Hi, I’m a bit stuck in the college process (thankfully I’m a Junior and still have a good amount of time to decide) but I’d really like to get into a somewhat respected Computer Science program that is partially focused on student internships. I’d love to go to Purdue or Georgia Tech but sadly because of a horrific Freshman year that is not seeming like it’ll be a possibility especially for the Computer Science major. Here are my demographics and stats hopefully some of you guys will have some recommendations. I’d like to be out of state but if worst comes to worst then I’ll just go to my state university.
Demographics:
Sex: Male
State: Kentucky
Race: White
Stats:
ACT 30 (29 E, 28 M, 33R, 28 S)
GPA (Listed Fresh,Soph,Current Junior): 2.077, 3.143, 4.5
A few notable extracurriculars:
-Currently, work as a technology manager and website creator for a nonprofit locally
-Very active member of Y-Club which is a community service club that attends two conferences each year, a mock United Nations, and a mock state legislation (hoping to be an officer next year)
-Officer in Youth Impact
-Member of schools AP Advisory Board
-Lead a preparatory mock United Nations for local middle schoolers (about 90 students)
-Lead and managed a volunteer event that fed local homeless population on Veterans Day
-Working as Social Media manager for a local politicians campaign
Here’s a list of schools I’d love to attend if you’d like an idea of the type of school I like:
-Ohio State University
-NC State
-Purdue
-Georgia Tech
-Stony Brook
Indiana University is less selective in computer science than Purdue but still well respected. Out of state schools ae generally not generous with financial aid. University of Kentucky would be a good backup.
Cost Constraints for my family are basically we can pay more if the education offers more. I’d say 45k Cost of Attendance per year maximum though.
My unweighted GPA is 2.077, 3.143, 4.0 so 3.07 when I’ll apply for college.
I’ll try to list courses off top of my head:
Freshman:
Arts & Humanities
Pre-AP English 1
Pre-AP General Sciences
Introduction to Engineering
Algebra 1
French 1
Integrated History
Sophomore:
Art 2
English 2
Chemistry
Advertising and Promotions
Geometry
French 2
World History
Junior:
Culinary Arts
AP US History
AP Language
Algebra 2
College and Career Readiness Math (ACT Prep Math Class)
Planned Senior:
AP Physics 1
AP Literature
Honors Biology
AP Computer Science Principles
Intro to Programming in Java (Dual Credit)
Honors Pre-Calc
Health/Strength and Conditioning
Just for an extra tidbit of info: I am not in a highly ranked high school; sadly my high school in fact has one of the highest drop out rates in the state.
@TomSrOfBoston
Yes UK is my backup and it won’t be a school I regret attending for sure however since It’s kinda been my “dream” to go out of state for college I just don’t feel right giving up the search and accepting going to UK without even trying first.
I’d say UW-Madison is probably the easiest of the top CS schools to major in CS in, as you just have to get in (and they don’t admit by major) and declaring for CS is still a breeze there. As OOS, though, it still wouldn’t be very easy for you to get in.
UK is fine. A lot of OOS publics, IMHO, would not be so much better than UK to be worth paying the extra OOS tuition for, IMO.
BTW, UNC (for OOS) and Vandy are typically easier to transfer in to than getting in straight out of HS, so that is something to keep in mind.
You need to target less selective due to your GPA and slower math track. Look at U of Arizona, UMass Lowell and maybe Arizona State (not sure you could get in). Probably not Purdue or Madison. You might have a chance at UMass Amherst or Rutgers.
https://students.asu.edu/freshman/requirements indicates that Arizona State University is not difficult to get in. The OP may already meet the automatic admission criteria (but check the course requirements, including the year of “fine arts or career and technical education”).
@ucbalumnus For all colleges listed, my concern was CS being an impacted major. Arizona State might be more reachy simply because the Barrett Honors College might pull in higher stat CS majors. By all means try but have safeties for CS at good quality programs. U Arizona and UMass Lowell should be safe and good quality.
Where you go to school isn’t that important when it comes to getting a CS-related job. Any state flagship would be fine, as would schools like Cincinnati, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, Alabama-Huntsville, Southern Illinois, and many others.
CS is a very marketable major.
Does it make sense to pay $45K/y for an OOS public university instead of ~$25K/y for the University of Kentucky? Just in terms of education quality or career outcomes, I don’t think so.
Note that CS is a math heavy major. You are not taking as demanding coursework (pre calc senior year vs other applying may be taking calc bc or at least ab). Also your ACT in math is ok but not as compeitive as it could be. I would study and try to get that score up. Finally your EC scream a different career path and show no interest in STEM. Kinda feels like you are not a prime CS candidate. What have you done to show interest ?
I would consider more practically oriented programs labeled “Information Technology” over CS.
The good news is that admissions officers definitely look at the gpa trend, not just the overall gpa, so you are on the right track !
@blevine, discrete math and algorithms, however. Not calculus.
Some folks do better with one than the other.
It’s actually more logic-heavy than math-heavy.
@blevine Well, I guess the only thing making me want to take Computer Science is that I’ve been programming games for 4-5 years now. I’m working on projects right now both independently and through the Non-Profit, that would be worthy to put down as a CS related EC (One is an app and the other is a MySQL database, as well as rewriting the entirety of our website in my own javascript,css,html) I know my lack of Computer Science EC and that is because for the first 6 years I lived here in KY I was very reclusive and didn’t interact much with anyone outside of people on my computer, my counselor jokes as me being a “Junior Blossomer” which I find true and my Junior year was my prime year, the EC’s I have now were both the easiest available and the best way to put me in front of hundreds to a thousands of people and force myself out of my comfort zone. Which in a college’s opinion may not be Computer Science related but in my personal opinion develops my problem-solving skills like no other experience I’ve ever had
@PurpleTitan I enjoy more logic-heavy maths, I’ve actually watched an intro lecture to Discrete Maths and I cannot wait to get to take that class, though my classes have lacked math is my favorite subject and if I had known how important school was Freshman year (evident by GPA that I had no clue) when we made our schedule I would have probably doubled up math that year so I could be on track with the advanced kids.
Very few colleges require calculus in high school, even for CS or other math-heavy majors.
The OP is not aiming for the super-selective colleges; remember that, in the overall context of college-bound students, the OP is doing well despite attending a high school with a high dropout rate.