Due to financial issues, and flat out lack of time, I’ve only applied to 3 schools, North Dakota, Arizona State, and University of Texas Austin.
I’m worried that even if i get accepted to all three i might not like one, or all, of my choices. Does anyone know any schools around 30-60% acceptance rate that are fairly good in Computer Science? I’m no genius but my ACT was 27 and my GPA was a 2.8(I know, its bad.)
I was told by my counselor to try bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/ but i cant find out how to search for universities with deadlines that have not passed yet. If someone could explain that to me it might help.
If you have financial issues, then why are you applying to OOS publics? Who would pay their costs? What are your parents saying about paying for those schools?
I know that UT is your fave school, but why waste time and money applying to a school where you have no chance? UT is rank and GPA driven.
Until you provide info about how much your parents will pay each year, it’s a waste to make recommendations.
My parents are paying 0$ and I’m putting everything on loans no matter where i go. I’m trying to stay out of state because aside from UofI there are no schools in the top 100 of the computer science rankings. Financial issues were based on my mom losing her job and i didn’t want to force 60-90$ applications on my family.
I now work as near full time as i can get and am working to pay college myself, as i graduated early and have the time to work to raise money to pay for school.
I have no budget for college because I’ve already begun speaking with banks on interest rates and such for loans and my father and i think we’ve found a couple perfect fits between the amount we can take out and the interest rates. So time to narrow down who and when to borrow from.
My main concern is making sure i’m comfortable where i go to school, and so far none of the schools in Illinois provide me with that comfort.
Small note- My Uncle paid for my Texas app as he is a huge horns fan.
Remember that the CS rankings are primarily based on graduate programs, not undergraduate ones. What you need to do is to look at where schools place their graduates at the Bachelor’s level and that will be more useful to your decision-making.
In Illinois UIUC is very good but UIC is not too bad either and less expensive. You might not get too much financial aid at these public universities though. Other options in the general area include University of Minnesota and University of Iowa among the public universities and among the privates which may offer some financial aid and which have good CS programs you have several of the [url="<a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”>http://theaitu.org"]AITU[/url] schools, some of which have rolling admissions. These all have good CS programs as they specialize in STEM. They are mostly in urban settings though and that may not be to your liking.
Your parents/aunt will have to qualify for the loans annually. Also, in some situations, they can end up still responsible for the loans even if you become disabled or die. Those banks are happy to see you, but those loans have few protections for the borrowers. Private loans should be a last resort.
Your uncle’s largess presumably does not extend to tuition, room and board payments – being a fan does not pay the bills. But realistically that won’t be a worry, because your stats won’t get you in there.
Stop worrying about being comfortable – if you are smart enough to pass CS coursework, you should be smart enough to know that this is a dumb plan. Look at all your in-state options. Consider options close to home (community college or a 4 year school you can commute to). Maybe transferring to UIUC or a better school for the last two years. It isn’t worth taking on tons of private loans to be “comfortable”. You will be darned uncomfortable for years afterwards if you take on so much debt.
You have a 2.8 GPA and a 27, and none of the schools in Illinois are good enough for you? Really?!
And you want your dad and aunt to go into mega, mega debt for you to go OOS, because you cannot get merit or need-based aid?
Also, define “comfortable”. ?!
You should apply to UIC - University of IL in Chicago or Northern IL
Southern IL (either in Carbondale or Edwardsville), Eastern IL, or IL State. Western IL might have CS too.
Also, look at the Midwest Student Exchange Program schools. I know NDSU is one. Some schools on the list have a 3.0 requirement to get the special rate, so make sure to check that.
Many of the UW schools would probably admit you, maybe even UW-Eau Claire.
St. Cloud State probably would.
Your family should not have to go into tons of debt because you failed to earn the stats for merit aid, for whatever reason.
eta: Many of these state schools I mentioned are rolling admissions; at this point, rolling admissions can be your friend, as long as there is still space left…
Apply to SIU E and SIUC.
Some MN and Iowa state universities may be affordable. Check out UMN Duluth, UWisconsin Eau CLaire, UWisconsin LaCrosse.
If you’re decided to apply OOS, apply to smaller colleges or to directionals.
Run the Net Price Calculator on each college first. Cross out any college where the net price is above 15K or so.
Are your parents paying nothing because their EFC is 0 (ie., you’re lower income and they can’t pay) or are your parents exacting a punishment on you for your low grades (ie., they can, but won’t)?
Please don’t do this to your aunt and father. Don’t get them stuck with crushing debt. As for you, it means no marriage, no car, no house until you’re 40 because of those loans.
Some states, if you move there and work for a year without taking college classes (max 1 per quarter or 2 per semester), will give you in-state tuition.
Check out Canadian universities: often, only your grades in 11th and 12th grades + test scores will count.
Obviously there’s UWaterloo but you need to be realllllly good to get in. Find McLean’s Leagues Table (Canadian rankings).
“Are your parents paying nothing because their EFC is 0 (ie., you’re lower income and they can’t pay) or are your parents exacting a punishment on you for your low grades (ie., they can, but won’t)?”
Not punishment, more of a “Lesson” my father wants to teach me about responsibility and work. I don’t know why, but he told all three of the kids in the house that nobody is getting money from the family.
I don’t like Junior Colleges around here because they’re, and I’m not lying about this, worthless. My brother has attended both the JC’s in our district and neither of them have classes outside of English and Math that transfer to most Universities. In order for me to go to Junior college, I’d have to spend twice the amount it costs at the local ones, plus the cost of Books, which for some reason have an extra fee for being out of jurisdiction, so overall the cost would be the equivalent of me attending UND. The only college close to here I’ve considered is North Central and thats a little over 45 minutes away, but the deans said that they can work on a deal for on campus housing with me. Its expensive but i have to wait to see if i qualify for their presidents scholarship which is a big dent in the costs.