Reverse chance a senior before I just get rejected from all the schools I want to apply to.

College Search & Selection
1

GPA: 3.53uw (calculated by me), 3.95w (on transcript)

3 Bs freshman, 2 Bs sophomore, 4 Bs junior

Course rigor: full ib

ACT: 32

Major: computer science

State: TN

ECs:

Cybersecurity Competitons

COVID 19 Symptom Detector

similar website to Craigslist

Internship at IT Business

Computer Engineering Research with a Professor

Personal blog

Student Ambassador

Varsity Track

DECA Club

colleges i’m applying to

UCLA/SD/SB -rd (willing to full pay, weighted & capped GPA: 3.79)

Georgia Tech -ea

UMD CP -ea

Northeastern -rd

Virginia Tech -ea

ASU - accepted

Essays: I just wrote my first draft for common app and I’m really excited about it. I’ve had a couple people read it and they say it’s pretty good. I’ve written a couple supplements.

Recommendations: one of my teachers wrote a recommendation before which helped me win an award so hopefully 7/10 and second teacher i’m not sure.

colleges i want to apply to, but please don’t focus on these: vanderbilt rd, columbia rd, stanford rea

what i’m looking for in colleges: warm weather, big school in a big city (I don’t want to see the same people everyday), good for computer science, but not too competitive, i don’t just want to be studying all the time, i want to have fun and have time for friends. cheaper the better. nice dorms and nice places to study

should i wait to rd to improve my GPA? for Georgia Tech, UMD?

2

What’s your budget? Are your parents willing to be full pay at OOS CA colleges?

3

yes, but like if i got into both UCLA and GTech (im probably more likely to get bitten by a shark than this happening), id probably choose gtech because its cheaper (50k vs 64k). but if i only got into ucla, id go

4

Don’t waste your money. CS is a ridiculously employable degree. There’s no need whatsoever to pay $65k a year to go to a university in California. Even if you could afford one of these schools now, that might not be true in the next 4 years. In fact, that scenario is very common, especially with COVID-19.

“The cheaper the better.” I don’t see UTK on the list. That really should be the main target school. I would only consider ASU if they’ve offered a scholarship that could match in-state tuition, otherwise it’s just another financial reach school. Also, you need to add more in-state schools like Middle Tenn, etc.

5

I don’t want to stay in TN though.

6

What about U of Alabama, Huntsville? They even have cyber degree there, warm weather, techie town.

7

So replace all the UC schools with UA Hunstville?

8

One thing that worries me is that UAH is in top 100 for most conservative colleges.

I’ve also thought of applying to USF, UCF, UF, but I don’t like that all florida schools are majority instate and considering how the governor is treating covid. I’m guessing my reasons are dumb though.

My parents care about prestige more than I do, they don’t understand that the college doesn’t matter for CS. My dad said UCLA was just okay, and I should apply to lots ivies.

9

All the UC’s will be Reach schools. Anything below a capped weighted GPA of 4.0 for CS will make it a difficult admit.

Some admit numbers based on the capped weighted GPA and not major specific. For CS, expect lower admit rates and higher required stats to be competitive.

2019 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.40-3.79 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 1%
UCLA: 2%
UCSD: 9%
UCSB: 6%
UCI: 7%
UCD: 9%
UCSC: 40%
UCR: 53%
UCM: 80%

**2020 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range: **
UCB: 4.22 (4.13-4.30)
UCLA: 4.25 (4.18-4.31)
UCSD: 4.18(4.04-4.28)
UCSB: 4.17 (4.03-4.27)
UCI: 4.11 (3.96-4.26)
UCD: 4.11 (3.97-4.25)
UCSC: 3.94 (3.71-4.16)
UCR: 3.88 (3.65-4.11)
UCM: 3.68 (3.40-3.96)

25th - 75th percentiles for ACT composite + language arts
UCB: 29-35
UCLA: 31-35
UCSD: 29-34
UCSB: 28-34
UCD: 26-33
UCI: 27-34
UCSC: 24-32
UCR: 21-31
UCM: 18-27

Spending $65K/year to attend a UC is crazy. If you want to come to California, look at the Cal states which are about $25k/year less than the UC’s and will still give you a great education.

Cal state Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal state East Bay, Cal State Long Beach might be good options but if your parents are focused on prestige than probably not worth your time or money applying.

Best of luck.

10

What is the normal amount for college? It seems like instate tuition+housing is 30k for most schools and 45k-65k+ for oos . then private schools are like 70k+.

11

JMU intelligence analysis major.

12

Ok, so I just looked at your other thread and there were a lot of good suggestions for you there. You have a URM hook, and are full pay, which may help at certain schools as well.

