<p>I'm applying for college in fall/winter this year, but I still don't know where I want to go. I do know that I want to major in computer science or engineering though. I reside in California, although I'm open to the option of both in-state and out-of-state schools. My financial situation isn't that great - total income is ~75K yearly if not lower after taxes. Financial aid, scholarships, or loans are vital to paying for college for me. But regardless, I still want to apply to recognized schools with a great program in my major. If you guys can come up with a list of recommended schools and categorize (safety/match/reach), I'd really appreciate it!</p>
<p>Just a little about myself (not going to be too specific):
GPA: 4.00/4.00
SAT: 2300s
SAT Phys/Chem/Math: 800</p>
<p>AP Scores: 5's in 7 AP tests, of which the most important ones related to my major are Calculus AB, Physics B, Chemistry, and Computer Science; the other ones are in the humanities (eg. languages and history)</p>
<p>Chemistry and computer science were self-study for me.</p>
<p>Awards:
-AP Scholar with Distinction
-National Honor Society
-National Merit Qualifier (don't know about semifinalists/finalists until later this year)
-Various computer-related certifications</p>
<p>Extracurrics/Volunteer:
-Founder of a couple computer-related and animal support organizations outside of school
-Computer-related internship for a year
-Website designer, computer programmer
-President and Vice President of two school clubs
-Leadership position in a volunteer group outside of school
-Club sports for 12 years with MVP, team captain, and championship titles (as a team)
-School orchestra</p>
<p>Work Experience:
-Tutor for higher-end science and math subjects
-Website designer</p>
<p>I'm also Asian, which lowers my chances at some schools.</p>
<p>What other criteria do you have? Without additional info, there’s a huge variety of schools open to you, so people will likely suggest the run-of-the-mill top CS schools.</p>
<p>Stanford is #1 in CS, is in Silicon Valley, etc. and gives great financial aid. For your income, its stated financial aid policies would put the price between $5k-10k, though of course it’s more complex than stated income and it might be different if you get in.</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot to mention that I have a family of four.</p>
<p>As for any other criteria, I don’t exactly have many preferences, other than having a good program for my degree. Size, location, etc don’t really matter as much to me, although I do slightly prefer urban/sub-urban over rural. I’m not a big frats guy - definitely don’t want in on the drinking/partying scene, but I can always choose to avoid if I want to.</p>
<p>Since you are in California, the UCs and Cal Poly SLO should definitely be under consideration. See the following to estimate reach/match/safety for admissions at various UCs:</p>
<p>Stanford, Caltech, MIT, Cornell, Princeton, and Brown are all very strong in computer science and give good financial aid. Carnegie Mellon is #1 in CS but gives pretty bad FA. Apply to the UC’s as well.</p>
<p>Note that many out of state public flagships are also very good at CS – but most of them give little or no financial aid to out of state students (and full price out of state can be as much as full price at expensive private schools).</p>
<p>I have seen claims that Virginia and North Carolina do give financial aid to out of state students, though you’ll have to check that before deciding whether it is worth applying to them. Minnesota and Virginia Tech are relatively inexpensive for out of state students – full price out of state is less than full price UC in state, although this comparison may not be true after financial aid.</p>
<p>I’m looking for something more than UC’s, other than UC Berkeley. I do plan on going to graduate school for a master’s, but I wouldn’t be so sure on a PhD yet, not this early on.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard much about Brown’s CS - is it really good?</p>
<p>I think I can qualify for most merit scholarships/aids if I’m lucky enough to receive them, and my need-based should be relatively high. Let’s just say that inside the bank savings that we have, it won’t pay off enough for a year of college at Stanford or another top private university.</p>
<p>Also, I’m having uncertainties about applying EA/ED for any schools. What’s the reason people apply EA/ED, are there any advantages or disadvantages for doing so, and on what criteria should you choose whether or not to apply EA/ED to a school?</p>
<p>^ Brown CS is pretty good - top 15 or 20 in most rankings. I think many underrate Brown CS, just as they do to Yale CS. (I’m starting a CS PhD soon and have found that in general, academics respect Brown CS more than the rankings do.)</p>
<p>Here’s an interesting ‘ranking’ of research impact by Microsoft:</p>
<p>What’s useful about this is that you can look at the ratio of research to citations. In most actual rankings, large departments are typically favored over small ones, but as you can see, Brown does quite well on a per-capita basis - not too far from the top schools’ ratios. Interestingly, CMU falls a bit behind Brown in its ratio (which supports a common conclusion about CS at CMU: that it has strength mostly in numbers, because it has a ton of faculty, but on the whole its research doesn’t have the impact that other CS schools do, like Stanford, MIT, even Brown apparently).</p>
<p>Some top schools like Stanford and Harvard are very generous with need-based aid for those whom they do admit, but it is hard to get admitted.</p>
<p>The UCs have a Blue and Gold Opportunity policy with regard to financial aid, though it may not be as generous as Stanford or Harvard for those in many family income ranges.</p>
