Is there any hope for me at good Computer Science schools?

College Search & Selection
1

I really, really want to go out of state and get out of the state I currently live. I know it’s not the most financially viable option and I know I really messed up in high school. It’s just really hard to stay motivated even now in HS simply because this place bogs me down quite a bit. I was hoping someone would have recommendations for me, even if they’re not in the “Top X Schools” i just in general am looking for schools with a good computer science program.

And here’s all the blah blah blah:

Demographics: I’m white in Kentucky - yup that’s about it

Academics:

3.03 gpa (2.077, 3.143, 3.9ish) fr,soph, jr years.

31 ACT Super score

30 English

31 math

33 reading

28 science

AP Scores: APUSH(4) APLANG(4) currently taking AP Physics 1

Senior Course Load: INF 120 BC(Intro to Programming in Java Dual Credit), WRD110/111(English/Composition/Communications Dual Credit), Honors Biology, Honor Pre-Calculus, Strength, and Conditioning, AP Physics 1

Extra Curricular:

Officer in two clubs one is the 2nd biggest club in my school and I’m in charge of planning community service projects, the other is smaller and similar work and I’ve been an officer in it for two years

Worked for a non-profit for 8 months as a member of their web development team

Planned and lead my own community project to feed over 200 meals to the homeless

Currently working as a research assisting in a bioinformatics lab at my states flagship university

Was chosen for my schools AP Advisory Board, National Honor Society, and BETA club

My own programming projects on the side

Information: I have a story for my GPA, I was obese and depressed freshman year and after overcoming my obesity and beginning to lose weight I started realizing the importance of school. As you can see my GPA has improved almost exponentially since then as well as my course vigor.

Have amazing recommendations from 4 teachers who can vouch for my major transformations and dedication to my education

Interested major: Computer Science

2

A few questions will help folks give you some suggestions.

What is your budget? If you don’t know, find our from your parents as that’s a critical factor.

How far are you willing and able to go and what type of school do you prefer?

You have a great gpa trend and a strong story. CS is crazy competitive at a lot of (most) places but there are some options out there depending on budget.

Is that an unweighted GPA!

Are you planning to sit for the ACT again?

Have you identified any schools yet that you plan to apply to in state or otherwise?

3

Most schools offer perfectly adequate CS programs. Just be aware that majoring in CS does take a lot of time and is one of those" nose to the grindstone" majors.

4

@eandsmom

My budget is I need some financial aid but I can afford to pay something, for example my mother is willing to let me attend the University of Tennesse with would be about 42k a year cost of attendance with no scholarships or grants (i’m choosing to not do that because to me it is too expensive and not a good enough return on investment)

I’m willing to go anywhere in the country from Texas to California, to Maine, heck get me in Alaska if they’re going to give me a valuable education.

Yes it’s an unweighted GPA

No, I’m not taking the ACT again, I spend about 20-25 hours a week on extracurricular activities and 9 hours a day at school (early morning and a stay later than I’m supposed to). I don’t have the time to sit and grind the study train right now sadly and my ACT is sufficient enough for me.

I’m applying to the University of Kentucky and possibly George Mason University dependent on my upcoming tour.

Sorry, this was all present (aside from the universities) in my OP, I just didn’t explicitly state it. My apologies.

@simba9
I’m aware of this, but I’m not looking for adequacy. I want to feel like I am in the right place, I want an emphasis on their computer science program not the bare minimum to meet abet certified. Yes any degree that’s accredited for computer science will work but that doesn’t mean they’ll all be enjoyable.

I’m also aware of the difficulty, but as implied by my post I’ve been studying Computer Science for about three years on my own now and I’ve managed to work as a Web Developer and a Bioinformatics Research Assistant. I’m dedicated to this craft and difficulty isn’t going to scare me from that

5

You are unlikely to get OOS merit aid with your GPA and standardized test scores.

“[A]ny degree that’s accredited for computer science will work but that doesn’t mean they’ll all be enjoyable.” That’s right; and sometimes you just have to make the best of a bad situation. Further, what you get out of a school is probably going to be 20% based on the school, and 80% based on you.

You might look at Ohio University; it would be a little less expensive than UTK for an OOS student.

If you go to a place like UK, it will be large enough for you to “find your tribe”; so when you are looking at schools, bigger may be better for you.

6

Sorry for the exclamation point after the UW GPA question, that was not intentional, darn phone.

U Kentucky was my first thought, glad to see it’s on your list already. George Mason is also good. These are the right level for your stats. “Good” is subjective. All of these schools will offer a solid education and decent CS programs, look at each schools program for best fit for your interests, what type of co op or internship programs they might have, and outcomes for the departments. Reach out for the adcoms, email faculty with questions if you have them.

