Hey! So I’m a junior currently and I’ve started to think about where I want to go to college. I’m probably going to major in CS and Bio in college. I live in the Seattle area so UW is a great option for me (especially for CS) but I’m really nervous I won’t get direct admission into the CS major.
I attend a top public school which routinely sends kids to many top schools every year.
3.98 UW GPA, 1520 SAT, 33 ACT (thinking about retaking one or both to be more competitive for direct admit to CS?)
I’ll get my subject SAT’s back next week
I play 3 varsity sports, have around 300 volunteer hours, part of a few clubs at school, summer intern at a non profit and I’ve coded a few apps that are on the app store.
My parents said that they’re willing to pay 40k per year for undergrad. Ideally I’d like to go somewhere that is in a city/suburban but definitely not rural or too far away from major cities. I like sports and school spirit too!
Any help is appreciated!
I think that UW is a very good option.
Are you willing to look slightly north (or slightly west to that big island just off your coast)? There are a few very good schools that are just over the border from you.
CS and Bio are a tough combination. However, it is very common for high school students to go to university uncertain about their major and then decide after a year or two.
UW is of course a wonderful option. As you know, direct admit into CS is extremely competitive.
Other schools I would think of include Wake Forest. You would be a competitive applicant. Google Wake Downtown. It’s the schools new biosciences facilities in downtown Winston-Salem, a nice small city. It just opened in January and labs are just coming online now, so everything brand spanking new. Lots of research opportunities. School leadership is very innovative. The main campus is about 4 miles outside of the city. School has almost 5000 undergrads is in the ACC, so big-time sports. Sticker price is higher, but you can run net price calculator to get an estimate on aid.
Washington U in St. Louis is top-notch in almost every field. Very nice campus, spectacular really. You’d have to check on aid.
The other UW, Wisconsin, also offers strong programs in those fields. It would probably cost more than $40k for you as an OSS student. Case Western is another one to look at. I think you might well get enough aid to take price down to 40. Sports, school spirit are not very high. University of Pittsburgh is another place you might get a lot of aid. Also, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI); it will surprise you. Nice campus and neighborhood, very hands-on, project-based programs. Lots of internships, coops. Innovative leadership. High starting salaries. Campus vibe is great. Aid would be a real possibility. Good luck!
@DadTwoGirls Thank you! Yeah I wouldn’t mind looking at schools in Canada. And yeah I’ll probably choose one or the other (most likely CS). Would you recommend retaking the standardized tests to be more competitive for CS at UW?
@TTG Thank you I’ll definitely look into those schools. My family definitely won’t qualify for aid. Even if it costs more than 40k would that be too bad? I’ll definitely be getting a job during college to help cover some of the additional costs and if I get a software engineering job straight out of college at any good company then I’d be able to cover any debt I’d have pretty quickly right? For this reason I was thinking about adding Berkeley too because even though the total cost would be around 60k if I majored in CS there then I’d probably walk out with a really nice job after college.
There are two types of financial assistance: need-based aid and merit aid. Sounds like your parents have enough financial resources that your family won’t qualify for need-based. There is still merit aid. The “sticker price” for colleges are often reduced by merit aid. Some schools give merit aid to a large % of the incoming class. I know one student for example with stats a little lower than yours who got $15k from Case Western. Several of their friends got 20-25 thousand, which takes the cost down to about $40k.
It is generally difficult to get merit aid for OOS at public universities, though it is sometimes done. University of Alabama gives lots of aid to top OOS students for example. But private schools very often give aid, though it varies considerably by school. The difficulty, I think, is that you can research schools, find a great place that offers merit aid, fall in love with the school, get accepted, but not receive sufficient aid, in your case to bring the cost down to about $40k per year.
So, just suggesting you can consider a school with a $65k price tag if it looks like you might get merit aid, i.e. your stats are at the upper end of the numbers for that school and the school gives it broadly to lots of students. Some schools focus merit aid on their most highly rated admits; others spread it around more broadly. It is possible that you could find a school that was less expensive for your family than UW. I’m going to use Miami of Ohio as an example solely because the school offers a concise chart that shows the range of merit aid that a student might expect to receive if accepted. For you, it would be possible it would cost less than UW, even if your family does not qualify for need-based aid.
http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/
Few people can pay full “sticker price” tuition at a private school, and the price is discounted through both types of aid. The best place to look for info on a school’s financial aid policy is in the common data set for a school. Google a school name and common data set. Go to the financial aid section and you can see what merit aid the school has been giving to students. You are a well qualified student and would be in line for merit aid at lots of schools. It’s just a matter of which schools and how much. Good luck with the process. Take it as a fun adventure to find an affordable place that’s a great fit. You’ll end up at a great place with amazing people. Enjoy the journey.
