Hi!
I am currently a junior in high school and I am 99.99% sure I want to study computer science in college.
I had a pretty bad freshman year, so my GPA isn’t that good. I have a 31 composite ACT score. – The main reason I’m saying this is all the forums about comp sci have really good schools, schools that I can’t get into.
I have two main concerns:
A lot of engineering schools have really high male to female ratios. This means that because I’m female I’m more likely to get in. At the same time, I’m worried about the social life. I don’t want to go to a school where everyone just stays in dorms all day.
I really don’t want to go to a school that’s high stress. I know there’s a lot of competition in engineering, but I want to avoid as much of that as possible.
Here is my current list of schools I’m looking at:
Colorado College*
Union College
Grinnell*
RPI
Lehigh
Bucknell
University of Rochester
Stevens
Rose-Hulman
Drexel (too big)
WPI
Colorado School of Mines
University of Tulsa
*Not a big comp sci program, but I like the community
Do you want to study Computer Science or Computer Science Engineering?
If you’re interested in CS, you will have a broader variety of colleges (for instance, if you like Colorado College and Grinnell, you may like St Olaf or URichmond. If you like URochester, you may like Tulane).
Look into Agnes Scott for their cooperative agreement with Georgia Tech, and Bryn Mawr for their partnership with Penn.
Note that with your 31 ACT, if you have a 3.5 weighted GPA, you automatically qualify for the state-of-the-art College of Engineering at UAlabama (you can choose between CS and CSE later), plus Honors College, Honors Dorm, full tuition scholarship, and a $2,500 stipend. Apply as soon as the app is up this summer. It meets all your criteria and is a fantastic safety.
If you like co-ops, drop Drexel (overpriced) and look into Northeastern (tough) and especially U Cincinnati (Cincinnatus scholarship competition is in the Fall.)
Union, Bucknell, and Lehigh had significant Greek Life and drinking issues, if that matters one way or another.
Colorado school of Mines is known to be high stress.
RPI is much stronger than WPI and you should look into RIT.
URochester sounds like a good fit for what you want.
New College of Florida has a surprisingly good program. They have just initiated their first graduate program - of any sort - in Data Science. There are lots of opportunities for individualized instruction and research projects, as well as exchange programs with other colleges.