Trying to pick a Computer Science School

College Search & Selection
1

I’m from Illinois and considering colleges for fall 2017. Planning to get my degree in Computer Science.

ACT = 31 (will take it again next week)
Weighted GPA = 3.8
Unweighted GPA = 3.3
Extracurriculars:
Math Team (State Champs)
Model UN
Cross Country
Volunteer at local Hospital (over 100 hours)
Lots of AP classes
National Hispanic Merit Scholar

Schools I’m considering:
University if Illinois (UIUC)
University of Wisconsin / Madison
University of Minnesota / TC
The Ohio State University
Indiana University / Bloomington
Iowa State University
The University of Iowa
Stony Brook / SUNY

Thoughts, suggestions, any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

2

Can you afford OOS tuition at all these schools except UIUC (which is going to be a real reach with your GPA in that major, I think)?

3

You have a lot of expensive OOS publics that don’t give much or any aid to OOS students.

Have you asked your parents how much they’ll spend each year? Ask them.

UIUC also gives lousy aid, so check with your parents.

4

Thanks for your feedback. My parents and I have agreed on financial support based on University of Illinois Tuition costs. (tuition = approx $17,000) I will have to cover anything above that with additional loans. The OOS publics I choose seemed to be the most reasonable with an additional costs of $3,000 to $5,000 over instate tuition.

5

You can only borrow $5500 as a freshman.

<<<
The OOS publics I choose seemed to be the most reasonable with an additional costs of $3,000 to $5,000 over instate tuition.
<<<

Which OOS publics have an OOS tuition cost of only $20k - 22k per year?

@Patrick615

Ohio State’s OOS tuition $26k per year
Indiana’s OOS tuition about $30k per year
Wisconsin is about $28k

When you say that your parents will pay for UIUC’s tuition…do you mean tuition only? If you attended UIUC, then are you saying that your parents will pay the $17k for tuition and you are responsible for the room, board, books, fees, etc (about $15k per year is your responsibility?)

Or are you saying that your parents have said that they’ll pay $31,000 per year if you attend UIUC? Ask them so that there’s no misunderstanding. From what you wrote, it sounds like they’ll pay the $17k for UIUC tuition only, but maybe I misunderstood

6

Remember that you can only borrow $5,500 freshman year, $6,500 soph year, and $7,500 jr & sr year in federal loans. And as is pointed out above, you need to consider not just tuition, but room & board. A non-resident at U Wisconsin, for example, pays over $48,000 per year for room, board, tuition, and fees. So if your parents are paying $17K, you have $31000 to make up – which you can’t borrow, and would be way too much to ask your parents to borrow as well.

7

FWIW: At UIUC, the main CS major is in the CoE (College of Engineering), although there are CS majors in LAS (Liberal Arts and Sciences). This page talks about them:

http://cs.illinois.edu/prospective-students/undergraduates/cs-degrees-offered

Unfortunately, CS in the CoE is very tough to get into, and I’d say you’re a longshot (which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply). The ones in LAS would be more likely. But I don’t know whether it makes a difference to apply to it directly, or whether you should apply to CS in the CoE and they might say, “sorry, but we’ll accept you to CS in LAS”. You might want to check on that (perhaps asking the school directly).

Some of the schools you list are good alternatives to UIUC. Others in the region you might also consider are Purdue and Rose Hulman (although perhaps you’ve already considered them). But realize that your GPA is on the low side for some of these schools, so you need to plan accordingly (I’m not saying you shouldn’t apply to them, but you might want to also apply to some clearer safeties). You can look at schools’s CDS (Common Data Set) to get an idea about typical GPAs.

8

SUNY tuition OOS is only $23k, but you would have to take care of room & board as well.

9

SUNYs cost $23k (tuition & room + board) for state residents. OOS students pay $30k total. I’d keep the conversation centered on total costs, not just tuition. Otherwise, it’s too confusing.

You need to add up your resources. If your parents will only pay $17k, then you have that + the federal student loan (~$5500/year) + summer work earnings (~$3k, and those probably should be saved for books & living expenses, not direct costs). That’s only ~$25k/year. Find schools in that price range. If your parents will pay more, you can add more expensive schools to your list.

10

Sorry I wasn’t clear, my parents will cover approx $17000 tuition plus room and board. I did consider Rose Hulman and Purdue, but thought my GPA might be too low. Will definitely look into the UIUC Comp Sci in the LAS dept. Do you think the two Iowa schools are safeties? ( Do you know whether Iowa State or University of Iowa has the better comp sci program?)

