Match and safety schools for computer science/EE

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am a senior interested in studying computer science, and although I have a number of reach schools in mind, I don't really know what schools are safe to consider my backup and match schools.</p>

<p>My current list:
Brown
Carnegie Mellon
Cornell
Princeton (Dad's alma mater)
Stanford (Tied with MIT for #1)
University of Michigan (Heard good things)
WashU (I plan on visiting to find out more)
Also considering Harvard (double med-grad school legacy), but it is not up there</p>

<p>This is not all of them, just the ones I am really interested in. The list is still prone to change, however.</p>

<p>I looked at this list and realized most I actually I originally considered Carnegie Mellon my match until I did more research and realized that the CS program has an acceptance rate hovering around ~15%</p>

<p>Stats:
GPA: 3.97 (or something similar - one B in 1 semester)
Rank: Probably around 15th - Honors program at public school in Tennessee
SAT: 2390 (CR800-M800-W790) - confirms PSAT score. I will probably be NM
ACT: 36 (E36-M35-R35-S36)</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
MathII - 800
Literature - 800
Physics - 780</p>

<p>APs:
I have taken 3 so far and made 5s in each: English Lang, PhysB, USHist
This year I am taking:
AP English Lit
AP German
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus BC
Dual Enrollment Computer Science (couldn't fit AP into schedule)</p>

<p>Primary ECs:
Cross Country - co-captain, 3 years
Science Olympiad - since 7th grade - awards at state. 1st for Rube Goldberg machine this past year)
Model United Nations - Rhodes College, Vanderbilt, and Yale conferences. Won outstanding delegate at Yale in a huge committee. This year I will probably attend WashU, Yale, and Rhodes conferences
Choir - Participate in West tennessee honor choir and "All-State" honor choir. Going on 6 years (since 7th grade). Once tenor I, now bass II
Church choir - paid member of church choir for the past year
Church - staff a twice yearly church retreat (hard to explain) for Episcopal youth. Also one of 4 youth on steering committee for the retreat.
"Bridge Builders" - leadership/diversity program in Memphis (starts summer after 10th grade)</p>

<p>I also do student council etc., but I won't really mention these in apps.</p>

<p>I also do a few things in my free time that probably won't show up in my application. Basically just programming and (more recently) working with audio equipment (attempting to fix up vintage gear - just repaired an old Marantz 2230 =D)</p>

<p>Recs: I hope they will be good. I am having my AP 11 English teacher (usually doesn't write them) write one while my AP Chem teacher (SciOly advisor) will write the other.</p>

<p>Essay: Possibly about cross country, but I feel that would just play too easily into cliques... I will probably actually write it about my mission trip to Honduras. We just happened to go 2 days before MJ died and Zelaya was about to be overthrown, which left us to essentially flee the country.</p>

<p>If this is in the wrong forum, I apologize. It kinda turned into a into a chance me thread...</p>

2

<p>While your impressive resume certainly qualifies you for admissions to all those schools, I think it is wise to treat all low admit rate schools as reaches because it is down to a crap shoot. I would think you’ll see some acceptances here, still finding match/safe is important. I would have thought C-M more a match too, didn’t realize they admit by major, and CS is an in demand major there. For CS top 4 depts are C-M, Berkeley, MIT and Stanford.</p>

<p>Michigan is a great choice safety, everyone I know who went there loved the college and the town. You can get an early answer if you put complete your application early on. They have EA now, but they still give decisions on a rolling basis after that deadline, just send you stuff in early. Another similar school, great college town, is UWisconsin-Madison, very strong in CS. (My daughter did Math/CS at Brown and is now in phD track at Madison.) UT Austin is another fun town, good CS. University of Washington also has a strong department. I don’t know about any small schools.</p>

<p>Brown has a great department btw. The grads go on to impressive jobs, reseach positions and grad schools. Abundant opportunity for research opportunities and access to professors is easy. Plus they have a new supercomputer and got NSF funding to open Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, one of only 8 in the country (UT has one too.) Plus Brown has the open curric, no distributation reqs–take what you want! I think you should have a good shot there excepting the crushingly low admit rate of late.</p>

3

<p>Carnegie Mellon actually surprised me. Although their general admission rate is close to ~35 or so, their college of CS is waaay more competitive. It’s a big program. </p>

