Help finding safeties/matches for CS

College Search & Selection
1

Hi! This is my first post to CC, but I’ve been lurking around here a while… I’m trying to find safety and match schools for CS, as my list has too many reaches right now.

Here are my stats:
Asian female, California
4.0 UW, 4.375 W, UC GPA uncapped is 4.6
1570 SAT
SAT Subjects: Bio 800, Math 2 800
APs: APCS, AP Chem, AP Lang. Taking BC Calc, AP Lit, AP Macro, AP Stats senior year.
ECs:
Figure skating (10 years) - super high commitment. Regional champion at my level for the last 2 years.
Coding (~9 years) - Lots of coding experience. Lots of long term personal projects (apps, websites, Alexa skills, smart mirror). Won Congressional App Challenge in 2017 and awards at 2 hackathons.
Web developer at a nonprofit which helps organize hackathons.
Software Development Internship at non-profit (last summer).
Upcoming software development internship at tech company.
Clarinet (5 years) - played in two orchestras, freshman and sophomore year.

Strong preferences: Near a big city (<1 hour away), left-leaning/liberal, strong CS program
Weak preferences: Ideally gender ratio for CS is not too out of whack, small/medium size

Cost is not an issue, and I will not qualify for financial aid.

Schools I’m looking at:
Reach: Harvard (both parents attended Harvard undergrad), MIT, Mudd, Tufts, Rice
Match: Cal Poly SLO, Brandeis, UIUC, UW, U Mich
Safety: WPI, Rose Hulman
Will be applying to almost all of the UCs.

Thanks for all your help! Sorry if the post is too much of a chance me.

2

That’s a very well thought out list. Be sure to include UC Santa Cruz on your UC app. Also in the Silicon Valley area, consider SJSU and Santa Clara University.

3

You have a great list and higher than average chance of admits to your reach schools.

4

Does “almost all of the UCs” include UCSC, UCR, and UCM?

Students who exclude those three UCs in their UC application list are more likely to be disappointed in their UC results, especially for CS or engineering majors. However, if your have a 4.0 unweighted GPA in hard courses, your chances are better than most.

UIUC and Washington are significantly more difficult to get into the CS major than the school overall.

5

your list seems a bit weird. A lot of schools that aren’t really top-notched at CS that given your stats, you should be able to do better. Is there a reason that you chose the schools that you chose (other than Harvard)? Or random?

As far as top CS schools goes that fits your qualifications (in or within an hour of a big city, liberal):
Top tier, the Big 4: MIT, Stanford, CMU, UC-Berkeley
In the Top 20: Michigan, UDub, GTech, Northeastern, UCLA, UCSD, UMD, Columbia, Penn
Throw in Harvard and Princeton.

I wouldn’t bother with any other school not on these lists. Others are going to tell you to have safeties which is always a good idea, but you’ll get into many of these schools on the list. If anything, you can use the other UCs as safeties. You probably shouldn’t apply to more than 12 schools anyways.

6

That’s patently silly.

Just as @ucbalumnus said about UIUC and UW, admission to CS at Cal Poly is exceedingly competitive. In the last several years they have received over 5000 applications for about 100 CS slots. Make sure you read the CP supplement to the CSU application CAREFULLY. They admit by algorithm. Part of that algorithm includes high school math and language classes taken in middle school. Every year students with very high stats get rejected because of carelessness in their application. Leaving off those math and language classes significantly impacts the MCA score. Errors in the application are not considered legitimate grounds for appeal.

Choosing a school is FAR more about where you think you’ll thrive based on the criteria YOU deem important rather than where they rank. Students with your HS achievements are well known to be very successful no matter where they go, even if it’s an unknown state school

Good luck.

7

Why would northeastern be there but not other schools? ?

8

Northeastern is ranked in the top 20 for CS by most criteria.

What happens in these types of threads is that everyone under the sun will suggest schools and then the OP will regret asking the question to begin with. I’ve come up with a specific set of schools based on OP’s criteria for which to choose schools. There may be 50 to 100 schools that ultimately may be perfectly fine for the OP, but at the end of the day the OP isn’t going to apply to 50 to 100 schools. The OP isn’t going to get shut out of every single school that I mentioned.

9

@ProfessorPlum168, The OP obviously has SOME interest in non-PhD granting institutions or they wouldn’t be on her list. If rankings are important why throw out Rose and Cal Poly? They are tied for #1 for computer engineering (the closest proxy CS because USNWR does not rank CS for schools that don’t grant doctorates). Why throw out HMC, one of the most respected and unique small technical schools in the country? Your list feels like a regurgitation of USNWR CS rankings throwing out the ones not in big cities. The OP has thankfully thought about it more deeply than that.

