Good schools for Engineering and Computer Science?

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>Hey all,</p>

<p>My intended major is Computer Science. If people have been looking at my threads (I suspect some CC fanatics might actually remember this stuff) some might remember I've posted tentative lists of colleges where I am applying. But I won't do that in this thread. I'm asking for schools that have strong programs in Computer Science, as well as Engineering in general. This is so I can get any schools I've missed, without people having to worry about what schools I've already considered.</p>

<p>Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.</p>

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<p>Okay, fine, I guess it's unfair to ask for recommended schools without some stats about me. Copying some from my other thread...</p>

<p>(What's with CC not letting me edit my own posts? Forces me to double post)</p>

<p>Asian Male
Standard public high school, currently a junior
Academic Rigor: Pretty rigorous for my school - 1 AP class last year, 3 this year, and will take 5 next year.
Current GPA: 3.95 unweighted, 4.15 weighted
SAT: Currently 2170, May scores coming in a few days.
ACT: Currently 34, retaking in June.
(SAT Subjects coming after June too)</p>

<p>ECs:
My primary extracurricular activity is FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition. I am a programmer and webmaster on my high school's FRC team and have been a member since I was in the 8th grade. It's truly an amazing program and I really have a passion for it.
Other extracurricular activities include chess team (2 years, but currently not an active member), National Honor Society (1 year), track & field (1 year), all with my school. I also have taken the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) test for two years, and both times have qualified for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME). I am thinking of also joining cross country senior year and will continue the above activities as well.</p>

<p>Volunteer:
On Saturdays I volunteer at a nearby Chinese School as a Teacher's Assistant - grading homework, helping kids with Chinese, that kind of stuff.
Relay For Life - last year, continuing this year, likely will continue next year.</p>

<p>And I suppose I could say a few schools I'm considering so there aren't too many repeats... I suppose the point of this thread was so I could see if posting this in the Engineering Majors board would give me better opinions than the general College Search board. So here goes..</p>

<p>With the exception of University of Washington, large public schools (20k+ or something like that) will not be considered. That rules out Berkeley, UIUC, UMich, UT, Purdue, unfortunately... but that's the way it has to be.</p>

<p>Uber Reach:
MIT
Stanford
Princeton</p>

<p>Better chances but still reach because I feel uncomfortable calling these schools matches:
Caltech
Cornell
CMU
Northwestern</p>

<p>Match:
Cal Poly, SLO
Rensselaer (Someone give me an opinion on this one? I am currently doubting its CS and thus am thinking of removing it, but not sure if I need another match in its plece...)</p>

<p>Safety:
Georgia Tech
U of Washington (In state safety if all else fails)</p>

<p>Need opinions:
Case Western, Johns Hopkins, anything else you can think of.</p>

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<p>wow, very strong application you'd have there, unless you really screw up the essays, you'll get into some awesome schools. I guess since you're not considering big public schools, you might want to add Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. I'd switch the schools in your "safety" to match, and "match" to safety, though all 4 of those are safeties for you. </p>

<p>I think you'll get into one of the top schools you applied too, but, just in case, you might want to consider Rice just to increase your chances of getting into a solid private eng school. I think your ec's are a bit less (though very good) so schools like CMU, Rice, and maybe Northwestern are ones i'd call closer to "matches" and Rice falls in that range. </p>

<p>other than that, gluck man</p>

<p>oh and, you CAN edit your posts.</p>

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<p>"With the exception of University of Washington, large public schools (20k+ or something like that) will not be considered. That rules out Berkeley, UIUC, UMich, UT, Purdue, unfortunately... but that's the way it has to be."</p>

<p>haha, you sound like a really good guy. </p>

<p>Your ECs aren't anything special, your scores are too low for caltech. </p>

<p>You'll probably get into Johns Hopkins, CMU, Georgia Tech. Columbia is a very numbers based school, they might like you. </p>

<p>MIT/Stanford/Princeton-i don't see it happening, you are in the Asian pool, and your numbers aren't spectacular.</p>

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<p>if you consider MIT and Princeton to be uber reach, caltech goes with them IMO.</p>

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<p>xjis: Okay, fine, I was somewhat arbitrary... and yeah, I guess if Caltech is part of the HYPSMC group, then it's probably an uber... I'm beginning to think applying to four of the six might end up in a result I don't like...</p>

