I would like to take a moment during the college search and focus on potential safety schools that are good for Computer Science. Here are my stats:
ACT: 35 (36E, 34M, 35R, 36S)
GPA: 3.8UW / 4.27W
Right now, for my top choices I am focusing on UCLA, UC Berkeley, USC, Pomona, Cal Poly SLO, UMich, and GaTech. As you can see, I am leaning heavily toward California schools. Mid Tier (based on students from my school with similar or worse stats who have been admitted) schools include Purdue, Illinois, Wisconsin, Santa Clara, and Minnesota. Right now, my safeties consist of Rutgers (I am a New Jersey resident), Arizona State, and possibly Virginia Tech. My list is quite large and I am trying to narrow down my choices to 3-6 schools from each category of admission potential.
I am looking for a school with a good social scene (around 50/50 male/female ratio) and a well developed CS department with a history of sending graduates to prominent tech firms. The school should also give some merit aid (not looking to pay 60k/year for a safety school, which I guess is part of the definition of a “safety school” lmao). I have looked at online rankings and school profiles, but I am interested in what this community thinks. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!