Help with College List - Computer Science major

College Search & Selection
1

I have been reading these forums for the past few years and learned a lot.
Daughter is a current junior with interest in Computer Science major. Right now she thinks she wants to work with user interface / front end work. I started to look for colleges that have the Human computer Interaction major but when I showed her the curriculum for Human computer Interaction at RIT she didn’t relate to the psychology courses.
A bit of background - DH and me are NJIT graduates in Chemical and Electrical Engineering. We are not familiar with how to match the college fit to child and specially which college is better in which aspect.
My initial list started with colleges within 5-6 hour driving distance due to her anxiety, which is no longer a requirement as she is comfortable going far now

Stats-
GPA- 4.0 unweighted / 4.3 weighted
SAT 1490, will repeat in March
ACT 34

Current courses - Calc BC, AP Computer Science Principles, French honors, US history honors, English, Physics honors and Choir
Next year’s tentative courses - Math ? not sure yet to do dual enrollment or go with Calc3 and Differntial Equations offered at her school, Physics-C, AP Computer Science A, AP French, AP European History, English, Choir
We only focused on AP courses that would give her college credit.

ECs
She has done classical Indian dance for the last 6 years with a solo graduation program (3 hours) last summer. She helps with teaching dance to younger students once a week. Participated in various dance dramas and performances.
Mock Trial - participated as witness last 2 years
Neuroscience club- Her friend started this club last year and she is the treasurer.
voluntary work - summer art camp for kids - 2 weeks last summer
Counselor at temple summer camp - 1 week last summer
Summer pre-school for special needs kids - 3 weeks summer 2016

she does not have any ECs related to Computer Science, it is a recent choice.
Math honor Society, National Science honors Society, applied for National Honors Society

Colleges on our list so far -

High Reaches -
CMU - I don’t think it’s a right fit for her but DH wants us to consider it, plus it has the Human Computer Interaction focus
UPenn - Initially we were not looking at any Ivys but I really liked the CS program here

Reach
Georgia Tech - I didn’t think it is a good fit for her as I heard the program is really tough
UIUC

Not sure Match or Safety
Northeastern - visited last weekend, really liked it
University of Pittsburg
University of Delaware
University of Maryland-College Park
Virginia Tech
University of South Carolina - Columbia

NJ Schools
Rutgers
NJIT
Stevens

Thanks

2

There are a lot of schools with very good computer science programs. There are also quite a few jobs in CS. Some comments on specific schools, with the understanding that I will miss some (and others I am sure will correct our omissions):

CMU is very good. I have heard that UIUC is very good but haven’t happened to work with anyone from there. GT is also very good but yes it is tough. Of course MIT and Stanford and Caltech are excellent and even tougher and very hard to get into. Virginia Tech is very good. UMD is very good. I have worked with several people from Rutgers who were all very good. I have heard good things about NJIT and Stevens.

I work with a lot of people from UMass Amherst who speak well of it, and several of them are really excellent. U.Michigan is very good. Waterloo in Canada has a very strong reputation in computer science.

3

As the parent, have you done your financial planning to know what you can comfortably afford to contribute without compromising your retirement or younger siblings’ college money (if there are younger siblings), and run the net price calculator on each college’s web site to check affordability?

The financial planning is the #1 thing that the parent needs to do, so that the application list will not result in wasted effort on applications to colleges that cannot be affordable, and so that applications to colleges that are only affordable with merit scholarships are assessed reach/match/safety based on the needed scholarships, not just admission.

4

“We only focused on AP courses that would give her college credit.”

This will vary by college and sometimes by major. Some schools will give you placement, some will give credit. It also may depend on the scores. Many schools have this information on their website.

5

@DadTwoGirls Thank you for your response, I will look into UMass-Amherst

@ucbalumnus We will not qualify for financial aid, but we are fortunate to be able to afford wherever she decides to go. Until last year I had thought to apply only to colleges that gave merit aid. Reading countless threads here and talking to few friends and family we have changed our thinking a bit so she can chose to go to the best college she can get into.

@MA2012 thank you for your comment, I noticed each college is different in their math and science requirements and what AP credit they give for.

6

You might want to check out U of Rochester and Case Western.

7

Then there is no reason to be picking schools for this major 11-12 months before apps are due.

Let her do some programming or web development and see if she really likes it. There will still be plenty of time to do so and you’ll know she isn’t making decisions just to join the bandwagon (the way every 5th post here was how to prepare to work on Wall Street or at a top law firm a few years ago; now CS is the hot hand to play).

The cost of her doing so is zero unlike a kid with an interest in fusion physics (recent post) or some other field where it requires access to expensive equipment to get a feel. You have a PC already, the software needed is free, there are books and online courses (many of which are also free). After a few months of this if she is still interested then it’s time to look for CS programs and she’ll have something to mention on her apps to boot. And if she isn’t willling to do this now then you have a gauge of her interest in the field.

8

To shoot for top schools, I suggest the following:

  1. Try to do well on AP CS, and AP Calc BC.
  2. Take MV Calc next year and continue to push her math. Don’t get distracted by AP Stat.
  3. Explore EC’s during school and for summer that are CS related and help differentiate her. Preferably, try to build on what she is learning in AP CS, instead of learning a new language for example. Showing some depth is preferable.
  4. They won’t care about her having a lot of different EC’s so she can narrow her focus a lot. They are looking for depth in EC’s that fit with her interests and make a cohesive story.

jmho

9

Post-calculus-BC math may depend on availability. Preferably, good college courses will be available that will be accepted for transfer credit at most colleges she may eventually attend.

