Match HS Junior Daughter with CS/Electrical Eng

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

US public HS female from smallish town in Arkansas (who wants to leave the state); looking for a fairly liberal and diverse atmosphere

Intended majors: Computer Science and/or Electrical Engineering (but also possibly interested in other types of Engineering)

GPA 3.96UW/4.2W
Class rank 25/705
ACT 32 (only taken once sophomore year so far)

Coursework
*Rigorous coursework in AP/IB classes and all available weighted comp sci and engineering classes (AP Physics, AP Lang, AP Comp Sci, AP US and World History)
*Currently taking Calc AB (will take BC senior year)
*Taking IB Spanish and will test for seal of biliteracy this year

Awards
*VEX Robotics programmer; went to World Championships 10th grade as team programmer
*All State Musician in 11th grade
*AP Scholar 10th grade
*NHS
*Spanish NHS

Extracurriculars
*Competition Marching Band, Competition Jazz Band, Concert Band - section leader
*Color Guard - soloist
*VEX Robotics - VP for school Robotics program
*Summer Engineering program at Missouri S&T

Essays
Strong writer who has faced major health issues that have caused her to miss a lot of school, activities and competitions; monthly hospital visits/stays

Cost
Willing to look at any cost

Schools
*Any geographic area, but not rural since will need medical resources readily available
*Currently focusing on West Coast schools (CA, U of Washington) but looking for recommendations for any schools that would be a good fit
*Not interested in Greek Life and doesn’t need major school spirit
*Current list under consideration includes UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, Harvey Mudd, Pomona, U of Washington, Indiana U, Purdue, Cal Poly SLO, Cal Tech, Carnegie Mellon
*Older brothers are both studying Comp Sci and Music - one at UC Berkeley and one at U Rochester/Eastman

2

Case Western may be worth exploring - world class hospital care around the corner and more flexibility than most schools with declaring a major if she isn’t sure about CS or EE (which can often be in separate colleges).

RPI and U of Rochester may also be worth exploring.

2 Likes
3

Wow, there is such a big difference between Harvey Mudd, Cal Tech and the UCs. What does she find appealing at the big public schools vs the smaller private engineering schools?

SLO is pretty rural with respect to medical care.

4

I think she’d prefer a small private engineering school, but those schools are pretty tough to get in to so the larger schools are more match schools than reach schools.

5

Given the budget, I’m curious about the UCs on the list. I am not an expert on the CA schools, but it is my understanding that getting aid as an OOS student is next to impossible. Meaning the cost will be $70k+.

However, the OP has a sibling at UCB… so maybe I’m missing something?

CWRU and Rochester were the first to pop in my mind for the OP to look into. UUtah and UKansas may be a couple of more affordable options close to medical facilities.

Edit: Just saw the last post about smaller engineering schools… Rose-Hulman? Are the medical facilities in Terre Haute workable?

Edit2: Just saw @momofboiler1’s post. :grinning:

6

Most of the big flagships you listed will be reaches for CS, and even for EE.

If your D is liking a smaller school -

Lehigh (midsize) would be a match.

Rose Hulman in IN could be a great safety. (There is a large hospital in Terra Haute).

Olin would be a reach.

3 Likes
7

I saw the same thing. I figure they know the OOS cost because of the older sibling.

8

Berkeley, UCLA and UCSD are not matches for anyone and are especially rough for those interested in CS.

Still a reach but, has she looked at Viterbi at USC? Big campus with a smaller engineering school. Viterbi likes students who have interests in other disciplines. See Engineering Plus. They have a very active marching band which a lot of student musicians enjoy. Additionally, once accepted into Viterbi, a student is accepted into all majors. So, if she starts as EE and decides she want to change to CS, it is very easy.

9

Look at Oregon State, Utah, Iowa State, Colorado School of Mines (likely a financial reach).

1 Like
10

I wouldn’t say that, unless the OP’s student has a very rare condition. San Luis Obispo has a pretty robust medical community with many specialties and subspecialties represented. Rural Arkansas it is not.

Speaking of Cal Poly, I would look at the Mechatronics concentration in Mechanical Engineering. If you make a venn diagram of EE, ME, and CS, it falls in the intersection of all three. That’s what my son did.

It’s an interesting school, because it’s larger at roughly 20K students, but it feels small. Classes are all small and taught mostly by instructors with terminal degrees, including labs and discussions. My son’s physic series was capped at 42 for lectures and calculus was (I believe) 35.

Expect it to be roughly $200K all in from OOS.

Feel free to PM me if you have questions about the school, community or major.

