<p>So I made a post about this a while ago but didn't get much of a response, so I'm trying again.</p>
<p>Basically, I'm having trouble seeing myself at any school besides Stanford. Obviously this is ridiculous, since my chances (like anybody's) are low there. But I'm really having trouble choosing other schools. </p>
<p>I know for sure I want to major in CS and do something with computers. So I want a school that's got a pretty strong program in it. I was thinking perhaps Berkeley, but I'm not sure how much I would enjoy it there. Similarly with UWashington, although I might enjoy that more than Berkeley. I want to stay away from absolutely huge schools though, I would prefer more medium sized ones. </p>
<p>I was also considering Rice. It seems like it would be awesome, but the number of undergrads is a bit on the low side of what I like. I don't know if that's an issue though. The main problem I'm seeing with Rice is the weather there. I'm from Alaska, so I'm used to cold weather and would prefer more moderate/warm temperatures than the blazing heat of Texas. Is it really that hot there during the school year?</p>
<p>Can anybody help me out in choosing a school? I just want a good, medium sized school with a good CS program and career opportunities. What schools do you think I would enjoy besides Stanford?</p>
<p>Oh, I should also add that I’d for the most part prefer to stay on the west coast/in the west with the exception of a few top caliber schools in the east.</p>
<p>Can anybody help me out in choosing a school? I just want a good, medium sized school with a good CS program and career opportunities. What schools do you think I would enjoy besides Stanford? </p>
<p>Oh, I should also add that I’d for the most part prefer to stay on the west coast/in the west. </p>
<p>USC - nuff said. If you have the grades ans stats to get into Stanford then you should consider USC to be a match school. If you will be a NMSF and are accepted at USC, you’ll also get a 1/2 Tuition scholarship- which is a nice piece of change these days. A good friend of my sons, from Wasillia, happily went to USC and is now at U of Wash in a Phd program. DS went to USC on a full scholarship after rejection from Stanford and is now at Caltech doing his Phd.
USC can open doors all around the world. Their network is legendary and USC is on a roll.</p>
<p>^A lot of those schools are way too small for me. And I don’t really like LA, so I’m not sure if I’d enjoy UCLA. Maybe I’m just being way too picky though.</p>
<p>I also really like Santa Clara though. Only thing is I can’t find much about how good their CS program is, so I’m not sure if I’ll be getting a good CS education there and if it will give me good career opportunities…although it is right in the Silicon Valley so there’s gotta be some amount of good CS career opportunities.</p>
<p>'Maybe I’m just being way too picky though."</p>
<p>yeah you are. you can afford to be picky AFTER you get accepted at multiple colleges and have the luxury of having to decide where you want to go. Only 5% of NON Athletic recruit, NON URM, NON Legacy, NON DA, NON Stanford professors kids get into Stanford. THAT is the reality. So fall in love after you have the fat envelope, not before. Love thy safety, not the "dream college where you have a 95% chance of rejection.</p>
<p>Honestly I’m not too sure. I’m just from a normal middle class white family. I’m not too concerned with it right now (maybe not as concerned as I should be).</p>
<p>I’m confused, you want to stay on the West Coast yet you seem to dislike all the top programs mentioned above…if this is true then you have to expand your geographical range. You live in Alaska, you will pretty much have to fly to get to any school you choose so why not expand the search. There are so many good CS schools in the Midwest for instance, UW-Madison comes to mind immediately along with UIUC…you might really like Northwestern. Don’t be so picky, broaden your horizons. :)</p>
<p>P.S. Definitely look at Northwestern, it is the size you want.</p>
<p>"I’m not too concerned with it right now (maybe not as concerned as I should be). "</p>
<p>Can your family afford to spend 60,000 per year on your college education? In other words, do they have the money to buy you a new BMW per year for the next 4 years? Better have the “money talk” with your parents right now. Waiting until after you have chosen colleges is way too late. Ask them what they expect and are willing to actually spend on your college education .</p>
<p>Errrr yeah you need to figure out the money thing. </p>
<p>Cal Poly is not small. </p>
<p>Pomona and Harvey Mudd are part of the Claremont Consortium - the five of them make up a sizable population that all interact very freely. </p>
<p>You need to figure out money, especially for OOS publics like UW and Cal - both will expect 55k+ from your family yearly. Run the financial aid calculators on the other schools and see if your parents would be willing to pay. If not, we can help you find schools where you will get a full scholarship. </p>
<p>I second USC, can’t believe I forgot to mention it. </p>
<p>You should probably broaden your criteria - you can be choosy AFTER you’ve been accepted to multiple schools.</p>
