List of colleges I'm thinking: Safety, reach, whatever the other one was: I need help

So im trying to get into a top 10 college in Virginia for computer science. Can anyone give me a list of safety, reach, whatever the other one was.
Unweighted GPA- 3.5
SAT- 1300
EC- Depressed as a kid so this is like the year(junior) when I’m focused on it.
A bunch of clubs, 100+ hours of volunteering, certifications related to comp sci., Debate(award: top 3 in the district), MSA(position), habitat for humanity(position), cybersecurity(position and award), President of the Student Equity Committee, Student equity ambassador for my school, also I’m planning to make two clubs at my school(anime and developing club).

George Mason
George Washington
George Town
James Madison
UVA
VCU
Virginia Tech

George Mason - Safety

George Washington - Reach

Georgetown - Reach

James Madison - Target

UVA - Reach

VCU - Safety

Virginia Tech - Reach

Safety = 100% of admission and affordability
Likely = 90+% of admission and affordability
Match = good chance of admission and affordability
Reach = unlikely chance of admission and affordability

1 Like

Do you know of any other good safety schools?

Are you looking at schools in Virginia only?

If your school uses Naviance or Scoir, that will help you categorize schools, and your GC can give you additional input on whether CS makes admissions chances more selective than what Naviance shows.

What is your budget?

So I reside in Virginia and I want to look for schools near my parents, I’m not against the idea of going to an out-state college.
My school does use the Naviance but I find it extremely non-user-friendly. Also, it doesn’t give me chances properly, it lists my GPA as a 4.01 and my sat as a 1370 so I know that’s not me.

I don’t have a budget, I already have money saved, ill work in 12th and college, and my parents offered to help(this is because we are Indian) but if I can id like to save money but still go to a good school(top 100, but I know my GPA isn’t up to that level)

First order of business is to understand how much money your parents can pay for college each year, then add that to your savings.

Do the FAFSA4caster with your parents to get an estimated EFC, this will help you understand how much need based aid you may qualify for. https://fafsa.ed.gov/spa/fafsa4c/#/landing

Also run each school’s net price calculator to get an estimated cost for that school. Here is Virginia Tech’s Welcome!

For target to highly likely schools, I would definitely keep VCU and George Mason on your list. Look at Roanoke, West Virginia U, UMBC, Towson, U Delaware. Also Dayton, if you are willing to go that far.

2 Likes

Thank you.
God Speed.

The 3rd category is a financial/academic safety. You need schools you know will accept you AND that you can afford without private loans (in other words, that you can pay for with merit and/or need based grants + parent contribution + student work earnings + the federal student loan).

1 Like

I don’t need to worry about financial safety. I have a few scholarships and I’m going to be working. Also, my parents also said they’d contribute. (They said they want to)

Keep in mind that if you aren’t eligible for FA (many aren’t) you are looking at close to $30,000 a year in state public.

here are a few things about me.

~3.5 GPA
1250+SAT (haven’t taken it again but I’m pretty sure ill get this, the first time was 1130)

So im trying to get into a top 10 college in Virginia for computer science. Can anyone give me a list of safety, reach, whatever the other one was.
Unweighted GPA- 3.5
SAT- 1300

Your GPA is a 3.5 unweighted? If your transcript is mostly B’s with a few C’s and your SAT is 1130 I don’t think you’ll be eligible for merit aid. You really need to know how much your parents can pay (without borrowing) to determine your financial safeties.

I mean there is a reason why I listed the other parts.

Have you made sure that your scholarships, work earnings (colleges commonly assume $3-5k per year that a student can contribute from work earnings), and parent contribution will put all colleges on your list within affordability range?

Yes, I have.
I have quite some money saved up and I am planning to tutor kids on a wide scale.
Most likely basic coding to get them interested. Ill probably get approximately $300 per student because of the area I live in.(most people in my community make around 125K a year)

College students work about 8-12hours a week for optimal use of time. 15 hours and more impacts grades fairly significantly.

Do you or your parents have 30k*4 saved? More?
Do you know your efc?

3.5/1300 is likely to be a problem for cs, the most competitive major right now.

@MYOS1634 , OP doesn’t have a 3.5/1300. S/he has a 3.5/1130. The 1300 is a target score.

AArgh. Thanks @austinmshauri.

1130, if it improves, might get to 1180-1200.
3.5/1200 is solid, but considering the major (CS) everything moves up one level of selectivity.
@merciful: What math class are you in right now? What’s your grade this semester?
Could you consider Information Technology or Cybersecurity for instance?

https://cnu.edu/academics/areasofstudy/bs-informationscience/

George Mason= low reach for CS
George Washington= high reach, unlikely
George Town = out of reach
James Madison = low reach for CS
UVA = out of reach
VCU= high match for CS, match for other majors
Virginia Tech= high reach

You need to look at other colleges:
CNU, UMW, Roanoke, Randolph-Macon for matches
Longwood, Radford, Virginia Wesleyan, (if you’re a girl, Hollins) for safeties.

4 Likes

So I’m in precalc and I have a solid A- in it, next semester I’m trying to get a 95+.
Next year ill be taking AP Comp Sci and AP Calc BC as a Junior. I’ll also be taking Cybersecurity, app development, and aerospace.
And information technology and cybersecurity are not an option sadly. I do want to focus on cybersecurity but to have an extremely stable job I’ve been told by my mother to become a developer. So I don’t have a choice. Also, I am a male.

Also I am planning to create a app for my community, would this also affect my chances?