Good but not tippy-top student looking for CS matches/reasonable reaches

Chance Me / Match Me!
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If you want to be under 40K and don’t forget some schools add surcharges, you really need to look at Arizona, UAH, Bama, MS. State. Check out Mizzou too as a neighboring state and then Misouri S&T. Mizzou - you’ll be way under because you’ll get OOS tuition waived + $2500 if i’m reading their chart correctly.

You may also look at Bradley - they will show you on their website your cost and they are aggressive. I did - their COA is low ($48K) and you’d get $20K off a year - so that’s $28K…a fine school.

The 3.74 is not high for CS but you have the college classes and a great ACT.

Some schools use weighted GPA; some like Arizona do not.

Also, most schools will recalc your GPA as they only use certain classes - so if your non-core classes were As…your GPA to the school may be lower. Or - if they were Bs/Cs, it could be higher.

Good luck.

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Does Colorado School of Mines really give merit, and if so to whom? Their scholarship info webpage is very vague about whom may qualify.

Scholarship Information - Financial Aid (mines.edu)

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Two years ago when my son applied it was very transparent. Tuition was $36K or $38K and the max was $16K which he got and we knew we’d get.

Now it’s more generic (no #s listed) but looks like $10-14K. It’s a great school, cute little down and you can take public transport to the airport. We loved our visit - but I noticed some of the rate my professors aren’t great…for what it’s worth - don’t understand the profs - but that’s everywhere.

Surprisingly close to Boulder (30 mins or so). And right where you leave Denver to head into the mountains - so great outdoors opportunities. I’ve listed the verbiage from Mines merit below.

But then you can also throw in the underrated and very well employed (based on their states) SD School of Mines…Rapid City is super cool.

The Provost Award is based on your admission application. This award is renewable for 8 semesters (4 years) of undergraduate coursework and is to be used toward tuition and fees. A FAFSA is not required to renew the Provost Award. Students must pass a minimum of 75% of their attempted credits while maintaining a 2.000 cumulative GPA to keep the award. Provost Award annual amounts are typically $1,000 for Colorado Residents and $10,000 or $11,000 for non-residents.

From the CSM website:

The President’s Merit Scholarship is based on your admission application. This scholarship is renewable for 8 semesters (4 years) of undergraduate coursework and is to be used toward tuition and fees. A FAFSA is not required to renew the President’s Merit Scholarship. Students must pass a minimum of 24 credits each academic year (fall plus spring semesters) while maintaining a minimum 2.500 cumulative GPA to keep the scholarship. Colorado resident scholarship annual amounts range from $2,500 to $5,000; non-resident annual amounts range between $12,000 and $14,000.

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That’s not something I’m familiar with, as high school weighting is all over the map, very non-standardized. Even if that were the case, it’s not going to happen at competitive CS programs. That’s why the OP needs to expand their search.

Speaking of the OP, they haven’t replied since the original post. They’d get more from the discussion if they’d engage.

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Thanks. It’s too bad they now make the criteria so opaque.

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He might want to look into UF. GPAs of 4.4-4.6

I’ve mostly seen colleges using weighted gpas to award merit in the south like UAlabama. Miami University in Oxford, OH uses a weighted gpa and Indiana University also considers the weighted gpa for admissions and scholarships.

Our hs awards 3.7 for an A- regardless of level, but those students still do well when they’ve taken rigorous courses. It’s possible that as admissions reviews his transcript he’ll end up in a higher tier of merit than he expects.

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UF is a great school and reasonably priced full pay. It’s extremely rare to get merit aid, however. FSU is where you go to get merit (OOS waiver).

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Since UF recalculates the gpa he might end up being one of their top candidates for the Gator Nation oos fee waiver. They might decide it is in budget even without merit.

“The above range represents the core, weighted GPA on a 4.0 scale that UF calculates as part of the evaluation process. Dual-enrollment courses in core areas and any AP, IB or AICE classes receive an extra 1.0 credit weight, meaning that an A is worth a 5.0 on a 4.0 scale. Pre-AICE, pre-AP, pre-IB and Honors classes receive a 0.5 credit weight, meaning that an A is worth a 4.5 on a 4.0 scale.”

