How likely is it for me to get into the schools I'm applying to

GPA UW: 3.729
GPA W: 4.357
Rank: 17/311
SAT: not sending
AP’s:

  • AP Bio: 4, AP Lang: 5, APUSH: 5. (junior year)
  • AP Comp Sci A, AP Physics, AP Literature, and AP Italian (haven’t taken ap tests yet)
    Very rigorous schedule: took 3 honor classes freshman year, 6 sophomore year, 2 plus 3 AP’s junior year, and this year I have 4 AP’s. (didn’t take AP Calc but I’m in Calculus)
    Essay: my strongest point
    Letters of Rec: from 3 teachers who love me to death
    EC: Club Softball all four years (many hours a week), Varsity Softball all four years, “Girls’ Show” which is like a dance/drill team/theatre performance at our school for 4 years, Job for two summers/fall (35 hour weeks), Volunteer Softball Coach for younger girls for 4 years , Church volunteer for 3 years, Peer Mentor for groups of freshman 2 years (I was a selected applicant), writing and math lab tutor 2 years(selected applicant), Italian Club/ President for 4 years, Class of 2021 Committee for 2 years,
    Honors: National Honor Society 2 years, World Language Honor Society 2 years, PV Honor Society 3 years, PV Student of the Month
    Also I’m a girl who is latina/hispanic (Peruvian to be specific)
    Looking to be a CS or Data Science major (preferably) to the schools that have it

Reaches
Colby College
Boston University
Georgia Tech
New York University
University of Miami

Targets/High Matches
George Washington University
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Stevens Institute of Technology
Purdue University
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Penn State University
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
University of Maryland - College Park
Stony Brook University
Bentley University
Virginia Tech

Safeties
University of Delaware
Rutgers University-New Brunswick
NJIT

I already applied EA to
University of Miami
Worcester Polytechnic Institute Purdue University
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Penn State University
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
University of Maryland - College Park
University of Delaware
Rutgers University - New Brunswick
Virginia Tech
Georgia Tech

Of the ones I’m familiar with:

Purdue for CS is as much or more a reach than at least one or two of your Reaches. Much more competitive for CS than general admission.

Penn State is probably low match/safety-ish.

Miami may be a bit lower than a full reach.

I applied to Purdue for Data Science, because that’s more of what I’m interested in. Would you say Data Science gives me a better or worse shot?

@tptptp I have a cousin who’s studying Data Science at Purdue. Its pretty straight forward and moderately competitive. What I don’t understand is why you are applying to Out of State Purdue. They’re very expensive when it comes to OOS colleges.

@zachattack2003 I’m from New Jersey, and I like Purdue for many reasons. Are there any in-state schools you would recommend that are better than Purdue (other than NJIT and Rutgers-New Brunswick)?

It is getting hard to tell what it is you are looking for. In the past 2 weeks, you have started threads asking about the likelihood of admission for at least 25 schools that are a mix of large/small, urban/rural, warm/cold climate. You may have better luck with some focus and better fit rather than amassing a number acceptances that are all over the place.

A previous post mentions the need for merit money and some of the schools you mention don’t even offer it. It is one thing to ask for help fine tuning a list but it isn’t about how many schools you apply to or get in to. The only thing worse than a rejection is an acceptance that is financially out of reach.

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@tptptp Stevens Institute of Technology has an amazing CS program. Seton Hall Univ is amazing for career and internship opportunities within the CS field.

@helpingmom40 I’m just a seventeen year old so I have no idea what or where I want to go for the next four years right now. I’m a first generation student with immigrant parents, also the oldest sibling of 3, and the guidance counselors in our school barely communicate with us. I have an open mind, thus I don’t really care about warm/cold weather or north/south, I just want a high-level education and a good job. I cannot talk to my parents about college, for they have no idea, and I have no older siblings/relatives to talk to, I’m the first in my entire family to attend college. I know I’m all over the place, I don’t know much about this hence why I’m here. If you have any exact recommendations I’m open-minded. Thanks for your comment.

My intention wasn’t to put you on the defensive. My point was that you need a starting point. For my D, it was distance from home and she refused to look at anything more than 5 hours from our front door. The next criteria was size of school and affordability.

