I’m a rising senior who is having trouble finding safety and match schools for computer science/ ECE double major.
STATS
- UW GPA is 3.56 ( super upward trend like 3.4 in Freshman and Sophmore year to 3.75/4.0 Junior year)
- took 9 APs and all honors. (Junior year all AP + English honors)
- Dual Enrollment with UW Madison( took 3 CS courses and have a 3.75 GPA)
- 36 ACT
- TA for AP Computer Science A at my school
- Club founder for a cyber security club at my school
- Did robotics ( no real success during competitions though)
- top 5 in state for NSDA points, and top 16 at state in debate
- Lots of Science olympiad medals, top included 2nd and 5th in state
- 60+ Volunteer hours for a Meals on Wheels program
-USACO Silver
- Made NHS
I don’t know what to do for safety and match since I don’t know how college admissions officers will view my gpa. Will they take into account the entire number, or will they evaluate a large upward trend differently?
Are you instate for Wisconsin? Not sure if it 100% a safety, but it should be close if you are instate.
yes i’m in-state for wisconsin if that clear anything up
What’s your list currently? Any notable preferences? What about finances?
Here is my list
Safety
UW Madison
Match
Virginia Tech
UT Austin
NYU
Georgia Tech
Reach
UCLA
UC Berkeley
CMU SCS
Rice
I’d prefer a college with good computer science programs in a mostly urban area, due to the fact that there are a lot more opportunities for computer science graduates in larger cities.
As for finances, my parents are comfortable in the 20-30k range, but I’m open to taking student loans if needed
Have you run net price calculators? If you aren’t going to get aid from these private schools, the loans would be way too high at sticker price.
The reason I ask is that UW-Madison has a very solid CS program and it will be hard to beat the value you have there.
Your public schools OOS will mean 80K+ a year in loans otherwise. Besides maybe UCB/GT, it will be hard to make a case for going for VT, UT Austin, or UCLA with high loans rather than UW for no loans and $10K or so a year in-state.
If you can get financial aid to bring the price close, it makes sense to target more privates and play the financial aid lottery essentially. With enough matches, you should sure up your chances.
Some options that seem to be missing from your list if you can get the FA to get the price down: Northeastern, Case Western, USC
If it’s clear you won’t get aid, then you need to focus on full-ride scholarships or close to, which with your 36ACT you should be able to get at a number of places.
I’m not an expert on those types of schools/options, but there are some good lists including automatic scholarships. An example: https://scholarships.ua.edu/freshman/out-of-state/
I would delete everything on your list except Wisconsin, CMU and Rice.
UT Austin and GT are not matches for an out of state applicant.
You need to use the weakest part of your application to find your match and safety schools.
U of Min Twin Cities? Uni of Pitt? Stony Brook? (I know people at 2 of those colleges who are happy but with slightly different majors but still quite intelligent people)
@2plustrio I can’t imagine any of those being worth 80K in loans compared to UW at in-state. OP is in a unique position based off that + the 36 ACT to have true safeties and be able to more or less go for reaches from there / chase merit and private aid.
OP will have in state tuition at University of Minnesota due to tuition reciprocity.
@b1LLg4tes College Confidential recently covered this topic in an article that may help answer your question. Read more here: https://insights.collegeconfidential.com/how-to-choose-dream-target-and-safety-schools