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This is the OP. Lots of comments in less than a day! Very helpful.

Talked to my parents, and they have no problem paying for me to apply to all the safeties on my list, so I’ll do that. I’ll add Arizona as well, which I was already considering.

CS Engineering vs Math + CS from UIUC is a tough one. My odds are better with Math + CS, especially since I’m taking a 400-level math course from UIUC right now. But I would come in with so much CS credit that I’d only be taking 6 or 7 CS courses my entire time there. And what I’ve heard is they don’t let the +CS people take many if any extra CS courses. On the other hand, in CS Engineering, what I really want, I don’t know if I have much of a chance, though hopefully the 35 ACT, USACO Gold, and 7 post-AP CS and math courses would give me a small shot. I don’t know, that’s probably my hardest decision.

Purdue I can see why people are saying it’s more of a reach than a match, though again I hope my ACT and very tough CS/math rigor makes up for my okay GPA. It may not, though.

Alabama’s one of the biggest nonMW colleges from my HS. But I toured there and didn’t like the sports focus and the huge Greek life. I’d rather go to Iowa State, which is closer and probably cheaper.

GA Tech has really bad Naviance from my HS, especially with not perfect GPAs, and I’d need money to get down low enough to work. Northeastern is pretty bad, too, which is why that’s one I’ll probably drop.

A couple people mentioned Wisconsin, which has a great CS program and I’d be happy to attend. But I was under the impression that it was really hard to get any OOS merit aid? If that’s wrong, I’ll put it on my list.

My parents are willing to pay $45k for the right school, Purdue they gave as an example. But that’s a pretty hard limit. Above that it would be loans, which they aren’t going to cosign for. And while some of these schools I can probably graduate in 3 or 3.5 years, I don’t want to plan on that.

w/r/t/ my extracurriculars and essay, it’s not as though I think they’re horrible. But they’re things like “4 years in madrigal singers” (lots of music stuff) or “1st place local CS contest.” They’re nothing that will move the needle, other than maybe USACO Gold and three-time AIME (with decent scores in two of them). I didn’t want to bog the post down with stuff I didn’t think mattered much.

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Re: UIUC Math+CS - I see what you’re saying. I looked at the 5th year masters info, to see whether that would be a solution to gaining access to additional higher-level CS classes, and it specifically says it’s open only to CS students in the College of Engineering. With all of your advanced standing, you’d be a great candidate to complete a masters without even needing a fifth year, and it would be a shame to be shut out of that option right out of the gate.

Honestly, you are going to do great whether you go to a “reach” or a “safety.” If you scan the resumes of CS faculty at top programs, you’ll see plenty who did their undergrad at schools like ASU, Utah, and Nevada-Reno. CS is very meritocratic and your abilities will show. You’re approaching your search in a very smart, pragmatic way, and I’m sure all will go well for you no matter where you land.

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Good. Iowa State, Illinois-Chicago, ASU, Utah and Arizona are all great choices.

Scholarship estimator updates in progress | ASU Scholarships

Hopefully your 3.74 GPA will become a 3.75 when recomputed by Arizona, but don’t count on it, so 12.5K/year merit should be your baseline. 2022-2023 Incoming First-Year and Transfer Tuition Scholarship Awards | Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (arizona.edu)

You might also want to consider adding University of New Mexico as a super-safety with Amigo (17K/year merit)? Scholarships | The University of New Mexico (unm.edu)

There is no penalty for giving it a shot. I would.

I dont think that you can get cheaper than Alabama. 35 ACT gives you Presidential (28K/year merit): Out-of-State Freshman Scholarships – Scholarships | The University of Alabama (ua.edu)

Do you expect more than 11K/year at Iowa State? Freshman Awards - Illinois | Office of Admissions (iastate.edu)

You had not mentioned it by GT is indeed extremely unlikely without a perfect GPA and would be way over your budget anyway. I think that Northeastern however is potentially doable.

