I was just wondering if this college list seems reasonable. I am a little worried that I either have too many reaches or too many safeties and almost no matches. Tell me what you think.
Intended Major: Computer Science or Computer Engineering
Cal Poly SLO
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
San Jose State
Georgia Tech
Purdue
USC
UCB
UCLA
UCSD
UCD
UCI
UCSB
UIUC
University of Washington (Seattle)
My Stats:
ACT: 32
E:31, M:35, R:27, S:35
UW GPA: 3.92
W GPA (10-11): 4.17
W GPA(9-11): 4.08
UC GPA
SAT Subject Tests:
Chem: 750
Math 2: 800
Physics: 760
AP Scores:
Physics 1: 4
Physics 2: 3
Stats: 5
Freshman Year Grades
English 9A : B+/A
CP Biology: A/A
PE: A/A
Honors Geometry: A/A
Spanish 2: A/A
Geography/Health: A/A
Sophmore Year Grades
Spanish 3: A/A-
World History: A/A
Chemistry: A/A
PE: A/A
English 10A: A/A
Honors Algebra 2/Trig: B/A-
Junior Year Grades
English 11A: A/A
Art 1: A/A
Honors Pre-Calculus: A/A-
AP Stats: A/A-
AP Physics 1: B/A
CP US History: A/A
Senior Year Courseload:
AP Physics C, AP Calc B/C, AP Computer Science A, AP Human Geography, English 12A, CP Gov/Econ
California Resident
I have decent EC’s.
Very good Common App personal statement and UC Personal statement.
Strong Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, and USC supplements
Decent University of washington and UIUC essays
ok Georgia Tech and Purdue supplements
Georgia Tech, UIUC, Purdue, UWashington are out-of-state publics… generally, financial aid will be very, very stingy. I would see no point in attending any of them over any of the UCs.
I would add UC Santa Cruz, maybe Cal Poly Pomona… maybe SFSU… San Jose State should be an excellent safety and you already have that on your list… you will most assuredly get in and it should be quite affordable. Plus, it is in Silicon Valley and there will be plenty of internship and summer job opportunities. I’d drop the out-of-state publics, but that’s just me.
Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, USC are fantastic private schools and generally have great financial aid. That said, if your family is upper middle class or higher, they will end up being very expensive. By all means apply… but compare finances… I would go to almost any UC rather than go into hundreds of thousands in debt just for a name-brand private.
You are fortunate that you live in a state with such a wide array of fantastic public universities.
Looks like a good list with a mix of reach, match and safety schools. My guess is that you will get into at least half of them.
You should have a good shot at the merit scholarship Washington awards to half of admitted domestic OOS students (up to $7,500 per year for 4 years), which would drop tuition, room and board to around $37.5K.
OOS costs may exceed 40K. Run the NPCs for the OOS publics.
I’m guessing your parents are upper-class if they can afford 40K annually. Considering this, Carnegie (63K) & Cornell (45K) won’t be cheap.
It’s important to note that UDub high school direct-admit for CS is fairly competitive, with only 120 slots offered (expected yield of 40).
The school does not directly admit by major otherwise. If you are accepted by the overall school but not by CSE, you have to apply when you’re already a sophomore and deal with the ~30% acceptance rate then.
I believe Chemical Engineering, Business Administration and a handful of other majors have freshman direct admission options at Washington.
Regarding CSE, the department’s website states, “The Department of Computer Science & Engineering admits approximately 200 students per year. We typically have space for approximately 40% of students who apply. Cumulative GPAs of admitted students generally range from 3.4-4.0. The minimum GPA to be considered for admission is a 2.5 average in prerequisite courses.”
@UWfromCA you’re right (there are other direct admit majors) but I was referring to the school as CSE (as a synonym for department) sorry for the confusion
There seems to be conflicting info on the university website; I got my stats here (for soph admits):
I’d also like to add that CMU is super stingy with financial aid; my EFC is somewhere around $3000 but the NPC expects us to pay around $30,000 (with a $50,000 income). No businesses or non-custodial parents. It’s just not a very generous school.
That and the SCS acceptance rate is ridiculously low.
Cal Poly SLO- match
Cornell- reach
Carnegie Mellon- high match
San Jose State- low match
Georgia Tech- match
Purdue- low match
USC- high match
UCB- high match
UCLA- high match
UCSD- match
UCD- match
UCI- match
UCSB- match
UIUC- low match
University of Washington (Seattle)- low match
dont mean to hate, but I’m kinda in the same position as you, probably living in the same area as well. How can you tell if your personal statements are “good”? Dont get me wrong, it is probably good, but it’s so subjective, I can’t even tell for mine. I’m struggling with the Commonapp supplements, so this is why I’m salty that you say yours are good lol.
And @jackisawesome , are you “matching” based on stats? Jw. If you are, then I’m pretty happy since I’m applying to kinda the same colleges with the same stats.
I would say that a good essay could be many things: it could show you through a leadership opportunity, a personal struggle, or a simple everyday interaction. However, it is crucial that it shows you and a lot about you, as this is the only way that the admissions people will be able to recognize you. Yet, they know when you bullsh*t, so try to be as honest and as genuine as possible.
I’m matching on stats, but also I’m mostly basing it off of my own personal experience. As a youth in California (class of 2020 for college), I feel like I know tons about in-state schools. my bro went through the college process last year, and as I was friends with upperclassmen, I was able to see what types of people get in and what people don’t.
@ikim16
I worked on my common app and UC personal statements for the entire summer and I finished them in September. I didn’t talk about my economic standpoint in any of them.