Help me find schools?

College Search & Selection
1

Hey everyone, this is my first post on CC (I’ve been lurking here for the past year or so). Could anyone give me a list of schools to possibly consider applying to? I’d like to major in Computer Science. I’m open to any suggestions that could be safeties, matches or reaches for me. I don’t mind going out of state (I live in California) if its for a good school.

GPA: 3.5 UW 3.96 W, 4.1 UC GPA, upward spike. I started high school when I was 12 years old so my GPA got killed. I was also hospitalized after receiving a concussion during water polo practice without a cap.

Freshman Year: C B B C B- B+ / A B- A C B A-

Sophomore Year: B C B A- B- B / A A A+ A+ A+

Junior Year: A A A+ A- A A A+/ A A- A+ A A A- A+

Rank: 49/595, competitive public top 7%ish (weighted)

SAT: 2230 (720M 740CR 770W 11E), planning to retake in December for 2300+

Subject tests: 800 Math IIC 770 Physics

EC’s

Certificate of Merit Advanced Level Piano (10 years)

Robotics Club (4 years, president junior year)

Chess Club (2 years, secretary then co-president)

Student Government Representative (sophomore year)

Student Government Vice President (junior year)

Student Government President (soon to be senior year)

Water Polo/Swim (4 years)

300+ hours TOEFL tutoring at community college

Work for my school’s IT department

Intern at large technology manufacturing and computer engineering company (will be getting a letter of rec from the CEO)

Started a 501 c(3) nonprofit that builds computers for the needy and religious foundations

Tennis out of school (3 years)

Church volunteer, translator, and youth group leader

Awards: National Merit Scholar(?), small poetry competition, nothing special.

Income bracket: 200k+

Ethnicity: Asian/Pacific Islander

I know my options are fairly limited, but I’m still hoping to apply to some more selective schools. Please give input/feedback on how I could improve my application and suggest schools that you think could be a good fit for me.

2

Your ECs and test scores are good and the upward spike in GPA proves that you would do well at most universities, so I wouldn’t say your options are very limited. All I can suggest is the UCs and state schools (CSUs, SDSU, Cal Poly) from what you’ve stated.

We could help you out more if you gave more info (like what you’re looking for in a school and stuff) or a list of schools you’re interested in.

3

@virsha24 My parents are pretty obsessed with prestige and money is no object. I personally don’t care as much, but I also want my parents to be happy with my choice.

I’d like a school that isn’t too cutthroat but is located in an area with abundant internship/startup opportunities and an overall good academic environment. I’d also like the school to have a reputation good enough to get me a job after graduation. I originally wanted to go to Cal but I’ve heard alot of bad things about the school (class sizes, grade deflation, etc.) and I’m probably only going be able to get into the L&S major if any major at all.

4

In addition to the ones I already suggested:
USC (reach)
University of Michigan (low reach)
NYU (high match)
Penn State (low match)

here’s a list of a bunch of schools for CompSci. Even though it says grad schools, its pretty much the same for undergrads too. Any on the first 3 pages are really good schools for what you’re looking for.
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings
The first page is pretty much all reaches but the second has some that could be matches.

5

Thanks for the help. What other colleges on the first page could I apply to as reach schools?

6

UIUC, Wisconsin, U of Washington would all be low reaches and Maryland would be a match.
I would not recommend the others on the front page besides UCs (they’re mostly Ivies) because they might be too much of a reach.

7

bump!