Thank you for explaining that! I think I’ll look at schools that offer some merit aid too then. So as of now my list stands at-
UW
Cornell (even though its kinda in the middle of nowhere)
Yale
Stanford
Duke
Berkeley
UCLA
Case Western
WPI
Wake Forest
WUSTL
Is this OK or is it too top heavy?
A few thoughts:
- I would add a school that I am very confident in getting admission to my major of choice at a price of less than 40K. I don't see that school on your list right now, but maybe there is one I am not recognizing. You also may be surprised when it comes time to sign on the bottom line for loans that you would rather not do it. It would be nice to have that option. Case Western will probably be under 40K, and is as close to an admit/afford sure thing as you have, but they reject a lot of people with your stats every year. Be sure to show tons of interest.
- Have you looked at Ohio State? They had pretty good OOS schols last year; be aware of early aaplication deadline for the scholarships. Unfortunately, I think class rank plays a role so going to a top school could cost you some money there.
- Have you thought carefully about how you are going to make up the gap between 40K and the OOS of Berkeley and UCLA? Are your parents willing to cosign loans for you? Because making that much via a job and student loans that you can qualify for without your parents will be very challenging.
“Yeah I wouldn’t mind looking at schools in Canada. And yeah I’ll probably choose one or the other (most likely CS). Would you recommend retaking the standardized tests to be more competitive for CS at UW?”
1520 is a very good SAT.
From Seattle, if you go a rather short distance west (requiring an airplane or a boat – there is a ferry that is quite nice) you get to the University of Victoria. It is a very good school and if you don’t like snow has the best winter weather in Canada.
In Vancouver is the University of British Columbia. It is a very highly ranked university with very strong programs in many areas. It is relatively large. It has one of the most beautiful campuses anywhere – on the western tip of Vancouver with ocean on three sides and Vancouver on the fourth side, located in a small forest near mountains (big ones and bigger ones).
Just barely east of Vancouver (like maybe 1 mile east, in Burnaby) Simon Fraser University is also very good.
If you go a bit further afield, the University of Calgary is also very good.
UBC is a bit more expensive than the others for an international student. The other three will probably surprise you regarding how reasonably priced they are. Admission in Canada is mostly based on grades and SAT scores, which means that given your stats you are pretty much in at any of these very good universities.
I personally like lots of schools on your list, but much of that is a personal opinion. It seems like UW would be a safety for you, although you know direct admit to CS is very competitive. WPI and Case seem likely, though they have gotten much more competitive in recent years. Wake accepted 25% RD this year. Others on list accept under 20% RD (including OOS for Cal schools), though you would be a well qualified, serious applicant at all of them. Some people advise having at least one “safety” that you would be happy to attend and that admits more than 40%, maybe 50%, and is affordable. That seems sensible. I would think that would be UW for you, except for the direct admit CS thing. So you might want one that meets those criteria if you are really committed to studying CS. If you are accepted ED/EA somewhere, you might not even need to apply there and elsewhere.
One piece of advice: Schools generally look favorably on students showing interest. It’s not just vanity. If a prospective student has taken the time to get to know a school, and decides to apply, then the school can feel more confident that the student is favorably inclined and is more likely to attend if accepted. Several schools on your list, including Wake and WUSTL, particularly look favorably on student interest.
Your schools are very spread out geographically so visiting all or most would be difficult. However, there are other ways to show interest. Sign up on the school admissions page. You will get further info about the school and may learn about opportunities in Seattle to connect with the school. One of mine was interested in a school about 5 hours away. They had visited, but they interview well and wanted to interview. We were thinking about going back but then got a card from the school that reps would be in the area. We arranged an interview right near our house. Look for college fairs–Seattle will have those–and go by the school’s booth. At many private schools, admissions can be personal. You might contact the admissions rep for your region (contact info is typically available on the admissions webpage) with any questions you may have or to try to learn if the school will have a rep in your region. For example, I’m sure WPI loves to get strong applications from the Seattle area. It’ll have a rep for the area/state, and I’m guessing they’d be responsive to your inquiry.
Wake likes students to interview if it is possible. They offer on-campus and skype interviews. These fill up fairly far ahead and spots were all filled weeks before the deadline the last few years, so you might want to think about scheduling well before the most convenient time for you. (Research a school before an interview. Be able to state clearly why you are interested in the school. For example, if you express an interest in bio at Wake, it would be helpful to know about Wake Downtown since that is a huge new project for the school and you would possibly be studying there if a student. Have some questions that are not readily available online. Again, Wake Downtown is a new thing and evolving. The person interviewing you could probably tell you a lot going on there that is not available online. Be positive and confident about your high school experience and what you will bring to a campus community.)
