Help Finding Comp Sci Schools

College Search & Selection
1

Currently a Rising Senior
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Middle/Upper Middle Class
State: CT
Unweighted GPA: 3.65
Weighted GPA: 4.44
SAT: 1480 Superscored

  • R/W: Test 1: 680 Test 2: 720
  • Math: Test1: 760 Test 2: 720
    Planned Major: Computer Science or something similar

AP Classes:
APs aren’t offered to Freshmen/Sophomores in my school.

Junior Year:
AP Statistics (Received 4 on exam, will report) Also, I am a part of an accelerated math program in my school in which I took the class that the honors kids in the grade above me were taking. Ex. Sophomore year most kids in the Honors track took Algebra II and I took Pre-Calc (Algebra II was freshmen year, etc.)
AP Spanish 5
AP US History (Received 3 on exam, not sure if this is something I want to report)
AP Physics B (Physics I & II)

Senior Year (Signed up to take):
AP Macroeconomics
AP Calculus AB
AP Computer Science
AP Physics C (Physics with Calc)
Spanish 6 Honors (AP version not offered at my school, but generally considered a more difficult class than AP 5)

Note: With the exception of taking Calc AB instead of Calc BC (Both are AP but BC is a full year course and would not fit in my schedule, while AB is only two trimesters) next year, I have taken the most difficult classes offered by my school since Freshmen year, so one of the questions that I’ve had that is difficult to find the answer to is if that was a smart decision. I think that I definitely could have a 3.85 or 3.9 if I had taken one less AP class this year so I could focus more of my time on the others, but I am banking on my weighted GPA making up for my unweighted. If you have any comments, please let me know what you think.

ECs: TL;DR: Active member in community, boy scout, Violist, NHS, Founded/Co-founded several clubs, debate team. I actually had a huge list but I reached the character limit so I had to delete it lol.

So, down to the business. There are a few schools that I know I want to apply to, but I really think that it would be worthwhile to have a few more options, both for safeties and schools that are more of a reach.

Preferences: (TL;DR: Medium size school somewhat close to a city and not in CT with a campus setting)
I live in CT, and I would prefer to go to school out of state. That being said, I am definitely going to apply to UCONN as more of a safety because it would be relatively cheap for me to go there based on the financial aid calculator they provide, if I am going to a safety school anyways.

Money and not having an overwhelming amount of student debt is definitely a concern, but I wouldn’t omit any reasonable place based on price alone. For example, if in some alternate universe I got into Carnegie Mellon with little financial aid, or I could go to Southern (state school) for almost free, I would probably choose CM.

Being close to a city would be nice, and definitely a huge bonus, but I don’t want to be actually in a city, if that makes sense. I’m definitely looking for something with a campus and not so much something like NYU with the campus actually in NYC. Additionally, not being near a big city isn’t necessarily a detracting factor, it’s just a nice bonus if the school is near one.

One of the most important things is the size of the school. The requirements are a minimum of 5k, and a max of 22k. the sweet spot is probably 9k-14k, but anything in the zone is good. For some context, I visited U of Michigan last summer, and even though they do an incredible job of managing it, I couldn’t see myself going to a school that big (~30k undergrads). On the opposite side, I visited WPI which has around 2500 undergrads, which is way too small for me. My high school is around 1200 kids and I definitely want to go somewhere considerably larger than that.

Schools already on my list:

