Next year I will be a senior and will be applying to schools. The following is the list I’d like to apply to and are within match level (25% - 75%). They are also within my price range.
My intended major is computer science.
I will post the schools with their npc result.
My concern is a good quality education and don’t care much about how perty the landscaping is. I just want to land a great job. Can you help me cut down my list so that I have a list of 4-5?
I’d rather not mention my academics since I’ve already checked that these are all within my match range even though I may get rejected by some for lack of ec’s.
Boston College $17,165
Rensselaer $24,997
University of Rochester $17,981
Colgate $13,766
Boston University $23,866
Skidmore $14,231
Trinity $14,312
Lafayette $14,947
Rochester Inst. $25,099
Rowan $19,454
I think that you might also look at UMass Amherst. It is quite good for CS. At least it is probably worth running the NPC and seeing what it comes to. I understand that if it is OOS then it might be too expensive.
What is the amount that your parents will contribute for your college costs?
In terms of quality of the CS major, look at the catalogs and schedules on-line and check for upper level CS courses like:
algorithms and complexity
theory of computation
operating systems
databases
networks
security and cryptography
software engineering or projects in other courses
hardware courses
electives like artificial intelligence, graphics, etc.
@DadTwoGirls I had removed umass amherst previously for cost and other reasons. I’ve been researching for a long while and really think I’m done with adding any other schools. I really only want 4 or 5 from the above list as I think I’m settled with those.
@ucbalumnus I previously checked for the core required classes on each website and they indeed have the type of classes needed not only for an acredditated BS degree, but also that they have the classes for my possible concentrations. Normally BS acred is not necessary for CompSci but as it turns out, the jobs that I’ve been researching on indeeddotcom have said that they require acreditation so your advice is very good for future readers of this post, but happily I can say I have already done the research. I really just need the 4 or 5 schools from above that you’d think would be good with regard to quality per tuition dollar.
I don’t hold myself out as an expert on CS programs, but it seems like Colgate, Trinity and Lafayette are hard to turn down at those prices. I think of Skidmore as a tier below those. U Rochester is good, but I read on CC that it sometimes doesn’t come through with the full aid package for one’s final year.
What do the list of schools and the dollar amounts shown represent? Is that tuition only? Not sure how accurate your info is however you need to double that amount with room and board, fees, etc for true COA.
@BasicOhioParent Very helpful thank you. @bookmama22 those prices are the total of my net price for each of those school. Family income is kinda lower than average. @merc81 Great thank you.
agree with @roycroftmom on being at or above the 75% range for a match threshold at least at those highly selective schools, including BC, U of Rochester, and Colgate. For those that are more selective - all except RIT and Rowan, you’ll want to be above the midpoint of the 25-75% range.
@Chembiodad I’m not arguing your assertion, but it does make one wonder just who the heck is getting in with stats below the 75th percentile. The number of URMs, plus athletes, plus legacies can’t possibly amount to three-fourths of the student body.
At a small school like Colgate, the percentage of hooked applicants will have a bigger impact on a small class. Also add in Applicants who are first gen, questbridge, foster kids, compelling personal stories, have one extraordinary talent, international full pay, possibly disabled–there are many for whom flexibility is needed. Your average run of the mill middle class kid without hooks needs to be well above the mean score.
@BasicOhioParent, not 75%, but yes as much as 60% at some of the highly selective LAC’s. The push to increase the number of URM’s and First-Gen at the need blind/meet 100% of demonstrated need schools has certainly tilted the windmill. Add to that being a ORM - Caucasian female from the Mid-Atlantic, NE or California and it becomes a high bar.
Note that athletes can be a relatively high percentage of students at smaller schools. For a given set of teams, a big or small school will have the same number of athletes, but that number of athletes will be a larger percentage of a small school than of a big school. For example, at Amherst, 32% of students participate in varsity athletics, according to http://athletics.amherst.edu/information/department_information , although not necessarily all of them were recruited and given special admission consideration. In contrast, only 3.2% of UMass - Amherst undergraduates are athletes, based on the numbers from https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=umass&s=all&id=166629#sports .
Net price calculators are practically useless at this stage. The last thing you should be doing is factoring in loans for net price at this point as well. There is not one school on that list that will come in cheaper apart from loans than Rowan. Having just gone through the process with our son, the only schools you should be considering on that list based on overall quality and cost is RPI, RIT and Rowan. I don’t know what state you are in but you need to delete schools like Lafayette and add more of your instate and out of state publics. If you’re not independently wealthy, you are wasting your money on the expensive private schools. The Ivy’s are now for the rich, or very poor. If you’re intended major is tech, computer science or engineering and you are middle or even upper middle class, the best cost value options are in and out of state publics. Private schools with few exceptions will not come near the cost
^^ OP already said he is from a lower income family and has run the NPCs. Private schools may well cost him less than other options, including in-state publics, as reflected in the prices he listed in Post #1.
Out-of-state publics are commonly among the worst values due to lack of out-of-state financial aid, except for those that have low out-of-state list prices (e.g. South Dakota State) and those with large merit scholarships that the student can earn.
In the northeast, Binghamton and other SUNYs, U Delaware, Maine, Rutgers, Rowan all offer generous out of state merit aid depending on gpa and SAT. Another factor to consider: if you fail to meet the typical minimum gpa of 3.0 or 3.2 at an at an instate or out of state public to maintain merit money, the price doesn’t shoot up to the 60k or 70k plus many quality private schools now cost. Ivy’s don’t offer merit money only need based.
So my point being: instate publics are your best value followed by out of state publics then private schools. NY, DE and PA publics offer good value to NJ students