List of colleges in computer science

College Search & Selection
1

My son will be a rising senior in Fall 2019. He wants to major in computer science/engineering.
We’re putting together a list of colleges to apply to and would appreciate your inputs of what should
be on it. We all know/hear about the top selective schools like Carnegie Mellon. What we are not sure about is the 2nd
tier and safe schools that have good computer science program. He plans to apply to at least 10
schools or more given the competitive admission process. His friend who is senior this year applied
to 25 schools and got 5 acceptances; none is her top pick.

His stats are: GPA (un-weighted 3.8; weighted 4.4; SAT 1480; 4 years (including senior year)
FIRST robotics participation where he’s been coding Java and done electrical wiring; 8 AP courses;
4 years of community activity tutoring under-served kids in both academic and robotic).

Thank you so much in advance. This is our first experience. Really appreciate all the help we get.

2
  1. Home State?
  2. College Budget?
  3. Private or Public Universities?
  4. Any specific geographical areas of interest?
  5. Rural/Suburban/Urban schools?
  6. Anything else of interest for the target schools? Sports/Greek life?
3

Thanks for replying.

  1. Home state: CA
  2. College budget: We can afford roughly CA in-state tuition/room&board
  3. No preference for Public or Private except the above budget constraint
  4. No preference although would prefer West coast region
  5. No preference
  6. No interest in sport or Greek life

One thing my son is interested in more practical learning like project/research
opportunity than theoretical environment.

4

Apart from UC’s, CSU, Cal Poly, he should apply to San Jose State and Santa Clara.
On the east coast, Northeastern, RPI, WPI, CaseWestern - private but have merit scholarships.
Georgia Tech is very competitive for CS, and OOS cost will be above UC’s but lower than privates.
Purdue, UIUC, Wisconsin, UWash, Michigan, Cornell - all will be more than UC’s, but well known for engineering.

5

Has he tried ACT ? If he can get his scores up, he will have more choices.

6

Look at this list here. Many charts and tables.

https://www.ivyachievement.com/computer-science-rankings/

7

More context to our question.
AP courses taken or taking: Computer science A, Calculus BC, Physics A, English Language/Composition, US History, US Human Geography.
Plan AP courses for Senior year: Multi variable Calculus, Physics C, English Literature
3 year of regular Spanish

8

Nationally -
First tier, the big 4, in no particular order - CMU, MIT, Stanford, UC-Berkeley
Second tier - can vary, but generally speaking - UIUC, GT, CalTech, UDub-Seattle, Cornell, Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Maryland, Princeton, UW-Madison, USC, UPenn, Northeastern, UT-Austin, Purdue, UMass-Amherst.

In reality though, you can go to school #150 and still get a good job. Much of it is dependent on the student himself or herself.

For a good website that generally is pretty accurate WRT CS rankings - csrankings.org. Though I’m not sure why CalTech seems to be so low, maybe the website was written by someone from MIT, lol.

So if looking for 35K and down, for public schools, obviously the UCs, CPSLO, San Jose State, and SDSU for CA. UMass-Amherst may offer enough aid to make it worthwhile, they did for my oldest. Maybe some less competitive schools that are generous with aid such as Alabama, and UT-Dallas. For privates, Santa Clara is not great on merit, but certainly worth a try. @aquapt is the expert at knowing all the schools with decent merit offerings.

9

Unless your son wants to actively avoid Greek life entirely, he could look into Lehigh and Union.

10

The University of Utah is a good safety that would fit your budget (there is good merit aid and in state tuition is available after the first year) and desired region.

11

my son is going to RIT. they tend to offer decent merit to those with high stats. They have a pretty good CS program.

12

If he prefers a research orientation, the Computing major within the College for Creative Studies at UCSB could be a really great affordable option. Small program within the large university, research focus, in-state costs. (CCS requires an additional layer of application.) https://ccs.ucsb.edu/majors/computing

U of Utah is a great affordable safety for CS. (They offer good merit, and you can choose between the discounted WUE rate, and the path to residency that allows conversion to in-state tuition after the first year.) They have a really nice Honors College program and a strong up-and-coming CS program. Utah vs. SLO is a decision that comes up with some regularity on CC. The Nevada flagships are also affordable WUE options with solid CS programs.

Despite all the hype around the tippy-top programs, CS is really very meritocratic. The two new CS faculty members at Harvey Mudd this year got their undergrad degrees at UC Riverside and UNLV. Not going to one of the most in-demand programs does not mean stepping forever off the fast track. As @ProfessorPlum168 says, it depends on the student - so long as the program is reputable and has the offerings desired, there are plenty of opportunities to distinguish oneself.

