I am a sophomore in high school from New Jersey. I am the top of my class in math, and am one of very few that will be going to Princeton University for math my senior year after taking multivariable calculus junior year in a joint program with my school. I am also taking Advanced topics computer science next at my school which comes after ap comp sci. The problem is I am really bad at language arts. I have been taking reg classes the past two years and am planning to challenge myself by taking honors next year. I want to pursue a comp sci degree with some minor in math or statistics. I have a 4.0 gpa and a 1520 sat. What are some realistic and reach options for me?
Is your 4.0 GPA unweighted?
If you are able to pull off A’s in English and a foreign language, then you are not all that bad at English and languages.
What is your budget?
You scored at least 720 on the EBRW SAT section? As a sophomore?
There is no budget, my 4.0 is unweighted. I got A’s in LA reg which is not that hard compared to LA honors.
I think you need to look up the definition of “lacking.” Being on grade level is not “lacking”, having a 4.0 is not “lacking”, getting a 700+ on the SAT EBRW as a sophomore is not “lacking.”
That was really a practice test, I doubt it would be that good in real life. Meanwhile my psat is what I should have put. I got a 610 in reading and writing and a 730 in math which I made 2 dumb mistakes on.
I apologize I know that its not the worst, and the 1520 was misleading. My psat which I took this year shows my true score which was a 610 and not that great. My school is very competitive and I am probably bottom 50% of my class in LA.
If you are truly unbalanced, you may want to look into English schools.
So you don’t have a 1520 SAT. You have a 1340 PSAT. Huge difference. Practice tests don’t always translate into real scores, especially if you were taking it under different conditions than the actual test. The good news is that you have a whole year to study and make sure you do well on the actual SAT. That should be your priority. Once you get a real score, you can start trying to find schools that will work for you.
For understanding reach options, ask your guidance counselor about your class rank/ decile. For holistic private colleges with low rates of admission, your extracurricular activities will matter.
Take a look at Rice, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for some ideas…
With respect to matching your interests with suitable colleges, I agree with the suggestions of Rensselaer and Rice. Lehigh fits this mix as well.
I definitely like RPI, Rice might be too far.
Do you think Purdue would be a match? I know its out of state and public but I don’t mind that.
If you like aspects of Purdue, look into UIUC.
UIUC should likely be considered a big reach for OOS CS.