I’m a current junior who wants to go into Computer Science and Economics/Finance. I don’t really have a preference for one over the other, so I’m fine with majoring in Econ/Finance for undergrad if a school is better at that or CS for undergrad if a school is better for that.
I’m a pretty good student at a top-ranked stem academy that usually sends quite a few people to good places; my GPA and ECs are fairly good. Currently I have a fat list of schools I’m applying to, but I’m unsure if I should narrow it down a bit.
Here’s the list:
Safety:
University of Texas Computer Science
Honors program at local university
Not-safety:
Harvard
Princeton
Stanford
Yale
UPenn
UPenn Jerome Fisher Management and Technology
MIT (Probably applying EA)
Caltech (Probably applying EA)
Duke
Cornell
UChicago (free application, why not)
UC Berkeley EECS Honors
UC Berkeley (normal)
Columbia
And without grades, standardized test scores, etc we’d be throwing darts at a dartboard. Your list is WAAAAY top heavy. Are you in TX and an auto admit to UT? For sure?
-Even if auto admit, I am not sure UT guarantees CS admission, do your research
-Consider adding some match/target schools, unless you are happy to attend the two safeties you list (although none of us can tell if those are really safeties for you)
-You have missed the EA deadlines for both MIT and CalTech (Nov 1)
-Some ways you can winnow down your list: by geography, size/vibe of school, major (offered and whether direct entry or not), NPC (financial) results
Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois) has a CS plus X major program that may be perfect for one wanting to major in CS & economics.
Overall, including my suggested school, your list is unreasonable because even one with perfect numbers could be rejected from all but your sole safety.
I live in Texas, but in my school there is no auto admit. Still, most get into the UT school of their choice. About the career choice, I really love both and I hold neither on a higher level. I feel that if I major in one, I will eventually end up in a career that uses both (tech-based business). Therefore, I would not mind attending a school that is renowned for finance and learning CS as a minor or by myself.
In term of stats:
GPA: 4.0 (School doesn’t have weighted since all of my classes are legit college classes so they are all fairly difficult)
SAT: 1590
SAT Math: 800
SAT Chem: 800
ACT: Haven’t taken yet
ECs: This may seem biased, but I’ll say that I have 9/10 for this since I do a wide range of activities (including running my own (successful) company, university-level research, patent pending project, non-profit work, etc)
I understand that most of my schools are extremely selective, so I acknowledge the fact that I may end up at one of my lower-level schools like UT or the local school.
The main aim of this post is to see if it was worth applying to schools like UChicago or Duke since I don’t know if they align with my specific interests as much.
Try to have 1-2 safety schools (both admissions and financial safeties), 4-5 match schools, and 2-3 reach schools to apply to. Other than your “local university” – whatever that is – you have your work cut out for you in winnowing down your list.
Does your school not rank? How do they respond to the auto admit options for Tx? It would be surprising that a top ranked STEM school would not have the auto admit path available from a TX HS.
Do your parents have $65K/year or $260K for 4 years to spend on your undergrad education at UC Berkeley? Little to no financial aid for out of state students at the California UC’s so expect to pay full fees. If this does not fit into your budget, one school off your list.
I’d say the only reason to bother with the ACT is if you’re gunning for the highest auto-merit level at schools like U of Alabama, where a 36/1600 nets a bigger scholarship than a 1590. Admissions-wise there is no need to improve on a 1590.