Desperately Need Help Finding Matches

College Search & Selection
1

Hi everyone,

I’m having A LOT of trouble finding match schools. Most of the schools I look into are either reaches, safeties or highly in-affordable. I’m currently a community colleges student in what is supposed to be a prestigious honors program. We definitely send a good handful to Ivy Leagues each year, especially Cornell. Regardless of that I need MATCHES, not reaches.

ABOUT ME/PREFERENCES:

-State: NY
-Intended Major: Computer Science (I’m female if that helps)
-Preferred Location: Northeast
-How much I can pay: Not a lot. I generally fall into the lower income bracket, but I’m not super low-income. If I get into a school that has a good financial aid program or meets 100% of need, I will, without a doubt pay less there than at my state university. So I definitely need good financial aid or merit aid. Keep in mind that I’m a transfer student.
-School Size: Not too picky, but I like mid-size and generally schools that aren’t insanely large. Not a deal-breaker though.
-Other Preferences: I kind of like LACs, but any college.university that lets me take lots of classes unrelated to my major will do.
-Other things to note: Colleges that are need-aware for transfer give me a large disadvantage because I require a lot of aid.

BASIC STATS:

-GPA: 3.8
-ACT: Testing in February ~Hope to get around the mid-thirties (took it 3 years ago and got a 30)
-Great extracurriculars including a teaching assistant position for Java programming, student government, CS tutor, volunteers work, president of a few clubs, etc.

HIGH SCHOOL:

-Almost a 4.0, great extracurriculars, ranked 3rd in my class, etc.

*** If you want more details about my stats, feel free to look at my older threads (although some of it has been updated)

Colleges I’m applying to:

REACHES:
-Brown (need-aware)
-Barnard (need-aware)
-Amherst (‘need-affirmative’)
-Columbia

MATCHES:
-Cornell CALS (college has an articulation agreement with them)
-Northeastern
-URochester (maybe? it’s really far from home)

SAFETY:
-Binghamton
-Stony Brook
-Pace (maybe?–community college has a special scholarship I can apply for that will bring down the costs significantly)
-City College (maybe?)

So I definitely need more matches; any advice and recommendations are appreciated!

2

Why are you taking the ACT? That’s a test for HSers, not designed for college students. Have you checked if any of your schools will even accept it?

Cornell has agreements with some NY CCs based on their public colleges. That doesn’t apply to other Ivies. If your CC does have an articulation agreement with Cornell then good for you.

3

Check out RPI and WPI - I can’t speak to financials, but would fit the match category assuming your ACT is a 32-33.

4

@“Erin’s Dad” I think you also commented on one of my former threads with a similar question :slight_smile: Yes, many of them require it, or strongly suggest it.

@PengsPhils Thank you. Just checked them out! The low ratio of females kind of dissuades me though. While I realize that as a female in Computer Science there will be a lack of females present, I’d like a school where overall, there is still a large female student population. Regardless of that, it seems those two schools will likely not give as much aid as I would like :frowning:

5

@eternaldream I completely understand - I applied to only WPI, but I think a big dissuasion​ was the gender ratio. Some people don’t mind, though, so I figured it was worth a shot!

6

Vassar? need blind/meets 100% need. Typical f/m balance for an LAC but lots of women in sciences (CS, physics, etc).

7

@collegemom3717 Hm, Vassar I think would be a reach. Just checked and unfortunately it isn’t need-blind for transfers :frowning: Thank you though!

@PengsPhils are you also a girl pursuing STEM? If you don’t mind me asking, where did you end up attending?

8

How about Case Western? I think RPI or Rose-Hulman may be too expensive from what you are describing…

9

RPI does offer aid to top students so it’s worth applying and see what they offer you. Great school for CS and engineering - my daughter is a freshman engineer there and loves it. However it doesn’t have a super wide variety of non STEM courses available if that’s important to you.

10

@eternaldream I’m actually a guy, but I’m familiar with the problem as I’m a tutor at my school and the department is very aware and trying to do everything they can. I go to Northeastern (CS) and I love it here if it helps :slight_smile:

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@ColdinMinny Case Western is really far from where I live. Just as a personal preference I’d rather not venture out too far. Thank you though :slight_smile:

@insanedreamer I don’t think I would get a lot of merit aid as a transfer :frowning: That’s usually reserved for freshman. Regardless, I’m glad you mentioned the amount of non-STEM courses. I DEFINITELY want to take a good bunch of non-STEM classes. So that means I can cross RPI off as a possibility.

@PengsPhils That’s great! I think I’ll probably apply to Northeastern :smiley: I’m crossing my fingers for them giving me merit aid as a way to recruit more CS women.

12

eternaldream, can you give us an idea of the perimeter of your preferred area? It sounds like you are in New York. If Rochester is too far for you, then your area is smaller than what we see from other applicants: less than five hours by car, I guess. Are we looking at eastern Massachusetts, Connecticut, eastern NY, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania here?

Are you considering the Pennsylvania LACs like Bryn Mawr? Does Wellesley have a CS degree?

13

@“Cardinal Fang” That sounds about right. Yep. I’m in New York–specifically the lower part of New York. Yes, Rochester is 5 hours away for me. I prefer to be within approximately 3 hours away from home, but that limits my options a lot, so I am open to farther away than that if it’s an excellent school. 5 hours is kind of pushing it because I might as well be taking a flight :stuck_out_tongue:

URochester I have two close friends attending, so carpooling is one thing drawing me in. Plus that, and I might be eligible for a fee waiver from Phi Theta Kappa.

Wellesley does have a CS degree. I’ve been thinking about looking into that school–one of my professors is an alumni and I might ask her about her experience. Not sure if I’d like the complete women college feel. Barnard is different because you get a mix from Columbia.

Overall, the bar is set minimum at my safety: Binghamton. Not sure how good of a school it is now. I know it used to be pretty well reputable before, but I heard it’s academics have declined.

14

bump

15

^^

16

@eternaldream, How much can your parents pay per year and what do you need your net costs to be? If you’re not Pell and/or TAP eligible, file the FAFSA anyway so you can get the $6500/year federal student loan. How much is your total budget (not including the loan)?

17

@austinmshauri

I don’t really have a set budget-- really I’d like the costs to be as low as possible. My net price at the Ivy Leagues is around 5k-ish. However–those are reaches and are like winning the lottery. Ideally I guess I’d like a net cost of roughly $10K or under?? But I don’t think that’s really plausible so I guess up to roughly 15k??

Binghamton (in-state safety) is sort of my threshold. It’s my safety, but it’s still pretty expensive, so any college that is of better stature than it for about the same/less price I would consider.

Definitely will apply for the FAFSA. I do receive some aid.

18

@eternaldream, Just to clarify, your parents are willing to contribute ~$15k/year? And your backup plan is to cover the $20k/year SUNY with the money from your parents and the $6500 federal student loan? You may want to look for the “low cost/everything under $25k” thread. (I think it’s pinned to the top of the financial aid forum.) There may be some schools that cost less than the SUNYs there.

19

@austinmshauri Yes to both your questions. My parents will be technically paying for most of my college expenses. I’ve looked at that thread. I think most of them cost about the same-- or will be with added transportation costs.

20

I’m wondering, would the the Seven Sister Schools be considered matches/safeties in my case?