Match Me: Computer science major undergrad [CA resident, 3.74 GPA, 1500 SAT (1540 super)]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student: US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: (state is important if you apply to any state universities) - CA
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers): - Private High School
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): - Female
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.):

Intended Major(s) - Computer Science, Information Science, Information Systems, Data Science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.74
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.35
  • College GPA (for transfers): N/A
  • Class Rank: School does not rank but was told could be within the class 12%
  • ACT/SAT Scores: SAT - 1500; super score - 1540

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))
AP Computer science (AP exam score: 4.0), AP calculus AB (AP Exam score 4.0), AP Calculus BC (current), AP Psychology, AP Macroeconomics, AP Physics (current), AP English (5.0), AP Spanish (4.0), AP World History (5.0),

Awards
Won Changemaker project award and an investor round for a financial literacy project
Won first place in solo classical singing in CA state level competition.
Martial Arts - Black Belt I
Piano CM level 10 certification

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
Vice President Girls who code club at School
Won Changemaker project award in an investor round for a financial literacy project
Won first place in solo classical singing in CA state level competition.
Martial Arts - Black Belt I
Piano CM level 10 certification
Two Internship on Software engineering roles
App Development project for healthcare partnering with a local university

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)

ED - Cornell University

  • Safety (certain admission and affordability) Santa Clara Univ, SJSU, Rutgers, North Eastern, ASU,
  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)
  • Match
  • Reach - UIUC, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Columbia university , Yale, Stanford, Duke, UC Berkley, UC SD, UCLA, GIT
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What is your UC GPA using 10-11 grade classes? Calculate using RogerHub calculator

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Depending on your weighted and capped GPA, SJSU may or may not be a safety.

Also Northeastern is not a safety.

Any reason why you don’t want to apply to the other UCs. They are all very good for CS and you should look into the programs more closely before eliminating them. More practically, if you apply to Berkeley or UCLA then beyond the additional application fee there is no marginal cost to applying to other campuses.

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What is your budget? Do you qualify for need based financial aid?

Have you visited Cornell?
To be very honest, it’s going to be a very tough admit based on your profile but if you love it, give it a shot.

I agree Northeastern should be marked a reach. And Rutgers a match, not safety.

Based on your thread title, I think you’re looking for additional school suggestions?
You need some target schools on your list IMO.
Have you spoken to the college counselor at your private school?

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SJSU is probably a reach for CS, but it depends on your recalculated for CSU GPA and whether your high school is in Santa Clara County.

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Here are the most current admit rates I have been able to compile for CS.

2022 CS admit rates if available

Campus CS
UC Berkeley 2.9%-L&S updated 2023 EECS-4%
UC Davis No data but estimated <20%
UC Irvine 5.8%
UCLA 3.8%
UC Merced 85%
UC Riverside 36%
UC San Diego No data but estimated <10%
UC Santa Barbara No data Historically 5-6%
UC Santa Cruz 60%
Cal Poly SLO 9%
Cal State Long Beach 54%
San Diego State 40%
San Jose State 31%

Knowing your 3 UC GPA’s and your CSU capped weighted GPA would be helpful to determine your chances at these schools. What the admit data does not show is how competitive the applicant pool was for the CS major.

SJSU last year required a CSU of 4.3+ to be competitive based on their Threshold. If local, then you do get a local applicant GPA bump.

Edited: Note if considering Cal Poly SLO, they use 9-11th grades with the 8 semester Honors point cap which is different from the rest of the CSU’s.

Good luck with your applications.

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I’d talk to your private school counselor - but from what I see above not including the UCs/CSus - I think you got it right except Wisconsin which I’d move to match.

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I’m not well versed on Santa Clara, but I thought others have said that they accept a large percentage of their class ED/EA. If applying to a highly competitive major, I’m not sure that SCU is a safety.

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This was my thought as well (based on my D’s experience, which I’ve mentioned before - she ended up waitlisted). My impression is indeed that applying ED/EA raises your chances significantly. Applying RD is a harder admit - maybe a match/target, but not a safety.

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Did the student say they wouldn’t be applying EA to SCU?

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My opinion is that she actually needs some true safeties. ASU may be a safety, the others look more like targets to me (especially if RD).

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She only mentioned Cornell as ED, so others are uncertain whether EA/RD. That should play in role in her categorization, imo, but here undefined.

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I would assume any school that offers EA - which SCU does - that the student will apply EA.

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Well, if she wasn’t before, perhaps after reading this thread she will :slight_smile:

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Ah, another thing I just recalled about our experience with SCU - I think they like being shown love from applicants. When D was waitlisted, they sent an email saying there would be some online waitlist webinar or something like that with the strong suggestion that if you wanted to be accepted at this point, you really needed to attend. So it sounds like they take that kind of demonstrated interest into consideration. (D chose not to attend so not sure how it actually would have turned out if she had.)

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Agreed - they note demonstrated interest as considered and with WL, you need to decide quickly so if you follow their lead of what they want, then your odds are better.

Looks like they accepted just over half - but if they accept by major, CS could be much lower. The yield is 19% - but they might be that other schools were preferred choices or it might be a cost dynamic.

What I hate about these privates is the wait list. At so many it’s a rejection. 1641 enrolled - and yet the WL was offered to 4009 of which 2467 accepted. 8 got acceptances. So even showing love is unlikely to matter for 99% +of people - if current trends hold.

Do they really need to give false hope to that many kids? But some are worse. CWRU admitted 10,600 and WL 11,600 - more than they admitted.

Anyway, I think OP gets in but perhaps not.

In the end, you need one school - just one - and ASU is a slam dunk. The student mentioned Info Sciences - if they mean MIS, they might add Arizona, which is very well known for MIS.

I missed Northeastern btw - on the list - split two lines - not a safety.

So let’s say SCU doesn’t happen like many here think is possible or mom/dad don’t want to pay - then yes ASU is the only sure thing for this student - again, assuming mom/dad willing to pay.

Should the student have a second pure safety?

I guess it depends on budget (assuming no concerns) and the desire to have choices. But in theory, yes.

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I agree. I suppose it’s not 100% necessary if you have an option that you would be happy with, that you would absolutely get into, and that you can afford even if offered no merit/other aid.

But it’s still good to have a little choice. I personally would strongly recommend one more true safety. That would give her 2, as I don’t believe the others on her current list are real safeties. But, like everything else, this is just my opinion which the OP can take or leave.

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OP mentioned CS, information science, information systems, data science. Information systems (business based) is most likely MIS, but is probably less of a fit for the OP than the science majors mentioned.

Of course, Arizona has CS as well.

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Which might be their local CSU.

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Which I assume (maybe wrongly) is SJSU - but some say not a safety. I don’t chance UCs/CSU - too difficult with all the formulas.

Obviously the test doesn’t help.

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OP didn’t say which CSU was local. Some assume SJSU is a safety because it is a CSU, but admission into their CS program is very competitive.

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