D19 is filling out a packet for her GC and looking for more schools to put on her list. She recently decided she wants to major in computer science so she googled a list of top computer science programs. Of course she came up with names like Stanford, MIT and Carnegie Mellon, all of which I know are impossible reaches for her. She’s already been admitted to Arizona State and Northern Arizona for CS, so she has her affordable safeties. She’ll also be applying to the honors programs at both ASU Barrett and NAU Honors, either of which I’d be thrilled for her to attend. But she clearly wants to apply to more schools so I’d like to steer her to some that are more realistic or maybe some low reaches. Her are her stats:
GPA 3.6 unweighted, 3.9 weighted, only 2 years of foreign language, decent rigor but not the top rigor at her competitive public high school, ranked in top 40%. She has never gotten anything less than a B but she has gotten LOTS of B’s thus the relatively low class rank at our competitive school. Few EC’s and none of them are STEM, ACT 35 (w/o writing), no SAT Subject Tests. We won’t qualify for need based FA, so possibility of merit aid would be very helpful. Home state is AZ so maybe some WUE schools?
She has some dyslexia and ADHD/anxiety and has made good progress since freshman year in dealing with those. She has a 504. Personally if she’s going to go OOS I’d prefer she not be all the way across the country on the East Coast, but that’s parental preference not hers. Suggestions?
Would she be interested in smaller colleges with decent CS programs and possible merit? If so, check out the Colleges That Change Lives schools at https://ctcl.org. She also might want to consider some of the women’s colleges.
Outside the big CS name schools, what will matter most for CS at any other good quality college or university is how engaged she gets in the program. You want her to find a place where she feels comfortable exploring the subject matter in depth, collaborating with her peers and professors, and looking for internship opportunities. Some students do better in either a large or small school environment, while it’s not a big deal to others.
@PengsPhils Rice recommends two subject SATs and is a ** very** selective school, they also give strong consideration to EC’s. UT Austin admits by major and there’s very little hope of an OOS kid that’s only in the top 40% of their class getting into comp sci, just not going to happen.
We went to a CTCL fair during her junior year and back then she was thinking of being pre-med, so a lot of CTCL schools seemed like good options. She was especially thinking of St Olaf (one of her main EC’s is choir) and I was pushing Hope just because we have a lot of Hope alumni in the family. After taking Human Physiology & Anatomy Honors last year she lost her enthusiasm for being pre-med. So can someone suggest which CTCL schools might have decent CS programs? @Otterma
@3scoutsmom Both are selective given the circumstances but I think are much more attainable reaches than those listed in the OP. Especially for someone who may like a CTCL, Rice would especially be worth the reach. Is UT Austin really that class rank driven for OOS students? I wasn’t aware of that.
@PengsPhils Rice has an admission rate of 11% (class of 2022) down from 16% (class of 2021).
It’s very difficult for OOS students to get into UT Austin without out a big hook. By state law at least 90% of the students at UT must be instate, the remaining 10% includes international students, recruited athletes and tippy-top students. 91.3% of the total students enrolled in UT’s College Of Natural Sciences for the Class of 2021 were in the top 25% of their high school class. I couldn’t find a break down for just Comp Sci (which is under Natural Sciences along with Textiles and Apparel) but since they only enroll about 380 comp sci majors a year I suspect it’s even higher.
In addition to rank and stats UT is going to be looking for EC’s related to major which op states she doesn’t have any STEM EC’s. From UT’s web page;
Also UT will not offer any merit for OOS. OP is looking for low reaches for a high B student with potential merit. I just don’t think that UT Austin or Rice are good options. I’m hard pressed to come up will better, more economical options than OP’s instate safety schools. Maybe De Paul? I’m not sure how they are with merit or if it’s too far. Another thought if she wants to come to Texas is Trinity in San Antonio, I’ve heard good things about their CS program and they are known for good merit and they have a free on line application.
I agree that Rice is too reachy and UT Austin is a reach and expensive. @3scoutsmom I agree that we will be hard pressed to find economical options besides NAU or ASU. Her GPA is a bit low for Barrett but our HS has a strong track record with Barrett and her GC is optimistic she’ll get in with her ACT and good essays/LOR’s. NAU Honors should be an easier admission. She would get a full tuition scholarship at NAU and near full tuition at ASU, so I’m definitely strongly in favor of those choices. But we let her sister go to an OOS private so we feel obligated to let her explore other options. I think she likes NAU best but worries that it is “not ranked.” How can I convince her that her in state options are good choices? This seemed easier when she wanted to be pre-med and there were several CTCL options with merit.
@Corinthian Have her take a close look at the comp sci programs at NAU and ASU. What companies recruit there? Where do their students get internships? What % of students get jobs offers after graduation? What oppertunites will she have at these school to make networking contacts? How do the answers to these question align with her end goal?
We went through this with my son, also a comp sci major. Com Sci more that most majors is heavily in demand and companies are less concerened about * where* you went to school than what you did while you were there. It’s important to pick a school that will give you oppertunities that let you shine.
“Also UT will not offer any merit for OOS”. Not literally true (there are a handful of merit scholarships which provide OOS tuition waivers, my D18 was offered one for dance) but accurate in this case.
I would look at Utah (easy residency, good CS program, great location and Honors College) if the main aim is to provide an economical and relatively nearby OOS benchmark for comparison.
@Corinthian - St. Olaf would be a great choice for your daughter for CS. It’s math program is first rate and that’s a good marker for CS quality at a small school. Maybe look at Willamette and Lawrence as well.