Hello! I am having a really hard time finding out which colleges could be my target and safety schools. As of now, I am Asian girl interested in majoring in computer science or in a major related to computer science. Here is my current information:
School: Pretty competitive public high school in California.
GPA: 4.0 (unweighted).
Honor/Advanced Classes: All of the highest math classes my school provides, honors chemistry class, second highest biology class, and all honor English courses.
APs: AP Chem, AP Japanese, APUSH.
AP’s I’m planning to take: AP Physics 1, AP Calculus BC, APCS.
Standardized Tests: ACT: 34; SAT Math II: 800, SAT Japanese: 800 SAT Chem: 770.
Extracurriculars: Piano, violin, school orchestra (principal second violin this year; got into chamber orchestra (honors group) this year as well (yay [:)), Marketing Director (last year) and Secretary (this year) of SAGE Global Business club, founder and president of craft club (1 year), member of another school club (Science of Sight - raises awareness and funds for Usher syndrome research - helped plan fundraisers, etc.), Japanese school every Saturday (recently graduated), Zero Waste Internship where I coded and designed graphics for website.
Awards: Japanese Speech Contest, Piano competition first place, Japanese language award from my school, 3rd and 4th place at national competitions for SAGE Global Business club
Colleges that I am interested in so far:
- UC San Diego
- UCLA
- UCSB
- UC Davis
- UC Irvine
- Wellesley College
- Smith College
- Northeastern Uni
- Boston Uni
- Santa Clara Uni
- USC
I believe most of the schools I listed above with the exception of some of the UC’s and Santa Clara Uni would be reach schools for me. Are there any other schools would good computer science programs that I could apply to as a safety/target schools? I would also like to add that due to my family’s relatively high income, I don’t think/know if I would be able to receive much financial aid. However, my family cannot afford to send me to private schools without financial aid (even paying for in-state UC tuition will be hard for them on top of the fact that they will have to send my brother to college two years after me as well), so I would like to focus on applying to private colleges that have a decent computer science program and where I would be able to receive a decent amount of financial aid (need-based or merit). This means I will probably have to focus on applying to schools that are below my level.
Thank you so much in advance for any help!
I think Smith is a target. How about adding Case Western?
Make sure to apply to USC before December 1 so that you are eligible for merit aid. Also show lots of love and interest to all the private schools.
Illinois Institute of Technology
I know you mentioned privates for your financial safeties, but the “sure thing” financially are automatic scholarships for stats. If money is a concern, pick at least one from the list:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Also, as I’m sure you know, Cal State schools have lower tuition than UCs. San Jose, SLO, San Diego, Long Beach. Are you applying to any?
@nw2this Yes my score was 1440 for the new PSAT
Also, AP scores came out today and my scores were APUSH: 4, AP Chem: 5, AP Japanese: 5
Really look into Cal Poly SLO. Excellent CS and engineering programs, and you definitely have the profile needed to be competitive for some of their scholarships. Even if you don’t get any additional scholarships, it’s still cheaper than the UCs and you’d be getting just as good an education.
Is Cal not a consideration? Coming from some Bay Area schools (especially if you’re in Silicon Valley–somewhere like Gunn, Paly, Lynbrook, Monta Vista, Cupertino, etc.) you would certainly be a competitive applicant. UCSC offers great CS programs as well, and you’re solidly in the range to be competitive for regents scholarships.
Incidentally, if you’re from any of those schools I mentioned above, Northeastern/BU/SCU are pretty likely targets. A Admissions officers reviewing apps from your area will know what a 4.0 unweighted means from your school, and if you’re from one of those high schools, a 4.0 uw carries a lot of weight.
Although they don’t much in way of engineering, the CS programs at Willamette and Puget Sound up in Oregon and Chapman in SoCal are fine and you have the numbers to be very competitive for large scholarships.
Wellesley only has need-based need, no merit awards. You may want to run a net price calculator to see if it is affordable for your family. It’s a fabulous school, but if it’s not affordable, then you should remove it from your list.
This link includes some colleges with well funded financial aid programs which may be suitable for your interests:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19416515#Comment_19416515
You’d get automatic full-ride + $8,000 annually at Temple.
These schools meet need:
-Boston College
-Bryn Mawr College
-Franklin & Marshall College
-Mount Holyoke College
These schools should give merit:
-Clarkson University
-Denison University
-Sewanee - The University of the South
-Syracuse University
Temple’s award is for full tuition plus some money…not a full ride.
And, I don’t think it’s automatic anymore.
You cannot build a good strategy to cover your costs until you know your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and whether your family is able and willing to cover it. Start with this tool:
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/paying-your-share/expected-family-contribution-calculator
Also run the online net price calculators for the colleges that interest you. Run them on a variety of schools including CA public schools and selective, well-endowed private schools.
Once you know your EFC (and what percentage of it your family can afford), and the net price estimates for a variety of colleges, it should become more apparent whether to focus on need-based aid, large merit scholarships, the lowest possible sticker price, or some combination.
These ~60 colleges are among the best for need-based aid (granting it in some cases to families earning up to $200K/year or more), but most are very selective (so they may only be reach or high match possibilities):
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2015/09/14/colleges-that-report-meeting-full-financial-need
Here are some useful links for identifying merit scholarship opportunities:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts
(in the Kiplinger tables, click-sort on the columns related to merit scholarships)
New College of Florida is an excellent public LAC that offers merit scholarships to out-of-state students (but does not show up in any of the above links). The resulting net price will not be as low as you’d get with some of the full-tuition/full-ride scholarships shown on the yolasite page (linked above), but may be competitive with in-state rates at some CA publics.
https://www.ncf.edu/admissions/cost-and-aid/scholarships/out-of-state-freshmen/
The lowest sticker prices often are available at local community colleges or directional state universities.
California has the best state university system in America, so that’s where I’d look first for safeties and low match colleges.