Hi guys,
I have a 3.98UW and 4.45W but my gpa right now is a 4.86 (Senior year). I have a 34 on my ACT with a STEM score of 35, and a 790 on my SAT math subject test. I want to be a computer science major and I was wondering if I needed to add more schools to be safe because I’m really worried.
Extracurriculars:
Varsity Swim
Varsity dance team
Dances shows twice a year
Swim outside of school
Math Club every year
Have a youtube channel where I apply math to dance
My schools:
Purdue
Lehigh
Worcestor Polytechnic Institute
Stevens Institute of Technology
USC
Tufts
UMich
Seattle U
Santa Clara University
RPI
Northwestern
Boston College
UC Davis
UCLA
UC Irvine
Cal Poly SLO
SDSU
SJSU
you seem to have plenty of safety schools for your scores. I think you are OK. just make sure to visit and show interest so they don’t reject you as overqualified and uninterested.
You said you want to be a comp sci major. Do you have any other ECs that relate to computer science?
While your act score puts you above the 75th percentile for most of the colleges you have listed, most of them have an acceptance rate of less than 40%. While I see a handful of safeties based on your test scores and GPA, 18 schools is still a lot imo. I suggest cutting down your list.
If your list remains as it appears, you’ll be likely to receive at least ten offers of admission. If you’d like to refine your choices, it should be for reasons other than adding safer admits. Based on your indicated preferences, you should definitely keep UCLA, Lehigh, WPI, UMichigan, Seattle U, RPI and Northwestern among your core group of (generally) more challenging admits. To these you could add choices such as UCB, UCR, Northeastern and Boston U. You may also want to add a purely undergraduate-focused college.
If your family can afford 45k/year, have you run the NPC at schools like USC and Tufts to see if they will give you enough FA? I would think that a family that can afford 45k would fall out of the range of FA at UMich for OSS. That cost will likely be closer to 65k.
Your data is great. Have confidence that you can do it anywhere that gives you a shot IF you are very motivated by what you experience. Find out what is unique TO YOU about each university and communicate it.
It is easy to forget that it is not just the data. You might even find out how you can pursue your range of interests at each university. Many students do not even graduate in their originally intended major. How do you select your program after you arrive? Make sure they are up to your standards.
Continue your active learning in your selection process.
Run the net price calculator on each college to see if it will be affordable on need-based FA. (Note: some colleges' net price calculators include merit scholarships as well.)
SJSU's most competitive major was CS: http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/index.html . The eligibility index = GPA * 800 + SATRW + SATM or GPA * 200 + ACT * 10 (where GPA is the same as the UC weighted-capped GPA), although SJSU publishes only its SAT-based thresholds (so you have to guess based on ACT to SAT conversion).
I would say that in your situation, Early Action is your friend.
Since you have a number of EA schools on the list - RPI, SCU, SeattleU - that will give you some responses and calm some of your fears while you wait for other offers.
Agreeing with what some of the others have said about paying attention to the NPC, you can complete the applications for those schools that you’re not too sure about, then send them in only if you don’t get the admission/financial offers you were hoping for on 12/15.