<p>I'm a senior now and my session started last month. I'm in an international school in India and take the APs. I changed schools for my junior and senior year. I think I want to do Computer Science with Biology to get into something like Human technology interface. I am taking all three sciences AP classes and Calculus. I had taken Microeconomics my junior year. It's just I'm really confused. I do have counsellors but I don't see how they help. The pressure of applying to Ivys is crazy. I mean I love CMU and I would love to get in there, but then because I changed schools, my performance dipped in Junior year. I really don't know what to do. I think I wanna go to a small college and the top one on my list right now is Rollins. But then again when I checked the tuition, it was pretty expensive. My parents are ready to pay for college but then I don't wanna owe it to them. After some research I saw that Rollins cost as much as the top colleges. I think I am just really confused about all of this. Any sort of help would be appreciated.
Thanks :)</p>
<p>Wait, what are you confused about, though?</p>
<p>We’re confused by your post.
Yes, the Ivies are very competitive.
CMU is not an Ivy.
Most 4-year colleges and universities in the US – top ones and lower-cost ones – will cost $40,000-60,000 per year if you’re a full-pay international student.
What do you mean you will “owe” your parents? Do they expect you to pay back for the cost of education?</p>
<p>I am sensing that you have the desire to be in the ivies or CMU but you may not have the grades to get in. I can tell you as a computer scientist, you need not be in those schools to be successful. If you have a dream, you have the talent, you have the desire, you have the vision and you work hard, you can be successful. Steve Jobs did not finish in Reed and Gates dropped out of Harvard, just two examples. </p>
<p>So, go out and get it, tiger.</p>
<p>@artloversplus I think thats all I really needed 
thanks a ton </p>
<p>CMU is quite well known for HCI but there is always grad school…So is Univ of Washington, Seattle. Another good one is Rochester Polytechnic University. It is a more technical oriented school with a good reputation.</p>
<p>Here is a list of a range of colleges with departments/labs/institutes in this area. This list is just for you to research–it may be more grad oriented, so check the undergraduate offerings:</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon Human-Computer Interaction Institute
MIT Media Lab
Maryland’s Human-Computer Interaction Lab
Toronto’s Knowledge Media Institute
Kansas’ Usability Lab
Virginia Tech’s Center for HCI
Georgia Tech’s Media Studies
Baltimore’s Interaction Design/Information Architecture
Maryland @ BC Human-Centered Computing and Computer Science
Berkley Information Systems
Colorado Computer Science
George Mason Human Factors
Michigan Computer Science
Cornell Computer Science
Washington Computer Science and Info Science</p>
<p>Com on mam, OP is an international and really has no stats for the top programs, you gave advise as if he is us citizen.</p>