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT): This is definitely my #1 choice right now. Last summer I did an overnight there and I really enjoyed it. One of the best draws it has is that it covers a wide spectrum of what I want to do. In other words, I know I want to do something related to computers, but right now I’m interested in everything from electrical engineering to video game design, and I have no clue what I want to do as a career. The presentation they gave left me with the impression that it would be relatively easy to flip flop majors, especially my 1st year, which is a big plus. Additionally, I like the idea that they have a pretty good art school as well as a great tech school. For something like video game design, or even just plain software development, being able to collaborate with artists would provide me with more real world experience, and the idea of having a school that is just engineers who can’t even draw a decent flower seems like something I’ll only find in a college setting, and won’t fully prepare me for the job market.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI): I guess I would say that RPI would be my second choice, but something about it just seems like it doesn’t click with who I am. The school is on the smaller side of what I want (6k undergrads), which is fine, but not ideal. the campus is definitely beautiful, but when I toured there the guide wouldn’t let us see anything particularly interesting, like a lab or even a classroom that wasn’t a lecture hall. I think that I just got a bad vibe because of the poor quality of the tour/info session, and I definitely am going to visit again before I apply while there are actually students on campus, but I didn’t come home excited to go to college after my visit to RPI like I did after RIT. Plus, RPI is significantly more competitive than RIT from what I understand and I would most likely end up paying significantly more based on their financial calculator than what I would at RIT.

Carnegie Mellon (CM): CM is definitely a huge reach, maybe even unobtainable. I think there are very few scenarios in which I would actually go to CM, but since it is one of the best schools for computer science, I plan on applying in spite of everything I just said. I don’t think it is even worth driving all the way to Pittsburgh from southern CT to visit the campus unless I get in. In short, I’m applying here because of academics and nothing else at this point.

University of Connecticut (UCONN): UCONN is without a doubt my lowest choice right now. To be clear, it is an incredible school, especially for a state school, and they have a lot of great programs. However, I really want to avoid going to a school that’s only an hour drive away from where I live. In honesty, I don’t know a lot about their CS program, but it definitely isn’t one of the main focuses of the school. I would definitely be happy going to UCONN if my other options fell through, especially because I would end up paying next to nothing compared to my other choices, but since it is so close to home and significantly less competitive than the other schools I am applying to, it is my bottom choice by a decent margin.

Again, if you have read all the way to here I really appreciate your time. I’ve tried to include as much detail as I possibly can to help any of you that are trying to help my understand my thought process without being excessive, but if there is anything I missed out let me know and I will reply ASAP.

Side note: The schools I have listed happen to all be in New England, because that is where I live and have a decent understanding of. However, I’ve been looking into schools like Georgia tech and would not be opposed to traveling as far as California. However, I definitely want to stay on the Continental US. Thanks again!

2

The University of Utah would probably be a safety for you and fits all of your criteria pretty well. You would likely be admitted to the Honors College which has great dorms and many small classes.

3

Thanks for the reply! I agree, it meets a lot of my criteria, and would be a great safety. I’ll definitely do some research on this one.

4

A lot of your criteria seem to point towards the University of Rochester. They offer the academic programs you want, and their flexible curriculum would suit you. The campus is traditional, on the edge of the city. Even though UR is very selective, you’d have a good chance of getting in.

5

For the East Coast area I would consider Northeastern, UMass-Amherst, and Stony Brook. All very good with CS, all medium sized. They may all be too close to you though.

For CMU if you truly wanted to go there, I would try going in as ED. One of my kid’s friends got into the SCS school 3 years ago via ED with pretty similar stats though he had a slight hook as a chess master and math savant. They’re not much for giving out any financial aid, so it’ll set you back $72K/yr.

6

I was going to suggest the University of Rochester, too, if you don’t mind a lot of snow. Indiana University could be a safety for you.

7

UT Dallas would also be a safety for you, and you’d likely get some merit too and if you get any merit you will pay instate tuition:-) The campus is located in Richardson, Texas (a suburb in North Dallas) and is very modern and easily walkable. It’s a very techie school that was started as a graduate research school by the founders of Texas Instruments. The have both regular honors program and CS2 (comp sci honors program) pretty much assure all CS majors internships (locally and all around the country) and are very generous with AP credit.

This article gives a good idea of the type of companies that recruit from UTD:
https://cs.utdallas.edu/internships2016/

8

In the SUNY system, Stony Brook, Buffalo, and Binghamton (generally ranked in that order for CS, although Binghamton is the most competitive overall) are all within your size window. Also, SUNY Oswego has about 8K undergrads and is a co-op school with strong arts - if you like those attributes in RIT, then Oswego could be a good safety.

