M=Match schools
S=Safety schools (TRUE safeties should be financially affordable AND be schools you’d be happy to attend if others don’t work out)
R=Reach schools
These can all be High (H) or Low (L), as in HM (High Match) or LR (Low Reach).
I would second NEU as a great fit as a current CS student. As the co-op program is a big part of NEU, I would recommend looking into that. I regularly get emails about NSA/CIA/Security co-ops and other programs, clubs, and events. I am not personally in security, but I am a very big fan of how software development is taught here - it really was a standout program in my search and I now tutor the first sequence class.
I also applied to BU and RIT. I heard only great reviews of Stevens, but did not apply for personal preference reasons. All three would be good to look into.
Wow guys, thanks for this awesome info! I’ve definitely got a narrower field now.
^ All great suggestions.
I’ll add the University of Washington, which is listed in Gator88NE’s post #3 (NSA: University of Washington: CAE/IAE, CAE/R) and in Ynotgo’s post #15 (NYU CSAW CTF Finals in New York: BatmansKitchen, University of Washington (Seattle)).
See also:
https://seclab.cs.washington.edu/index.html
https://seclab.cs.washington.edu/news.html
Sounds like you would enjoy courses like this one with Prof. Franzi Roesner:
http://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse484/15sp/
http://www.franziroesner.com/research.shtml
Fascinating subject, and these days more than ever, we need bright minds to tackle it.
Good luck!
“Academically, I will have a 32+ ACT, and a 3.75+ GPA by graduation, so that should get me anywhere except MIT”
Don’t be too sure. It will not get you into CS at CMU, Harvey Mudd, CalTech or Stanford; and unless it’s a fair bit higher or you have some outstanding ECs, not necessarily at Cornell, Rice or UCB either. Not because those are low scores, but because pretty much everyone applying will have similar scores. And admission rates to CS are significantly lower than general admission (CMU’s general admission rate is around 25% but their CS program is in the single digits).
You will most likely get into RPI though, and as @Ynotgo said, they have an excellent hacker teams. Their CS program is ranked a bit lower than CMU’s but still very strong and respected, and a good place for people who don’t want to go or don’t get into MIT. It has a good nerdy/hacker culture.
Other good options are U.Wash and UIUC.
However, the OP may get admitted to these schools without direct admission to the highly competitive CS major. Enrolling without direct admission means facing a secondary admission process that requires a high GPA (3.67 at UIUC) or is highly competitive (Washington, most admits have a 3.4-4.0 GPA, but admission is not only GPA based).
Northeastern has a coop program. Boston is a great locale for those type jobs. RPI and RIT for sure.
Re #25, only a few (mostly Washington residents) are admitted each year directly into the CS/CE majors. Like almost all other majors at Washington, the vast majority of CS/CE students are admitted to the major in their sophomore or junior year. If you face a competitive application process (at Washington or UIUC, for example), you should consider your academic credentials in relation to your competition. Based on your 32+ ACT and 3.75+ GPA, as long as you stay focused on your studies, it will probably be someone else’s problem.
RIT’s University Magazine recently did an article on their Computing Security program https://www.rit.edu/news/story.php?id=53939
They placed third nationally in the cyber defense competition mentioned above. My son has decided to go to RIT (he was accepted ED) because it was more hands on (less theoretical) with a more clearly defined curriculum than some of the other programs he looked at, and the co-op program is highly appealing.
If you’re interested in applying for the CyberCorps scholarships starting your junior year, you might want to look at the participating institutions. https://www.sfs.opm.gov/ContactsPI.aspx
Re: #27
So what do the rejects from Washington’s CS major do? Do most stay at Washington in a different major, or transfer to some other school to major in CS?
In any case, one may want to think twice about entering a school where one has to do pre-med-like GPA protection and grade-grubbing to get into one’s major.
^ As explained to you previously, they reapply in another admission cycle, choose another major (related or unrelated) or transfer. https://www.cs.washington.edu/prospective_students/undergrad/academics/related_majors
In any case, @ucbalumnus, if you don’t think you will be able to meet the entrance requirements for the CS/CE majors at UW, don’t enroll there. 8-|
Not to mention that Troy, NY is supposedly the “next Brooklyn.” 
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Something-special-about-Troy-Brooklynites-say-6016210.php
http://c-realm.com/podcasts/crealm/443-troy-its-the-new-brooklyn/
http://www.timesunion.com/518life/article/Is-Troy-the-new-Brooklyn-5625682.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/nyregion/blogger-keeps-focus-on-brooklyn-architecture-but-now-mostly-from-upstate.html
Fact is, I grew up in and around these areas, and Rochester & Troy are dumps lol.
I guess if they have really great programs it’s worth it, but the locale is definitely not the best.
Thank you all for this wealth of information though, it really helped me out.
If you don’t live there any more it’s surprising how things change.
It’s only been about 3 years.