Now to the OP, you have some other things to consider, weather, size, ease of getting back to CA and where you might ultimately want to work for example (even at the biggest names, recruiting is skewed to local companies).

As much as I like Cal Poly and know how strong its CS, SE and CompE programs are, and what a great deal it is for CA residents, it is not within an hour of a major metropolitan area. Students who tend to be disappointed, and they are rare, are those who “can’t find anything to do.” they aren’t into the beach and outdoors.

Lastly, visit as many as you can. The process is very illuminating.

10

Congratulations on having strong credentials for CS. As for the UCs, I am betting that you will be offered a Regents Scholarship at UC Davis and UCSB at the very least, and that you will also be accepted to UCLA and Berkeley. But I agree with others that you still should throw in UC Santa Cruz anyway as a safety since it is not that much extra trouble.

11

I tend to agree that a few on your list like WPI is really way way under your level. Rose Hullman is only easy for you to get in because you are Asian and female, but I might not apply there for CS, even though its ranked AHEAD of Harvey Mudd for small techy school without a PhD.

Look at GaTech and apply by Oct 15, their nonbinding EA date. Its a smaller public school with academics similar to UIUC, but much easier to fly directly to Atlanta from CA than flying to Central Illinois.
If you are applying to all the U of Cals, you are guaranteed one. I like Santa Barbara much much better than Santa Cruz. Leave Cal Poly on there, I think you may get in, as less Asian Americans apply there, even though CS is so difficult for in state kids. Less Asian Americans apply to Cal Poly as its not a PhD granting research school, but I think it is worth a look, especially if you want to work in California, you will have your pick of jobs from Cal Poly. There is good mentoring at Cal Poly for all students in spite of its large size. Follow the rules carefully for documenting your middle school classwork as eyemgh suggests.

What about Harvey Mudd College? Its more kids with your stats, very small and leads to both PhD or top job in CS.

12

Can’t believe UT-Austin hasn’t been mentioned yet, so… UT-Austin. Biggest tech hub away from west coast, and nicer than than west coast (IMHO).

13

Its very hard for OOS students to get into UT Austin for computer science. Practically impossible, but I know a Colorado student similar to OP who got a reject and called UT Austin admissions and got in due to a protest! He chose Carnegie Mellon over UT but he initially got a REJECT at UT. It happens to the best OOS students.

14

UT Austin and Georgia Tech both have good CS offerings but are increasingly difficult, but not impossible, to gain admission for OOS applicants.

15

Either out-of-state or CS would make UT Austin a reach (not match or safety that the OP is looking for). An out-of-state applicant for CS should consider it a reach, obviously.

16

Any reason why CMU or Georgia Tech is not on your original list?

17

UT Austin accepts about 8% OOS students, while schools like U of Maryland, Purdue, GaTech, UIUC accept a much larger number of OOS students.
https://admissions.utexas.edu/explore/freshman-profile
I think for CS the OOS % may be a tad lower so it not usually worth while for a CA student to apply to UT Austin.

18

Statements like this: "I tend to agree that a few on your list like WPI is really way way under your level. " are part of what drive me nuts about CC. Ignoring WPI because stats are above their median, maybe even well above, completely misses the fact that there is no other school in the US like WPI. From their 7 week, three class terms to their unparalleled study abroad for engineers to their not one, but always two and sometimes three qualifying projects, no other school is remotely like WPI. It may or may not be a fit, but dismissing it out of hand due to a persons stats is extremely shortsighted.

19

WPI is also impossible to fly to easily from California. Worcester is getting better, but a dangerous feel city with not so nice bus stops. I don’t see the seven week terms as serving a person with very high test scores at all. I don’t like
WPI for some valid reasons, including that the math is too watered down. WPI pretends that engineering is all “hands on” but its just not. Students need to learn the theory and students need to study longer than seven weeks to learn a subject. WPI also does not do research justice.

I don’t feel that way about Cal Poly, but WPI is not a fit for really bright students, in my opinion, like OP.

Thats what College Confidential is all about OPINIONS!

@eyemgh take a chill pill.

20

@eyemgh Look up the train schedule from South Station to Worcester MA. Its truly a pain. I take buses all the time from South Station as my mom lives in Barnstable, so very familiar. Yes, you can get from Logan to South Station
and South Station to Worcester MA but try to figure out how many hours OP will spent on a plane, train and bus! Its nine hours from most California addresses, unfortunately. To me thats a deal breaker. But the weak math is another deal breaker for WPI for OP.