Help with computer science “match” schools?

College Search & Selection
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Son is a strong student, 1540 SAT, straight As, good ECs, team captain, and lots of self directed coding projects. I think he’s a great candidate for CS at any school but also realize there are lots of similar kids all competing for the same spots!

Top of his list currently: Duke Rice Cornell.

We live in WA and U WA is obviously on the list too, but he’d prefer to leave the state.

My ask: need a list similar schools to the ones listed above but with higher CS admit rates? (match schools). His preferences- smaller classes, outdoor opportunities, sun.

Thanks for your help!

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Budget?

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Sun and small classes do not describe Cornell. At all.

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UT Austin Turing program, UIUC Honors, Caltech, UPenn, USC, Brown
I’ve relaxed the sun constraint slightly :slight_smile:

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The OP asked for matches, not reaches.

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I thought the OP was asking for schools that were similar to the three they picked.
If you are looking for higher admit rates, you need the bigger state schools. There is no getting around that. Pick the closed majors. Choices to consider – Purdue, UMass Amherst, maybe UCSD, Penn State, UPitt.

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Cost constraints?

What are the reasons for going out-of-state?

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maybe the sun?

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San Diego state with a 48% admit rate for CS 2021. Classes are not small for intro CS classes (90-100 but upper division classes range from 30-50 students. Plenty of sun.

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@momoftheyear - Perhaps he can add CMU, Georgia tech, Virginia tech?

For match - In addition to what @neela1 mentioned, consider adding University of Maryland, Texas A&M, RPI, WPI, University of Wisconsin Madison, Arizona State University

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Arizona State should be a safety if the price is affordable (that has not been specified by the OP).

Texas A&M CS requires admission to the engineering division, then earning a 3.75 college GPA in the prerequisite courses to have automatic admission to the major. Below that GPA, admission is competitive based on grades and essays, but it is likely that CS gets completely full with students who make the 3.75 college GPA threshold for automatic admission. So it may not be a reach for frosh admission, but the CS major should be considered a reach after considering the secondary admission process.

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Some of them have large classes. Certainly I know that UWMadison graduates about 800 kids a year. We looked at it closely this year. This is a complex situation in terms of class availability etc. UMD CP I think is graduating about 1100 kids a year. RPI fits the size constraint. Georgia Tech is running at about 750. CMU is small, but is not a match. It is a reach. Virginia Tech might fit their requirements.

This is a good website to see who is graduating how many kids a year: Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus - Degrees Conferred by Program of Study - ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

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I think in So Cal you have Harvey Mudd (small) and USC, both good. USC might be a tad easier than the three you listed. UCI might be doable…the test won’t help. Same with UCSD. Cal Poly?

In the South, Vandy, UNC and UF - as UF doesn’t admit by major, he’s a likely. But it’s big.

For a bit easier admissions but still solid you have NC State and Miami (which has merit aid).

And in TX, SMU is well connected.

You can reach out to each school on class size.

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@motheroftheyear

CS admit rates for the following schools 2021:
UCI was 7%.
Cal Poly SLO around 9%
UCSD no data found but probably comparable to UCI.
None of these would be matches.

UCSC according to their 2021 admit data had a 71% admit rate for CS but I know that for 2022, it was significantly lower.

UCR CS admit for 2021 was 37%.

Affordability will be important for the UC’s.

What about some of the WUE schools? https://www.wiche.edu/tuition-savings/wue/wue-savings-finder/

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I took it as similar level schools (not sure there are short of those that normally are) with higher admit rates for CS.

Admittedly I may have whiffed on the higher rates - I was focused on sun and solid programs.

Thanks for providing the context.

My ask: need a list similar schools to the ones listed above but with higher CS admit rates?

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If your son would like introductory computer science classes capped at, in some cases, around 20 students, then he may want to include liberal arts colleges in his search.

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I think the biggest problem w state schools generally is the ability to graduate on time (ie 4 years)…

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And also the financial aid at the extreme elite private schools is unmatched by state schools…

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Just throwing out some possibilities:

U. of Utah - WUE rates, easy to be classified as in-state after the first year, well-reputed honors program (which should then provide smaller classes), lots of sun, and great opportunities for outdoors exploration.

UT - Dallas: Should get good merit aid and have been hearing great things about the CS program and they’ve been getting a lot more National Merit Finalists with their great scholarship offers. Should qualify for the honors program (and then smaller classes), and this gets lots of sun.

U. of Central Florida: Lots of sun, good CS, and should get good merit aid. The honors program should also help to shrink class sizes.

Cal Tech & Harvey Mudd would both be reaches, but they’re top-notch programs with small classes and lots of sun. Pomona, part of the Claremont Consortium with Harvey Mudd, also is well-reputed for CS, but has a bit more of a balanced student body than Harvey Mudd, and classes could be taken at HM.

While we’re talking reaches, I’m going to throw out Middlebury and Williams as possibilities. They’re not as sunny as the average American location, but they get about 6-8 weeks more sun a year than Seattle, so that might impact things. You’ll get the small class sizes, lots of outdoor opportunities, and they have good reputations for CS among liberal arts colleges. And a 15% admit rate (like Middlebury’s) is not great, but it’s three times better than some of the CS admit rates at schools that are overall less selective.

All of the reach schools meet full need (as they calculate it) if that’s important for your family.

Rose-Hulman in IN is going to give lots of small classes and has CS students placing well, but it’s a similar amount of sun as Middlebury and there should be good merit aid to boot.

I’d also check out Florida Institute of Technology. It’s closer in size to the ones on your original list, you’ve got tons of sunshine, and there are some interesting CS opportunities along the space coast. Would also expect some nice merit aid.

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Is that just for CS? I have one who graduated a year early, another a semester early, another who could’ve finished a semester early but the last class he needed was only available in the spring, and another on schedule to graduate a year early, their public schools accepted a lot of AP credits, plus somd took 18 credits many semesters.