You mentioned before about your parents wanting to spend no more than $12,000 per year. Cost of attendance at Maryland for an out of state student is almost $54,000. While they do have a full tuition scholarship, more students only get partial funding in the $12,000 range and that makes the school unaffordable for you unless you manage to get full funding. If you need a competitive scholarship to be able to go, that school is a reach regardless. If you get in but don’t get the scholarship, it isn’t an option. Similar picture for Purdue (COA of $42,000, Trustee scholarship is $16,000).

You have worked hard and are a great applicant. CS is a competitive major and you need some merit aid to make it affordable. You may need to scale back a bit on the brand name to find the merit opportunities you need. Rutgers and Stevens are probably your best bets from the schools you list.

ETA: People can just throw names at you but if the school isn’t what you want, it won’t necessarily help you.

@tptptp your high stats may attract significant Financial Aid at some colleges, and not nearly enough at other colleges. When chasing significant Financial Aid (Need and Merit) it is necessary to conduct a broader search for colleges than you may have so far.

You seem to have picked up the lingo of Safety/Match-Target/Reach but don’t forget those terms apply both to your stats and to affordability. A true safety is one that you are certain to be accepted AND you can afford to attend. With a $12K/yr budget (not including your $5.5K DSLoan) you need to do some searching.

A lot of kids fixate on schools listed in the top-100 on any given list. On one hand, many of the private colleges in the top-40 schools will provide significant Need-based FinAid for students. On the other hand, any school with a <30% admit rate is a reach every applicant. Private universities ranked 60-100 may offer better admit rates, but most do not guarantee to meet the full-financial need for applicants. They don’t need to because they are overflowing with applications from high stats students.

And that’s not even taking into account the public universities in the top 100. Except for a very few exceptions, none will guarantee to meet the full financial need of admitted students. And most of the few who will (UVA, UNC, maybe a couple of others) are extreme reaches for OOS applicants. A few others Alabama, U of SCarolina, Miami of OH, will have very generous scholarship opportunities for extreme high stats students. Others like Arizona provide generous merit-based aid, but maybe not enough to be affordable to you.

So where does that leave you?

First, as you know, apply to every in-state public university that you can. When you have extreme Financial Need, you can’t be extremely picky. These are your safeties, in both price and admit rate.

Second, go beyond the top-100 schools on any given list. You have to search for schools that have what you need, but also want to entice more high stats students to apply. Go deeper. Instead of focusing on UMd, investigate UMBC where they have Merit Scholarships up to $22K available. With a ~$40K/yr price, that $22K, added to your parents’ $12K, added to your $5.5K DSL might make UMBC an affordable option. Don’t always focus on the flagship university in each state. Look at the next school, and the next, and the next.

Third, when it comes to private schools in big cities, every high stats HS student targets NYU, BU, BC, USC, Chicago, Villanova, CMU, Fordham, Bentley, and the other usual suspects. You should also target other schools in similar locations. Try Manhattan College, St Joseph’s, Marquette, Chapman, USF, Duquesne, and others. Not every student can get accepted into and afford NYU, but NYC has many other good colleges. Those other schools I mentioned will give you a better chance (better, not guaranteed) at getting accepted and possibly earning enough through Merit Aid and Need-based aid to be affordable.

Fourth, you should dig deeper into the Liberal Arts College bucket. Don’t focus only on the top 30 LACs those high rankings come with low admit rates, which means they are very reachy. Look deeper. Look at the book Colleges That Change Lives. There are other books too. Investigate which have the combination of major/location/feel/FinAid that you’re looking for. There are a ton of fine LACs within a 6-hour drive of you. You should easily be able to find a dozen that suit your wants - then you apply for admission, for scholarships, and see what you get for need-based aid. Also, don’t forget to fill out the NPC at every school that you are interested in.

Good luck.

@tptptp ,
FWIW, UMBaltimoreCounty has an accelerated BS/MPS degree program in Data Science. https://professionalprograms.umbc.edu/data-science/how-to-apply-accelerated-bs-mps-in-data-science/

Certainly you should apply to your dream schools and take your shot. But you also should be prepared in case those dream schools do not work out.