<p>keefer:</p>

<p>"haha, you sound like a really good guy. " Lol, why's that? Hahaha, I like knowing people instead of being lost in the sea of 20k undergrads. HMC is actually starting to look good due to that aspect.</p>

<p>I'm aware that my ECs might not be the best. The leadership opportunities seem a bit weak. However, I think they are passable because FIRST Robotics has really given me a passion for math, science, technology, which improves my fit with the schools I'm considering.</p>

<p>And I'm getting updated SAT scores back in three more days, so maybe my scores will be good enough then.</p>

<p>Sure, I hear people saying I have good chances at Cornell, JHU, Northwestern, etc... but with the lowering admit rates and the fact that the class of 2009 is even bigger than that of 2008, I sometimes really worry about myself!</p>

<p>Well, I can hope right? That's why they're in the uber reach category. I'm probably going to EA MIT and see what happens.</p>

<p>My worry is that my list is too top-heavy. I seriously don't want to risk rejection from every single school. That would be... I don't know. I think I am going to do more picking...</p>

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<p>You could try sorting your schools by date/deadline. If you EA to MIT then you can also EA to Cal Tech and I think Case Western. If you get in EA to MIT or CalTech then you could just stop there or at least not apply to so many RD. What is the deadline for U of Washington? If it's rolling then you could also receive an early answer there which would help with the stress.</p>

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<p>You'll easily get into Cal Poly SLO. I'd imagine that you'd also easily get into any of the other California publics.</p>

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<p>Hmm... so the situation is, I probably will not add Case Western and JHU to the list, but will add Rose-Hulman, to round out the lower-selectivity schools in case absolute disaster strikes with the uber reaches and reaches.</p>

<p>So yeah, I will probably take MIT and CalTech EA and see if I can get into either of those. If so, I can forget my safeties/matches and just apply to other reach RDs to check out financial aid (which is something I need to take into consideration). If not... meh. I still need to trim this list down, because right now I'm looking at 7 common app schools and 5 non. Will talk to guidance counselor on Friday...</p>

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<p>I'll chime in for Rensselaer</p>

<p>RPI is a solid school. I visited the school last year and was quite impressed (I am a computer science major) and also they give pretty good merit aid.</p>

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<p>MIT</a> Admissions: The Match Between You And MIT
For MIT you might want to check out this link about what they are looking for in an application. "Making the world a better place" seems to be their number one priority.</p>

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<p>I would look at Rose Hulman - smaller school for engineers</p>

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<p>Haha, cheezwhiz, you are the one who PM'd me about Rose-Hulman. Yes, I will re-add it because you have addressed the concern that made me remove it.</p>

<p>dsultmeier: Thanks, will be useful.</p>

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<p>Try looking at Carnegie Mellon, UT-Austin, GTech, Caltech, Stanford and MIT</p>

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<p>


</p>

<p>Hey, good schools. In fact, those schools are so good that they were already on my list! =D</p>

<p>Except for UT Austin... but I don't know about UT Austin... big publics do not really appeal to me.</p>

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<p>You might also want to look into Rice.</p>

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<p>Hah, I admit, I was kind of biased against Texas when I didn't consider Rice, wsn't I? Rice looks all right for computer science. Think I will take the suggestion to heart.</p>

<p>UBER REACH:
MIT
Stanford
Princeton
Caltech</p>

<p>REACH:
CMU
Cornell
Harvey Mudd
Northwestern
Rice</p>

<p>MID:
GA Tech
Rensselaer</p>

<p>SAFE:
Rose-Hulman (? Might get taken off because I might only need UW...)
U of Washington (In-state serves as financial and admission backup)</p>

<p>A bit pessimistic with my classification? I probably could move a few schools down some...</p>

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<p>nah. you are actually very conservative with your list. i'm sure you will get into at least half of your reaches with your stat. </p>

<p>you don't want to settle down for schools in your MID list if you are truly looking into getting into the most selective school you can get, cuz your stats can definitely do better than that.</p>

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<p>Heh, by pessimistic I did mean overly conservative, yes. So same thing.</p>

<p>Yeah, unlikely that I'm going to go to a mid school unless I receive mass rejections from the more selective schools on the list, because for the most part I like all of those schools better than the two mid schools.</p>

<p>More good news that helps me out in my college chances, methinks: new SAT scores from May testing session.</p>

<p>750 Reading
780 Math
800 Writing
2330 Composite</p>

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<p>wow congrats leftylink! With those scores, you'll have a good shot at any of the schools on your list (even the "uber reaches").</p>