<p>I'm in my senior year in high school and decided I REALLY needed to start looking into colleges. I currently live in Las Vegas, Nevada and I definitely want to go to a college out of state, but still want it to be in the West Coast. I'm thinking Utah or Arizona, but would definitely consider other states in the west coast. At first I just looked for colleges that offered what I wanted to major in (I'm thinking something to do with Video Game coding/programming, or just coding in general), but then after talking with some friends other things came into my head like parties, dorms, living, etc and it made this process a lot harder.</p>
<p>Let me start off by saying my grades aren't so high. I have about a 2.5 right now, got a 1480 on my SAT and a 21 on my ACT. I am more on the shy side and think moving to a smaller city/town would be better for me, I also am definitely not the party type at all. I did have some schools that I found interesting, but then I did the 'search' on this site, and they all kinda got less and less matched for me. One of the main schools I had in Mind was NAU (Flagstaff Arizona), but am having second thoughts now if that would be a decent school for me. Does anyone have any recommendations, or anything else I should say that could help?</p>
<p>The very first thing you need to figure out is how much you and your family can afford to pay each year. NAU, for example, would cost you $12,000 a year in tuition (through the Western University Exchange agreement, as you live in Nevada), another $7-8k or more for room and board on campus, and a few thousand more for books, living expenses, and transportation. What is your budget for college?</p>
<p>You should also check to see if you meet the school’s admission requirements. NAU asks for a 2.5 GPA in high school academic core courses. Check to see if you meet those requirements. Have you asked the college counselor at your high school what they recommend for you?</p>
<p>The college search function here on CC is useful, but it’s not always right. Don’t let that stop you from checking out schools that you’re interested in.</p>
<p>2.5 GPA and 21 ACT and 1480 SAT (if it is all three parts) can make it tough to get into a four year school as a freshman. Those stats barely make it into the least selective California State University for [in-state[/url</a>] applicants, but the [url=<a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU]out-of-state[/url</a>] thresholds are significantly higher, so it not worth applying to any California State University, unless your [url=<a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU]CSU</a> freshman admissions GPA](<a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>GPA Calculator | CSU) is much higher than 2.5 so that you are eligible as an out-of-state student.</p>
<p>At the level of selectivity you are looking at, you may want to check for an [ABET</a> accredited](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx]ABET”>http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx) computer science degree program to ensure a minimum level of quality. Note: ABET accredited computer science degree programs can be found at NAU and ASU in Arizona, UNR and UNLV in Nevada, and USU, SUU, and UVU in Utah.</p>
<p>You may also want to consider starting at a community college and then transferring to a four year university; if you do well in community college, you may have more options of schools that will accept you.</p>
<p>Note also that majoring in computer science requires being able to handle math.</p>
<p>As for the funds part, me and my family will be able to handle it. My family even recommended that I look into NAU so I don’t think they would have a problem with the cost. </p>
<p>They do list that you need a 2.5 GPA or greater to join, and I’m just barely making that. They also say:</p>
<p>“Home schooled students must provide a high school transcript and ACT or SATI composite test scores. ACT score of 22 (Arizona resident) or 24 (non-resident) or SATI score of 1040 (Arizona resident) or 1110 (non-resident).” </p>
<p>Is the SAT the same as the “SATI”? Or should I just not even worry about that since I am not homeschooled?</p>
<p>I will look into those Abet accredited computer science degree programs and exactly everything I will need to know about them. </p>
<p>Also, I didn’t have the possibility of community college out of my mind yet. What should be my next step of action? Would it be a good idea to apply to NAU and any other schools that interest me now? Just in case?</p>
<p>“SAT I” typically means SAT Reasoning. [url=<a href=“Find an NAU Admissions Officer Near You | Admission”>Find an NAU Admissions Officer Near You | Admission]NAU[/url</a>] says that “The writing portions of the ACT and the SATI will not be used by processing test scores for admission.”, so the SAT score are presumably CR+M, not CR+M+W. It also says that a 2.5 GPA applicant will be considered for admission (i.e. not guaranteed).</p>
