<p>In my extensive school search, I've looked at many schools, and have been tempted by many para-Ivy League schools. And this new vogue for such schools may have blinded me a little. </p>
<p>It is my observation that there is a huge buffer between jumping from a state school to say Northwestern, WashU, etc. And that to make the jump (grade wise, score wise) from these schools is fairly big and difficult. My scores and grades make a school like WashU a very difficult endeavor, and as such I need some council. </p>
<p>I want to go into CS, and I figure as a safety I have Purdue which has a great engineering program, and I'm safely in the 75% of their scores. But I also loved WashU. Are there schools that are better than Purdue for CS and yet reachable without going over the impossible threshold of WashU-esque schools. What I'd love is a small school, and that is proving difficult to find.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the reported test scores for schools are the across the board average. At a selective school, the scores are pretty tight. At many state schools, they aren’t. The engineering and CS departments frequently have much higher test averages and can be far more selective in their admissions.</p>
<p>So, if you really are looking for a small school…have you looked into Lehigh University? Beautiful campus, small, very strong in engineering and solid computer science (but certainly the “rank” specifically in computer science is not as good as Purdue). Overall, Lehigh has an excellent reputation, so you would still get the advantages of the name when seeking jobs.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you can overlook the overall size issue, the University of Maryland is a state school that has a very highly respected computer science program (ranked higher than Purdue)…</p>
<p>Look at the other [Association</a> of Independent Technological Universities: AITU](<a href=“http://theaitu.org%5DAssociation”>http://theaitu.org) schools too as some of them do offer good merit aid. however, if financial considerations are important, what about university of Wisconsin Madison?</p>
<p>U. Wisconsin is obviously a school to consider. Some other large OOS public schools to consider are Michigan, Illinois, and Purdue. However, none of these are small schools, and the OOS schools will be expensive.</p>
<p>What are your financial constraints? What can your family afford to pay per year? Will you qualify for need-based financial aid? That affects the type of schools that you can consider.</p>
<p>Missouri U. of Science & Technology is a public school that is smaller than any of the ones above, but less selective. </p>
<p>There are some LACs in the East that include engineering, such as Bucknell, Lafayette, Union. CS is offered in even more LACs than engineering is, such as U. Richmond. </p>
<p>Some smaller Universities with engineering: Tufts, Lehigh, Rice, WashU</p>
<p>Some smaller tech schools: RIT, WPI.</p>
<p>These private schools are very expensive however, but generally have good need-based aid, and limited merit aid. </p>
<p>CC has a search feature where you can screen for schools that offer CS, are smaller schools, and have SAT scores in a desired range.</p>