I know the unknowns are nerve-racking, but try not to lose site of the fact that your daughter is extraordinarily qualified by any measure. While some of her schools are reaches for everyone, she has a very good chance of admission at a some of the schools that are already on her current list.
Is it possible that, rather than expanding her list further, her time might better be spent making sure her applications are tailored to the schools already on the list, so as to convince them she is truly interested?
I replied to your PM, but for those reading this in the future trying to glean information, General Engineering at CP is a good bridge for an undecided student into all engineering majors except CS/SE/CPE. They are so competitive right now that sometimes they close the majors completely from outside of those three. She should choose CS or SE at CP. Best of luck.
To @chrisntine. I think you’re daughter will do well in admissions although your list seems to be getting longer and reachier with the CS major. Some choice is good, too much choice is bad. Some researcher that has studied choice in decision making has termed this the Tyranny of choice. I think you might be looking for the unicorn school. One that fits your daughter perfectly. Such a school does not exist.
For my daughter we based selection on two factors once basic educational standing was established: cost and location. We the parents determined maximum cost and she the applicant determined location (preferably California and if that didn’t work out West Coast). For you and your daughter the determining factors might be different. From following your thread I would recommend that she apply to a bigger rather than smaller school since she is not really sure what she wants to study. My daughter is able to take a personal interest class that goes for two years in sequence. I don’t know how she’ll manage to do that and fulfill her engineering curriculum requirements but that’s what she’s planning on doing and it’s her job to figure it out within logical cost constraints.
I am happy to delete schools from your list based on my bias but I think your daughter would do a better job. If she’s having difficulty, set an application cost maximum. Sometimes limits help rather than hinder.
@James_West@Mwfan1921 thank you. I will have her check out the Computer & Info school and if she likes it, we’ll see if she can get an app in by Dec 1.
@mtmind@teleia thank you for trying to keep me from going more crazy than I am.
I am not trying to find a unicorn school. I know it looks like I’m trying to add to her list, but am actually trying to help her to cut the original list and maybe replace some with others that are more match/safety since there is now a very good chance she won’t get into any of her preferred UC’s/CSU’s. Her stats are good but our state schools don’t look at SATs so her chances are even more unpredictable now.
Adding CSU’s is just checking off more boxes and paying fees, they don’t have essays, I just was hoping someone here would know which CSU’s might be safeties for her applying to Computer Science.
Who knows, maybe when she finally submits the UC/CSU apps this weekend she won’t be into Computer Science any more and I’ll be able to breathe.
I completely agree. Interestingly, so did my son. We attended Parents’ Weekend first year. I asked if he felt it was the “perfect fit” now that he’d been there for a while. He said: “I like it here a lot, but I’m sure I would have been fine at any of the schools I decided to apply to.” Every school has things that aren’t perfect. They’re hard to suss out in advance, because they don’t become apparent until a student has been there for a while. What one student finds objectionable, another might dismiss as irrelevant.
For us it was only one thing, cost. We hard capped at $200K (in 2014). He looked anywhere he wanted to, and we gladly took him there. We were able, and it was fun. He just knew if the net cost had to max out at $200K. We were plenty capable, but we didn’t like the ever accelerating price arms race. Engineering is pretty egalitarian. Fit is important, but for us “worth it” had a well reasoned top.
Yay Sac State is already on her list and doesn’t look like it’s impacted. She’d hate to be so close to home but at least it sounds like it’s a real safety. I can breathe – thank you!!
Sac State hosts a Jazz Festival for middle school, high school and college jazz bands and vocal ensembles in early December. I have been going every year to see my kids’ bands perform for over seven years now. I love the campus and the general vibe. It’s a great school to have as a safety. Maybe have your daughter drop by the jazz festival. It’s a wonderful community building activity and I’m glad they host it!
@chrisntine I don’t know if that’s entirely true, I know local colleges in the bay area, Stanford and Berkeley are trying to get more women into engineering and computer science. Females also have a slightly acceptance rate at UCB, 20% vs 18%, and a lower yield (36% vs 43% for men) which is a little more encouraging. One other thing is that given we know you’re in Sacramento area, that might help as well depending on whether or not your high school is underrepresented in the UCs, which want a broad representation of the state. Your daughter’s GC and naviance would have more info on this. I’m not saying getting into CS is easier than other majors, just that the published numbers are just a general guide. Good luck!
@James_West@Mwfan1921 thanks so much for the Pitt info! D looked into and attended a virtual info session for their School of Computing & Information yesterday. She really liked the program and school and is now planning to apply there instead of Boston U. I see she should’ve applied earlier for best chances at honors admissions and scholarship, but she’ll at least be able to apply by the Dec. 1 deadline for consideration.
I’m so glad D has started to hone in on a major. Even if it changes again soon (which I imagine it will), it’s helping her focus her college search and make better sense of what she reads and hears. She looked at Pitt a while back when it was first suggested but it didn’t resonate as much as now that she can really imagine herself studying in the field. Thanks again!
@theloniusmonk Thank you so much for your kind reassurances. I hope it’s true, although I’ve never heard of Asian females being in demand for CS, but I do imagine they would be more so than Asian males right now. I think kids at her school attend UC’s up and down the state, so not sure how underrepresented they are, but that’s ok. I’m going to try to avoid looking at Naviance since everything has changed so much the last couple years with dropped SAT scores, and the pandemic changing oh, everything!
You and others here have been so kind to help me through this crazy process! I have learned so much and gotten so much great advice. Especially the kind telling me to stop making myself crazy over-researching everything. I am feeling more hopeful that D will definitely get into a school that she can be happy at (even if she has to commute from home ).
Two metrics stood out when we researched Pitt. First, I believe it has the highest endowment per student of any public university—also a relatively low faculty-to-student ratio of 14/1 for a public school. Good luck and have a great holiday.
I stand corrected. My data was from 2018 when I researched the school for our own college search. Michigan’s endowment has drown dramatically since then.
