My D is a junior in HS and has no “hooks” for getting into a higher end college. If I assume that she meets the basic requirements for admission to one of those colleges (e.g. solidly in the middle 50%, good GPA, etc.), would indicating CS as the major give her a leg up compared to indicating, say, Biology on the application? I know that colleges are trying to increase the number of women in tech fields and CS is one of the worst right now, so it seems like being a girl would be a “hook”. However, I also understand that the competition to get admitted into CS is fierce. Does it end up being a wash?
Does she want to major in CS? It seems to me that instead of focusing on a higher end college you and she should be looking at a school that offers a good program in what she wants to major in, a good financial fit, and where she feels most comfortable. And that may very well be a “higher end” college. But I personally don’t think CS would be a hook for admission.
It might add a very little weight to her application but only if she is as qualified as male applicants she is competing against and has related EC activities. Don’t overestimate the power of being a girl in CS commodity.
Thanks for the replies. I’m trying to determine a cap on the potential schools she could go to given her stats and wondered whether the major choice would make a difference. Doesn’t sound like it.
If she’s applying to an entire university and not a specific school within the university (e.g. the engineering school), her intended major probably won’t affect anything because she could be changing her mind every day for all they know, and may not actually pursue the listed major. Of course, she shouldn’t apply to engineering schools or schools of computer science unless she is actually interested in their programs.
Well, she’s all over the map right now on the major she’d like to take (as expected, since she’s a junior in HS). She took AP Bio last year and decided she didn’t like Microbiology fields. I don’t think Engineering holds any appeal. She enjoys her AP-CSP class right now and is toying around with CS as a minor (which I think is a great idea).
It wouldn’t be a “hook”, but yeah it would give her a leg up. However, she shouldn’t apply to a major she isn’t interested in simply for strategic purposes. Getting into a school’s CS program is still, in many cases, more difficult than getting into the school’s biology program regardless of gender. If she doesn’t have the EC’s, classes, and essays to back up her CS interest, then she might want to consider applying to a different major (or even the “undeclared” major). If she thinks majoring in CS is most appropriate for herself, though, then encourage her to apply by all means.
It sounds like she never even expressed interest in CS to you, but you’re shopping around for degrees that will make it easier for her to get admitted.
Like others said I doubt it will help much. She should just do whatever she finds the most interesting.
I mentioned engineering because computer science is sometimes part of the engineering school. Usually, the college of engineering is harder to get into than the college of arts and sciences.
See my post #5. My daughter brought up to me that she was considering a CS minor and asked if being a girl would help in admissions to a higher end school if she indicated a CS major on her application … so I asked here. From the replies it sounds like the increased difficulty getting into a CS program offsets the potential gain from being female.
Note: Her father (me) and her maternal grandmother are programmers. I can see in her general attitude and lifestyle that she would be a good at it as well … so when I see her express interest in a technical field I jump on the opportunity to explore it.
@halcyonheather – I don’t think she’d be a good fit in CoE because the curriculum seems dreadfully boring (from the schools I’ve looked at). I don’t want her to focus on optimizing algorithms and theory but rather solving problems. That’s where the fun in programming lies, imho.
For me, the major in-state school (idk where you live), the computer science programs in Engineering and LSA are the same, Engineering just requires more math credits.