<p>Brown really is one of my top choices. A person who graduated from my school 2 years ago and studies CS there told me good things about the program. They also seem to have a lot of opportunities for freshman (he is already doing research). I actually saw them wheeling the supercomputers around when they </p>

<p>I might also apply to UTK (Went there this past summer for Governor’s school in sciences), but I have heard that the CS department there isn’t actually that great, which is surprising since they have the #1 and #3 fastest supercomputers in the world nearby at Oak Ridge. Apparently it is incredible for graduate physics (especially computational physics). They get to use those computers every day.</p>

4

<p>UTn would be a safety. Look at Case Western></p>

5

<p>UTK would be a good safety.</p>

<p>U Washington, U Illinois, and U Wisconsin might all be worth a look.</p>

<p>UMass and SUNY Stony Brook might be other safety possibilities.</p>

<p>What can you afford to pay?</p>

6

<p>You are a very impressive applicant. Your stats and resume, combined with your legacy connections, give you a good shot at those schools. The safety school, as BrownParent points out, would have to be UMichigan. I would look at adding UCBerkeley, another top-tier school in your field of interest and probably could consider this school a strong match. It is a very competitive school in EE and, although I’d like to call it a safety school for you, I won’t go quite that far. You may also want to add UIllinois to your list as noimagination suggested, also a top-tier school in EE and might be considered a safety school, given your credentials.</p>

7

<p>Might look at Holy Cross-very good LAC-near Boston,</p>

8

<p>I would really suggest that you add more California schools in your already excellent list of CS schools in case you’re considering working in Silicon Valley someday, namely: UC Berkeley, Caltech and Harvey Mudd. </p>

<p>The U of Washington has better rep than Washington U for computer science, in case you’re not aware.</p>

9

<p>Michigan would be a virtual safety. I would apply EA there for an early acceptance and a hefty scholarship (not definite, but possible).</p>

<p>I would definitely apply to the “Holy Grail” (aka, MIT) and Cal.</p>

10

<p>Thanks for the suggestions</p>

<p>I have actually considered quite a few of the schools mentioned, and I think I will probably apply to U of Washington, Illinois, and Michigan as my safety schools. Berkeley will probably be a match. From what I have heard, they are not very inclined toward out-of-state applicants. I am also going to drop WashU (although I am visiting there for a MUN conference soon. If I like it, who knows). </p>

<p>As for finances, my parents said if I really want to go somewhere, they will finance it. However, my dad is retiring soon, so I really don’t want to burden them. It would be entirely possible for one of my lower schools to dissuade me from one of my “dream” schools if they gave enough aid. I did an informational interview at CMU this summer, and the interviewer said if I were to apply to schools like MIT and get in, I should send them the school’s offer and they would match/better it.</p>

<p>BTW, reading CC is the most demoralizing activity possible for a college applicant… Especially for MIT…</p>

11

<p>^ None of the elite private schools will offer merit aid, but their need-based financial aid programs are very strong. You should sit down with your parents and calculate their EFC: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator - Finaid)</p>

<p>Colleges also have good resources to check out. Look at Princeton: [Princeton</a> University | Who Qualifies for Aid?](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/how_it_works/who_qualifies/]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/how_it_works/who_qualifies/)</p>

<p>You might want to check out the University of Maryland as well.</p>

<p>What state do you live in?</p>

12

<p>Your stats make you a competitive candidate at any school you might apply to. Your legacy status also boosts your chances at Princeton and Harvard. Even though CMU’s SCS is selective, I’d be greatly surprised if you didn’t get in. I believe you will probably get into Cornell as well and that any top public university like Michigan would be a match. </p>

<p>If I were you, I’d also apply to MIT, although I think that may be the toughest school in your list to get in given your profile.</p>

13

<p>Michigan is more like a safety. Cal and CMU a match/safety. Cornell, Northwestern and Rice are matches. MIT, Stanford and Princeton are reaches.</p>

14

<p>^ Berkeley is definitely more linient compared to HYPMS. But Berkeley’s admit rate for EECS is 12% (actually 11. something % ). The average stats of the admitted students are only slightly lower than that of the OP’s. I won’t take Berkeley EECS as a safety, if I were in OP’s shoes. I think getting onto EECS at Berkeley is tougher than getting into Cornell, NU and Rice.</p>

15

Where did you get into?

16

The OP hasn’t posted since 2010 so you won’t be able to find out. Please use old threads only for reference