greek than Greek and plenty of people who don’t know a touchdown from a Yahtzee.

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I’m taking APES purely out of interest because we have an amazing teacher and I’m a very “environmentally conscientious” type, but I’ve held off taking the class until I took Bio, Chem and Physics first. I am currently in AP Physics 1 and can take Physics 2 next year but we don’t have Electricity/Mechanics at my school.

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That number I gave you is what the FAFSA said for my twin siblings and my parents have said they can probably swing that same amount for me. Since they attend privates (with very generous aid programs), they’ll likely get even more money once I get tossed into the equation. My parents make good money but having three in college at the same time makes things tough!! They can get loans because they have amazing credit but who wants to get loans, right? But to answer the question, I qualify for need-based aid, if you go on what my siblings just got.

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I’m not a CS major but I applied to Iowa State and got in - they have an early program that I used called CAP (was accepted in June, summer before senior year).
If you show enough interest/interact with website, make an account, etc. they may offer you this. I was a direct admit to my major with merit aid due to my GPA and course rigour.

Here is the link to learn more: • Office of Admissions

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Yea, I’m not thinking AL would be my bag either.

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For schools that use the FAFSA, this year the FAFSA takes the total of what they say your family can afford and divides it by two. So, if the FAFSA said for your twin siblings 35,000, that means the FAFSA estimates your family can pay a total of 70,000.

Unfortunately, next year the FAFSA is changing. Instead of dividing the total amount it says your family can pay by the number of kids in college, it will give that total number for each kid in college. If the FAFSA said 35,000 for each of your siblings this year, next year it will say 70,000 FOR EACH of you, for a total of 210,000. No one knows yet how schools will adjust their financial aid packages. For schools that only use the FAFSA, and do not take anything else into account, it could mean a significant change in financial aid.

ETA: the EFC this year will not be exactly the SAI next year. But for many people it will basically be the same. There will be some changes. From what I have read, it looks like those primarily affect people with unusual earnings situations and/or very low incomes.

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You’ve ruled out UT Dallas? How about Southwestern? I believe they give GPA based merit that you can look up, might come in range given your excellent grades. Also seconding the suggestion of Arizona.

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I did sign up for the CAP thing already. It said I’d get in. I need to see if they guarantee I get my major or do I have another level to bust through, like at TAMU?

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So you’ll have lots of options - and if a large public scares you - you can shrink it by an Honors College. You’d probably shrink it anyway - just by the major.

So you’ve got great suggestions on cost - from the list I sent, others sent but those are typically large public (my list).

But you have great mid size and small suggestions from others.

You might - wherever you live in Texas, go tour a Trinity or Southwestern, go tour an SMU or other midsize private near you - even if you don’t like it or the size.

Ask to sit it on a class. Get a feel for the LAC vs. mid size which you had some great suggestions.

Your parents are paying for others and that’s likely why the budget is $35K. But per @Mwfan1921 point, run a Net Price Calculator (or have your folks) for Rice, Trinity. Is there need based aid that’s possible - that could get you to the $35K easily?

There’s no doubt and you might have trade offs to get there - but there’s no doubt you can get to $35K and even less - at solid schools. Not school but 'schools." As for Trinity, there was a student’s mom from Austin on here 6 months back or so and she’s got 75% off tuition I believe.

There’s also another thread on here now about colleges that will match in state tuition - I know Hendrix and Ogelthorpe but they are small. And there’s smaller state schools - like a Truman State for example or in your range (a bit larger) a Miami of Ohio if you like rural. Yes, they’ll have Greek and football but they also have many a smart kid, etc.

So really lots of options for you.

You might get a college book - I like Barron’s. Most on here recommend Fiske’s. You’re early.

But what we did was, every day we’d go through a state. Take 50 days…read the profiles. See if any resonate. Write them down. Then you can check their cost of attendance and merit aid possibilities for any that sound good.

You say you are open to anywhere - but are you really (hello Wymoming, Montanta), etc. So as you think about it, you might decide - I want to be in a city or I want to be where a school dominates the area. I want snow. Or I want warmth.

All these things. So you’re well ahead and it’s good you are thinking about this - but you have plenty of time to research, observe, and then next summer you can have figured out a list of reaches, targets, and safeties that meet your needs.

Also, if you have a chance, visit some locals or if you decide on 4 or 5 clustered in an area, have your folks take you for formal visits during spring break, etc.

Good luck.

The main thing I’d say:

  1. You’ve got a great profile - I mean, my goodness @momofboiler1 threw out Purdue because yes, you are qualified - and they are awesome. Bigger than you want but awesome.

  2. There are a lot more schools out there to meet your goal than you realize - but because there’s so many and in many places, it’d help for you to narrow down the type you want. And you can do that by researching…hence maybe checking out a book from the library or buying one on amazon for $25 or less.

You’ve got a lot of time to research, so take your time, do a state at a time - there’s no rush, craft a list, and then check back and we can help you strategize how to possibly get free apps, enhance your prospects application wise and you’ll have a great opportunity at the next level at the appropriate cost you need.

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