Not aware that Wisconsin is giving merit.

What is the plan for UMass, RPI and Maryland money-wise?

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Two quick things:

The counter to Bama is UAH - in Huntsville, great city, smaller school, and lots of intern opportunities - will be dirt cheap. It’s known for tech…similar to a Missouri S&T. Did you look at Mizzou - I think I labeled you’d go for in-state + $2.5K off if I read right. Also, Bradley, your COA will be under $30K.

As for loans - since you’re parents won’t take part, you can only get $5,500 - so that’s a nice protection - i.e. you won’t go over the top.

Frankly, and you might have some trade offs, but you can go many places for under $45K. Even a big, Sports, Greek school like a Bama, etc. you can always find your crowd.

But check out UAH which in many ways is superior on the CS/Engineering side - it lacks the big sports (theirs is hockey) and extensive greek life.

I’ll throw in another great school although not known for CS - but your parents would save a boat loa of $$ and it’s a great name - Truman State - your tuition alone after scholarship would be $8K - so you’d be out $21-22K.

In the end, that gives your family big time breathing room.

In other words, a mid -size school might suit you better since you don’t want the sports/Greek…if you can save that much $$, maybe it’d be worth it.

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At $38K all in OOS, Iowa State is in budget for the OP with no aid. Since they qualify for the $11K award for Illinois Residents, netting out at just over $100K all in for 4 years, ISU would be my top safety, cheaper than UIUC in state. They have a great college of engineering and unlike UIUC, they have a National Lab. :smiley:

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A four-year BS/MS CS degree is a serious option at some of these places. At Utah if everything went right I could finish it without overloading in 3.5 years! (Never remotely going to plan on that, though.) That’s why probably I’ll apply UIUC CS engineering, even though my odds aren’t great. I’d probably pick a different school over UIUC Math+CS, like one of these BS/MS
programs.

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I see. 9K/year for room & board is pretty incredible. 9K/year only covers the room at a lot of places.

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That 3.74 doesn’t include my three As in concurrent enrollment college classes, so it might? I don’t know how that works.

$14.5k ($2k expedition plus $1.5k for having an ISU grandparent), which makes the net cost $23k or so, same as Alabama with $28k scholarship (unless my math is wrong).

UMass rep that came to my school said they offer $10k-$16k scholarships to a lot of students, and I have well above the weighted GPA average there (even in CS). UMD and RPI, I’ve seen some scholarships here/Reddit that would get it down to $45k, but I don’t know how common those are.

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I don’t know either. That page High School Competency Requirements | University of Arizona Admissions suggests that it might be computed using English, mathematics, lab science, second language, social sciences and fine arts but it is not very clear.

Ah the power of grandparents. I did not see that one coming.

OK. UMD has just opened a brand-new Honors dorm. They might be offering good deals to build up awareness around it. The son of a friend of mine with very high stats in NJ just started there for CS. He somewhat surprisingly did not get into Rutgers Honors and got zero merit at Rutgers, but got into UMD Honors with enough merit that he decided to pick UMD over Rutgers (although UMD was still a bit more than Rutgers in-state). Sometimes it’s hard to predict the future :wink:

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I can’t speak for UMD, but the highest scholarships at RPI are $30K per year. That would hit your number, but their high awards are almost all reserved for Rensselaer Medalists, a junior year high school award given to the top math and science student in that class at their HS (my son was a Rensselaer Medalist).

Nothing against Alabama, but I’d choose ISU every day for those dollars. It has long been a well respected engineering program with a National Lab. My uncle, an academic, department chair and private sector engineer with a Stanford PhD, actually said he felt ISU produced better practicing engineers in undergrad than Stanford. :flushed:

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Look into UTD. They have the largest cs department in the US, and it’s quite nerdy. Your rank will matter, and the GPA may be on the lower side for merit, but even their smallest scholarship comes with an OOS waiver. You would be able to transfer all your DE credits and your APs may end covering the majority of the core requirements.

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