Don't know where to apply. Chance me for any good CS college?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi!

Background Info: Moved to the US two years ago, had to learn English, help family, learn and fit into the American education system, skipped a school year and started highschool in the middle of the school year. Currently in the low income (30k) zone.

Grade level: Junior

Demographics: Asian male (small, poor country)

GPA: 4.0/4.0 uw, 4.8/5.33w by the time I graduate (All A pluses, few A’s)

Languages: Can speak 3, read/write 4th, learning 5th

Courses: Currently taking AP Lang, Calc AB, AP Phy 2/C, APUSH, AP Comp sci etc. Was placed in Algebra 1 and English basic skills development when I first came here so couldn’t really take weighted classes freshman year as they weren’t available. Took the math finals sophomore year and skipped to precalc. Junior and Senior year I actually have the chance to take classes so I’m taking the hardest classes available because I like studying.

ECs: Model UN, Chess club (best player but no awards yet), Astronomy Club, Robotics, Quizbowl, NHS etc. Not sure if this is EC but I’m really into computers and arduino so I build stuff at home and there isn’t really a club related to this. No sports yet because I’m weak :frowning:

Standardized Test Scores: 1330 SAT (730m, 600en) which is pretty bad so I’m working on learning the English terms (hopefully will get above 1400 next time). Haven’t taken ACT yet.

Awards: Bunch of school awards, local state university comp sci awards

Sorry if I made any mistakes, I’m still learning English. Thanks for reading! I’m open for feedback.

2

Well, it is a bit difficult to just chance you for any school. Are there particular ones you have looked into?

One thing I will say right away: Improving your test scores will make a lot of difference. So you should invest time in revising for it. Have you thought about doing the ACT instead of the SAT? The ACT offers special accomodations for English Learners who have recently moved to the US. I’d recommend you to look into this.

3

Agree with @DriFit. Also the computers and arduino definitely count, the common app asks for “activities” and that can be literally anything you do in your free time. Something that will improve your app is founding an arduino/electronics club at your school. You could potentially write a college supplement about that along the lines of “I wanted to spread this passion to others” or something. Also try and compete in a local chess tournament or something since you mention that you are good at it.

4

State of residency?

States vary in whether their public universities offer enough financial aid for in-state students from low income families to afford being able to attend them.

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To me it looks like finances are an issue that you need to consider.

Are you a permanent resident in the US? If so, then you are presumably in-state somewhere. Your in-state public universities are something to consider.

Otherwise you are going to need to apply to schools that meet full need for you (whether you be international or a US resident).

6

Berkeley is a great CS school; my sister goes there.
She had a GPA higher than yours but around yours; she was top of her class and had taken a lot of APs the same as you are. I’d say the best bet you have is improving your test scores. Good luck!! :slight_smile:

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@DriFit I have thought about applying for the special accommodations but since I am in AP Lang as a junior I don’t think I can apply anymore because I had a course called English basic skills development when I first came here and then gradually made my way up to AP. I will, however, ask my English teacher and see if I am eligible.

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@DadTwoGirls I am a permanent resident atm and will probably become a citizen after I’m in college. I am eligible for state tuition so I am looking at Purdue (Lafayette) as my safe choice and it is pretty good for CS.

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@ucbalumnus Sorry I forgot to mention this. My state of residency is Indiana.

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@XtremeBlaze777 We will probably compete in tournaments this year since our chess club sponsor looked really hyped about it the other day :slight_smile: Also I will list my computer and arduino activities thanks for letting me know.

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@njav41 I feel like Berkeley is kinda out of my reach since I’m not in California but I’ll definitely give it a try after improving my test scores :slight_smile:

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@njav41 Berkeley and other UC’s will not be even close to affordable as OP is not a CA resident. Per OP’s other thread, they’re in-state for Purdue which also has a phenomenal reputation for CS. If the in-state financial aid is sufficient (and of course if accepted - I would think chances would be good in-state), this is a great option. Both Purdue and IU have early action; applying as early as possible would be wise. Purdue early action decisions don’t come out until mid-January but IU is rolling - having that nailed down would secure a firm safety and remove the need to apply anywhere that OP likes less than IU.

OP, It’s tricky to chance you because you’ve been on such a steep learning curve that it seems likely your ability level is considerably above what your raw stats suggest. This is a bit of a wild card because it requires the AO’s reading your application to read between the lines. Some may do so and some may not.