I would just add to keep that $40k figure in mind. UW seems like a good bet and conforms to budget. It just has the CS direct admit issue, which might work out, in direct admit or later. You might want to make sure you have another choice that you like, will be $40k or less, and ensures you can study CS. I’m guessing the bottom line would be something like $40k or so at Case and WPI and probably some of the others. But it’s only a guess based on some limited personal knowledge. You just want to make sure you don’t end up with several acceptances that are a little too expensive and one from UW but without the CS direct admit. Other than the question about financial aid at the Cal schools, and the desirability of a safety besides UW that meets all these criteria, I think the list certainly looks like a good starting place. Have fun researching the schools and perhaps visiting!
According to the UW website:
“For 2017, fewer than 3% of UW freshman applicants who listed Computer Science or Computer Engineering as their first-choice major were offered Direct Admission; these students had an average unweighted GPA of 3.97; average test scores of ACT 34, SAT Math 764, and SAT Verbal 758; took a rigorous high school curriculum; provided evidence of meaningful extracurricular activities; submitted strong personal statements; and were mostly Washington residents.”
A recent article in the Seattle Times reported:
"Although computer science and engineering is a tough program to get into, the picture is getting better. In 2016, 43 percent of bachelor’s applicants were admitted to the program. In previous years, the admission rate was lower.
“[The CSE Department] is now enrolling about 370 new undergraduate students each year, double the number it was able to accommodate in 2012… This year, it is asking for $6 million from the Legislature to increase the number of students it graduates by 120 degrees per year. Most of that increase would be in bachelors degrees, Lazowska said.”
According to the ASEE profile, UW engineering and CS appear to enroll a broad range of students (middle 50% range SAT 1170-1420; ACT 27-33).
OP reports a 3.98 UW GPA, a 1520 SAT and a 33 ACT, which are right on target for direct admission. If, for whatever reason, OP is not directly admitted to CS, it should not be too difficult for OP to stay in the top 40-45% of the class for general admission purposes.
One other note: OP stated, “I’m probably going to major in CS and Bio in college. I live in the Seattle area so UW is a great option for me (especially for CS).” UW is just as strong in biology:
http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc1.html#RANKBYAREA
http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html#area13
http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldLIFE2016.html
http://nturanking.lis.ntu.edu.tw/DataPage/TOP300.aspx?query=LifeSciences&y=2016
As with the second CSE building under construction (https://www.cs.washington.edu/supportcse/cse2), the UW is continuing to make large capital investments in biology:
https://artsci.washington.edu/campaign/life-sciences-complex
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b_vuBkJErPY
You should also consider applying to the Honors Program at UW:
https://honors.uw.edu/apply/freshman/faq/
Congratulations on your outstanding academic record, and good luck!
Thank you guys! So I’ll definitely look into safeties. I was thinking about maybe adding University of Arizona and University of Alabama? I’m not sure how good they are for CS because us news rankings apparently do not reflect undergraduate rankings too well. I’d qualify for a 25,000$ a year scholarship at bama and around 22,000$ a year at U of A.
@UWfromCA thank you for sharing those statistics! I notice that my ACT and SAT scores are a little bit below average. I think I might retake one of them so that I am more competitive stat wise, especially considering that I’m Asian Indian too. Would that be wise?
Also when I’m applying to college should I include a link to my GitHub? I’ve coded 3 apps that are on the iOS App Store and I’m working on another right now too.
UW honors is a good bet for you.
Note that in the Midwest you’re URM, so look into UMN TC and even U Nebraska Lincoln (lots of start ups in Lincoln.)
Nebraska is a good option. It’s inexpensive to begin with, & you’d get at least $14,500 in merit scholarship (maybe more, especially if you are in an honors program). Great sports & school spirit…and the city (including students) has about 300,000 people (Omaha, 50 min away, is bigger).
@MYOS1634 @moooop I have cousins who live in Minnesota and So I’ve visited the school before. I didn’t really like it too much. I’ll look into Nebraska though thank you!
Also would I be competitive for at least half scholarships at USC? USC has everything I’m looking for (I actually lived in California for 10 years and I love it there) and my parents, both of whom work at major tech companies, said that all the major tech companies heavily recruit from there
Have you run the npc on these colleges? Because if you’re supposed to be full pay and your parents can afford 40k but the college costs 70k then even if you get in, it’ll be unaffordable. Your first five don’t offer any merit aid so if your npc shows an unaffordable net cost there’s no point in applying.
At Wake, wpi, and Case show interest.
^^^WUSTL too. Interest is very important at all these schools. And note the advice I offer in post #8 about showing interest. It is important at these schools. They are potentially good choices for you. You are qualified. The schools will want to know you’ve taken time to get to know them and are applying because you have a real interest.