<p>Hello all,
I was wondering if a few of you could give me some pointers on colleges. I'm very interested in Computer Science, and would like to attend a university with a great CS program. Unfortunately, my grades aren't so great, and neither are my standardized tests. Some schools which I've (very unrealistically, I admit) considered thus far:</p>
<ul>
<li>Cornell University</li>
<li>Bucknell</li>
<li>Columbia(dad is an alum, so I'm a legacy)</li>
<li>University of Texas(austin)</li>
<li>CMU(great CS, but I don't know how I'd get in)</li>
<li>MIT</li>
</ul>
<p>My grades:
GPA: 3.68W(honors/AP are weighted up a point :/)
Frosh year
Hon Bio - B-
English(honors not offered, but higher level) - B-
Hon Geometry - C-
Social studies(honors not offered, but higher level) - B-
Hon Spanish - B+
Orchestra - A
Intro comp programming - A+</p>
<p>Soph year:
Hon Alg 2 - B-
Hon English - C+
Hon American History - B-
Hon Spanish - B-
Orchestra - A
Independent CS study - A(no A+ is allotted for this)</p>
<p>Junior Year:
AP Calc AB - B expecting 3 or 4 on AP exam
AP Chemistry - B expecting 3 or 4 on AP exam
Honors Physics - B-
Honors English 1st semester - B+
Honors English 2nd semester - A-
Honors Social studies 1st semester - A
Honors Social studies 2nd semester - A-
Orchestra - A
Chinese(no honors offered) - B</p>
<p>Senior year courses:
3rd semester college calc.
AP Physics C
Honors English 1st and 2nd semester
AP Psychology
Chinese 2(again, no honors offered)</p>
<p>Arizona State or U. of Arizona. Both have great programs (nothing compared to MIT and such though) for a decent price and will surely accept you. You could probably even get into both honors colleges.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, most of the schools you listed are reaches. MIT, Columbia, CMU, and Cornell certainly are. You should have a good chance at UTexas and Bucknell though.</p>
<p>There are many public universities that have great computer science programs. For example, University of Illinois, University of Washington, University of Michigan, SUNY Stony Brook, and UC San Diego are all well renowned for their CS programs and none would be that much of a reach for you. While they might not be as famous, some of these schools have CS programs better than many CS programs within the Ivy League.</p>
<p>Also, do you think that if I get all A's senior year for the first few months(until nov for ED and jan for RD) and up my SAT scores a bit, I will have a better shot at some of the 'reach'(big underexaggeration) schools? I know it's pretty obvious that I'd have <em>no</em> shot at schools like Columbia(even with legacy status) with my current transcript/sat grades, but if I were to improve on them, would colleges give consideration to that?</p>
<p>There's really not much you can do to increase your chances at those schools. Even with perfect grades first semester and improved test scores, there are still loads of kids with better grades who took more difficult classes and got higher test scores who will not get into MIT, Columbia, CMU, and Cornell. Still shoot for improved test scores and good grades because it will improve your chances for schools that are still very good, just not as highly ranked as those ones. Also what are your extracurricular activities? If they are unbelievable, then you might have a chance at those schools. Get the best grades you can and retake the SAT; apply to the likes of Rose Hulman, Case Western, and RPI. Find a school on that level that you like, perform extremely well there, and you can go to a top graduate program for CS which matters a lot more than undergraduate anyways.</p>
<p>You probably want to go to a school with a strong CS culture. Columbia and Bucknell are more of a liberal arts culture. In addition to the big publics like Illinois, Washington, and Michigan, a couple of good suggestions I haven't seen yet are </p>
<p>Georgia Tech
University of Waterloo in Ontario
University of Toronto
Maryland-College Park
Wisconsin-Madison
Purdue</p>
<p>Purdue would be an excellent safety. The Canadian schools are all numbers driven, so you should be able to predict if you'll get in. Waterloo is especially good for CS. I think the rest are matches, but you should do more homework to evaluate your chances.</p>
<p>UMass Amherst is usually ranked in the top 10-15 for computer science programs. You would certainly be admissible there and, if your senior grades are a bit stronger, you may be admissible to their honors college (3.8 weighted minimum).</p>
<p>What are some realistic reaches for me? I have really really really high reaches like CMU, but what's a more reasonable reach that I'd have a 50%+ shot of getting into, but isn't a safety?</p>