recommendations for undergrad programs? (low gpa)

College Search & Selection
1

Hi everyone! I recently posted in chance me but I was wondering where I should aim, just in case me reaches are too out of reach. I guess I’ll just copy and paste my chance me:

I am hoping to get into a top math/econ/cs program, and I am wondering what universities/programs I should aim for with my stats. Thank you!

Demographics: Middle Class (SE) Asian male
Intended Major: Applied Math/Quantitative Analysis, minor or double major in CS or econ
State: Respected HS in Ohio
Academics: 3.65 UW, no weighted, no rank lol

APs/Relevant Classes: 5 AP’s (9th, 10th) : World History, Human Geo, CS A, Cal BC, Physics 1, all 5 (probably wont submit these scores though)

(11th): Honors Bio (C ,C im bad also hard school), Honors Chem (A,A), Multivariable Calculus (A), Linear Algebra (A), Diff Equ. 1 (A), Diff Equ. 2 (A), Computational Numerical Analysis (A), Microecon (A), Macroecon (A);

(12th:) Vector Calculus and Statistical Analysis next year (and honors physics i guess), Thermodynamics
yea i took a lot of maths

SAT: never took general SAT and never will, Math II - 800, Phys - 750, planning to take bio (E), probably 699+ at least

ACT: 34 (36E, 36M, 34R, 29S lmao), 11 Essay

Awards/ECs:
President of Meme Club (11th)
Founded Music Club (9th)
Science Olympiad (state, regional, districts placings but not really that good)
Computational Science Certification from local uni (but i wont have this in time for college apps so idk if i can put it here)
Volunteering (~70 hours), tutoring kids in algebra, geometry, trig, etc.
Research in computational physics (a lot of time in lab but no publication or science fair, etc.)
Helped to host a cancer fundraiser: ~$2000 raised
Spanish National Honor Society (literally just a member)
Competitive Gaming (~$1000 in prize money total)
Robotics Club (literally just a member)
2 Years Marching Band (French Horn, nothing special)
Paid tutor for Math/Physics (Calc 1,2, Lin Alg, MCAT Physics)
Math/Calculator Team for Mu Alpha Theta (some low placings, nbd)
Secretary for Mu Alpha Theta (10th)

2

You don’t have a low gpa or act. Excellent in fact. And loads of aps. Plenty of options for you.

3

Thanks! I just feel like my options are limited because I made 2 C’s. I am aiming for Berkeley Math/CS and Carnegie Mellon Math/CS. Would those be low or high reaches for me?

4

High Reaches for everyone. But there are a 100 great schools out there for you. High end stem schools. GA tech Harvey mudd Olin uiuc RPI wpi uwm va tech UT Austin UF. umich OSU In State automatic for you. Uw Madison unc uva etc And dozens of liberal arts schools with great math and sciences too. uc and UCB are possibilities too. But my point is to highlight your strengths and look for opportunities that you’ve worked hard for.

5

Your UC GPA IIRC was 4.13, which puts you on the bubble for UCB and UCLA, but it’s probably a good match for UCSD, which also has very strong CS and Math programs. For some reason I thought that your uw was closer to 3.8.

6

The UC’s are great options, but keep in mind that they will be expensive, OOS tuition is $40K a year, and they offer no OOS financial aid (need or merit based).

7

OSU is good school. if you pursue graduate program, you don’t need to worry UG school. Learn the stuff well and you have chance for good graduate program.
then go out of state with TAship

8

Please, please, please think before creating user names, email addresses and twitter accounts/taglines. You do not want an admissions officer thinking you are suicidal or suffer from depression because your email address is “hopeiperish@gmail.com” or something similar. Seriously, think about how you present yourself.

What the heck is up with the hopeiperish thing? You don’t have to answer that, just be aware when people have very few small clues about you - such as AOs reading your app or an interviewer reading your resume - small details like your user name can unintentionally communicate negative things.

9

2017 admit rates by UC weighted-capped GPA:


Campus  4.20-   3.80-   3.40-   3.00-
        higher  4.19    3.79    3.39
UCB     43%     13%      2%      1%
UCLA    47%     12%      2%      1%
UCSD    84%     39%      7%      1%
UCSB    82%     45%     10%      1%
UCI     94%     52%     11%      3%
UCD     90%     56%     17%      4% 
UCSC    93%     76%     44%     14%
UCR     98%     90%     63%     23%
UCM     98%     96%     89%     57%

However, direct admission to CS at UCLA and UCSD and EECS at UCB should be assumed to be significantly more difficult than overall admission to those campuses. For UCB, L&S is the largest division, so overall admit rate should be reflective of L&S admit rate, but L&S CS requires a 3.3 GPA in the prerequisite courses in college to declare. This means that these three are reaches with a 4.13 GPA.

10

I like RPI for you. They have an extremely quantitative (modeling and game theory focused) econ department in addition to top-notch CS and math. It’s a highly rigorous school but not one where a blemish or two on your transcript is going to sink your application, especially given the very high (and STEM-focused) rigor of your courseload. Hopefully you could get some merit aid. You would find tons of competitive gamers there, as well as students who would share your academic passions.

The blended CS-econ programs at MIT and Brown look amazing, but those are not only tough admits but also zero-merit-aid, high-sticker-price private U’s. It seems to me that RPI hits the sweet spot - every bit as rigorous, but with the possibility of merit money on top of what I think would be a likely admit.

Also with merit aid potential: https://www.wpi.edu/academics/study/economic-science-bs
NYU also has a CS+Econ track in its CS Honors program
BU and Brandeis could be worth a look as well. (Also Tufts, but no merit $ there.)
And Rice: https://economics.rice.edu/undergraduate-program/mathematical-economic-analysis-major (and very strong CS also… and “sticker price” for Rice is not much worse than OOS students pay for the UC’s.)

11

Clark university may be a solid backup with your interests. It has been offering Economics and Mathematics through the PhD for generations. There average matriculating student’s HS GPA is 3.66. Check it out at https://www.clarku.edu/programs/major-or-minor-economics

12

Ohio State is an excellent in-state option.

13

Thanks everyone! I have expanded my college list with your help. I do have a question though:
Is there any chance that I could be capped at any of the listed because I made Cs?

14

No. Not for a few and the overall picture is quite strong. Can it be a tiebreaker here or there. Sure. But you can’t change it. So why borrow worry from the past or the future to ruin today. Just be the best you can today. And the day after. Etc. the rest will work out.