Help with selecting some safety, target and reach schools for CS

College Search & Selection
1

Am a senior

GPA: 3.0 UW, 3.7 W

From Illinois

ACT: 35 (35M 33S 36E 36R)

Not sure whether I should send a 680 on SAT Physics subject test

Notable courses: AP Physics 1 and 2 (3 on both), AP Computer Science A (5), AP US History (4), Gifted Critical Thinking, PLTW IED, PLTW POE, PLTW Digital Electronics, Honors Bio, Honors math all years, Spanish 1, Spanish 2, Spanish 3

Taking this year: AP Chem, AP Psych, AP Lang & Comp, AP Calculus BC, AP Government, AP Macroeconomics, Mobile App Development

ECs:

-Internship over summer in which I developed an app with a team and presented it to the company, who will now use it

-Started Cultural Club - Meets on various cultural events/holidays, discuss the culture and holiday, everyone brings in food for that culture to eat

-2 years of varsity track

-Won 1st place at a regional BPA competition and 6th place (out of 20) at state competition

-Robotics Club, won state competition

-2 years of scholastic bowl (sucked at it tbh)

-30 hours of volunteering at retirement home and Feed My Starving Children

-Some other stuff I can’t recall rn

Would prefer a rural campus but it’s not a huge deal
Public or private: doesn’t matter
Cost:preferably not above $40k a year

Currently looking at UW Madison, UWashington, Purdue, not really sure of my chances though.

Thanks in advance!

2

With a 3.0 GPA, Wisconsin, Washington, and Purdue will be high reaches (especially for the CS major at Washington). You are also not likely to get scholarships that can reduce the price (do not expect much, or any, financial aid from out-of-state public universities generally).

3

You need to look at Illinois in-state unis.

4

A lot of the merit scholarships are based on the SAT/ACT plus a minimum GPA which is often (but NOT always 3.5). Here’s an example of one where the minimum is 3.0: https://finaid.olemiss.edu/scholarships/#8

Scroll down to financial aid chart; you’d get over $23,000 per yr from Ole Miss. Some schools might use your weighted GPA. Check out Texas Tech & Oklahoma State.