CMU CS probably is out of reach, though you could consider going for a major like CogSci which is still very computation-heavy at CMU. Visiting might be worth the trip if you also visit Pitt, which is literally right next door. Pitt has just under 20K undergrads, and I think your SAT would qualify you for Honors. (Though doublecheck this - I know they superscore for admissions but I don’t specifically know whether that also applies to qualifying for honors.) It’s similar to UConn stats-wise but has a very different vibe. The other reason to visit is that I think CMU is a school whose vibe can feel much different in person than anticipated. This was the case for my daughter, anyway. I would hesitate to hold CMU up as a school worth taking on major debt for until you experience proof-of-concept firsthand.

Miami of OH has under 18K undergrads at the Oxford campus and could have merit potential. I don’t know much about their CS specifically but it seems like the campus life aspect might fit what you’re looking for.

U of Delaware also has around 18K undergrads and is strong in STEM - might be worth a look as well.

I can imagine that your gut might be right about RPI. It has quite a different vibe from the others, in a way that you might not like.

In California, Santa Clara is on the small end of your range (just over 5K undergrads), but it’s very good for CS, with lots of connections in Silicon Valley, and has over 9K students when you include the graduate programs, so it might be an environment you would like.

Are you considering an ED application to RIT? It does sound like a great fit for you.

9

Thanks for the suggestions! I will definitely take a look at University of Rochester. I’m not sure how I missed that one since I’m interested in RIT, plus I’m a big fan of snow. I haven’t looked at Stony Brook, but Northeastern and UMass I know are extremely competitive, and I’m not sure I really have any chance, but I will definitely do some reading. Indiana U and UT Dallas I’ve definitely not heard much of either because of where I am, so I will look into them. Thanks everyone!

10

Alright so I think that as I was writing my reply to the other messages you posted yours @aquapt, so sorry for missing it. The co-op was definitely one of the major programs that I liked at RIT, and if I’m not mistaken RPI as well. Oswego sounds a lot like something I would like, so thank you for that tip.

To be honest, I don’t think that I would want to go to CMU even on the small chance that I got in. While I am looking for a somewhat competitive school, I also want to graduate without pulling all of my hair out, and I don’t think that would be possible for me at CMU. Basically every day I flip flop in my head for reasons why or why not I would want to go, but at the end of the day there are definitely schools that are much better fits for me without a doubt.

U of Delaware seems to also be something I would interested, and it is at a distance that I could probably drive there on a weekend and check out schools around there and Philadelphia as well.

I’ve actually looked at Santa Clara briefly a few times, and I think it is worth looking further into. I think visiting there is out of the question unless I end up applying and being accepted, but I’ve thought a lot about trying to go somewhere on the west coast, if nothing else just to have a different experience than what I know living in CT. Miami of OH is more of the same concept, so I will definitely check them out too.

As far as Early Decision goes, up until I wrote this post my plan was basically to apply for ED at RIT assuming I couldn’t find any other schools that I liked better. However, after getting so many great suggestions from you guys I will probably have to re-evaluate. I definitely still liked a lot about RIT and I think I would be a great fit there, but if I end up liking some of the other recommendations it might be worthwhile to just go for Early Action as to not bind myself to a school that might not offer me the best financial aid package.

Thanks everyone for your great responses, I think I am in a lot better shape than I was at the start of the day :).

11

Maybe it’s my bias since I am a SCU grad and live a few minutes away, but I would consider Santa Clara to be more or less a safety or high match for you. Plus no snow. I think a lot of locals who want to go into CS who don’t get into Berkeley or Stanford or other UCs tend to go to SCU if they have the money or SJSU if they want more value. It is a beautiful school though.

I’m pretty sure you can get into UMass and probably should be ok for Northeastern assuming you show demonstrated interest. My two older ones went to / are going to those 2 respectively with similar stats.

