Need help with list - 4.0/12 AP's/TO [1300 SAT]. Is CS even a realistic option?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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This group was fantastic two years ago so I am resurfacing for S24 who has the same if not better rigor than S22 but will be TO. Soooooo really tricky situation.

-Upper South
-All boys Catholic suburban private high school (about 300 in class)
-White male
-4.0 unweighted, 5.61 weighted (both on transcript)
-no class rank, would guess around top 10-15% of class.
,- 12 AP classes total, taking 5 senior year -English, BC, APES, GoPo, Euro. Already took Eng lit, Seminar, APHG, AB, Physics, World History, APUSH

Somewhat open about major, has lots of computer classes on transcript (all one semester courses)
-Computer Aided Design
-Engineering and Design
-Electrical Engineering
-Web Design
-Mobile Robotics

plus other theology, history and enrichment courses.

Going test-optional to any selective school. Has all 3’s on AP exams so not submitting those either.

Very pleasant EC’s, student leader, but not earth-shattering.
Probably the same with LOC’s - super nice kid, always lends a hand, better than average student in top classes.

I am in process of deep dives into CDS of schools. I really am looking for more fall of 2022 data but it is what it is at this point.

Trying to make a solid list of schools in the 2k-8k range of students. Perfectly fine with LAC’s. Won’t go Greek but not really bothered by its existence. He also skews conservative and doesn’t want to head to the south. We have ruled out the big southern state schools anyway because he is TO.

Our counselor is pushing him towards Computer Science but I think that is very risky being TO. I wonder if CS is under the A&S branch of a school does that make any difference?

Not worried about budget at this point.

Examples of schools we have visited so far - Villanova, American, GW (didn’t like), Carleton, St. Olaf, Bucknell.

Safety schools (have not visited) Miami of Ohio, UDayton, Centre.

Would love some ideas of solid schools for a TO student. He is also willing to do ED if he loves a place.

  • Reach
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My son is starting at William and Mary OOS and applied test optional. It fits your size criteria and has a very good cs department. You don’t declare a major until end of sophomore year.

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Budget ?

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Is he sure he wants STEM? Are you considering small schools with engineering as well as CS, like Rose-Hulman, Clarkson, WPI, CO Mines?

Maybe he’d like U of Denver? With his strong transcript and “student leader” tendencies, he could be a candidate for the Pioneer Leadership cohort honors program. He’d have both engineering and CS options there.

If he likes Bucknell, then Lehigh and Lafayette would make sense to look at, and farther north, Trinity(Hartford) and Union(NY).

Agree that W&M is a good idea, and a little easier admit for men than women.

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Great ideas,
Big brother got into WPI. We did like the school. Our private counselor has suggested Lehigh. We almosted visited a month ago and last minute went another direction while driving.
Trinity is definitely on our list, I like their TO numbers a lot more than Bucknell’s which worry me.
I LOVE W&M but was warned they would want to see scores.

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I don’t see the W&M fit given the majors you listed.

Any budget concerns to know about ?

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OP stated

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I also wanted to add he has 3 years of Spanish. Not taking AP this year, no amount of cajoling. I am concerned so many of the LAC’s are showing 4 years of foreign language for recommended. But nothing I can do about it.

I don’t think STEM is completely his thing (although he is quite good with computes) and I feel like engineering and CS programs REALLY want to see some test scores.

Not particularly concerned with budget right now.

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Does he want engineering as a possibility? He’s taken a number of classes in high school, which makes me think he’s at least considering it. But maybe he’s considered and decided it’s a big NO.

I don’t think that being TO needs to be an obstacle to gaining admission to a school for CS/engineering. So the question is, does he want that option to be available to him?

By the way, I love the list that @aquapt provided in post #4.

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If he likes computers but not so much nuts-and-bolts STEM, would he be interested in Data Science/Analytics, either in a liberal arts context, like Denison Data Analytics | Denison University where you can choose your area of focus, or in a business context as you could find at DU Business Information & Analytics | Daniels College of Business ?

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For the parent, the financial planning for the college budget is the highest priority task. Better to do it now than to do it later and have the student throw away a carefully curated list in order to make a new affordable list in late fall. Or worse, get a bunch of admissions next April that are all too expensive.

It is especially important to ensure that the safety schools are assured to be affordable.

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I do think he likes it and I think he could get into more safety type schools in those programs.

Another factor for me (totally just me) is he is shy and has been at an all boys school and has not spoken more than 10 words in passing to a girl in 4 years. I was hoping for him to attend a school with a healthy girl population so some heavy STEM schools don’t seem great to me. Not a deal breaker at all, but something that pops in my mind.

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Can you give us a ballpark figure here? Less than 1400? Less than 1300? 1200? 1100? Or…? The reason I ask is because I’m looking at some schools, and sometimes 2/3-3/4 of their student body are submitting test scores. But the 75th percentile might be at the 1250 mark (as an example). Would your son still be going TO at one of these schools (in which case going TO might really hurt), or would he be okay submitting his scores?

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Those safety schools would be super affordable. In my head, under 40K/yr is dirt cheap. My older son had a COA at Holy Cross and Macalester of 37K and I was giddy at the thought, but alas he chose something else.

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You’d be amazed at the TO status of schools. BU, as an example, has a 31/34 ACT split. Yet between both tests only a third submit. So sometimes testing is overstated.

Yes you have lots of good suggestions.

If you like AU, Denver is a huge cross shop to them.

If you want the engineering option, could be most flagships - even smaller which seems a preference like UAH. Christopher Newport vs a W&M, Florida Tech, Pitt, UTC. All are ABET for EE which would keep the option open.

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They took 30% TO this past year.

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It is 1300 so not good or comparable to his GPA/rigor. I am looking at a lot of the CDS’s and somewhere like a Bucknell has a very high test score submission rate whereas a Trinity College it is low. I really think fall 2022 numbers are much more telling than 2021, and those aren’t all out yet.

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Denison is on our list - I forgot to list it. I need to look at that program. Our school has a good track record there. I will also look at DU. I don’t know why I haven’t looked at any schools in the West.

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I figured that if you were considering schools in the Minneapolis vicinity, a direct flight to Denver would only be about an hour longer than one to MSP. I can definitely understand not looking all the way on the west coast, or in locales where connecting flights would be necessary. (Plus, he sounded like a Pioneer Leadership Program type kid to me - DU is already a fairly manageable size, but this cohort program is a great social incubator, as the participants all share a living-learning community in addition to their shared classes and projects.)

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great ideas. He went to UAH on a visit with a friend along with GT. I wondered about BU or BC. The nice thing about Boston is a direct flight!