<p>marbles, you're asking for match schools. I'd be curious, what schools are you considering as safeties and as reaches, that might help us.</p>
<p>As my reaches, I have down Cornell University and Brown University. UC Berkeley and UCLA are my slight reaches/matches - or so I'm told by my college guidance counselor. I'll probably have a UIUC, Santa Clara, and BC/BU as my safeties (although I'm starting to doubt whether BC and BU can ever be called "safety" schools).</p>
<p>A slight clarification: My GPA is not 4.25 - that was an error. It is 4.15; I hope that doesn't change some of your opinions.</p>
<p>BU is a safety for those stats.</p>
<p>How are my chances at Brown through ED?</p>
<p>Cheers is right on target. BU is definitely a safety for you. Santa Clara is as well - no problem there. What's your UC GPA? If it's close to your weighted GPA, you have a solid shot at both UCLA and UCB, especially if you're a Calif. resident. I'm curious why you are not including Carnegie Mellon on your list if you're interested in Comp Sci.</p>
<p>The Ivies are Reaches, or a roll of the dice, for you and every other applicant.</p>
<p>If you want assurances or browbeating, you should post on What Are My Chances?</p>
<p>BC isn't a great safety in general, too selective, but although I think you'd have no problem there, I don't think their CS program is that strong. BU is a safety. RPI and Penn State are good safety schools for you with good CS. Also Georgia Tech if you consider Georgia as "East Coast".</p>
<p>One good thing...CS is a little easier to get into than 4 or 5 yrs ago at some schools. I think target schools (realistic but not guaranteed) might be Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon and Cornell. Brown has a good program but is a reach for anyone, and for higher reaches, Princeton and of course MIT.</p>
<p>Thanks for the additional comments.</p>
<p>carolyn: I'm considering Carnegie Mellon but I'd like to do more research on the school before I decide upon it. I'm hesitant about attending a school like Berkeley or Carnegie Mellon (not to criticize their academic excellence), but from what I know, the CS programs are highly competitive and many students fail out within the first semester. High school has already provided a competitive environment, so I'm not looking for too much competition even in college. I'm aware that some may criticize this attitude, since competition is surely going to come and bite me once I get a job, but frankly I would rather attend a CS program which is well-regarded, but not as competitive as UCB and CMU.</p>
<p>Don't know anything about Berkeley's program other than it's top notch. But I have a S at CMU in CS, his last year, so I wanted to correct you about the students flunking out after a semester, at least there.</p>
<p>I've heard the stats from one of the CS advisors at more than one Parents' Weekend, and I can't remember the exact numbers, but each CMU CS class is about 120 or so and very few fail to graduate in CS. I recall numbers like 5 or 6 who don't finish in CS, mostly because they realize it isn't their cup of tea not because they can't do the work. I'm sure some had academic difficulty but the number is extremely small. In a class before my son's only one transfered to a different university, and about 5 got out of CS, transfering into a different school within CMU. They must do the weeding out in the application process. Berkeley may be entirely different.</p>
<p>That's reassuring to hear, 2331clk; thanks for the information.</p>
<p>marbles,</p>
<p>i don't know too much about the current Computer Sci dept at Brown (used to be strong 20 years ago) but I do know that it is a place to find a "less competitive" vibe, yet still very passionate, smart, interested students. I can't think of a school that combines the overall quality & stature with the mellowness any better than Brown.</p>
<p>Brown is hiring faculty like mad and there are more and more opportunities for interdisciplinary study & research. There are very exciting things going on in Engineering & Neuroscience... Go to Brown boards for more up to date info on Computer Science.</p>
<p>If you like Brown best, applying ED is a good idea. Brown wants kids who are the right sort of temperment/maturity match for the school and who really want to be there.</p>
<p>Good Luck.</p>
<p>How about UC Irvine? Very strong CS program and definitely less competitive in feel than UC B. UCSD would be another option.</p>
<p>SBmom: I'm almost certain that I will be applying to Brown (ED) or maybe Cornell (ED). If my parents object to me applying ED since it's binding, I might apply to Georgetown EA. The only hook for Georgetown that I can think of is that I'm Catholic and I attend the 5th or 6th best Jesuit high school in the country (~40% acceptance rate to G'town).</p>
<p>carolyn: I have considered UC Irvine but from my research so far, it seems that UCI is mostly a commuter school (?). In any case, I would prefer to go to the East Coast for college, with UC Berkeley being the only exception to this (and perhaps UCLA and UCSD).</p>
<p>My concern with Georgetown is that while it's an excellent school, I'm not sure how good their CS department is; the only positive aspect that I can think of is that Georgetown is near Bethseda (DC area, in general) and many hi-tech companies are receiving funding for government-related internet security projects. Any thoughts of going to Georgetown for CS (and minor in Economics)?</p>
<p>Marbles,
What I interpret is that you want a "good name" school with good enough engineering, but not a school primarily known for engineering- or the challenges that go with it. This is a reasonable approach if you want to make sure you have a full range of non-engineering options (which might be what you are really saying to yourself..).. There are certainly advantages of going this route, just as there are advantages of taking the plunge and pursuing engineering at a school like Carnegie Mellon, etc...</p>
<p>Look up posts by Evil Robot, currently studying math and comp sci at Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>robyrm: That's exactly what I'm looking for. Right now, I'm very interested in Computer Science, but as always, it's good to play it safe and assume that I may change majors. That's why I'm not necessarily looking for a 'hardcore' engineering program. On the flipside, I don't want to attend school with an unknown engineering program.</p>
<p>From the posts so far and from the preliminary research I've done the past week, I'm planning to look at these schools:</p>
<p>Berkeley
Brown
Boston College
Carnegie Mellon
Case Western Reserve
Cornell
Georgetown
Michigan (AA)
Rochester
Stanford</p>
<p>Marbles: Go to USNews.com. Look up the top 25-35 uiversities. Research them. Choose 6 or 7 that you like. Apply to them. Then, apply to Case Western Reserve and the University of Miami as safeties. They will give you lots of money and have their own respective positive attributes. If only 1-2 of those 6-7 top 25ish schools are HYPSMC, then I'd say you'll get into half. Anything less that HYPSMC and still in the top 25-30ish range is a match for you. Don't let anyone on this board tell you otherwise. Consider EA/ED and whichever school you pick as a top choice. Above all: good luck, godspeed, and have fun picking between some great schools in april '06.</p>
<p>whoops, I didn't see your last post, marbles. That list looks fine...I think you'll get into at least half of those schools.</p>
<p>Marbles,
I think you have a solid list...you might add U. Penn as it meets your criterion as well. Your stats put you in reasonable shape for it (though as an Ivy it is never a true match)...They have engineering and then they have applied sciences which is like "engineering lite."</p>
<p>Also you could probably add UCLA.</p>