Realistic Reaches/High Matches?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I like the schools on my list, but I'm not sure if I should look into any others?</p>

<p>Male New Jersey Resident
Intended Major: Computer Science
ACT: 32 (retaking, hoping to get 33 or 34)
SAT2: Taking Math, Physics, and Chem
GPA: 3.93 UNWEIGHTED
Course Rigor: Rigorous
Rank: Class Not Ranked, only 65 in my grade
E.C.: Decent
Counselor Rec: Good
Teacher Recs: Good</p>

<p>Preferably east coast, but I'm open to any suggestions. My parents are prepared to pay whatever costs. </p>

<p>Current list:
University of Rochester
University of Maryland College Park
Northeastern
Lehigh
Stevens Institute of Technology
Rutgers</p>

2

<p>Carnegie-Mellon
Michigan-Engineering
USC (Southern Cal)
Harvey Mudd</p>

<p>Those qualify as as high matches/slight reaches</p>

3

<p>You should aim a bit higher. CMU CS is not a low match.</p>

4

<p>I don’t understand your second statement, Zonlicht. I know it isn’t, and I don’t think anyone referred to it as a low match?</p>

<p>Yeah, I think I should aim higher too, but I don’t know where else to apply.</p>

5

<p>Meant to type “low reach”</p>

6

<p>Oh, then, yes I agree. CMU School of CS is very difficult to get into, so I think another option would be better. </p>

<p>Thanks for the suggestions, vinceh. Any more?</p>

7

<p>Congrats on scores. But frankly be careful of the prestige bug. Dont make the mistake of picking prestige over FIT.</p>

<p>Go where you feel “this is me” and “where you will excel.” Because where you are at the end of the day (graduation from college) REALLY matters. Jobs dont fall off of trees. They must be sought after and employers are VERY picky. Class rank matters. Reputation of school matters…and that includes the employers experience with graduates from that school through internships. Sometimes snotty kids dont want to work and are all full of themselves. Whereas hard working kids with super grades become star employees. Not judging you, just suggesting you think about it.</p>

<p>What do YOU want from a college experience? </p>

<p>Fordham offers both a classic college campus in the Bronx, gothic, athletic events on campus, but superior academics and a stellar reputation with employers through internships. Its diverse. Its an ACADEMIC school. You will work hard and if you finish at the top of the class, will be rewarded with a good job. </p>

<p>I would focus on MATCH schools. More money. But overall I would focus on your personal needs, objectives and fit factors.</p>

8

<p>CS is offered at a huge variety of different college types - state universities and colleges, LACs, research universities (big and small), STEM-focused schools etc. What type of environment are you looking for? This will help narrow it down…
My son is a CS major and applied to several different types of schools but ultimately chose one of the STEM schools because he liked the environment and academic offerings of a engineering/science focused school. It also gave him the option to switch into computer engineering or robotics engineering for example. But that type of school is not for everyone.</p>

9

<p>sovereigndebt, thanks for the great response. I really like the schools currently on my list and I know they will be good fits for me - except Rutgers, my safety (i should find a safety I’d like more). I just wanted to know if I should apply to other schools. </p>

<p>BeanTownGirl, I prefer schools that aren’t super techy like RPI or CMU. I’m not sure if I’d feel comfortable there.</p>

10

<p>Should I retake my 32 ACT?</p>

11

<p>I think your credentials are quite good (and similar to my son’s, who’s also interested in Computer Science; we’re in Illinois). Frankly, I’m surprised you’re not considering some higher end schools. For instance, if you look at middle 50% ACT numbers, none of the schools on your list have a 75% number higher than 32. Meaning you’re already on the higher end for those schools.</p>

<p>The schools considered the best for CS are Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, and CMU – those are reaches for anyone. In the groups after that are Cornell and Brown, and OOS publics Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, and UCLA. Johns Hopkins might also be a candidate. Those would also be reaches for you, but not as high.</p>

<p>Other possibilities include Bucknell and Case Western – those would probably be high matches.</p>

<p>Of course, what others have said about fit is important, and you should include a number of matches and safeties. But you may find some of these higher end schools a good fit as well.</p>

<p>As for retaking the ACT, if it is not a hardship (e.g., in terms of money or scheduling), you realistically think you can improve your score, and you’re going to consider some of these more selective schools, it’s probably a good idea.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

12

<p>You could try WUSTL. They are very wierd with their admissions. You definitely are in the range of their lottery.</p>

13

<p>jibler,</p>

<p>I got your PM, but I can’t respond – apparently you need to have at least 15 posts to send a PM, so I don’t qualify :-). If you want me to respond, post your comments/questions here.</p>

14

<p>Hey csdad2,</p>

<p>Thanks for replying to my thread and coming back to this thread. I think I’m just in a weird position where I’m on the higher end of some schools, but at the same time, I don’t think top top tiered schools are within my reach. My overall application isn’t as great as others, and I don’t see how I could make it over others. I had CMU on my list, but the SCS seems to be pretty unlikely. Is JHU actually within my reach?</p>

<p>Plus, my preference to stay east somewhat limits my options. Maybe I should change that…</p>

<p>Also, just wondering, do you have any opinions on Duke’s computer science program?</p>

<p>To bring up what a previous poster said, I am valuing “fit”. I just wanted to know if I was aiming too low or too high with this thread.</p>

15

<p>I think you said money isn’t an issue but if you are thinking of grad school and would like to only pay room and board for undergrad, Temple’s Presidential Scholarship might be of interest. Temple’s in Philly, and the automatic scholarship covers 4 years tuition plus 3 summer stipends of a few thousand $ for research or whatever.</p>

16

<p>You may be in such a position, you just have to decide how to handle it.
My son’s situation is actually not so dissimilar – he’s in good
position to get into UIUC, a top 10 CS school; the other top 10 CS
schools are all very hard to get into, reaches for pretty much everyone.
So he’s not counting on them – in fact, he may not even apply to any of
them. So it’s a good thing he has UIUC available (which is a difference
from your situation).</p>

<p>My suggestion is to follow the typical idea of applying to a few
reaches, matches, and safeties. Pick out a few top schools that you
like and you think are a good fit, and include them. URochester and
Northeastern are very good schools, and if those end up as your matches,
and you end up going to one of them, you will do fine. Maybe you can
also find some schools inbetween those schools and the top ones. I’d say
the list you show in the first post in this thread is lacking in reaches.</p>

<p>And don’t sell yourself short – when you look at someone else’s
credentials, especially on this site, they can seem very impressive, and
you think you can’t compare. But your credentials are good as well –
you just need to present yourself as best as possible.</p>

<p>I don’t know anything about Duke’s CS department. Of course, overall
they’re ranked very highly. One thing my son did was to look at CS
departments’ course offerings – that helped him determine how strong
and deep a department was.</p>

<p>Yes, my understanding is that CMU SCS is very hard to get into (and
expensive as well). But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply there, if
you like it and think it’s a good fit.</p>

<p>As for JHU, I don’t claim any special insight as to what it takes to get
in there, but one way to look at it is that their middle 50% ACT numbers
are 29-33. So you’re already on the high end of that. And if
everything else in your credentials is at least good, it would seem that
you have a decent shot there. Their acceptance rate is in the upper
teens – so still quite selective, but not as tight as many other top
schools.</p>

<p>As to your preference to stay east, you’ll have to decide about that
yourself, based on your circumstances. There may be very good reasons
to limit your geographic area, but there may also be good reasons to
open things up and consider other schools.</p>