Good CS School on East Coast and Midwest

College Search & Selection
1

So following are my stats so far. I have a list of colleges already but I want some good matches and safeties. I would prefer that the school be in the Northeast or Midwest.

Demographics

  • Immigrated to the US almost 5 years ago from Pakistan.
  • Enrolled in an above avg. public high school in NYC
  • First generation college applicant
  • Family income <30k

Academics

  • GPA: 96 W; 89UW
  • SAT: 1900 SS; 1860 REG (Retaking in Nov, aiming for at least a 2000)
  • ACT: Will take in December
  • Class Rank: Top 10% of ~900 graduating class
  • APs: Computer Science A (Score: 4)

College Accredited Classes:

  • PreCalculus
  • Digital Art & Design

Extracurriculars (In no particular order)

  • Led a team of teenagers to build a mock company, develop a product and push to market over the summer. Won Audience Choice Award.
  • Attended several hackathons over the past 3 years.
  • Hosting a fairly large (80-150 attendees) next year with possible sponsorship from companies like Deloitte, Twilio, - SendGrid, C4Q, Venmo and Nationwide Bandwidth.
  • Cofounded a company near the end of junior year that has been gaining some traction lately.
  • Part of the school’s Robotics team, designed the robot and competed with other schools as part of the FIRST competition.
  • Adobe certified for Photoshop and Illustrator.
  • Part of school’s chapter of MOUSE Squad, helping the IT staff handle issues around the school.
  • Volunteered for Red Cross for a short while.
  • Will graduate early in Jan’16 instead of June’16 and intern @

Thanks!

2

Large universities:
U Wisconsin, UMass Amherst;
Tech Schools:
RIT, WPI, Stevens, Drexel, UCincinnati (for co-op program), Virginia Tech, NCSU;
LACs: Marist, St Olaf (would be considered URM there),

3

Purdue, Michigan, UIUC, Wisconsin, Northeastern for co-OP.

4

@DrGoogle: do you think stats are sufficient for Purdue, Mich, UIUC, NEU (1860 aiming for 2000, 3.65GPA)?

5

Maybe not Michigan and UIUC.

6

You need either good need-based financial aid or big merit.

Good need-based financial aid mainly comes at highly selective schools, or possibly in-state publics, depending on your state. Check the net price calculator on each school’s web site.

Big merit can be searched for at:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
Also check if your in-state publics have in-state-only big merit.

7

I’m surprised nobody mentioned Stony Brook. Everyone I’ve talked to recommended me to apply there.

8

Stony Brook would be fine for you.

9

Given your income level and stats, you should look at some of the CUNY Computer Science programs. CUNY-City College of New York (CCNY) has a good Computer Science program and the tuition is quite low ($6.5K per year). If you can get your SAT CR+M around 1410 & GPA ~94, Macaulay Honors might offer some attractive options not available elsewhere.

10

Be sure to try the net price calculator on Stony Brook and other schools. Stony Brook is a perfectly fine school for CS, but you need to be sure that it is affordable.

11

So what are you hoping to study? Comp Sci? Engineering? Business? And do you have anything you are looking for in a school besides affordability and NE or Midwest? Do you care if it’s a huge state school or a small LAC? Urban, suburban or small town? Big sports scene, frats, hipster, artsy, intellectual - what kind of environment brings out the best in you as a student and socially? How far from home are you willing to go? The more you know about what you want, the more targeted our recs can be.

12

After financial aid from Stony I’m supposed to pay around $1k but I’m also eligible for the STEM Initiative program which basically gives me a full ride to any SUNY or CUNY school. In fact, in some cases I might have money left over from scholarships/grants.

@N%27s%20Mom My major will be CS. I do not care for size or environment much but it would be nice if it’s near to the city (Manhattan).

13

@DrGoogle With all due respect, where do you think I’m lacking for UIUC?
Though I just checked and they’re not so generous for OOS students :l

14

The [NYS STEM initiative](NYS Higher Education Services Corporation - NYS Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Incentive Program) pays tuition, but not room, board, fees, books, etc. That’s not the same as a full ride. If you’re within commuting distance of a SUNY, it may end up amounting to that at that SUNY branch if you also qualify for Pell and TAP, but the award itself isn’t a full ride.

15

CS at UIUC is incredibly competitive - it’s one of the hardest program at a public university in the nation.

Stony Brook is a given and apparently meets your expectations. :slight_smile:

16

I’ve heard it’s getting very competitive for CS.

17

Unfortunately, UIUC is also expensive with poor financial aid (even IL residents complain about the cost and financial aid, which are obviously worse for non-IL residents). See the net price calculator for UIUC and the other schools you are considering.

18

@austinmshauri I know. I’m sorry I should’ve worded my response properly. I have around $10k in scholarships so far so when I said full ride I was taking them into account too. Stony Brook is near me so I have the choice to not board.

@ucbalumnus I did check and it was quite expensive so I might not apply. Unless something changes in the near future.