My daughter got into Cal Poly SLO CS with similar stats to your son’s. She didn’t get into Cal or UCLA (and she didn’t even apply to Cal engineering). CS is more competitive than general admission, throughout the UC’s. At UCSD, the most likely outcome is that he’d get into the university but not into Jacobs/CS… although both departmental the and the overall decisions could go either way. (My d applied to CogSci so we didn’t find out whether she could have gotten into CS.) I agree that for CS, boosting the standardized test scores, especially on the math side, will open more doors. (My d never prepped and never retook, which in retrospect wasn’t especially wise, but she got a very fortunate women’s college merit offer and ended up changing her mind about CS anyway.) Your son should have ELC status, so he basically can’t get shut out of the UC’s completely, but he may not get the campuses he wants, and applying to CS definitely turns matches into reaches and safeties into matches. He should have good options in the CSU system - SLO, SDSU, SJSU… he should be in good shape with his stats, although a higher SAT would provide even more “insurance.”

To clarify, I think you’re saying that your budget is the ~35K/year in-state COA threshold, but you do not qualify for need-based aid, correct? If your EFC is 35K, that’s a whole different story than needing merit to get down to 35K. Merit-wise, there are a lot of really good schools that give merit (places like WPI, CWRU, URoch, RIT, just for example), but it takes a lot of merit to get a 70K+/year school down to 35K, so these all become financial reaches in that scenario. And most OOS publics with strong CS (schools like UMinn and Purdue for example) are likely to come in over budget too. It’s the WUE flagships and the big-merit southern flagships that have the best potential to meet your price-point. Hope that helps…

13

For California publics, calculate HS GPA as described here:
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Note 1: Most UC web sites referencing HS GPA refer to the weighted capped version (up to 8 points for honors courses) unless otherwise specified. CSUs also use the weighted capped version to plug into their eligibility index (HSGPA * 800 + SATRW + SAT_M). Do not compare your high school’s weighted GPA calculation to any UC or CSU admission stats unless it is specifically listed as being calculated the same way as the UC or CSU admission stats reference (usually the weighted capped version).

Note 2: For CPSLO, recalculate including 9th-11th instead of 10th-11th. This is then plugged into its MCA formula, which is different from the CSU eligibility index used by other CSUs. See http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/2128874-understanding-the-mca-plus-calculator-p1.html .

Note 3: Many UC applicants with weighted capped HS GPA of 3.80-4.19 feel that they do not need to apply to UCSC, UCR, UCM. However, this comes with a high risk of being shut out of the UC system, as shown by the 2018 admission rates shown at http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/2127392-faq-uc-historical-frosh-admit-rates-by-hs-gpa-2018.html . Since computer science is commonly a more popular and selective major, the risk of overreaching is even greater.

Note 4: SJSU publishes past admission thresholds (CSU eligibility index) by major: http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/ . Note that CS has been the most selective major for the last few years.

14

@riviere You already have a lot of good advice so far. Some more possibilities outside CA: look into both ASU and Univ of Arizona. They both have honors colleges and well established CS programs. Maybe possible to get merit. UWSeattle CS is a reach for OOS students.

15

Also, be aware that some schools, like UCSD, Washington, and UIUC, may admit CS applicants to the school but not the major. Students who enroll at such schools as undeclared students will find that getting into the CS major is very difficult or competitive.

16

Thanks to everyone who share your advises & inputs. Your posts injects a large does of reality into our planning.
We have a vague idea of how difficult it is but the info here really brings it to home for us.

My son’s SAT-math score is 790. He’s just not very good at SAT-RW section although he got all A for his
English courses. He’s taken SAT twice and the outcome is generally the same.

@aquapt At UCSD, unless he gets into Jacobs/CS there is no path for student to major in CS?
BTW, can you explain a bit about some of the acronyms like WUE, CogSci, ELC etc… I am new to the tread and not
familiar with these abbreviations. I haven’t done FAFSA yet, so I don’t know what my EFC is. 35K-40K is what I
expect to contribute to his COA. Do you mind if I ask your daughter attends CalPoly SLO? If yes, how is the course
load and CS program there in general?
@momprof9904 Does UWSeattle breaks down the admission threshold for CS?

17

@riviere: For UCSD, if a student is not directly admitted into the CS major, then they have to take several pre-req courses (screening courses) and have a 3.3 UCSD GPA. Students who meet the 3.3 GPA cutoff for screening courses will be entered into a lottery. Students will be randomly selected until the open number of seats in CSE are filled.

WUE= Western Undergraduate Exchange. WUE member schools offer reduced tuition rates for OOS students. Here is the website but many popular majors will be excluded depending upon campus.

https://wuesavingsfinder.wiche.edu/

ELC= The ELC (Eligibility in the Local Context) program ensures that academically talented and deserving California resident students from all over the state have the opportunity to join us at UC.
ELC status adds value to the application and is one of the 14 factors considered when applications are reviewed. Additionally, ELC students not admitted to any of their campus choices are offered a spot at a UC campus (UC Merced) that has space, if minimum UC requirements are met.