<p>UCs do give some merit scholarships. However, the really big merit scholarships tend to be offered by schools that would be low safety level for you, since the schools want to attract better students than they currently do. An example with be Alabama’s Presidential Scholarship (full out of state tuition if you have a 3.5 and 1400 SAT CR+M; more if you are an engineering major, which CS is at Alabama).</p>
<p>ED usually refers to restrictive early admissions, where you commit to attend if admitted. Can be dicey if you are not sure if you will be able to afford the school based on financial aid. Only apply ED if you are absolutely certain the school is your first choice and you know that you will be able to afford it.</p>
<p>EA usually refers to non-restrictive early admissions (although some schools may require that if you apply EA to them, you cannot apply EA to other schools); if you are admitted with sufficient financial aid, that school then becomes an automatic safety (and you can drop applying to any other school you like less than that school).</p>
<p>So right now, I have this list of colleges to apply to:
-All the UC’s (Berkeley prioritized)
-Stanford
-Caltech
-MIT
-Cornell
-Princeton
-Brown
-Carnegie Mellon</p>
<p>How should I decide whether or not to apply EA/ED? What are the risks associated with it in terms of chance of admission?</p>
<p>I haven’t heard much about Brown’s CS - is it really good?</p>
<p>It’s fine, but not really close to the other schools that have been mentioned in this thread. Frankly, I think it’s overrated in CS due to the whole Ivy craziness - CS isn’t exactly a strength in the Ivies (exception: Cornell, which is absolutely amazing).</p>
<p>If you want to look at Canadian schools for CS, you should look at Waterloo. It’s one of the top places in the world. My expectation (based on helping someone look at other Canadian schools) is that while Waterloo’s cheaper than other US schools, there is not much FA available for US students.</p>
<p>Another school you should look at – UCSB, College of Creative Studies. It’s a small honors program that is very flexible about students’ needs and placement. A friend of mine has a son there (math and CS) and he has absolutely thrived. </p>
<p>That’s not true at all. Princeton is excellent in CS, being ranked #2 in the NRC ranking and top 10 in US News. Harvard is also very strong in it, despite what US News says (NRC puts it top 5-10); in fact, the Turing Award winner this year is a Harvard prof. UPenn is renowned to be one of the strongest schools for CS; the NRC ranking put it in the top 10 in CS, and is regarded roughly the same as Columbia in US News. Yale is also much stronger than people give it credit for: it has one of the oldest CS departments in the country (early 70s), founded by the first recipient of the Turing Award, Alan Perlis. CS departments are infested with professors who are alumni of Yale CS, either undergrad or grad, including the top schools like Berkeley and MIT. Yale is regarded about the same as Brown in US News: top 20.</p>
<p>In fact, the only Ivy not ranked in the top 20 for CS by US News is Dartmouth. My own experience with the topic of Ivies’ CS is that they are generally well-regarded in academia, and not because of their general prestige as Ivies, but rather because of their own built-up strength in the field. </p>
<p>The link I gave above supports that: Microsoft Academic Search has indexed virtually every CS publication venue and unsurprisingly, many of the Ivies are the most productive. Even those that don’t have a huge number of publications or citations, like Brown, show their strength when you consider the ratio of publications to citations. Brown’s research on average has more impact than CMU! Sure, Brown isn’t super highly rated, but that’s only because of the general truth about departmental rankings: smaller departments are penalized. Regardless, small departments like Brown’s and Yale’s make up for their size by producing more important research than some of the traditional top CS schools.</p>
<p>Note that graduate school for PhD is more likely to be funded than graduate school for a master’s degree. If you have to pay your own way, master’s degree study is unlikely to benefit you in your career over working in industry the extra year or two instead.</p>
<p>If you do intend to work in industry, remember that schools local to computer companies tend to have an advantage of non-local schools of similar reputation – the companies can recruit conveniently, and students need not fly to interviews for internships or post-graduation jobs. You probably know that the Berkeley and Stanford are local to “Silicon Valley”; so are some lesser known schools like UCSC and SJSU.</p>
<p>@CountingDown
I’m not interested in foreign schools, but thanks for the recommendation. I’m looking to stay in the U.S. I’m not sure what you mean by ELC and how I qualify though.</p>
<p>@ucbalummnus
I’ll have to wait and see on the PhD. How is SJSU’s computer science? I’ve heard of it before, but no specifics. Also, Yale, Harvard, and many of the other schools you have listed are most likely reaches for me as for anyone else. What matches and safeties should I have?</p>
<p>Is your goal true strength of the CS program, or prestige, or a mix of both? This list seems to be a mix, plus some affordability choices, but lots of schools seem to be in there for the prestige. All good programs, of course, but there are better.</p>
<p>If you want true strength of the CS programs, then you can omit the ivies other than Cornell, since you can add a number of schools that have stronger programs. You’ve got superior choices in the UC system, and also consider Maryland, UNC and UT. But if prestige is important to you, your list is pretty good. Also, Georgia Tech is much stronger in Computer Engineering than Computer Science.</p>