I would look at the following. While the GPA is on the low side, as you know, the trend is great and your EC’s are solid. You should apply broadly as you are “lopsided” and that makes it hard to really know where your matches are.

Colorado State. 45K without merit or FA which is a bit high in general but a very solid CS program. I do not know how it compares to U Tennessee but I’d look into it.

Washington State 41K before FA will give you an OOS 1K. offer. Also a solid CS program.

Oregon State 45K, you should be eligible for a 3k award, net price 42. Solid CS and engineering

University of Iowa
Iowa State
Michigan State

Consider combing through this looking for your major to see where students from your range (you’ll see some higher and lower but it’s worth looking through) got in.

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20605533#Comment_20605533

I am quite sure there are many more schools that are options for you, a budget in the 40’s gives you options. I actually think that the bigger hurdle on your apps is that you are only at precalc and overall it’s a medium rigor load so I would think targeting mid tier schools are your best bet (think top 100 ish) for both admittance as well as the right pool/fit of students.

The reality is most state schools have relatively decent CS programs. Look at the concentrations, the size of the faculty, tour when you can, go online and dive into their websites.

7

I’m going to venture in here even though I don’t know much about CS in particular. I would focus on schools that have an excellent track record for placing students in internships and major related jobs. This is one of those fields where your experience, resume and contacts are going to matter more than the name of your undergrad. Don’t just take the schools word for it. Do some digging. If you have a geographic area where you would like to eventually settle down, focus on schools in that area because it will be easier to get interships that lead to connections that lead to jobs. If you don’t care where you eventually settle down, it doesn’t matter.

8

@eandesmom

Washington State and Oregon State were two I was not considering and seem really interesting to me as that is a place I’d love to live (even if just for college) also the location is amazing for CS. Looking into those thanks a bunch!

9

Look at the University of Utah. Much more cost effective than Washington or Oregon because you can get residency after your first year which drops the COA from $40K to about $20K.

10

@Twoin18 I’m looking into it but can’t find any information on that, could you provide where you found that info at?

11

Here are the residency FAQ: https://admissions.utah.edu/apply/residency/faq.php
And their CS program: http://www.cs.utah.edu/program/

12

I think you need to sit down with your mom and be clear on the budget. Is that money already set aside for you? If there is a job loss or illness, would you still be able to attend?

You may want to look at the University of Texas at Dallas; they have a strong CS program. If you get one of their Academic Excellence Scholarship awards (you may with your ACT score), it qualifies you for in-state tuition https://www.utdallas.edu/enroll/freshman/aes/prospective-students/awards/
https://www.utdallas.edu/enroll/affordability/

13

@chercheur

We’ve had this discussion several times. My mothers a bit anxious about money so she refuses to go into an in-depth talk about it. The general overview of our situation is that she’ll pay as much as she can and still afford to live and that’s about 5,000 a year. The rest is dependent on how much I am willing to take out as a loan.

For me, this leads to a limit of about 40k/yr cost of attendance. That’s 5,000 from my mother, ~3,000 (possibly more on Pell grant, my sister gets 3000 on Pell grant and fills out the FAFSA incorrectly (not claiming my step sisters which increases my father’s overall expenses) so I may get a bit more than that. My father will possibly do 2-4k. So for me as long as I can get about 5k in scholarships a year I will be okay.

Though I’d like to get my fafsa back before I go into depth about that.

Generally, I’m okay with a maximum of 20k student debt a year. I know this sounds crazy to many people but as an intended CS major I have discussed with my grandfather (perhaps the most financially stable individual in my family) the consequences of that amount of debt when compared to my estimated early career salary and it doesn’t get much under my or his skin to take on that much debt.

As for UTD I think it’d be pushing it a bit. They estimated 52k a year for an out of state student before aid which means even if I did get a good amount of aid I’d still be paying my maximum. The thing about the scholarship making my status in state is true however they list criteria as

“Strength of high school curriculum including level of rigor (Advanced Placement, IB, dual credit)
Grades in all coursework
SAT or ACT scores
Class rank (if applicable)
Date of completed university application
Applications received after priority scholarship deadline face greater competition. Award thresholds may change after the scholarship deadlines and later applicants may receive lower award amounts.”

I really only match one of these qualifications and maybe halfway the course rigor one so I really could not see me being valuable enough to be offered that unfortunately.

14

@Twoin18

So are you talking about their “one year rule” that requires me to live in Utah and file as independent for tax purposes? I believe this would have a lot more negative financial consequences than positive ones for an 18 year old with no career yet.

15

Not at all, it just means your parents don’t claim you as a dependent. It doesn’t mean they can’t pay for you to attend college and is not that you have to provide your own support. Their loss of a deduction is much less (especially with the new tax law) than your gain from paying instate tuition.

