I feel like I would do well in both environments I just don’t want to be iced out necessarily. I am pretty sure MIT just intimidates me. City campus is preferred and although Stanford is more rural, I don’t really like LA that much. I much prefer places outside of LA. (I used to live in Cali). I look at Niche. Thank you
You should start by asking yourself why you want to major in CS. What do you hope to do with your CS degree? CS is a very broad field. Different schools have different strengths in different subfields, areas within each subfield, and so on. If you have more specific goals in mind, it’d be much easier to identify the better schools for you. I wouldn’t rely on general rankings or even CS-specific rankings. The criteria for them almost certainly wouldn’t coincide with yours.
I mean I’ve always loved tech and science. I was never great with tech though. Programming has always been something I’ve always wanted to learn but I thought it was really hard and I just wasn’t smart enough. During the pandemic I built my own computer for gaming, and I realized tech stuff wasn’t that hard if I put my mind to it. From there I decided to deep dive and learn Java and turns out I really enjoy it and coding robots for my team.
I think it is important to me to be a representative (especially minority students!) to other girls who are considering going into tech as well. To essentially prove that they can also do it and it’s not just a guys major.
Computer Science is a major that excites me.
For a specific sub-field, I am not sure yet still thinking about that.
It’s great that you’re excited by tech in general and computing in particular. it’s also understandable that you haven’t thought too much about specific subfields. Many CS students end up in software engineering/development, the broadest and the most generic category. Practically all college CS programs cover the basics in this category, which lead many to assume all such programs are alike. It’s in the more advanced and/or specialized topics that the most “elite” programs differentiate themselves. They even tend to focus more on those more advanced and/or specialized topics, leaving students to figure out some of the basics with the assignments/projects that help honing their skills.
You sound like a fantastic student and any college would be lucky to have you.
One suggestion- do NOT rely on “what I’ve heard” or what other people say about colleges. It’s rarely true, or it’s sometimes true, or it’s a comment taken out of context.
My kid went to MIT and we heard from EVERYONE that the faculty only cares about grad students (not true in his experience). And we heard from EVERYONE that although research opportunities are abundant, you have to be a superstar to get one (Not true. most of the time you show up at a professor’s office hours and you get hired on the spot without even applying). We heard it’s a pressure cooker (not true in his experience) and that it’s intensely competitive (totally not true, since most of the projects and hands on stuff are group projects where you are literally relying on your fellow students being smarter than you to help you figure out a problem).
You absolutely need a well thought out list of reaches, matches, safeties- and need to be mindful of affordability, travel costs, etc. But don’t rely on what other people insist is true before checking it out for yourself.
I’m sure you heard that everyone at Harvard has billionaire parents except for the three kids who get financial aid. Verifiably not true, you can look up Harvard’s statistics on financial aid…
Since you’re female, would you consider adding a few women’s colleges with generous aid to your list? Smith is particularly strong in STEM, offering majors in both CS and Engineering… plus you can cross-register at the other four Consortium colleges (Amherst College, UMass Amherst, Mt. Holyoke and Hampshire). Wellesley is strong in STEM also (no engineering major but you can major in CS), and you can cross-register at MIT as well as at Olin, Babson, and Brandeis. (Might be worth taking a look at whether applying to Olin might appeal to you, as well - you sound like someone who might really like their project-based curriculum.)
I think this thread has gotten out of hand really, i just wanted to make sure it was worth my while to apply to Harvard/MIT. I’ve already received many helpful suggestions for different colleges to look into in other threads and this one (Thank you!).
Hi there! Just wanted to say I think there’s no harm in applying to both. I applied with a 3.8 gpa and got deferred from Harvard this year so anything is possible! You got this!
Be careful in assuming that Harvard undergrad would offer a collaborative environment. The great majority of students from Harvard College that I’ve heard from expressed a harshly competitive atmosphere, both within and outside of academia. If school culture is important for you, especially if it’s more important to you than prestige, consider postponing Harvard until grad school, if at all.
My son, a current student there, does not find Harvard to be competitive. Perhaps he would feel differently if he was pre-med, but he isn’t.
One of the reasons it’s not competitive is that, outside of the classes required for a major, Harvard can be as easy or as difficult as the student wants it to be. Want to take what are arguably the most difficult undergraduate courses in the country in physics or math? Harvard lets you do that. Want to coast as much as possible? Harvard lets you do that too.
Competitive, but not cutthroat, not unlike many universities. Nobody should be surprised to find alpha personalities at any top university. And most of the competitiveness is self-induced.
Chancing for an individual college like Harvard is hard in itself but for a group of colleges even including Stanford and MIT, you have to think it’s greater than 50% for any one.
“Stanford is more rural, I don’t really like LA that much”
Stanford is not really rural, maybe compared to LA, it’s pretty suburban.
“I think it is important to me to be a representative (especially minority students!) to other girls who are considering going into tech as well.”
Definitely mention this, I know local colleges like Stanford and Berkeley are looking for minority females to be mentors and role models in STEM, especially CS where the ratio can be sometimes 75-25.
