I’m looking to major in CS and I would like some suggestions of schools that seem to fit me as a safety, match, or reach.
About me:
Junior at a pretty competitive high school
White, upper-middle class male from a Chicago suburb.
Took the SAT yesterday, anticipating/hoping for a score in the low to mid 1500s.
1430 on the PSAT last year, if that means anything.
Pretty rigorous high school courseload, especially in math, science, and computer science.
GPA: 4.0 UW and 4.53 W so far, hoping to keep it up by the end of junior year.
Very involved in music (trombone in wind ensemble, symphony orchestra, jazz band, marching band, and pit orchestra, and electric bass in jazz band, variety show, and a band outside of school) and I hope to keep that up after high school.
Other ECs: Scholastic Bowl, Mathletes, Student Advisory Board, Spanish Honor Society, Composing and arranging music, Independent coding, probably will get a job/internship soon and do some volunteer work as well.
What I want in a school:
Great computer science program
Preferably within about 500 miles of Chicago
Marching band or other musical ensembles for non-majors
@bogeyorpar Are you sure Michigan would be more of a reach than UIUC? Acceptance rate at UIUC is super low for engineering/CS, and I think Michigan’s is higher.
@ColdinMinny I’d prefer medium or big, but small could be fine depending on other factors. And I’d definitely prefer urban or suburban; I do not want to be in the middle of nowhere.
St Olaf’s CS program is pretty lacking. I would not consider that Tier 1 nor have I seen anyone who would say it is beyond Rugg’s, which is a single person considering many schools for tons of subjects. I would not put that guide at a source of authority for such a quickly evolving field. Generally, one should be careful with CS at smaller schools and make sure there are sufficient courses available.
Purdue and Madison are both pretty competitive, Purdue more so.
IIT is a great safety recommendation if you are okay with a tech school.
U of Cincinnati and their co-op program would be a good option for a safer school. Not amazing CS, but sufficient and will be helped by the co-op program.
If you’re willing to travel as far as Atlanta, check out Northeastern as well, another co-op school with a very strong CS program and meeting a lot of your other criteria (mid/large size, urban, one of the top co-op programs). Would be a match/reach just as Georgia Tech would be. Both about double the 500-mile radius, though if there is room to stretch, that opens up options. Why specifically 500 miles? What is the appeal specifically of being X miles close?
Case Western would be a good match school to look at within the radius as well.
I’ll put in my 2 cents for Toronto and Waterloo. Both are ranked in the top 25 worldwide for CS. Both are similar sized (large) and have similar sized (large) CS programs. In Canadian universities, race is not a factor in admissions and a great essay is not required.
Waterloo has a 1000 acre campus in a small city. Waterloo is about an hour closer to Chicago. It has a great coop program which places students in six 4 month coops during their time. CS As a result, a degree takes 5 years to complete. Several of D16’s friends were placed at Google in their first coop. Waterloo has a very entrepreneurial vibe. Admission is very competitive and holistic.
University of Toronto has a 200 acre campus in the middle of a city larger than Chicago. Admissions is not as competitive as Waterloo and is not holistic. But, there’s a secondary admission hoop to jump through in your first year in terms of grades before you are admitted to the major. There’s no coop program. But there is a professional experience year (PEY) program which is optional. Students sometimes do this around second or third year.
I like the @bogeyorpar list but would modify it to look something like this:
Safety: IIT, UI-Chicago
Match: Wisconsin-Madison, Minnesota-TC (or Colorado-Boulder, or UMd-CP, if you want to go a little farther from home)
Low Reach: UIUC
Reach: Northwestern, UChicago, WUSTL (or any of the Ivies if you want to go a little farther from home)
I characterize UIUC as “low reach” because the net price is likely to be much lower than the private reach schools. I suspect the low CS admit rate doesn’t mean it’s actually as hard to get in as the Ivies for a high-stats applicant. Regardless, IMO it’s the school to beat for an upper middle class Illinois resident who wants to major in CS.
I’d probably drop Michigan, which is great, but IMO not worth a big OOS price premium over UIUC for CS. You might say the same about some of the private reach schools if your family income is below their n-b aid ceilings (~$200K).
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, and Maryland have better locations than Purdue (and lower OOS costs than Michigan-AA).
If you want to consider LACs, check out Macalester.
As far as I am aware, the UIUC CS admit profile just about matches the Ivy profile. I think getting into Northwestern and WUSTL is far more likely. Financially you’re correct though.
The problem is that OP would very possibly get into Michigan and not UIUC. In that case, Michigan beats out many of the reach schools listed for CS and will also beat them in price if all are without aid/scholarship. I would absolutely keep Michigan for that reason alone.
@tk21769 UIUC is a tippy top school for CS. Top 8 often ranked #5. They say they save 100 spots for Illinois residents out of 400. The average ACT is 34+. OP just has a 33 or 34 predictive score. This is OP’s top ranking, most competitive school. Should be treated like an Ivy. Best recommendations, amazing essays, ECs.
Anyway … yes, if no aid is in the picture at all, then Michigan does beat private reach schools on price. So especially if Michigan/OOS/CS admission is likelier than for UIUC/in-state/CS, then Michigan could be a great option.
@tk21769 Applicants are matching Stanford. Ivies are not the top for CS with exception. People all over the world including many full pay applicants from China are applying to UIUC.