12

How much debt would each college require you to take to pay for it?

13

RIT is a pretty unique school; I can well imagine that it could stand out as your best bet for an ED school, if you have run the NPC an the cost looks like it will work for you.

Oswego definitely has a strong art program in addition to co-op STEM, but I don’t know if they have the same opportunities to blend art and CS that RIT has. (Maybe they do, but it’s an important comparison to make if that is your goal.) Cost-wise it could be a very good value, but make sure the opportunities match what you’re looking for. (And if you’re looking for lake-effect snow…!)

If you really love snow country, you might also look at Clarkson, where you’d be a great merit candidate. Their art and design stuff is hidden in their Communications department, which has a minor that you could add to CS; but it isn’t a full-scope art department so you’d have to see whether it covers your areas of interest or not.

I would have specifically suggested Northeastern for you if I were more optimistic about admissions and cost. My daughter had similar stats to yours - single-sitting SAT was the same as your superscore, and weighted GPA matched yours but unweighted was almost 4.0 - and she got in, but with less than $10K/year merit. (URochester was more generous, and their personalized acceptance letter - a nice touch that they do for everyone - hinted that her music EC’s may have helped with that in addition to her stats - the viola thing could help you there as well.) A single data point is not predictive, of course, but NU’s merit aid tends to be very stats-based; and you’re a guy aiming for CS which doesn’t help the supply/demand equation. However, the CS+Design combined major could definitely be up your alley so maybe worth a try. (Or if you have a strong portfolio and think you would stand out more as an applicant to the College of Arts, Media & Design, you could apply to the Design BFA program and add the CS in later - being very flexible about major changes is one of their selling points.) The student-led design studio highlights the kind of work that NU emphasizes - see how this fits with your interests: https://web.northeastern.edu/scout/

I agree that Santa Clara doesn’t necessarily jump out at me, for you, but as West Coast goes it seemed like the best fit with your parameters. Whether it would be worth coming all this way when you have snowy schools that might be a better fit… hard to say. If you wanted a business component, definitely, but for STEM+art I would think the Rochester schools win.

Utah’s Multi-disciplinary Design program is very cool, their CS and other STEM are excellent, and their Honors College (which you’d certainly qualify for) is innovative. There’s world-class skiing literally half an hour from campus, and yet you have a major city at your fingertips as well. They offer a one-year path to residency, so not only could you expect merit money, but you could also plan on the base price dropping to 24K/year after the first year if you pursue that path. While some of the concerns many students have about Utah can turn out to be unfounded (for example, UofU was ranked among the top 25 LGBTQ±friendly campuses by HuffPo), the relative lack of racial/ethnic diversity is real. Still, it could be a pretty compelling alternative given its strengths and the potential affordability - it might offer the same debt-free potential as UConn while capturing a lot of what you like about the more expensive private U’s on your list.

Philadelphia-area-wise, Drexel rivals RIT for CS+arts co-op programs, but it doesn’t sound like the Drexel level of urban-ness appeals to you. Maybe Lehigh, though?

14

Have you run the net price calculators on for all these schools? You can only borrow $5,500 yourself frosh year, and slightly increasing amounts each year.

15

I’m actually amazed at all of the great comments, so thanks a ton everyone! I did some more research earlier and it turns out SCU is a Catholic school, which wouldn’t really work out since I am Jewish. I certainly am not looking for a Jewish school, but even if they are not super strict on the you have to be catholic thing, it’s just one more thing that goes against it, and there isn’t really a reason to choose them over something cheaper like UCONN or Utah.