1 Like
11

Utah would be a good safety with great medical facilities (Utah’s main teaching hospital) onsite, but depending on the nature of the medical issues, the campus layout may be less than ideal. It’s on the side of a fairly steep hill and at altitude. So getting around could be a big challenge. However, apart from the altitude I’d say the same thing about the campus layout at UCLA, which is on OP’s list.

2 Likes
12

This is my first time posting like this, so it seems I may need to clarify some things from my original post:

Cost - we are prepared to help pay for most schools; I just threw out the $40K number to start with. Our oldest at UC Berkeley got some local scholarships and a few small scholarships from UC for getting 4.0’s his first year. And his tuition + room/board was only around $63 before scholarships. Kid #2 is at a school that would cost $70K but he got scholarships bringing that down to $40K/year.

College list/major - we built this list based on google searches for Computer Science, since that is her favorite thing. But this year she is taking a Digital Electronics and enjoying that as well. In Robotics, she does not enjoy the building so she doesn’t think she’s interested in Mech Engineering. I think a school with a strong STEM program where she doesn’t have to declare a major going in would be helpful.

Medical Issue - She has a genetic disorder that causes things like severe pain, headaches, development of cysts in her connective tissues and autonomic dysfunction where her body has trouble regulating its temperature. So no mobility issues, just needing frequent infusion treatments, MRI’s and scans.

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far!

2 Likes
13

I second Utah then. It has a very strong engineering department and she’d get WUE at worst, maybe more. Our son was offered a free year followed by three at instate tuition. The medical school it top notch. They’ll have anything she needs. The campus plays smaller than the numbers suggest. If she’s into sports at all the Utah students are very fun. They even sell out gymnastic dual meets. Many fear the LDS influence if they aren’t, but SLC is minority Mormon now. There’s certainly an influence, but overall it’s not radically different than Denver for a non-Mormon.

You have to declare major at Cal Poly. She’ll get plenty of exposure “building things” in EE too. They’ll just be smaller, and likely circuit related.

As I said, my son is a ME. He was certainly trained in building things, but he doesn’t in his job now. It’s mostly EE and CS. The only thing he built prior to undergrad were Lego kits as a kid. Most MEs don’t actually do the building.

At Cal Poly, she will need to apply to a major. EE is less competitive, but it will lock her out of CS in the future. CS isn’t accepting change of major students.

1 Like
14

Arkansas is not a WUE state. Utah is relatively easy for college students to get tuition residency in, however.

2 Likes
15

Congratulations on your Daughters competitive profile. Based on preliminary costs, the UC’s will be around $72K/year for 2023-2024 academic year for OOS students. Cal Poly SLO COA is around $52K/year currently.

Here are the CS and EE admit rate for 2022 if available.

Campus CS EE
Berkeley 2.9% L&S EECS: 4.5%
Los Angeles 3.8% 13.2%
San Diego No data estimate <10% No data estimate <15%
SLO estimated 9% estimated 50%

UC’s are test blind so I do not know when your UCB student applied. Other CC posters have given you some good school options and I would be hunting for schools with give good need-based and merit aid.

Best of luck to your D.

16

Not sure I would call Utah liberal and diverse. Yes, I know what everyone says about SLC but I have people that live there - and they laugh at that.

I think the list is heavy reach - I’m thinking - and trying to go more liberal here - an UMN, UMASS, UMD, UDel, WPI, Rochester as mentioned, NC State, Va Tech, UVM might be more in line…going liberal. Out West - U of Arizona.

Good luck.

1 Like
17

Ooops! I knew that. I was was confusing two threads. DOOH! Sorry!

1 Like
18

Pitt, Rice and Georgia Tech? Solid CS/engineering schools. Major airports and excellent medical facilities nearby. Especially Pitt.

3 Likes
19

Given these parameters:

Let me mention an East Coast school, that is a “reach” for everyone due to low admission rates, but your daughter’s stats would make her an interesting candidate.

This college has been actively engaging young women pursuing the STEM field, and offers a 4+1 Engineering Masters program. It combines the benefits of a liberal and diverse woman’s college, seeking to support exceptional women, with the fully co-ed education, campus and student life of an Ivy League university:

https://barnard.edu/4plus1-pathway-engineering

1 Like
20

We are planning to tour some CA schools over our Spring Break and have the following on our list. Where else should we consider seeing? Are any of these a waste of time based on what majors she is considering (computer science/electrical engineering)?

Berkeley
UC Davis
UC Santa Cruz
UC Santa Barbara
Cal Poly SLO
Cal Tech
USC
UCLA
Harvey Mudd

Thank you!