I’ve almost finalized the list of colleges I will be applying to and I realized I don’t have any safety schools.
My stats:
Middle-class White Female
4.0 Unweighted GPA
ACT: 33
SAT ll: Biology 710
NHS Vice President
Varsity Gymnastics Team (9-12, Current Team Captain)
Key Club (10-12)
Dance Company Member (10 years)
Yearbook Club (10-12)
Environmental Club Secretary (9-12)
School Newspaper writer and assistant editor (11-12)
Book Buddies (Reading to neighborhood children)
Peer Leaders President
Secretary of senior class
My Schools Are:
- Georgetown
- UCLA
- Tulane University
- University of Michigan
- University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
- Vanderbilt
- Georgia Tech
- UPenn
- Brown
- Northeastern
I would like to study Computer Science.
Any Suggestions?
What about your local state school?
You dont have any matches either unless you consider Tulane and GT your match schools.
How so? My ACT score and GPA are in average or above for all the schools
Yep, and both those schools have low acceptance rates (GT could be a match IS but not OOS) and reject thousands of qualified applicants. Too selective to be matches.
The top schools aren’t matches for anyone. With such low acceptance rates, they reject many high stats students.
This sometimes has nothing to do with stats; they may just have too many trumpet players, or need more oboe players, for example.
Okay yes i understand thanks for clarifying. Does anyone have any suggestions for any match schools that are in a city and offer computer science?
^ Too many to list. Any particular cities, states or regions of the country that appeal to you? What is your budget and home state?
Budget around 40,000 and my home state is New York
I recommend my state school (UNLV - University of Nevada, Las Vegas). It’s 20k out of state which is less than some public schools even in-state, and its engineering/computer science departments are improving quickly and receiving a lot of recognition at competitions. It has an acceptance rate >80%, and it is very generous with merit scholarships based on test scores/GPA. You could also look into UCSB and maybe U of Washington (Udub is more of a match though). Also, look at U of Maryland (CP), Purdue, and Arizona State.
Would Stony Brook and other SUNYs be potential safeties or low matches?
Tulane’s CS department appears to be relatively unbalanced, since most of its upper level courses are in theory, graphics, and artificial intelligence, while upper level offerings in some other areas like operating systems, networks, compilers, databases, and computer architecture appear to be absent. It has only 6 faculty.
Temple? You’d definitely get merit.
my D has very similar stats ( Asian, unhooked) . She got into three of your schools-- she sent her application to tulane around october ( not early action or anything like that, just a regular application) and got the reply almost immediately ( a week) with a nice merit award, and so if you do that and get an early response, you may not need a safety. Santa Clara U @ Silicon VAlley would be another option.
Pitt? A 33 is right on the cusp now for big merit, merit money’s gotten very competitive there - apply
Matches - U Pittsburg, George Washington
Safety - SUNY, CUNY, U New Mexico, U Central Florida, U South Florida, U Kentucky, U Houston, Temple, Drexel, U Cincinnati, Wayne State, U Oklahoma, LSU, U Missouri, etc.
Still too many to list
Pitt’s a safety admissions-wise, although scholarship amount is unclear.
Safety schools need to be safeties admissions-wise and financially.
Get over your ego, and put Stony Brook, Binghamton and Buffalo on your list for true safeties.
Penn, Brown & Vanderbilt are fine for your high-reach schools.
I’d also add Rochester, Case Western, Fordham.
Drop Georgetown, and consider Santa Clara (in Silicon Valley) instead.
Drop UNC-CH and UCLA - these are very competitive OOS publics with almost zero financial aid for OOS students.
Michigan is fantastic, and I’ve heard anecdotally that they are better with financial aid for OOS than other top flagships, but I’m not sure how true that is now.
I’m sorry if it sounds like I have a big ego and I really do appreciate your advice. The only reason I am not leaning towards any SUNY schools is that I have spent my entire life here and I would really like to branch out during college.
UNC is one of two public Us in the country that promises to meet need for ALL students, including those OOS.
UMich meets full need for in-state students and states they TRY to meet need for OOS.
In all cases, I recommend the OP run the Net Price Calculator on each school’s web site to see what FA would be likely.
For all of your schools where you apply directly to a college within the university, I suggest applying to engineering if that college has a CS program within engineering. As a well qualified woman your chances will be greater that way.