Hi,
I would be interested in any opinions on my son’s college list, to ensure we’re not missing any schools worthy of consideration. We are CA residents, and DS is graduating from a performing arts HS. Although an avid, awarded musician (his teacher is disappointed he is not going to a conservatory), he wants to major in Computer Science while continuing to take lessons and play in the school or community symphony. He may minor or pursue an interdisciplinary degree in CS/music, if that’s an option. Academically, he has a 4.0 UW/4.75 W GPA, 2240 SAT (770M/760CR/710W), 800 Math II/750 Physics, lots of AP courses and has taken college math courses through Linear Algebra. Not many ECs outside of music, since that takes 20+ hours per week of his time. He plays Magic: The Gathering twice per week with friends, and competes in competition, so an active club and “nerdy” vibe is important to him. DS would prefer to stay in CA, unless it’s “CMU or gets an awesome scholarship” (his words).
Here’s his list, all for CS unless indicated:
Harvey Mudd (did overnight and LOVED it)
Stanford, (CS + Music, REA with music supplement)
UC Berkeley (unsure between EECS and L&S CS)
UCLA (both parents are alumni)
UCI, UCD, UCSB, UCSD, Cal Poly SLO
Carnegie Mellon (Computing and the Arts/Music)
USC (knows music faculty)
University of Washington
Others being considered: Rice (knows music faculty), Case Western (access to CIM)
Any thoughts? Financially, we have another in college, one year ahead. We have committed to paying UC tuition or equivalent (up to $35k) for each child. Any additional would need to be merit (FA is unlikely, except perhaps at Stanford).
For UCB, the differences between EECS and L&S CS are:
EECS is admission to major. L&S CS is admission to L&S undeclared (which is more like the overall admission difficulty), but then students must earn a 3.3 GPA in CS 61A, 61B, and 70 to enter the L&S CS major.
EECS has more math, non-CS science, and EE course requirements than L&S CS. L&S CS may allow more free elective space to take more music courses.
College of Engineering and College of Letters and Science have different general education requirements.
EECS is ABET-accredited; L&S CS is not. This is generally not important except for special situations like the patent exam.
UCLA and other UCs do not consider alumni relation. UCs generally tend to de-emphasize test scores relative to high school courses and grades / GPA.
At UCSD and Washington, and probably some of the other schools, only some CS applicants are directly admitted to the CS major, but others may be admitted to the campus as undeclared or second choice major students. Entrance to the CS major may be very difficult (see link above).
Stanford does not offer merit scholarships; if its net price calculator does not indicate affordability on need-based financial aid, then it is not worth applying. Some of the other private schools do offer merit scholarships, but they may be extremely hard to get.
Washington would probably offer an OOS merit scholarship of $8,500 per year off of the $45K tuition, room and board, but the balance is still a little higher than OP’s target of $35K.
@Oregon2016 Rice does allow you to play in many group settings. Pretty much anyone that trys out for the MOB will have a spot. There are a couple of other groups non-music majors can try out for. You can also take private lessons at a very affordable price.
Music spots are difficult to come by at UW for non majors. A minor may help and if he is open to community options I sure there are options. CS in general will be extremely competitive at all the schools on your list.
Given that, what are you considering as a true safety?
"This orchestra is made up of music majors and non majors alike. Seating auditions are held at the start of each academic year; seating rotates throughout the year. Open to both undergrads and graduate students.
“Non music majors who may not be enrolled in lessons with faculty are welcome and are strongly encouraged to participate!”
So people have addressed the possible “cons” of being at a school with a conservatory or music school, for students who are musicians but not in the BM program.
I was going to suggest Brown, because the music major has a technology strand (look it up) the CS department is great (my son went there and works with a bunch of Brown grads in CA), and the relative freedom of the curriculum allows for full study of CS with some music as well. And the aforementioned possibility of exploring the intersection of the two.
Wow, thank you all for your responses! I hope I can be as helpful to other parents/students after we have gone through this process.
@ucbalumnus - Thank you for the details on EECS vs. L&S CS. Before he applies (soon!) we’ll need to sit down and compare the G.E. and major requirements to see which is a better fit. I am thinking L&S because of the music. Also, I didn’t realize that at UCSD not all students are admitted to the major.
@intparent - The Net Price Calculators are all over the place, since we own a business and have two kids who will be in college. Only Stanford showed some FA ($24k, I believe) and the others were full pay, including Mudd. I should probably run the Stanford one again just to be sure I didn’t miss anything!
@eandesmom - I was thinking UCI, UCSB and UCD were safeties… do you think we need others, since he is applying for CS? If these are not really safeties, given his stats, do you have any suggestions that might be a fit?
I think CWRU could be a very good option. Both CS and great music options. They do give out merit. Last year up to $31k I believe. He could apply EA. But they WL a lot of strong applicants and do consider interest. I have also heard those who are waitlisted can get off waitlist if they commit to attending. I have a nephew from Seattle area who is applying to similar list of schools for cs and he decided to add case. He had visited when in the area seeing family. Liked it a lot just not as much as the top cs schools.
Thank you all for the great feedback! Given his major, do you think we need any additional safety schools? With his GPA, I can’t imagine he won’t get into at least a few of the UC schools. Or is CS that competitive?
My eldest received a nice merit award from university of rochester. On admitted students day, the dean of admissions described the place as a school for nerds “and we’re proud of it” or something like that. My son went elsewhere but one my D’s friends is there now and loves it. I dunno if he’d be able to take classes at the eastman school of music.
as someone that just retired with a csi degree, if one of my kids was admitted to cmu for csi, I’d do everything I could to make it work. Obviously, I’m not advocating financial ruin, but I’d think hard before turning it down.
My son’s high school ( Bay Area) just gave him a print out of all the CSU’s and the programs that are impacted at those schools. Computer Science, Engineering and Biology are all on the list. The schools that are impacted are : CSU Fullerton,Long Beach,Pomona,San Diego,San Jose,San Louis Obispo,San Francisco, Sonoma, and Sacramento. We were told to not apply to these schools and to look out of state(WUE) !
My point t is based on experience, I know very talented non-major musicians at the University Washington who have in fact auditioned and have been unable to get a spot it is just a very very large pool and majors do you get priority whether that is written down or not.That maybe less true for the orchestra then these musicians particular instruments, that I do not know.