Girl in Comp Sci Chances

I’m applying to college next year and i wanted to know what my chances would be for CS at good CS schools (Cal, UCSD, UWashington, UCLA, USC, UT Austin, UIUC). I’m an asian girl from Illinois.

GPA: 3.7 (all AP/Honors, all 4 years math, science, and english)
SAT: 1300 (taking it again in a few months, hopefully higher)
Extracurriculars: DECA VP of Technology, Student Government Exec Board, (Possible) Yearbook Photo Editor, School Newspaper/TheMash staff writer, Golf, Lacrosse, personal blog, (possible) built by girls chicago ambassador, girls who code, AIM for piano, art

I haven’t taken APCS at my school, i’ve wanted to take other classes, but i’ve been pursuing code outside of school. Will that be a drawback?

Also, what is the difference between a bachelor of arts in CSi vs. a bachelor of science in CS? which is better? what kind of jobs could you get with a BA in CS/Linguistics?

Is your GPA weighted or unweighted?

UC GPA? https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/. Extra honors points for AP/IB or DE courses only since you are OOS.

Are all these schools affordable since the UC’s will cost you $60K+/year to attend with little to no financial aid???

If you are targeting CS, then you need to at least a 1400+ SAT for the California UC’s and USC. Also take Math 2 SAT subject test and another science Subject test.

UIUC has great and highly competitive CS programs. Their in state admission rate is pretty high and should be the most affordable option for you unless you get need based aids from USC. Nevertheless, you need to bring up your test score for admission even at UIUC. Top UCs and UT Austin are pretty high reach for you.

@cocoforcocopuffs

To be honest, your current stats are low for BS in CS/EECS at most of those schools.

Applying to engineering majors, especially at state schools, can be a bit trickier than the regular process.

At Cal, UCLA/Samuelii, UCSD/Jacobs and UWash, you apply directly to the major and the engineering majors are very, very competitive (in some cases impacted) at those schools. The admitted stats for CS engineering will be much higher than the overall averages for the schools that you see on-line. (UCLA, for instance, publishes the breakdown by major and gender. They have ~10% admit rate to BS in CS/CSEE. <16% female, so, about 25 of the undergrad at UCLA in CS/CSEE are female. All have very strong math stats.) The UC’s will not (cannot by law) take into consideration that you are women who wants to go into STEM, so that is no “hook” with UC or Cal State schools.

USC will be more interested in the fact that you are female and admits to engineering school rather than major, but your SAT is still a bit low for them. If you can raise that, or if your Math is particularly high, you may have a chance. The good thing about USC/Viterbi is they admit to the school overall and you can choose your major then. But Viterbi is one of the more competitive schools at USC.

See if UIUC admits to major or to engineering in general. Certainly, as an Illinois resident, as above poster mentioned, it may be your best bet of the schools you listed (and probably most affordable. the UC’s will not give very good aid and OOS tuition is almost as high as most privates. UWash is a bit cheaper, but not that much.) UTA might also be a decent match, depending if they admit to major or not. I don’t know offhand.

You may be a bit more competitive if you are applying to the LibArts schools for CS. Generally the stats for Lib Arts schools are a bit lower than the Engineering schools and they admit more applicants. At many (but not all - you’ll have to research) schools you don’t have to apply to the major.

But every school you mention is still very competitive. You will need to find some “safety” schools as well.

There are lots of schools that have good CS departments and slightly less competitive (Santa Clara, RPI, Boston U, UMaryland-College Park etc. etc.) You need to figure what you and your family can afford, keep up your grades (esp you math/science scores.) and work hard to increase you math SAT or ACT scores. You will want to take the Math II subject test and perhaps 1 science subject test. But make sure when you get there you apply to a good range of schools if you are applying to engineering schools - they are more competitive than the stats sometimes suggest.

Good luck! The good news is with a major like CS, the “ranking” of the school is not really that important. If you end up being good at CS and get good grades you’ll have opportunities out of any reasonably competent program.

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Think about Rose Hulman, especially if you can get into the 1400 range. Don’t be afraid to play up the sports angle a little too.

An affordable and quality CS program for you would be Stony Brook in my opinion. I would put RPI as my reach, Stony Brook as my match and one of your state schools as the safety. And then throw in a few more at your leisure, but definitely those three as a solid starting point. Good luck!!

Computer science has become a popular major so more choices than there used to be. You first have to decide between computer science in the Arts and Sciences school or in the engineering school. This will most likely determine whether you get a BA or BS. The engineering school will only have the BS and be tougher to get in, but if you want a career in coding or programming, a degree in just computer science is fine. And really no difference between BA or BS, the determining factor will be school or program and internships, research you do while in school. A BA in CS from Berkeley or Michigan is highly regarded. You may have to explain a BA in job fair or job interview but that gives you something to discuss. Lot will depend on the schools but a BA will require a little more humanities while BS a little more courses in major.