US citizen, NY resident, good public HS, rising sr
Data science / social science intended major
3.9 uw, 4.0 w
32 ACT, 33 SS
3 APs jr (4,4,3) 5 APs sr
4Y advanced: english, SS; 4Y language
2 season athlete, JV captain
Sports volunteer, tutor 3h/wk
4Y Summer job 30+hrs/wks
Looking for academic school with a good reputation and big school spirit. UVA would be ideal.
Is UVA possible? Ideas for similar schools that are possible?
Purdue. Although for data science more of a low reach these days but UVA would also be a reach from OOS.
UVA is a huge reach for OOS with your stats. If you love it and can afford it, apply ED. It is not a target or even a âhard targetâ for you.
Make sure you get true targets as well as safeties, in addition to reaches like UVA if you want to try for them. Plenty of knowledgeable posters here will have a nice list of options for you shortly, I bet! The first thing everyone will want to know is what is affordable for you/your parents.
Do you and your parents have cost constraints? If so, have you tried the net price calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest?
CU Boulder?
Most large publics donât give need based aid to OOS students though some give merit aid. Can you afford these schools? What is your budget?
UVA brutal OOS Are your 3 AP a lot relative to what the school offers ?
If UVA is what you wantâŠyou get 20 common app spots. No pain. No gain. So try.
Others to try. Maryland, Wisconsin. Washington, UMASS. Wisc and Umass Iâd say most similar.
Whatâs your desired outcome ? Iâm guessing most likely where you go wonât matter in the field. And youâd score great deals at Binghamton, Alabama and Arizona and likely end up with a similar outcome.
UVA is not impossible but a definite reach. If itâs really your top choice, apply ED. If I was forced to estimate, you may have a 20-30% chance ED, but a 10% or less chance RD.
More in the âtargetâ range would be U of Michigan (high match), UMD (match), UVM (match-likely).
For this studentâs intended major and as an OOS applicant, UMich and UMD are reaches.
You havenât said your race but your chances are better with UVA if you are a URM. U of MI has a lot of spirit but my OOS S was deferred and rejected with a 34 ACT, 4.0 uw, 4.7 w GPA and 5s on AP tests. Penn State should be a match. Pittsburgh, UMass-Amherst, UMD and UVM are popular with our NJ high school. A few choose UConn.
Agreed. Both UMich and UMD are reaches for data science for an unhooked OOS applicant with OPâs stats.
I think UMD is a âlowâ reach; be sure to apply EA by November 1, if interested. RD at UMD would be significantly more difficult for all.
Ohio State, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota with University of Iowa/ Iowa State or University of Kansas/ Kansas State as safeties.
For Iowa and Kansas if he is a rising senior he can apply now and know before school even starts his Senior year. There is an index on the website (think of it as points for classes, GPA and test scores). If you have enough âpointsâ youâre an auto-admit and find out very quickly. His scores and GPA lead me to believe heâd easily qualify.
Ohio State is an especially good place for data science nowadays, especially for somebody who is interested in interdisciplinary thinking.
If you are open to the south, you canât beat the SEC for school spirit! Alabama, Ms State, Ole Miss, Univ of South Carolina, UK, AuburnâŠall have honors colleges and a fairly good range of OOS Merit for your stats.
Kansas State has some great scholarships, you can apply early and get an acceptance early. The honors college is very good. Travel abroad programs there are outstanding. I posted some more in response on another of your posts! My son has loved it there. He had about the same stats as your son and has always felt challenged and had peers that academically challenged him (he is marrying one of them next year!) He is now in veterinary school with students from âprestigiousâ undergrad programs and has no trouble being on a par or better than they are academically. So if you end up with your safety it will be fine. He also was accepted at Iowa State but liked Kansas State and the offer they gave him better. Iowa State is excellent and my TX company has hired engineering grads from there.
Not all Data Science and Analytics degrees are equal. Itâs an intersection of business, math and CS. Some programs are housed in the business school, some in engineering and some in CS. Review the course catalog and graduation requirements. You might find that a straight CS or Stats degree is what youâre actually wanting.
Not sure what your budget is but Ohio State, NC State or Virginia Tech might be an option.
Knowing nothing about your budget (an ESSENTIAL component of any college search), these are schools Iâve seen noted for their data science programs that have good reputations and have lots of school spirit. Iâve sorted them by my general sense of what your chances of acceptance might be but depending in which department each college has data science in, schools could certainly move up or down a category, and this is by no means set in stone.
Higher Probability
Toss-Up
Lower Probability
Purdue
What is it about UVA that you find attractive? There may be other schools with those characteristics that people might be able to suggest for you to consider as well, particularly once share what the budget is without taking any loans.
Thank you for all of these insights. Not sure itâs smart to âwasteâ an ED at UVA. Finl Aid not reqd. Any smaller 5k-20k spirited schools to add to the list?
For mid-size and big school spirit, take a look at Wake Forest.