East Coast Computer Sciences/Cybersecurity Colleges

I’m currently looking for colleges to start with, now that junior year is closing in and most people I know are starting to visit right about now. I don’t really know exactly what types of colleges I should be looking for, so thats a slight problem. I’d also appreciate any suggestions that people may have. Money is not an issue, and I would like to go OOS as much as possible. Also, I will be taking the ACT, and do not have my ACT score yet. My high school calculates GPA’s out of 100, so I have a 99 weighted and 93 unweighted, although Im not positive if the two values below are correct.

Unweighted GPA: 3.89
Weighted GPA: 3.96
SAT: 1950
2-Part: 1360
Math: 730

I’m looking to stay on the East Coast definitely, and also would like to get a degree in cybersecurity, or computer science. I’m also looking for a college with a good social scene, while also having a very good program for these courses. Ultimately though, I would like to go into the cybersecurity field. If anyone has any recommendations on the GPA and SAT range for colleges that I should be looking for, and colleges that would fit this criteria Id appreciate it.

RPI has an excellent CS program and a good hacker/infosec culture (their teams compete well in infosec competitions, such as CSAW: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/worlds-top-student-hackers-advance-to-final-rounds-of-nyu-cyber-security-awareness-week-games-300160067.html)

Your SAT is on the low side but if you score high on the ACT you should be good.

I am a little puzzled about the specific mention of “cybersecurity” in many postings. Security depends on pretty much every aspect of computer science: operating systems, cryptography, information theory, networking, languages, hardware integration etc. Its not really separable in any way from general computer science [I say this as a person with 25 years experience in the field]. If you wish to get into “cybersecurity”, you need to master every aspect of computer science pretty much.

Okay, Ill look into it, although Im still looking to get outside of New York, preferably more southern. I know my SAT’s low, and the only reason thing I can think of is due to not preparing for it whatsoever.

With cybersecurity, I know that you really need to be able to master every aspect of computers, I just mentioned that because that is the industry that I would prefer to go into, as opposed to someone who would be in Computer Science’s for other things.

Im also currently taking AP Computer Science right now, so Im not sure if that would change anything based off how I do on the AP exam. Any more suggestions?

The University of Maryland sounds like an ideal option, given it’s location near DC and the NSA.
http://www.cs.umd.edu/

Seems like a great option, thanks! Any other suggestions? Also, about how many colleges is it ideal to visit, I know most people are visiting around 2-3 in the next month or so, should I be visiting every college Im interested in applying to?

Northeastern has a great CS program with a concentration in Cybersecurity offered - they also have a lot of connections directly into the government and private security companies.

For general CS in the Northeast, RPI/WPI/RIT/U of Rochester are other great options.

UMD-College Park has a program called ACES - Advanced Cybersecurity Experience for Students!

However, to get in you need to be first accepted into Honors.