Looking for Safeties that I'll ACTUALLY like

College Search & Selection
1

So, I’m currently a junior and have been observing the college admissions process for my school’s current seniors over the past few months. I’ve noticed that a lot of students don’t seem to comprehend the idea of a “reach” school in that they’re always told that they’re unlikely to get in but are shocked and angry when that turns out to be true. I’ve also noticed that most students devote the vast majority of their time to identifying reach schools to apply to, even though they’re most likely to end up at either a safety or a match. The problem is that the culture of my school revolves very heavily around T20 schools, so it can be difficult to identify from word-of-mouth what safety schools would be a great fit. I have a couple safeties on my list at the moment, and I think that going to any of them would be perfectly fine, but I’m not really excited by any of them. I was hoping that you guys could help me out by suggesting some safeties (and matches would be good too) based on my stats and preferences.

Stats:
3.9 UW GPA (virtually all honors and AP classes and not necessarily the “easy” APs)
36 ACT
School doesn’t rank
Prospective CS Major
Subject Tests: 800 Math 2, 760 Bio M, 750 Chem, 740 World History, 730 Math 1 (will avoid submitting if possible)
APs: 5 on Chem, 5 on CS Principles, 5 on World History
I’m not one for resume-boosting, so my schedule consists of a handful of ECs that I really care about, but don’t necessarily take up a lot of time: Debate (secretary this year, captain next), another public policy one (president this year and next), an engineering competition team (captain this year, won’t know about next year until after apps are due), another engineering competition (no leadership available), a volunteering organization (treasurer, VP for 2 years, high likelihood of president next year)
Summers not the most productive, but this summer I’ll be working, doing college apps, and am thinking about starting a CS class for underprivileged middle schoolers (not to boost my resume, though. I volunteered with these kids last summer and it was a truly amazing experience, hopefully on both ends :slight_smile: )
White female from CT
Got a state-level CS award this year (not a big name thing), a couple titles at regional debates, one of my engineering teams got Top 10 nationally last year in a fairly recognizable competition

College Preferences:
*Good CS program (obviously)
*Not an exclusively technical school because I want flexibility in case I wish to double major, minor, or switch my major to something not as technical
*Undergrad population 5k-25k (but could go a bit bigger)
*Urban or suburban area (but might be able to be convinced otherwise)
*In the US, but no other geographical preference, don’t really care about weather
*Not one for partying, so I don’t want that to be an overbearing part of campus life
*Not a huge Greek presence
*Coed
*Service-oriented and/or strong internship program would be a plus
*I’m fine with some liberal arts requirements, but not TOO much, if you know what I mean. A more open curriculum would be preferable
*Will need financial aid (family income is slightly below $100k to give you a sense)
*If direct admit to CS not offered, I’d prefer admission to the major to not be hugely competitive among students once they’re in college

Thanks in advance!

2

@mathhappy You have great stats and a balanced outlook, so already a couple of steps ahead!

  1. Senior schedule: is AP comp sci A offered and are you taking it? Having more coding background can be helpful in CS courses in college. Ap calc bc or ab? Another Ap science?
  2. Looks like you will need colleges that are both financial safeties and academic safeties. That’s more of a challenge. With your stats, there are many good safeties. The question is affordability.
  3. Explore schools offering large merit. Your stats are top, so there should be some decent options. Look at Univ of Rochester. Also looking at state schools with auto merit. There is a sticky post on CC about that .
  4. White, female interested in CS and has related ECs is a decent hook, so apply to a few reaches. Brown, perhaps Cornell. Keep in mind that STEM classes at these universities are very intense.
    5)I assume U Conn Storrs is already on your list. With your state the closest regional CT university may not be a good fit academically, but keep it as a backup to a backup.
3

What have your parents told you about how they expect you to pay for your education? Do you have a budget at all? Have you run the Net Price Calculators at the websites of your home-state public universities? Is your family’s income only from salaries, or does someone have a business? Business income can reduce the accuracy of the NPCs.

