Should I tweak my list?

College Search & Selection
21

I just applied for CS in the class of 2022, and I want to warn you about how competitive the college process is for CS majors specifically. I have very similar stats to you (1530, 4.0, 800 M2, summer research, classes at university), yet I was denied/WL at schools that my friends with similar or worse scores/ECs were accepted to. My college counselor, confused as I was, spoke to many admissions officers who said the same thing: CS programs aren’t expanding quickly enough to match the increasing number of students applying for CS.

The CMU SCS, for example, had 6900 apps and a 7% acceptance rate for the class of 2021, compared to 8730 apps and a 5% acceptance rate for the class of 2022 (30% more applications!). I was waitlisted at CMU SCS, but they literally took only 1-3 people from the waitlist due to a higher than expected yield rate. (And they just added an Artificial Intelligence major, so it will likely be even more competitive this year.)

My advice is to ignore all scattergrams and what people say you SHOULD get into, because truthfully for CS majors even schools that seem to be target/match schools are reaches. If I could do the college process over again, I would have applied ED to CMU. Although you may always wonder whether or not Harvard would’ve accepted you EA, I would advise that you apply early to a different, more realistic school in an attempt to secure your chances at a great CS program.

22

^ agree. CMU was near the top of my kid’s list but he didn’t want to commit to CMU until he saw what Stanford and Berkeley said first, so he RD’d to CMU instead of ED. Got priority waitlisted but never cleared.

My kid didn’t have as high a GPA but he was good with all the other stats and he took a lot of L’s, all for CS - UCLA, USC, Northwestern, Vandy, Stanford. Many of those schools are even known for leaning towards test scores over GPA but it didn’t matter.

23

You’ve got great stats! Don’t rule out Stevens Institute particularly if you’re talking CS. They do give merit scholarships. My son received $55,000 all totaled, which means we’re only paying for room/board. They have the 6th highest ranked salaries of alumni in the country, according to Forbes. They’ve been around since the 1800s and have been a leader in both engineering and CS. Also, they’re located in Hoboken which is a phenomenal town, right across the pond from NYC. All the best!!