11

I work with a couple outstanding young engineers who graduated from Minnesota State (Mankato) 5-6 years ago.

If the proof is in the pudding, it’s sure worth a look.

12

You will need to find out if the CS program in each of the OOS universities are impacted majors, whether they allow direct admits, or whether they have some requirements in freshman year to meet before declaring a CS major. We are noticing that many OOS universities, who are after the OOS $$, are admitting students, but not into the major that they seek. Or are not clear about how they would change into the major.

Please add some in-state public safeties to your list - not sure , but some of them may have some very good CS programs. It’s worth a look .Also, you can look into Illinois Inst of Technology? You may get some merit?

13

You know for sure that you’re a National Hispanic Merit Scholar already? (Or just predicting from your PSAT?)

I am interested in the answers in this thread as our search is similar. We’ve also heard that the Iowa schools aren’t as “generous” with OOS merit aid as other similar schools.

14

I received a letter from college Board inviting me to participate in the NHRP (top 2.5 % PSAT of hispanic test takers in my region), It seems like they just need to verify ethnicity.

What schools are you considering?

15

I wouldn’t think the standards at Rose Hulman or Purdue would be so different from some of the other schools you list. (Of those schools, the CoE at UIUC would almost certainly have the highest.)

Honestly, I don’t know enough to be able to accurately assess your scores. Your ACT is quite good, somewhat higher than would be expected from your GPA. Your GPA (unweighted is the most important) is good but not very good. (Rigor of courses taken also matters; you indicated that you’ve taken lots of AP classes, so hopefully that’s high.) So you get one view looking at your ACT, another from your GPA, and I don’t really know how to combine them.

To give somewhat of an idea, here’s data from Iowa State’s recent CDS. There’s a section indicating what percentage of freshman had HS GPAs in certain ranges.

Percent who had GPA of 3.75 and higher: 31.00%
Percent who had GPA between 3.50 and 3.74: 24.20%
Percent who had GPA between 3.25 and 3.49: 20.00%
Percent who had GPA between 3.00 and 3.24: 14.50%
…

So 1/5 of their freshman had a GPA around yours. So although most of the freshman were higher, that’s still plenty.

(Note that not all schools fill out all sections of the CDS, so you may or may not be able to get this data for other schools.)

You indicate National Hispanic Merit Scholar – I assume that means you’re Hispanic. Are you URM, or first generation? Either of those could help your admission chances. (I don’t know how much – might be worth checking into.)

As to Iowa and Iowa State, I don’t really know which is stronger. My impression is that Iowa State is better on the engineering side, otherwise Iowa, but that’s not based on any hard data. (I do know a few people whose kids have gone to Iowa State for engineering/CS – it is kinda seen as a decent, reasonably-priced alternative to Illinois schools; I also live in Illinois, if that wasn’t clear.) Not sure you could consider either of those schools safeties though.

Anyway, what this all tells me is that you might as well apply to any of these schools that interest you, and see what happens. But you should also have some other safer schools on your list. Someone suggested some other in-state publics. Well, the problem with that in Illinois is that there’s a big dropoff after UIUC. But perhaps you should apply to a couple of the other Illinois state schools, as safeties. (I don’t really know much about them.)

16

$17K plus room & board at UWisconsin is covering about $27K. Leaving you with $21K to make up, when you can only borrow $5,500. That seems unaffordable.

17

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19262574/#Comment_19262574 describes the secondary admission requirements for getting into the CS major if you are not directly admitted to the CS major as a frosh at various schools. UIUC in particular are extremely competitive to get into the CS major if not directly admitted; the CS+whatever majors also require high GPAs to be admitted to.

18

OP - looked at some data, and the choices for the other in-state publics in IL are indeed a steep dropoff from UIUC. And I thought our state had poor choices…

Southern Illinois may work as a safety(keep in mind that STEM majors usually have higher stats than the mid 50% in the common data set). You will have to do some research.

Perhaps you can add Kansas State University and University of Kansas to your list. I have visited K-State and it’s a beautiful campus with friendly students and faculty. The CS department has a good program. They give in-state tuition to OOS students who qualify (check their website if interested.)

Also, add University of Missouri. Keep in mid that rankings of CS programs are of the graduate programs.

For Kansa, MO , IA, MN, etc. OOS tuition may be reduced for those in the Midwest Exchange set of universities. You’ll need to find out which of the universities take part - it’s sometimes a revolving door.