Your stats would get you automatic admission and automatic merit at a number of places including University of Alabama (several different campuses), so check that out. If the numbers work for your family, you can apply as soon as the applications open in late summer, and have that safety in the bag. For more ideas on automatic merit, spend some time in the Financial Aid Forum.

Do take a look at the women’s colleges. Your stats make Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, and Wellesley matches/low-reaches. Smith has engineering, so you might want to check it out first. Yes, they are smaller than you are thinking about right now, but your stats are good and they all have good need-based aid. Some also have merit-based aid.

4

My daughter #2, a white female from a high achieving CT public high school, who sounds very, very similar to you - ended up at her “safety” - Penn State. She was a CS/French and Francophone Studies double major. I would highly recommend making the 4 hour drive and taking a look. The networking she was able to do had her in paid internships after her freshman year; no concerns about it being “too big” - she joined the Society of Women Engineers and lived in the engineering dorm and was able to make a big school small. She absolutely loved the “rah rah” aspect, even though she’s a quiet, studious type. Their career center and advisement is top notch. Good luck to you! I’m sure you’ll have some great choices out there.

5

University of Rochester ticks a lot of boxes (not just technical, about 6500 undergrad, urban, not a big party school or heavy Greek, coed, open curriculum, meets full need, research university) I don’t have info on how strong their CS program is; you’d need to look into that. Probably a solid match/low match for you. Info on the CS program: https://www.cs.rochester.edu/about/excellence.html

6

Your stats and desires scream Pitt to me for a safety.

A bonus is they’re rolling admissions so you’d know quickly and not need any other potential safety schools - just concentrate on applying to any you like better.

A second bonus is you could get a lot of really nice merit aid - even OOS making it affordable and you’re likely to know most of that fairly early too (top awards come later though - you’d probably be in the running).

They are well worth your taking the time to look at them IMO. Many students who choose Pitt as a safety end up having them as their #1 later in their search. (My own lad ended up with them as #2 - U Rochester beat them out, but URoc isn’t a safety financially or with admissions even if we were sort of sure about acceptance. They are worth considering for an application if you’re interested.)

7

Congratulations on doing great work. Keep doing few actives but for 3-4 years. This is what they want to see.
Your stats would allow you to apply anywhere. But knowing if your parents have money put away for you on an 529 or such would be helpful. Anything below the T20 you will get merit. Even some in the t20. Many universities as stated have smaller groups to join to make a large university feel small as an example :https://lsa.umich.edu/wise/

Some of my favorites would be Iowa State University (great school and merit), North Carolina State and Michigan State. All you should get half scholarship or more. Alabama is big for free tuition in the Midwest. They are on a mission to get bright kids to boost their exposure in engineering.

Cal poly slo is in your target range. Rit, RPI, Case Western. Colorado School of the mines. Cooper Union. University of Minnesota.

But you should definitely check out Purdue, Michigan, Georgia tech depending on your financial abilities. Michigan tends to give decent financial aid for Out of state again depending on your families situation.

Just take a look at the top 50 schools and see what speaks to you. The ratings change yearly. Many really good schools in top 100 also.

8

There are many good schools outside the top 100 too - remember there are 1000s of schools in the US! Search US News by major, then I like to cross reference on Niche because of student reviews. Finally look at CDS. Check out Case Western - fantastic school that gives merit. Good luck!

9

The University of Utah is a good CS safety that offers their Presidential scholarship (full tuition plus $5000 towards room and board) to OOS students with a 36 ACT score. Great campus and outdoor activities (especially skiing).

10

@Knowsstuff I think Michigan has improved FA for OOS students with families making $60K or less, but it sounds like the OP’s family makes more than that.

11

In some ways, it can be a curse to spend high school inside the bubble of a high-achieving school. The disappointment that your classmates seem to have is perhaps the first realization that high achievers are everywhere.

You’ll find many 36’s at safeties because they can often go for free.

