Finalizing list for CS + music D23 -- good ones we're missing?

College Search & Selection
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Hi all,

Looking to finalize the list for D23. She’s pretty happy with her current list, but since you only get to do this once she wants to make sure she’s not overlooking schools that might be a great fit she might add in the RD round.

She is interested in computer science, mostly in interdisciplinary ways - programs she’s applied/applying to include human computer interaction, interactive design, music technology, things of that nature. It’s also important to her to be able to continue making music (both composing and playing) at some level even though she’s not sure how formally she wants to take that (minor, additional major, or just on the side) so options are good.

GPA: 97.9 UW, 102.4 W (they get .5 for AP/DE and .25 for honors)
SAT: 1510 (780V, 730M)
APs: English Lit, CSP, World History, Music Theory, Research - 5, Chem, USH, Seminar -4
currently taking: Calc BC, Physics 1, US Gov, and Syracuse PA English (DE)
She took Spanish through level 3. Also took Python and a Makers/Electronics class.

National Small Town Rural Scholar, National Merit Commended. Some school awards and small local stuff but nothing big/national. All-county level musician but not all-state. She’s more passionate about composing/arranging. Her school band is playing one of her compositions later this year and her band teacher is kind of blown away that she wrote and arranged the whole thing. She never wanted the stress of competitions or anything like that though.

ECs: Paid job as an IT assistant and video editor at the public library year round, has a regular weekly volunteer position helping older adults learn how to use their computers and devices, and is president of her Girls in STEM club at school. Seeing the frustrations newbie users face trying to learn tech sparked her interest in HCI and UX.

We’re in New York. She doesn’t want to go too far away - Cleveland is current furthest - Purdue was deemed too far. We will not qualify for any need based aid, so merit would be appreciated. We could go full freight if a school offered an exceptionally high ROI.

Current likely schools:
Stony Brook (our SUNY option and they offer Human Computer Interaction)
Pitt (applied Digital Narrative) - waiting to hear. Like their friendliness.
WPI (applied EA) - first school she toured and she loved it
RIT - offer Human Computer Interaction major & she got their Creativity Innovation Award from her HS. She is charmed by the idea of their little Performing Arts scholarship you keep by participating in arts on campus.

Toss Up because they’re so unpredictable:
Northeastern (applied EA for CS + Music Technology. She submitted a digital music portfolio supplement)
Case Western (applied EA + instrumental Music Supplement) She likes how they make adding a music secondary major possible for STEM kids. Plus the Think Box maker space

Reach:
Carnegie Mellon (applying Information Systems, not SCS) She actually vibed with the description of Information Systems better. They have a concentration in UX Design and CMU offers interactive/music minors.
Cornell (we’re in state for CALS - Information Science major which has a couple of different concentrations she’s interested in) and can do music as a minor.

She’s pretty agnostic about school location - we live in a semi-rural suburb of a huge city, so she’s comfortable with both. She does like at least a somewhat defined campus if it’s in a city. She’s nerdy, but outgoing and would definitely look to get involved with clubs and activities on campus if the environment is welcoming.

Sorry for the novel, lol, but I’m trying to anticipate the questions people are going to ask about what she’s looking for. She’s not looking to add a ton of schools, but since she’s got 5 of the 8 current applications already in, she thinks she would have the energy to do a couple more if there was a program that really appealed. Thanks!

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Did she not like Syracuse?

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University of Rochester? Our S23 has it on his list along with Case. Priority deadline for merit consideration is Dec 1st.

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Rochester is a great idea. Maybe Tufts and Wesleyan too? (but reaches)

Curious why BU is not on the list?

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See, this is why I made this thread. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: We never really investigated Syracuse. Do you have experience with the school? I guess I didn’t think of it as a place for nerds (except journalism nerds, haha.)

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I know on paper U Rochester sounds like a great fit. Unfortunately, one of my older D17’s best friends had a pretty tough sled through UR and has struggled to get her career off the ground post-graduation. I’m afraid this has biased my D23 against the school. Conversely, D17’s other best friend went to WPI and raved about it, so D23 was primed to like it before she ever set foot on campus. Sometimes small personal things like that can make all the difference!

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U.Mass Amherst is very good for both computer science and music.

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Thought about Tufts, but not even the possibility of merit makes it tough for mom & dad haha. Same with Wesleyan. CMU is the only school on her list that would be full price currently but feel like how aggressively those kids get recruited it might be worth it.

We’ll check into BU - we kind of honed in on Northeastern as her Boston option and didn’t look much further. But I see BU offers a nice scholarship for the National Recognition Award - thanks for the suggestion!

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Thanks for the suggestion - will investigate further! Do you know if they offer much in the way of merit scholarships for OOS students? I see it’s possible, but don’t know how rare it is.

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Is it necessary to apply EA to U Mass Amherst for merit and honors college, or are RD applicants considered equally? My son was looking at that one, too, but wondered about whether he would receive full consideration as the EA deadline has already passed.

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If you are not opposed to the Midwest then two potential optional are:

  1. Illinois Tech in Chicago. They have a strong CS program and partnership with Vandercook School of Music. My daughter is currently attending Illinois Tech and has quite a few friend that take music classes at Vandercook. Vendercook has a building on Illinois Tech’s campus.
  2. Rose-Hulman in Terra Haute, IN. Rose does embrace the arts and has very active band, orchestra, and dance groups that perform on campus.

Both a small STEM schools with good CS programs and decent access to music training and performances.

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Oberlin with TIMARA as one branch of her program might be interesting. They also have a BA in Musical Studies program that gives access to the conservatory resources, and double degrees are very common there.

Is she submitting a music supplement, if accepted by the schools? That can often help with admissions.

SUNY Purchase would be a good possibility too.
About the Program • Mathematics/Computer Science • Purchase College BA may not be what she wants but the composing and studio/production programs are excellent.

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Ohio State has a track in the music school that’s specifically for music+CS: Bachelor of Science | School of Music and also a BA in CS that’s designed for those with interdisciplinary goals (as well as two BS programs, one in the engineering school and the other in Arts & Sciences).

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At CMU one can apply to two different colleges. She should add the School of Music as her second college. If she doesn’t get into IS at Dietrich, but gets in for music, she could do the internal transfer later or go for a BHA degree in Information Systems and Music.

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Alas, I tried to get her to look at Rose-Hulman but she thinks it’s a bit too far away, which would put Illinois Tech in the same boat. I’d wanted her to check out UIUC too because they have a CS + Music program.

Thank you for weighing in though - hopefully the suggestions will work for someone else who peeks in on this thread. :slight_smile:

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I will have her look into Oberlin - thank you for the suggestion. She has submitted supplements to Northeastern (digital composition) and Case Western (instrumental) so far, so yes she is willing to do those.

We did investigate Purchase in our initial round of looking, but although their composition and studio offerings are top notch, D23 didn’t feel like they really offered enough for her in the CS areas. Thank you though!

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Oh, those Ohio State programs look like they might be right up her alley. Thank you for the suggestion, I will definitely have her investigate! Merit is reasonably available for OOS students?

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I have definitely heard of out of state students getting merit aid. Given your daughter’s excellent stats I would expect that some merit aid is reasonably likely, but I have no idea how much.

This I do not know. Sorry.

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It is, but I think the EA deadline was also the merit deadline, unfortunately, so I’m not sure what the merit potential is for later applications.

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Have you thought about Renseelaer Polytechnic? It offers several majors which might be of interest:

Plus there are more traditional music and CS majors, as well. And according to the 21-22 common data set (as aggregated here), 71% of freshmen without need received merit aid with an average package of $26,168.