16

@filipe2019 do you know your EFC? Have you run any NPC’s at schools? I think you are way off on that number and would seriously reconsider your plan.

You may be better off at a decent LAC that has a strong CS program and gives good financial aid. 20K a year is a crushing debt. State schools will not give much in the way of aids and grants to OOS kids but will, in state.

You will not be able to take loans out yourself, that are larger than the Federal max which is 5500 your freshman year, 6500 sophomore and 7500 junior and senior. Either your parents will have to take the loans themselves, or they will have to co sign on a private loan with you and those are not good ideas. Are they even willing to do that?

I get wanting to get out of your state but not being in debt, or minimizing debt no matter how employable you are with a degree is a much better plan.

General best practice is no more than the federal loan limits

Work summers and then work study.

Work study can cover the ongoing expenses during the year. but won’t help you first semester.

That would mean you have something like this, and it’s tight/best case.

5500 Student Loan
5000 Mom
3000 Pell
4000 Dad
4000 Summer Savings

4000 Work Study or job during the school year.

$24,500

The billable costs for instate students are $23,656 at UK, $27,912 including non billable.

Are you working now and saving? If not, I would start.

17

You may want to look at the University of Cincinnati. I think that you may be eligible for the metro rate tuition.

18

Good advice above.

I think you really need to stay in-state for undergrad, just like most young adults. You can’t take that much in loans, and you have great options in-state.

My student had out-of-state summer internships which is something you can apply for.

Another benefit to staying in-state is that you can apply for outside scholarships. There will be local/regional/state scholarships with all kinds of different criteria; make sure you apply to as many as possible. Your work, EC’s, and background story make you a very interesting candidate.

With all due respect to your grandfather, please do not go anywhere near $80,000 of debt for undergrad. That’s the amount some folks spent on their 1st house! It’s not necessary, and you will regret it.

19

@chercheur
I appreciate your concern for my debt however you don’t quite understand the magnitude of my mental issues. They are at a medical level and it is mine and several professionals opinions that I probably will not have the mental fortitude to finish out an undergrad here at my current rate.

60k of debt is my limit, that is under what I have been recommended by personal connections for maximum debt I should take (starting salary of projected career should be at minimum 75% of student debt) I greatly value your advice and concern but I value the advice of people I have actually met more, with respect, as they can better judge my situation.

College has a price tag, but my happiness is more important than money. Plenty of people have done great with much more debt and much less lucrative career fields. If I have to spend 5-8 years living frugally while being employed in a field that I have formed a passion for in order to pay off the price for getting to spend the next four years and debatably 4 of the most impactful years of my life somewhere I’ll be happy. I’m fine with that.

@eandesmom

I don’t entirely know which number you’re talking about. However, I haven’t done my FAFSA(am Monday) but I’ve seen estimates of around 2000 efc.

I’m fine with a LAC, once again the school or school type doesn’t matter as long as they have a reputable and accredited CS program.

I am also aware I can’t take out more than 5500, my parents already are on board with a parent plus.

I plan on completing work study, I plan on religiously applying for scholarships every year, and as shown in OP I am very dedicated and passionate about Computer Science. My goal is an internship every summer which may seem insane but I see it as very possible. Once again I am VERY dedicated to this career and I LOVE doing it.

All money aside from what it costs to live in the summer will be reinvested into school.

So lets do some math there:
5500 student loans
5000 mom
3000 pell
3000 dad
~6500 internship

4000 work study

$27,000

Washington State Estimate(Based on Calculator):
~42,000

-27000

15000

-10000 (Automatic (based on eligibility NOT qualification) OOS scholarship)

5000 parent plus loan

10500/yr in loans rough estimate

George Mason University Estimate (based on calculator)
48000

-27000

20000

-10000 (Out of State student with demonstrated need grant (discussed with financial counselor and I'm predicted to qualify for this)

10000

15500/yr student loands estimate

If I go to UK I’m not doing work study
UKY Estimate (calculator)
28000

-23000

5000

-1250 (State Wide Grant based on HS academic performance)

3750

9250/yr estimated

I understand it can seem crazy for a 17 year old to discuss his future finances and say things like I’m okay with 60,000 student debt. I get it.

I just want to assure you I have done hours, on hours, on hours of research about how I can do this and get out with possibly not minimal but MANAGEABLE debt.

I understand these are ESTIMATES but in the end when I receive letters from the colleges I’m applied to about what grants and scholarships I’ll be receiving, if I have the opportunity to go out of state and manage to have =< 60k of debt. I’m going to take it.

20

I do understand, but I still stand by my recommendation in #17. Best of luck to you!