As for both @ucbalumnus and @intparent 's comments, I have run the net price calculators for a few of the schools, but not all of them. While it would be naive to say that price isn’t a factor for me, I think the more accurate statement would be that price is going to be more of a factor for me once I get accepted. I would rather apply to all of the schools that interest me and make a decision based on how much financial aid they actually offer me, rather than hope that the estimates that a program gives me is 100% accurate and that I don’t miss out on a great opportunity. Hopefully that didn’t come out as too snobbish, but there are so many factors that go into what I will end up paying to attend college, like scholarships, that I don’t want to rule out anywhere based on price alone, unless that the school is completely absurd in what they are asking (at least compared to other schools, college as it is is absurdly expensive), but I don’t think too many of those schools exist. Also, I’m not sure what you mean @intparent by saying that I can only borrow $5,500 (freshman?) year, so if you could elaborate on that I would greatly appreciate it.

I really appreciate your comment @aquapt , it seems like you took a lot of time in your reply is incredible. Before I address the bulk of the comment, I just wanted to make sure that it is clear that 1. The weather isn’t important to me at all. I definitely love skiing and the snow, and going to school in Utah or Rochester would definitely be cool for that, but as far as it goes for selecting colleges, it’s not super important that those things are there. I’ve considered everything from Rochester (Snowy) to Georgia (Super hot all the time). I don’t think that you necessarily were implying that I needed those things in your response, but I just wanted to make sure it was not one of my priorities necessarily. Secondly (2.), while the idea of having an art school on campus is interesting to me, I’m by no means an artist and don’t want to pursue it as a career, or even something a like minor. What I did like about it was that if I was working on building a video game for example, there would be artists that I could work with to develop character models or UI elements.

I think that Oswego also might be a bit less competitive than what I am looking for, which I think you were pointing at when you said to make sure the opportunities match what I am looking for. I did a quick search on niche.com and both their SAT and GPA range were significantly lower than my scores, and under the 'Will you get in" section it says I rank higher than 96% of accepted students shown, which is based on 1480 inputs. I know that those sites are mostly based on user responses so they might not be completely accurate, but their website listed the middle 50% SAT range as being 1130-1270, which is pretty close to niche’s listing. Clarkson I think is also pretty much off the table because of the 3000 undergrads number.

Northeastern has a similar feeling to me as RPI did. To begin with, I really don’t like Boston at all for whatever reason. It might be because my whole family loves NY teams, but I don’t think I’m a big enough sport’s fan for that to cloud my judgement too heavily. I did actually tour the campus a while ago, as my aunt and uncle met there and my aunt actually was the salutatorian when she graduated, and it is definitely a beautiful campus, but for whatever reason I just don’t really think it’s a fit for me. That combined with the fact that I would almost certainly not receive any merit if I did end up being accepted pushes it towards the back of the line for me. I don’t think that it is out of the realm of possibility, but I would have to visit again to change my mind I think.

On the other hand, I’m liking Utah more and more as people keep recommending it. The residency program sounds interesting and the school overall seems like a great alternative to UCONN. It basically offers the same things that UCONN does with the advantage of being right next to a city and also not being in CT. I’m definitely going to keep doing research and from what I can tell right now they look like a great safety. The lack of diversity is unfortunate, especially since I live in a practically all white town and would like to experience something a little different, but I don’t think it is a turn off.

Drexel is relatively low on my list, because like you said it seems to be right in the middle of Philadelphia. However, a few sites says it has a great CS program and it isn’t insanely expensive, and I could possibly get merit there, so I’ll look into it a bit more. Lehigh actually seems somewhat promising. I only briefly looked at their site, but I’m the Upper 25% of their SAT range, and while their GPA isn’t listed I imagine since it is so competitive that I am a little under their average for that metric. Several sites have said that they have one of the better (top 20) CS programs in the country, which is very appealing to me obviously. There’s only 5k undergrads, which is definitely on the low end, but still within my preferred range, but it is pretty close to both Philadelphia and NYC, which is a plus. I think that as a match/low reach they might end up being a great fit.

I can’t repeat enough how thankful I am for everybody’s contributions! I’ve definitely come away with double or triple the number of viable options than yesterday when I made this post, which is crazy! I’m always open to new suggestions, so if you have anything to say