<p>Check the application deadlines for each school (NAU does appear to have generous deadlines). It is already rather late in the application process, so you may not have too many options if you are a senior now. If the school is still open for applications, be sure to check whether you have a realistic chance of admission based on stated criteria.</p>
<p>But also check to see when your local community colleges open their schedules. In some places, community colleges are heavily oversubscribed, so students rush to register for classes as soon as the schedules open. Check articulation agreements with your state universities so that you take the needed courses at community college for transferring to computer science.</p>
<p>I do have a question when it comes to community college. Would there be any problems with me applying for a community college out of state? Or would you not advise that? I wouldn’t have a huge problem if it would be better to stay in state, just something inside me thinks moving would be good for me. Then again community college for a year or two and then moving to a uni doesn’t seem like a bad move. What are the benefits exactly of going to community college for a year and then going to somewhere like NAU afterwords?</p>
<p>A community college may charge a significantly higher tuition to an out of state student. An in state community college should be very inexpensive for the first two years of school before transferring to a four year school as a junior.</p>
<p>If you mean applying from an in state community college to an out of state four year university, you may have to check whether there is an articulation agreement between them so that you know what courses will transfer. If not, then you won’t really know until your community college work has been individually evaluated for transfer credit.</p>
<p>I’ve heard fantastic things about NAU on these forums. Lots of people like it due to costs because of the western univerisities agreement.</p>
<p>But my experience, I was similar to you. I had low grades and actually ended up dropping out to work full time. I ended up at two CC. First one was City College of SF, which at the time was horrible. I felt like I was in high school all over again. I didn’t know what major I wanted to do it totally put me off. So I sat out for a year. Moving around I ended up at De Anza College in Cupertino CA (Silicon Valley) which was a total night and day. That campus feels like your at a UC. I also had similar interest in coding, and the classes taught me a lot. I actually took at 5 programming classes got to data structures and my mind just burnt out. The programming and math is super rigorous. You really have to have a passion. I switched to CIS but somehow after transferring even changed again. I ended up transferring and graduating with a degree in Business Administration emphasis on International Business from San Francisco State University.</p>
<p>Lesson don’t be so dead set on a specific degree you’re young. Tons of people change. When you young the idea of coding games sounds sooo awesome, reality of it to me atleast was that it was mind numbing.</p>
<p>Second lesson, each CC is different. Depends on the environment, you definitely want to visit them and get a vibe. Try sitting in on a computer programming class see if it does anything for you. It’s like dipping your toe into a pool to see how cold it is.</p>
<p>Thank you for the info about the community colleges, I will definitely look into them and try to visit a few campuses. I actually have visited a community college campus (ITT TECH) in Las Vegas before, but I didn’t really ask as many questions as I should have. </p>
<p>Also, I have been doing some research on other CC’s in state and out of state and found some ones I’d like to visit.</p>
<p>I am very aware that Computer Science is a very challenging major, but I feel like if I stick to it I will be able to succeed in it. I know I’m young and the thought of making games does sound cool, but I’m also aware of how challenging it is. I am trying to learn as much as I can about programming and getting down the basics as soon as possible - I actually ordered a book for coding in Python that is coming tomorrow, which will hopefully help me gain better knowledge of coding in general and also teach me a few things that pass over to different languages.</p>
<p>Honestly, apart from computer science I’m really not sure what I would want to major in. But I will keep my mind open to the alternatives for sure.</p>
<p>Yups definitely does not hurt to visit your local community college. I have no idea about Nevada. But in CA if you are a high school student, while attending high school classes at community colleges are usually free. They offered to have my son take a class at CCSF for free. You might want to look into that. Maybe take an intro programing class. Most of the time its Intro to Programming in C.</p>