I’m white, female, middle class, from Wisconsin, and go to a private school that’s ranked first (tied with several others) in the state. I’m a junior so some of this is based on what I plan on doing senior year, such as APs and extracurriculars.
Intended major: Computer Science
APs and Honors:
AP Computer Science Principles
AP English Literature and Composition
Accelerated Algebra I
Accelerated Geometry
Accelerated Algebra II
Pre-Calculus Honors
AP Calculus BC
Chemistry Honors
Physics Honors
AP Physics C
GPA:
UW: 3.8
W: 4.0 (predicting based on APs I plan on taking)
Test scores:
ACT: 33 composite
SAT: 1480 composite
I don’t think I could realistically raise this by much
Extra-curriculars, etc:
Orchestra 9-12
4 years of Spanish
Programming Club 9-12
Book Club 9-12
Amnesty International 9-12
100 hours of community service, including regularly at Hospice and at an animal shelter
Designed website for family business
Worked part-time for family business
Recognition:
Published in school literary magazine
Honor Society
AP Scholar with Honor
Here’s a list of colleges I’m interested in. I know encompasses vastly different schools, but I’m not completely sure where I want to be and what type of experience I want yet:
UW-Madison
University of Michigan (Uncle went here, I don’t know if that counts as an alumni relation)
UVA
University of Minnesota-TC
University of Washington-Seattle
Boston University
Brandeis
Penn State
Northwestern (Grandmother went here)
UChicago (Grandfather and great-grandfather went here)
Macalester
Grinnell
Oberlin (Mom went here)
Please chance me, and if there are any other schools you think I should look into, let me know. I’d like to get a better idea of what are realistic target, reach and safety schools. Thanks ?
Stats: Slightly low for CS. You also need subject test scores like Math2 and a science.
ECs: Below average, nothing having to do with CS except the programming club, which is pretty commonplace
Awards: Seems more humanities based? I would expect some type of NCWIT award, hackathon win, USACO, Girls Who Code award, etc.
Summer: Nothing listed. This can make or break your application. Let’s hope you used your time wisely!
UW-Madison: super reach
University of Michigan (Uncle went here, I don’t know if that counts as an alumni relation): super reach (it’s a public school, legacy doesn’t count too much)
UVA: reach
University of Minnesota-TC: reach
University of Washington-Seattle: if you want to be admitted directly to CS (super reach)
Boston University: high match / low reach
Brandeis: match
Penn State: match
Northwestern (Grandmother went here): reach (not well know for CS and legacy)
UChicago (Grandfather and great-grandfather went here): reach (legacy but it’s UChicago)
Macalester: not familiar with international schools, probably match
Grinnell: low match
Oberlin (Mom went here): safety
Probably unwise to give too much weight to someone who thinks Macalester is international. One of the advantages of going to a highly ranked private school is access to college counselors who know where prior graduates were accepted.
Since you have some of the big publics on your list, I would add Purdue and UMD for consideration.
Have you been to visit any schools yet? As you noted, you have a wide variety of types of schools from little LACs to giant publics. Some also aren’t known for having strong CS programs, like Oberlin.
With respect to your current choices, you have definitely included some schools strong for CS such as UMichigan, UWashington, BU and Northwestern. For another school along these lines, look into Northeastern.
Talk to your parents about what they are willing to contribute for your college costs and to get the financial parameters to put in the net price calculator at each college’s web site.
Any which are not affordable at list price or need-based financial aid should be moved into at least the reach category for merit scholarships (unless the large-enough merit scholarship is automatic for stats that you have).
UW-Madison is one of the top CS schools in the country and your scores should allow you to get in, so unless you really wanted to get away from home or are looking more at LACs, I would say that you should only focus on schools that 1) have an equal better CS program than UW-M, which is only a few schools in the entire country or 2) go after schools that might offer significant merit.
I don’t know much about 2) but as for 1) the only schools on your list up there with UW-M is UDub-Seattle and Michigan. Other schools in range with great CS programs would be UIUC, Purdue and UMD, but I’m not sure if the OOS cost differences would be worth it. UMass has a very good CS program and you could almost call it a safety.
In contrast, at some other schools, CS is a competitive major, so that direct frosh admission to CS is more competitive than general admission to the school, and students who enroll as undeclared or in another major will face another competitive admission process to get into the CS major. Washington, UIUC, and Purdue are examples of such schools.
Consider URochester, Case Western Reserve U, and St. Olaf - all have standout music opportunities as well as strong CS. Also check out the CS+X programs at Northeastern. If you’re sure about a STEM major and comfortable with a STEM-focused school, then look at WPI, RIT, maybe RPI (the grind-iest of the three - women have a significant admissions advantage there).
Also, there are some great opportunities at women’s colleges. Smith and Mt. Holyoke both have their own CS departments, plus consortium access to the highly-regarded CS department at UMass Amherst (as well as Amherst College and Hampshire College, and each other). Students at Scripps College can major in CS through either Harvey Mudd or Pomona - my Scripps kid has several friends who are CS majors, and they get all of the same resources and registration privileges as the Mudd & Pomona students. Bryn Mawr’s CS program is growing rapidly too. https://www.brynmawr.edu/news/bryn-mawr-record-number-students-choose-major-computer-science Wellesley and Barnard are reachier, but offer, respectively, cross-reg at MIT and full access to the offerings of Columbia. These schools don’t require you to apply by major (you state your interests but it’s nothing binding), so there’s not that additional layer of competitiveness for direct-admit to CS; and in addition it’s just a bit easier to get into women’s colleges vs. coed schools of comparable quality/reputation.
I think your resume looks great! S19 is planning to go into CS and was accepted to MN-TC. I think you will get in. He has similar Academics but not nearly the amount of activities and extras.
WI is great for CS. UVA got knocked of S’s list due to the lack of AI classes plus high OOS cost. If you are looking at different sizes, what about Carleton?
Aquapt lists several that we visited for S. You have lots of great options and choices. Will you be able to visit any? You will get a better idea of what kind of environment you like once you see a few different sizes and styles. S changed his whole focus after visits.
LOL, I just realized that Macalester is actually in the US. I confused it with McMaster. I’m not too familiar with small liberal arts college. Sorry OP!
Just a word about the more historical STEM universities:
Music is a very common interest among math and other STEM majors so activity levels are high;
The earthquake which was launched by CS is impacting almost every field and the wide range of CS applications are usually found in these STEM universities;
Play the elimination game and write down as many alternative choices for majors as you can;
It is very common for students to change majors before graduation so take possible second and third choices seriously.
Strong STEM universities with solid and wide ranging CS programs are WPI, Case Western, RPI, Stevens, and RIT. A second grouping would be Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Rice, and Caltech. They are not all the same. Not all strong LA colleges attract the corporate CS recruiters found in these STEM universities. In terms of difficulty for admission, the first grouping would be a match while the second grouping would be a reach.
I graduated from a small private secondary boarding school which always pushed very fine and solid LA directed programs. This bias might have been a reflection of the very fine LA colleges they had attended. My father studied Greek and Latin, but had also spent months in a boarding house full of engineering students. He knew they were hard working, level headed, no nonsense people. The point is, enjoy the challenges and the work gets easier.