Looking for some safety Engineering/CS schools.

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi everyone. I'm currently a senior in high school (Massachusetts), and I'm looking to attend a school with either a good computer engineering or computer science program. </p>

<p>Now unfortunately, compared to the students who get in at the top schools my resume is not that great:</p>

<p>As/Bs in most classes - Except my past 2 science classes have been C+'s (Honors Chem sophomore year, AP Physics B junior year).</p>

<p>This year though in my AP Physics C course I got an 80 the first quarter.</p>

<p>I've taken as many honors/AP courses as I reasonable could - I will graduate having taken 7 AP courses (both englishs, us history, calculus, statistics, physics B and physics C)</p>

<p>Due to the way my school weights GPAs though, my class rank is pretty bad (24/85) (I go to a very small school.)</p>

<p>My SATs were pretty good, but math was low (relatively): Superscored, I have a 1450 CR + M, 2140 overall (800/650/690)</p>

<p>I have applied to some of the "middle tier" engineering schools, like RPI and WPI, but now I'm starting to worry I won't get in because of the low physics and math scores, and so I'm looking for some quality safety schools.</p>

<p>Any advice is much appreciated.</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

2

<p>How about Drexel and RIT? Have you considered Northeastern?</p>

3

<p>Also, UPitt in Pittsburgh PA has a great engineering program</p>

4

<p>I actually was looking at RIT, but not really the other ones you guys suggested. I’ll take a look at them, thanks!</p>

5

<p>UMass Amherst. Excellent engineering and CSS.</p>

6

<p>right down the street, too! thanks!</p>

7

<p>NYU Polytech</p>

8

<p>Second the recommendation to look at University of Massachusetts - Amherst.</p>

<p>However, if math and science are your weaker subjects, be prepared to work harder as an engineering or CS major.</p>

9

<p>I agree with UCB. You got a 650 on the SAT Math, C+ in the latest science classes but an 800 on the SAT CR and I am guessing As in AP English and History. Dude, you are clearly better suited for the Social Sciences and Humanities. Major in Econ or Political Science! ;)</p>

10

<p>Don’t let people talk you out of an engineering or CS program if that is what interests you. You *will *have to take the initiative to use the resources on campus to help you with your weaker subjects. Good schools will have drop-in centers where you can get help with freshman courses in particular. That is in addition to getting help from TA’s and professors.</p>

11

<p>a safety has to be AFFORDABLE and safeties usually don’t give good aid.</p>

<p>What is your budget? How much will your family pay?</p>

<p>You’ve missed many of the scholarship deadlines at safety schools. </p>

<p>Students really should find their safeties first, unless money isn’t a concern at all. If your parents will pay $55k+ for whatever school you want, then you’ll be ok. If you need aid, then finding safeties this late may be more difficult.</p>

<p>What is your best M+CR without superscoring?</p>

12

<p>budget isn’t really a problem, family will pay a good amount</p>

<p>best M+CR without superscoring is 1440 (800/640)</p>

13

<p>If you’re ok with the West Coast:
-Santa Clara University
-Seattle University
-Gonzaga University
-Loyola Marymount University (they’ve recently put quite a bit of money into their engineering facilities)</p>

<p>Other Schools:
-Rose Hulman (only if you’re SURE you want to major in a STEM field)
-Valpraiso University</p>

14

<p>thanks, I’ll take a look at those</p>

15

<p>You can use the accreditation search at [ABET</a> -](<a href=“http://www.abet.org%5DABET”>http://www.abet.org) to check which types of engineering each school has.</p>

<p>However, note that good CS degree programs without ABET accreditation do exist (but so do some very poor ones).</p>

16

<p>how important is ABET accreditation?</p>

17

<p>About Rose-Hulman . . .</p>

<p>Not as competitive as some of the other well known engineering school and has rolling admissions . . . so you’ll know quite soon if you’re admitted. And just because it doesn’t have the national reputation of other schools doesn’t mean that it’s not a good school! The only downside is that it’s rather expensive.</p>

<p>Take a look at the [Rose-Hulman</a> Institute of Technology - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rose-hulman-institute-technology/]Rose-Hulman”>Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology - College Confidential Forums) forum.</p>

18

<p>ABET accreditation is very important. My firm hires many engineers and that would be a major consideration.</p>

19

<p>Thanks! So you say its important for engineering - is it still important for computer science? I ask because UMass Amherst isn’t ABET accredited.</p>

20

<p>A lot of good suggestions here. </p>

<p>Math is really important. Critically so. If you’re struggling, it’s going to be hard no matter what. You probably want a place that’s more “hands on” than theoretical. Consider</p>

<p>RIT, UMASS-Lowell, Drexel, WPI, maybe Northeastern. </p>

<p>RPI is going to be clean your clock. UMASS-Amherst is going to be difficult. You will probably get in, but it’s a top CS program and that means that you need to improve your game to succeed once you get there. </p>

<p>I would get some tutoring for math NOW so that you could score something like a 750 on the Math SAT II. It’s not that you need that test to get in, but if you really want to excel at these subjects, that’s where you need your math skills to be going in. </p>

<p>Otherwise, it’s going to be really hard.</p>