CogSci= Cognitive Science

18

@riviere UWSeattle has a few web pages devoted to CS admissions. Heres the main page
https://www.cs.washington.edu/academics/ugrad/admissions

Then click into the subpages describing things in more detail.

I would also advise your son take the ACT, or at least try a practice test at home. Some kids find the reading and English part on that to be more straightforward.

19

https://cse.ucsd.edu/undergraduate/cse-capped-major-status explains that students trying to change into CSE at UCSD need to earn a 3.3 college GPA in the prerequisites and then enter a lottery.

WUE = Western University Exchange, a regional agreement where a student can get 1.5 times in-state tuition at some other states’ colleges. Not all colleges or majors qualify. See https://www.wiche.edu/wue .

CogSci = cognitive science major

ELC = eligibility in local context. If the student’s UC recalculated weighted capped HS GPA is higher than the top 9% threshold set by a recent previous class at the high school, then s/he has ELC status which means that if the s/he gets shut out of UCs that s/he applies to, a UC that has space available (i.e. UCM) may admit him/her. See http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/local-path/index.html and http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/freshman/california-residents/local-path.html .

https://fafsa.ed.gov/spa/fafsa4c/?locale=en_US#/landing can give you a quick estimate of your FAFSA EFC. However, colleges do not necessarily use FAFSA EFC to calculate financial aid; they may have their own formulae. You can go to a college’s financial aid web page and look for the Net Price Calculator and use it to get a preliminary estimate of what that college may offer. Note: if the parents are divorced, some colleges (not UCs or CSUs) require both parents’ finances; see http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2083835-faq-divorced-parents-financial-aid-and-net-price-calculators.html .

20

Hi, @riviere - sorry for all the acronyms :slight_smile:

My daughter did not end up at Cal Poly, and she has veered away from CS into a more architecture-related major, so I’m afraid I don’t have too many relevant post-admission experiences to relate.

WUE = Western Undergraduate Exchange, which offers discounted tuition for some out-of-state public U’s among the participating Western states - so, for example, your son could attend U of New Mexico and pay tuition that’s 150% of in-state tuition, but much less than full out-of-state. You can search participating institutions here: https://wuesavingsfinder.wiche.edu/

CogSci = Cognitive Science, which is an interdisciplinary major that blends psychology, linguistics, neurscience, computer science, philosophy, design… emphases vary depending on the school and program and track-within-the-program. At UCSD, CogSci is one of the non-Jacobs majors that a fair number of kids who could not get into CS choose in order to still study a lot of CS within CogSci. (Although of course there are also plenty of students for whom CogSci is their first choice major.) There’s also a Math+CS major outside of Jacobs, but that’s an impacted major also. There is no straight-CS major at UCSD other than the one in the engineering school. (UCLA is a little like this too - there’s CS in engineering, and there’s Linguistics+CS that is not an engineering major, but no non-engineering straight-CS.) Other UC’s do have non-engineering CS majors - Berkeley and Davis for example.

ELC = the program that guarantees the top 9% of graduating HS students in CA admission to a UC campus, although not necessarily the one of their choice. If an ELC student is shut out of the campuses they apply to, they’ll receive an offer from Merced. http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/local-path/index.html

You don’t have to do the full-blown FAFSA to get an idea of your EFC (expected family contribution). Pick any random university with great financial aid - let’s say Stanford for example - and run their Net Price Calculator: https://financialaid.stanford.edu/undergrad/how/calculator/ If you don’t qualify for need-based aid there, you won’t anywhere - Stanford’s aid is the best case scenario. If your EFC at Stanford is 35K or less, then need-based aid may be part of the picture for your son at some schools; if it’s higher, then you’re probably looking at finding schools where your full-pay cost is within your budget, or where he can get enough merit aid to get to your price point.

As to UW-Seattle, direct-admit to the CS major is very very competitive, even for WA residents, and they give heavy preference for direct-admit to in-state students. So the odds of a CA resident getting direct admit to CS at UDub without sky-high test scores and a near-perfect unweighted GPA are very low. Also, the max merit aid at UDub won’t get the price down to $35K/year or below, anyway.

You might want to have your son try the ACT. He seems like he’ll do well on the math side on any test; and he might turn out to be one who has more of a knack for the verbal parts of the ACT than the SAT. (Also the ACT has the science section that he might do very well on.)

Sorry for all the daunting info about how competitive it is for CS; but your son should have really good prospects - it’s just better to know up-front how tough it is at the ultra-competitive schools. There are plenty of excellent programs that he’s well-qualified for - you just have to find the right combination of fit, competitiveness, and cost.