Is ASU affordable (I assume) and would you be happy to go there? If so, that will simplify your application strategy going forward. Meaning, only apply to UA Huntsville (or any other school) if you would attend there over ASU.

I would not apply to a ‘lots of ivies’…if there are a couple you like, go ahead, but you have better CS options on your list right now.

13

Your list is a nice list, but a tad optimistic. My daughter had GPAs of 3.7 UW /4.2 W and an ACT of 33, with a superscore of 34. We are in state in CA. She was rejected at Berkeley and UCLA, WL and later admitted to UCSB and UCSD, and admitted to Cal Poly SLO and SDSU. And that was for not committing to a major, except at CalPoly SLO (Business). CS is an impacted major at a lot of schools so it will be even more difficult to gain admission.

If you are going to apply to California schools, I would consider Cal Poly SLO (your MCA score might be borderline, to unlikely admission) and San Diego State, as well as the other Cal States @Gumbymom mentioned. San Luis Obispo is not a big town at all, but Goleta (where UCSB is located) is even smaller. San Diego makes the grade when it comes to a big school in a big city. The UCs are not worth the extra money in CS more than the Cal States in OOS tuition.

I would consider also looking at Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, and Iowa as well as Kentucky.

ASU and Arizona are also both good bets when it comes to financial aid for your grades and scores.

Look at schools with honors colleges so your parents have prestige bragging rights there.

CS is a highly marketable degree and you will get a good job upon graduation. Keep your costs as low as possible so you have more options when you graduate.

14

I would agree that, outside of ASU, the others schools are probably in the Reach category. The posts above have some good ideas.

15

Cal Poly SLO is a tougher admit than many of the UC’s for CS. With an acceptance rate of 6 for CS, just another Reach school. San Diego state is possible but not a solid Match since they are test blind this admission cycle and GPA is below their average of 3.97 for 2019 admits. I suggested Cal states where your GPA puts you at or above the averages for admitted students.

16

You are looking at schools that are reaches for your stats in general. Applying to Computer Science adds an additional layer of competitiveness. Not to be a Negative Nellie, but I very sincerely doubt that you’re going to end up choosing between Georgia Tech and a UC. Plus, you’re looking for “as cheap as possible” and these schools aren’t, even if you could get in.

Northeastern is stats-focused, cold, and expensive. Are you liking the idea of a CS co-op program? Apply to U of Cincinnati, which has a terrific CS co-op program. Large urban school, relatively affordable, milder weather, good fit for your stats with at least some merit likely.

If you want to head in a west coast direction, consider the Nevada flagships - far more affordable than the CA publics, both large schools in cities, strong CS programs. UNR is less than 20 miles from the California border.

ASU is a great option. Check out U of Utah too.

How about Texas schools? In Dallas, both UT Dallas (public) and SMU (private) could be worth a look.

UCF in Orlando is a strong CS school too.

17

@aquapt Thanks, i’ll check u Cincinnati. florida and texas schools always have extremely low oos though.

is this a good list?

Georgia Tech -ea
UMD CP -ea
NCSU -ea
Virginia Tech -ea
ASU - accepted

18

How do you mean, low oos? Acceptance rates? Population? It’s true that UCF and UTD have less than 10% OOS.

SMU, though, has only about 50% Texas residents. You’d definitely get merit there - run the Net Price Calculator, which estimates merit aid as well as need-based aid, and add another $7500/year to the merit estimate, because they give a $7500 IB Scholars Award to all IB graduates. My guess is that you’d come in under 40K/year at SMU, but run the NPC yourself and see. They have a whole Cybersecurity Institute FWIW. https://www.smu.edu/Lyle/Centers-and-Institutes/DDI

At any rate, a lot of this depends on how you feel about ASU, where you’re already accepted. (Barrett Honors?) If you’d be happy to go there, then there’s nothing that says the rest of your list can’t be as reachy as you want! If you’re viewing ASU as a “last resort” safety, then weight your list more toward matches. VT is a really nice choice, but decidedly not urban if that’s important to you. NC State seems like a great possibility. I’m not sure how competitive UMD-CP is for OOS CS and where the price tag would land, but great school.

Sounds like you’ve got a good range of schools on your radar. Good luck!

19

The B grades will make the reach schools very difficult, not some coin toss. Worse if any Bs are in STEM. You’d be competing with kids with consistent top performance and broader/deeper ECs. Kids who’d enter college classes with A level prep behind them.

You want a program you can master. Realistic for your actual record.

20

Your list is a bit reach-heavy. You need to add a couple more colleges with 40%+ acceptance rates, and not just overall but for the CS department in particular. It is a competitive major, and you’ll easily find colleges where the acceptance rates for CS are less than half - or even a smaller fraction - of the university as a whole.