Honest feedback for confused parents of a rising senior, unsure of major, wants to study CS

[Hippobirdy]

Might consider information technology at colleges mentioned earlier: UMBC, Drexel, Bentley, RIT, NJIT. Also see Towson, Univ. of Cincinatti.

[Mwfan1921]

@gpat1097

They are not overly costly (ex. UIUC charges just over $50k/year for out-of-state) and have decent CS programs. Admission to them may not be a sure bet, but if your son really works on the essays, he should have a good shot.

UIUC’s CS major (in Engineering college) has an overall acceptance rate of below 5%, so a reach for all.

Lots of good suggestions so far. I know Midwest might be out, but I encourage you to not overlook Chicago, a very diverse city. DePaul would be a highly likely and is strong in CS. Very active adult rec volleyball leagues in DePaul’s neighborhood too.

[tsbna44]

When I read this, I actually went and looked up because I know UIUC is beyond a reach for this student. They have other campuses - Chicago and Springfield. Then there’s the other public schools.

It’s interesting to me, that with a 3.47 and 1300, for example, the OP’s support materials thought Emory was a match - when it’s not close. The OP knew this - which is good.

[Bill_Marsh]

New York is one of the better states for low out-of-state tuition and offer some good options for your son with only a small bump up from in-state tuition in Massachusetts.

SUNY Polytechnic (Utica) is a small (2200) college with a full range of computer science majors and competes at Div III in men’s volley ball. They report an SAT range of 1130-1300 and high school gpa of 87-90. It is a diverse campus (14% Asian).

SUNY Binghamton is a bigger campus (14,000 undergrad) but the smallest of the SUNY research campuses and considerably smaller than UMass Amherst. They also have a full range of computer science majors. Men’s volley ball is a club team which competes at the highest level of volleyball club competition, including a national tournament. They report an SAT range of 1300-1450 and a high school gpa of 93-98. They are a diverse campus (13% Asian).

[aquapt]

This list might give you some ideas wrt schools that have serious club teams. Rankings — NCVF

One that jumped out at me was Rhode Island, which even has more than one level of club team. You mentioned that he was strong in languages. Would this interest him? https://www.uri.edu/programs/program/international-computer-science-program/ It would spread out the CS coursework over 5 years and give him lots of electives and FL coursework for variety, not to mention great experiences abroad… and club vb when on campus (years 1-3 and year 5). The math requirements for the BA track don’t seem too daunting. URI’s global programs (CS, engineering, & business) are well-established and connect students with good professional opportunities.

That’s just one idea. There are other possibilities on this list. Michigan Tech is a nice mid-sized school (5800 undergrads) with good CS and a variety of CS-adjacent alternatives, from Network Administration to Geospatial Engineering, and a 74% acceptance rate.