@politeperson@ucbalumnus
We’re back at it trying to narrow down the list. My son scored a disappointing 1320 on the SAT in March and we are definitely hoping to take the ACT this summer. I expect the ACT will be better for him but if online then I’m not sure now that would change it up. He had a 31 ACT practice score without prep, is a fast reader and the more straightforward math is easier for him on ACT.
Currently this is our preliminary list on College Kickstart, which we still need to shave down and evaluate:
3 UNLIKELIES
Notre Dame
Cornell (ENG)
Washington - (moved) This is actually an unlikely since CS
3 REACHES
UCSB (ENG)
Cal Poly SLO (ENG)
Wisconsin (NR)
9 TARGETS
SCU
UMass Amherst
Purdue (ENG)
Colorado School of Mines
UCSD (ENG) - I believe this is actually a reach due to UC policy constraints.
Seattle U
UCSC (ENG) - Counselor things he is competitive for this UC but not sure it’s a likely due to UC policy constraints.
Boise State
Does anyone know if kids are getting out of UCSC in 4 years?
Any thoughts on how the TO might help in '21?
Also we were advised by his counselor not to apply early to unlikelies since the early applicants are so impressive vs. regular decision but I thought applying early is usually an advantage.
Seattle U did very well on the Ivy Achievement job placement and salary chart, so we found that. Loved everything about Santa Clara except the compact, warm weather campus. I was really impressed. Can anyone compare SCU with Seattle U?
Any other suggestions, especially for likelies - please chime in. Vancouver sounded really intriguing before Covid. I’m not sure now.
UIUC, UCSD, and Purdue should be moved to the reach category for CS. Be aware that they may admit to the school but not the CS major (i.e. admit either as general undeclared or to an alternate major), in which case changing into the CS major after enrolling will be very difficult.
Regarding UCSC graduation rates, the 4 and 6 year graduation rates (overall) were:
entering 2015: 62.3% in 4 years
entering 2013: 53.3% in 4 years, 77.1% in 6 years
I agree with the above that for engineering or CS, Purdue and UIUC should be moved to the reach category. That standardized test score needs to come up to be competitive at Purdue (average ACT was a 33 for engineering for my D’s class 2 years ago and is even higher for CS). Purdue trustees voted last week to NOT go test optional so that won’t be an option there.
I don’t think Lehigh is a match either.
Don’t just look at a school’s profile for admitted student stats, you need to take the overall acceptance rate into account as well when determining what’s a match/safety/reach. AND, that some majors are much more competitive than others. For public flagships, OOS applicants are generally at a further disadvantage.
7 TARGETS
SCU
UMass Amherst
Colorado School of Mines
Minnesota (SCIENG) - legacy
Lehigh (ENG)
CU-Boulder
UCSC (ENG)
2 LIKELIES
Seattle U
Boise State
Anyone else have any thoughts? Any more privates or unlikelies?
He likes wooded campuses, good for CS / engineering, access to professors (leans smaller / private or honors program), wants to graduate in about 4 years, not many extra liberal arts classes / practical, good for internships.
A 32 or higher on the ACT makes the program predict improved outcomes.
20 UC San Diego
25 Wisconsin
27 Purdue
29 Northeastern
30 Maryland
33 RPI
34 Florida
36 Penn State
40 Virginia Tech
41 UC Santa Barbara
42 Michigan State
42 Arizona State
44 Rutgers
46 UC Irvine
47 Minnesota
This comes from a spreadsheet I have of all the CS ranked schools ordered by their avg ranking. I used 10 recognized unique CS subject rankings. Such as usnews, wsj, awru, qs, etc.
These are schools that are between 20 and 50 avg rank. More like target schools.
I have removed all unlikely schools, expensive privates, schools with very high standardized test scores, low admit rates… like Hopkins.
@Graymeer thank you. We are full pay so if you want to also send the privates you removed, feel free. We are keeping to the West, upper Midwest and possibly East Coast areas.
11 UCLA 14.1
12 Michigan 14.7 (ranked in 9 out of 10 top 25)
13 Washington 15.4
14 Texas 15.6
15 Illinois 16.1
16 USC 17.3
17 Penn 17.5
18 Yale 17.7
19 Duke 18.1
36 Chicago 25.8
36 Penn State 25.8
38 Tufts 25.9
39 North Carolina 26.1
40 Virginia Tech 26.3
41 UC Santa Barbara 26.7
42 Michigan State 26.8
42 Arizona State 26.8
44 Rutgers 27.2
44 Vanderbilt 27.2
46 UC Irvine 27.4
47 Minnesota 27.5
Hi folks, here with an update if anyone is following. Scored 33 on ACT. EA applied Colorado Mines (accepted), Montana State (accepted), Boston College, U Mass Amherst, Santa Clara, Seattle U, WPI, and CU Boulder. This month 5 UCs and Cal Poly, UW. December reaches. Any reach suggestions welcome. UW Gpa I posted above was wrong and it’s actually 3.96 per school transcript.
@homerdog oops right BC was RD but submitted early because they have a super early full scholarship deadline (dad was feeling ambitious - he won’t get that).
He was admitted at UCSD for bio and if he gets off the waitlist at UW, most likely will be for pre-bio. He does have a strong interest in bio as well as programming so he is mulling that over. Everywhere else, he has been admitted CS.
Seems to be leaning private but maybe because that’s just what he’s used to. Seems to want to leave California, but we will know more about that after the trip they are on now.
His dad and I are not excited about Mines socially. I am not excited about Colgate fit-wise. Dad is hesitant about one of my favorites, UCSC just because he associates it with his 30 years ago version. Dad and I favor SCU but would be a compromise campus-wise. S liked seeing WPI and isn’t sure about Uber urban Seattle u. He thought UCSD was large and my H complained about parking and traffic. S has some digging to do.
Price is not a major factor. He got great merit from Seattle U, U Mass, Vermont, and Gonzaga. He got decent merit from SCU, WPI, Mines. No merit at Boulder.
It will be very difficult to change into CS at UCSD or Washington, so attending either would not be a good idea if there is a possibility he may want to do CS.
Note that biology tends to have low post-graduation pay levels, so it may only be a good major if he has frugal spending habits and does not have any debt. Bioinformatics or computational biology, if available, may be better (but check if it is difficult to get into that major).
Post-graduation pay of graduates who received federal financial aid, from College Scorecard:
Thanks. He will have no debt and thanks to a generous relative he can also go to grad school. He is quite frugal and does not want to live urban.
I think he is genuinely interested in programming and likes to be creative with it but interested for the money mainly. Definitely interested in bio (not med), natural science but not yet sure what he would do with that career-wise. He is extremely strong in ELA, sciences and less so in math, but can handle himself in advanced math into some degree. Gets the concepts just fine, sometimes makes careless mistakes.
I don’t see a comp major being a good fit. He needs to give that some thought and research. My h and I can see him going into teaching. He is very kind and would make a great teacher, but also somewhat ambitious and wants to make money. If he goes into programming I hope he can be creative with it, as that is a strength of his.
It’s too bad the big publics are so impacted. It seems premature to be picking a career.