And regarding school rankings, they are almost meaningless, anymore. NPR highlighted some important research that says a person’s success is mostly dependent on their ability prior to college, and not where they went to college.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/03/681851493/does-it-matter-where-you-go-to-college-the-answer-it-depends

Consider Matt Cutts, Google search guru, who went to the University of Kentucky for computer science. 25th percentile ACT is 22. It’s really a beautiful thing to understand that the sky is the limit, no matter where you go. This is the advice I give to my own kids, and has taken the stress out of the process.

12

@intparent. I agree but we don’t know if there was previous savings. Michigan’s financial aid is pretty good. They do have a few great scholarships and she might qualify for quest bridge etc depending on what her family files. So it’s something to at least not rule out till she needs to rule it out. Her profile is great. With her accomplishments she might be able to get close to full rides at a lot of schools. Having no to little debt is key especially for CS. Seems like the kids are not having any problems getting jobs so fit/affordability is more important then rank per se

13

You are right in that you should spend more time looking for a safety.
I would really consider your state Us and Colleges

14

Good suggestions already. For matches, I would look at Lehigh (but run the NPC first), Case Western, Rochester, and Pitt.

True safeties are harder to come by, especially for CS and needing financial aid. As noted up thread, look for schools with auto admit for your stats and rolling admission. I would suggest looking at Clarkson as a safety but they are pretty rural and small so I don’t think they fit your criteria.

FWIW, you are so smart to be focusing on your match and safety schools!!!

15

Really, no one should consider Michigan a “safety” anyway.

16

UConn. My daughter with a similar profile, though a couple national awards, did well with matches and reaches. We decided one easy financial and academic safety was enough. The other applications were killers: lots of time and stress.

17

As a high-stats student, you are in an odd position, in that you COULD be admitted anywhere, but the colleges and universities that match your stats have such low admission rates that it’s a virtual lottery.

By your determination to find “safeties [you] actually like,” you are investing in your own happiness. Good for you. DON’T “fall in love with” any particular college. DON’T fall victim to the constant presumption that you should have a " dream school" or even have the foggiest idea what you want to major in. A majority of students change their minds about majors anyway.

I suggest you take a close look at public universities that have honors colleges. These make great safeties for students like you. There is a website about them that you can Google.

It looks like you will possibly be a National Merit semifinalist. Know that although the actual National Merit scholarships are very small, MANY colleges and universities link National Merit status with enormous scholarships - I am talking full tuition, “full ride” including housing, and sometimes even computers and stipends. There is a lot of variety in these schools. Do your homework and find some you like. There are National Merit threads here that can be helpful with that.

Another tip - unless a particular college has direct admission into a major, you can be Undecided. It can actually work against you to indicate that you are interested in pre-med, pre-law, or computer science. Every college has a surfeit of those students. So put down a couple of things, and make one of them more unusual. Surely you have many interesting things you want to study. I don’t mean to just make something up.

Good luck!

18

I encourage the OP to look over some of the posts on CC where CS majors are having difficulty getting into schools that some thought were matches. This major is very popular with high stats kids and not everyone will get in where they thought they would. So the OP is on the right track - making sure to have good safeties. The idea of lining up an early acceptance through rolling admissions is a good one.

19

RPI is not really a safety for anyone but a female with your stats it might be close.

20

Your family has to decide what their budget is and you have to run the NPC, net price calculator, for each school you are interested in before it goes on your list. There are many posts on the forums about students admitted to schools that their familes can’t actually afford. I was ruthless and if a school didn’t fall into our budget then it didn’t go onto the list. That eliminated some schools that seemed like a great fit for my kid. But affordability had to override all other variables. The NPC results were quite accurate for us, though NPC results can be less reliable for families with businesses or divorced parents. You could look through the threads in the financial aid section of the forum for more info. Make a spreadsheet with the schools you are interested in and start adding data including NPC price, admit rate for female applicants, etc. You can find admit rates in the common data set for each school.
Some private schools suggested here sound like great a fit for you but could still be costly even with good merit awards. Figure out what UConn would cost and use that as a comparison.
Good luck!