<p>How about UW in Seattle? And you should still consider Rice. My son was a CS major there and he had unbelievable research opportunities and great professors. There was a CC poster a few years back that went to Rice from Alaska and loved it, but ended up complaining when the winter temps got below 50 degrees because it was colder than he expected. ;)</p>
<p>One of my roommates when I was at Rice was from Alaska; he seemed to do fine. I’ll agree that Houston can be unpleasantly hot during the summer, but if you don’t spend your summers on campus you’ll miss most of that. The first and last few weeks of school can have pretty high temperatures, but for most of the school year things are really rather moderate.</p>
<p>RPI–Rensselaer (?) Polytechnic Institute–and RIT–Rochester Institute of Technology are good options in the Northeast. If you’re competitive for Stanford, I believe they sometimes give decent merit packages.</p>
<p>You need to talk to your parents about the money. You need to know how much can they contribute, and what are the income and other parameters you need to plug into the net price calculators at college web sites.</p>
<p>If need-based financial aid is insufficient to make the school affordable, then you need a large merit scholarship, not merely admission, to go there. If there are no large merit scholarships available at the school with insufficient need-based financial aid, then it is not really worth applying to.</p>
<p>Most out of state public schools are not very generous with need-based financial aid, although some have relatively inexpensive list prices (e.g. Minnesota, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, Cal Poly). Some do have large merit scholarships available for out of state students, such as President’s at Georgia Tech, Park at North Carolina State, Robertson at North Carolina (and Duke, a private school), National Merit at Texas A&M and others, and the GPA and ACT/SAT based scholarships at the various Alabama campuses.</p>
<p>Duke is the same size as Stanford, has a good Computer Science department, and has nice weather but it won’t be blazing hot like Texas. Check out Vanderbilt, Wash U in St. Louis, and Northwestern though their weather may not be to your liking and I’m not sure of the reputation of their Computer Science departments.</p>
<p>Interesting about the Claremont schools. I knew they were in the same general area but I didn’t know that they were related like that. So is it like one main campus consists of all of them, and the social/campus life functions kind of like they’re one school, but they’re different in terms of actual classes/education, etc?</p>
<p>Also I never really thought about USC. It does seem like it would be pretty nice. I think my cousin-in-law went there for something. I’ve heard that it’s in/near the ghettos of LA though, is that true?<br>
Unfortunately I won’t qualify for that 1/2 tuition scholarship menloparkmom was referring to though. I didn’t qualify for NMSF. I’ll definitely check out USC though.</p>
<p>I’m also liking Rice more and more now. </p>
<p>And about money – my sister is going off to college this fall on a scholarship of $12,000/yr, I believe. So my parents are still going to have to pay for her, which will put a dent in our funds. I also have two younger siblings, one of which will be starting high school this year. Surely that’s gotta count for at least some amount of aid. And my dad has a college fund set up for us, I’m not sure exactly how much but I know it’s a pretty sizable amount. </p>
<p>So the schools I’m liking right now are:
Stanford
Berkeley
UWashington
USC
Rice</p>
<p>It seems like these schools are all pretty competitive though. I think I need some more matches/safeties (hopefully most of these are matches for me though). I’ll need to hear more about the Claremont colleges though, they sound pretty interesting. And how many schools should I try to apply to?</p>
<p>"And my dad has a college fund set up for us, I’m not sure exactly how much but I know it’s a pretty sizable amount. "</p>
<p>Then you need to find out. NOW. before you apply to PUBLIC U’s like Berkeley or U of Washington, who not only do NOT offer FA to out of state students, they RELY on the HUGE tuition $$ that they charge OOS students to help plug the huge financial holes in their budgets. Calif has a 19 Billion dollar hole in its budget and $$ will be cut from all programs, including the UC’s.<br>
ONLY private schools with large endowments have the $$ to help students pay for college. So if you NEED $$- if your parents haven’t saved enough $$ in your college fund to pay $$240,000 + for you AND your younger siblings- then you will need to cast a wide geographic net in search of colleges that have good CS programs AND may want you enough to pay for part of your education.
The time to be choosy is later, when you have choices. Not. Now. </p>
<p>posters on this thread have given you good suggestions.</p>
<p>“It seems like these schools are all pretty competitive though”</p>
<p>yes they are . USC had over 44000 applicants this year.</p>
<p>"And how many schools should I try to apply to? "
I say 12-14. Others will disagee, but as you do NOT have a great instate option, you need more OOS options than most applicants.</p>