As a CS major, any of the following could be useful and potentially transferable, so availability and scheduling convenience at local colleges can be a factor in choosing between them:

  • Discrete math -- generally required in CS majors.
  • Probability and statistics (calculus-based) -- commonly required in CS majors. (note: AP statistics is not calculus-based and is unlikely to be accepted for subject credit in CS majors)
  • Linear algebra -- commonly required in CS majors, though may be combined with differential equations at some colleges (so both linear algebra and differential equations would need to be taken to transfer subject credit to those colleges).
  • Multivariable calculus -- generally required in engineering-based CS majors, although many good CS major degree programs are not engineering-based.
10

@mikemac So the choice for major started with finding something math related, She hated Biology, so no health care majors. She is good with Physics but none of the Engineering majors appeal to her. She took Accounting last year, although she was good at it she didn’t see herself doing that everyday. She loves building with legos, and is very crafty so she needed to find something creative. Architecture didn’t fit as she is not an artist. She is smart and intelligent but not that driven or motivated to do things outside the classroom. Last year I tried teaching her python just to see if she enjoyed the problem solving aspect of CS. She does like it but after one or two lessons has never asked for more. Let’s say there were always better things to do, plus she was really busy with 3 hour dance practices on top of the school work. The goal after midterms is for her to find things related to CS on her own.

11

@ucbalumnus Is it better for her to do MV Calculus next year but also repeat it in College ? I heard the school calculus is not as rigorous as some of the colleges. We have a community college very near to us so she could do dual enrollment, just the timing has to work out.

12

Check out “Information Science” at Cornell (offered in multiple schools within the uni).
Also Northeastern University. Comp Sci does not usually offer so much focus on HCI.

13

If a transferable course at the community college works out schedule-wise, that may be more useful than a high school multivariable calculus course that will not transfer.

For at least your in-state publics, you can look up the CS major math requirements and then look up the transfer credit web pages to see what math courses at your community college match up to the courses that fulfill the CS major math requirements.

14

My friend’s daughter is a freshman science major at U Penn. They didn’t accept any of her AP classes for credit.

15

http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/freshman-admission/externalexamcredit indicates that Penn does offer credit units, subject credit, and/or advanced placement for some AP scores (mostly 5 needed).

16

Suggestion from a working software developer: Don’t look for CS schools specifically based on their HGI or “front end” programs. Look for good, solid CS programs at schools that are great fits for her. It’s important for her to be in a place that will suit her academic and social strengths, but in addition, she should go in to CS with an open mind about the field as a whole. She may discover her passion in some other specialty which she hasn’t yet been exposed to yet. Employers value new grads who are solidly grounded in the full stack. If she really does want to focus on front end, there will be tons of opportunities for her to do so.

17

@Otterma thank you for the solid advice. I started looking at Northeastern due to the combined majors and computer Science/Interactive Media seemed like a good fit for her. When I compare the course requirements I see that the combined major will lose some depth. Right now I am thinking of solid CS programs where she can add the HCI component with electives if she is still interested at that time.

Any help is deciding which colleges are a match and safety would be highly appreciated.

18

Focus on the kind of college experience that your daughter wants. A great CS education with excellent job and/or grad school placement can be found in all types of colleges and in all parts of the country. If you haven’t already, take a college road trip to see and feel different kinds of colleges. With your D’s stats and being in New Jersey, I recommend heading to Philly to visit Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, and Haverford in addition to visiting a selection the universities on your list.

We did something like that when my son was a junior (only in California where we live). The result of the trip was my son’s realization that while he liked some of the UCs and Cal Poly, he knew that he absolutely belonged at a Liberal Arts College. With that in mind, we focused on LACs around the country that were strong in his field. A different kid could go on the exact same trip and come away loving the big universities. Nail that down and if it’s a factor, nail down affordability now too.

19

@ucbalumnus "Post-calculus-BC math may depend on availability. Preferably, good college courses will be available that will be accepted for transfer credit at most colleges she may eventually attend.

As a CS major, any of the following could be useful and potentially transferable, so availability and scheduling convenience at local colleges can be a factor in choosing between them:"

Yes, there are other possibilities if needed, but if possible, and you are targeting top schools, I would strongly consider taking MV Calc next year. They offer MV at our High School, although they call it “Math Topics.” It is by invitation only. Talk to her counselor. If she is capable, it is the best path. For some reason the boys tend to stay on the MV Calc path, which is the most difficult. Girls tend to get nudged off onto other paths by people intending to be helpful, but it puts them at a disadvantage. She may be able to test out of MV, or she may have to retake it, but even then she will be a a significant information advantage. By the time D1 got to senior year of high school there were 21 boy and 4 girls in MV calc. This type of rerouting happens over and over again to girls. Interestingly the 4 that made it were all near the top of the class.

MV is valuable because the calc sequence is a problem for so many students, so the more you know when you get to college the better positioned you are, whether you get credit or not. Also, admissions offices know it is difficult and that can be helpful for top schools.

20

The other suggested college math courses (discrete math, linear algebra, calculus-based probability and statistics) are not considered to be less rigorous the way AP statistics commonly is.

Are girls being nudged off to AP statistics or no math at all? Is multivariable calculus the only offering of post-BC math at this school?