I believe you’re already pursuing Questbridge, so that’s a great start. If you become a Finalist, then you’ll want to look closely at all of the partner schools. (Of course, you can apply to these outside of QB as well, but the binding match process for QB requires a more careful assessment before finalizing your list.)

For people to make other suggestions, it would help if you answered the question posed in the other thread: Could you be happy with a LAC that has a strong CS department but does not have engineering? This would open up quite a few more full-need-met possibilities; Look especially at midwest LAC’s like St. Olaf, Carleton, Grinnell and Macalester; by virtue of location, they have higher acceptance rates than peer schools in the Northeast.

Look at Lafayette and Lehigh - these Lehigh Valley schools (which do have engineering as well as CS) are in the small minority of colleges that treat Asian students as URM. Mark your calendar now to apply to their fly-in programs when the 2020 application period opens:
https://admissions.lafayette.edu/obc/
https://www1.lehigh.edu/admissions/diversity-achievers-program

Research other funded fly-in programs such as Rice’s SOAR, Harvey Mudd’s FAST, Tufts’ “Voices of Tufts”, and so on. The aforementioned midwest LAC’s have these as well, for example https://wp.stolaf.edu/admissions/counselors/fly-in/

URochester is a very strong STEM school that meets full need and has a large community of international students (27% of undergrads), many of whom are from Asia. Not sure whether your country of origin is well-represented or not but if having a larger international community interests you, you certainly couldn’t go wrong education-wise at Rochester.

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@aquapt sorry if this is a stupid question but if I apply EA at Purdue (and somehow get in) and apply through Questbridge and have a match, will I get in trouble because they’re both kind of binding?

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Purdue EA is not binding.

I also wouldn’t consider CS at Purdue to be a safety, even if you are instate.

Definitely focus on getting your standardized test scores up.

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@momofsenior1 yeah I’m working on my test scores it’ll definitely go up with enough practice

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Well I think you kind of hit the lottery for cheap in state public schools. Keep working on SAT and try for Purdue EA. That’s the ideal place for you. IU isn’t out the question either, since you’re in state and can get a good deal. Sure, they are not Purdue CS, but still a good place.

As for private school in state, DePauw is really trying to boost admissions. They have some great CS profs. I’m sure you could get good merit aid there, and possibly qualify for some specific additional scholarships. Another option, although expensive, is Rose Hulman. RH is a great school if you can find some scholarships to support it.

I cannot guess what schools might meet need. But these are definitely four you should keep your eye on.

17

“Purdue (Lafayette) as my safe choice and it is pretty good for CS.”

I think that “pretty good” is an understatement. Wayne Gretzky was a pretty good hockey player. If you get accepted to Purdue, and if it is affordable, then you have an excellent choice. This is a really good university for CS, as well as for engineering and multiple other majors.

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@DadTwoGirls sorry for my bad word choice. I meant to say it’s good like really good for CS. The reason I said safe choice is because I’ve seen many students with lower stats get in and the acceptance is pretty open for in state students.

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Just be aware that Purdue admits by major and the stats for CS admits are much higher than the university as a whole.

20

Yes, EA is not binding.

If you’re a Questbridge finalist participating in the Match process, you can’t apply ED anywhere (although some partner schools allow you to roll over to their own ED or EA cycles if you don’t match), and you can apply EA only to public U’s. So you could apply EA to Purdue and IU while doing Questbridge Match (and also to UMichigan, which meets need for low-income OOS students and should perhaps be on your list), but you couldn’t apply EA to CWRU or Northeastern (which is another excellent CS school that meets full need - if you like the idea of a co-op program, definitely consider it).

If you are a QB Finalist but don’t match (as a majority of Finalists do not), you can still apply in the (binding) EDII cycle to schools that offer that option, after the QB Match cycle. Quite a few excellent private full-need-met CS schools offer EDII, including Northeastern, Tufts, Lafayette, Harvey Mudd, St. Olaf and quite a few more. A few of these have January 15th EDII deadlines, which would allow you to wait and pull the trigger on EDII only if you did not get into Purdue.

It’s potentially a complicated flowchart of QB Match followed by ED rollover followed by EA decisions and EDII and RD applications. But this means that you can have many layers of good backup plans, which is a good thing.