Hi I am international student and I am applying to one of these universities -
UMass Amherst vs UIC vs Arizona Sate University vs University of Colorado Boulder
I did some research and found that these were the best university which were safe for me to apply (about 80% chance of admission)
My sat score - 1380 of 1600
GPA - 8.0 on the scale of 0-10 (from India :P)
Can some one please suggest which university is best for me as I want to pursue engineering but haven’t decided which kind. I am also considering CS.
According to USANews rankings, as engineering undergrad schools, Colorado is the highest ranked, followed by Arizona State, Then UMass, and finally UIC.
However, looking at the GPAs and SATs of the Class of 2022, while U Colorado has the best SATs and GPAs, Umass and UIC are equivalent, with perhaps an edge to UIC, especially in CS, while Arizona State has the worst, by far. So the USANews rankings aren’t a very good indicator as to how competitive admissions are to engineering in these schools.
My pint is that, any advice that you will get here regarding which school to apply to will depend on what your profile looks like. For example, UIC may be a match, with Colorado being a reach, or UIC may be a safety, with Colorado being a match, or perhaps even Colorado is a safety, or maybe even Arizona State is a reach.
UMass Amherst is one of the top public universities nationally for CS.
Arizona State: only if you can get into Barrett Honors college - Arizona has drastically cut funding for universities and only Barrett escaped relatively unscathed.
UIC is primarily commuter so wouldn’t be a good choice for an international- you want a residential campus.
@MYOS1634 Only USNews ranks UMass Amherst that high in CS. Most other rankings place it solidly in the middle. Of course most ranking systems suck, and USANews is one of the worse.
A major problem with UMass as an undergrad institution is that it does not give enough support to undergraduate in finding internships. There are many other places, including UIC, which are better.
the thing is, my counselor suggested that all these universities will be safe with my profile… so I was thinking of applying one of these cause I already applied to Penn State.
the thing is I actually want scholarship in the university, so I guess the proper question would be: Which school has the best Scholarship for International students and engineering course ratio?
^ This is a PhD ranking. It relates to research output and doesn’t really impact undergraduates, who need to check out class size, faculty student ratio, career center strength, support/tutoring systems, etc.
USNWR is imperfect but it does look at criteria that should matter for undergraduates. However one should only look at groupings of 10-15, not individual rankings.
You need to email the international student coordinator at all of them and ask whether international CS majors receive help from the career center in finding an internship and how many for one out of …
I’m not using paper rankings at all for my evaluation of CS at UMass but rather industry evaluations, which place UMass really high for CS (just below Maryland/Wisconsin). For a student using Penn State as a match and UIC/ASU/CU as safeties UMass CS is probably a match not a safety (a safety for other majors).
@MWolf
Why do you think UIC is better for support than UMass? Even though quality of dept and quality of life wouldn’t be as high, professional support for internationals should definitely be an important criterion. My doubts come from the sorry state of Illinois finances and cuts made to university budgets, which hurt even UIUC and other universities even more. Did UIC preserve the tutoring and career centers from cuts?
As far as I can tell, UIC is only worth it for an international if they are admitted to the Honors College. The social structure just doesn’t exist otherwise - fewer than 15% live on campus and there’s no housing guarantee even for freshmen (because there are few dorms). However 50% first years honors students live on campus which would at least provide a small community that’d be around 24/7, and honors students have access to housing even after that. The Chicago signature program would also be very appealing (free cultural trips into Chicago).
If they have good support for internationals, that + urban location it’d tip the scales compared to ASU Barrett for instance.
ASU Barrett has its own campus and pool, fantastic dorms, advisers, etc. However the budget cuts to the ‘regular’ university should be taken into account.
My advice would be to apply to UMass Amherst Honors as a match and one of the three others as a safety.
In addition, I’d recommend the novel America for beginners (about an Indian widow who decides to visit the land where her son died) and the non fiction book The naked roommate
My main focus is that whether to chose University of Colorado or UMass Amherst… I am only tending to UMass because I have heard that it provides much better scholarships…
P.S.
I also have some extra-curricular like Youtube Channel, TT Team Captian, Lead Guitarist, NGO Volunteer, etc.
Also when we are at the topic, I know it will come as a shock but, which university I have more chance of admission in Umich, Georgia Tech, UIUC? Also how is North carolina chapel hill?
“the thing is, my counselor suggested that all these universities will be safe with my profile… so I was thinking of applying one of these cause I already applied to Penn State.”
Where is your counselor based?
My daughter has a bit better stats than you; 2 of the colleges on your list were also safeties on hers, and her counselor would never have suggested only needing to applying to one safety. Moreover she wasn’t applying for as competitive a course as you. Perhaps more experienced CC members can chime in on this, but considering the time and money investment in a college degree it seems short-sighted to me not to spend the extra effort on a couple more applications.
Re your last question, google the freshman profile of the colleges you’re asking about. Here is Michigan as an example. https://admissions.umich.edu/apply/freshmen-applicants/student-profile Your SAT is right at the bottom of the middle 50% range and your gpa is below average. I suspect CS will be higher than average here too. You can judge for yourself by looking up other schools.
For scholarships you need (1) a college that is generous to internationals for need bas3 aid and (2) academic statistics that are above average /at the upper end of the school for merit.
University of Colorado Boulder for engineering, middle 50 percentiles SAT 1320-1480. Cost of attendance for an international student in the engineering school: $62k. (This info is on the website, which you should become familiar with.)
I’m not sure why your counselor suggested Boulder as it is not known for large nonresident scholarships. I would have serious doubts that it would be affordable if you need scholarships.
(CU Boulder has CS in the engineering school and also offers a BA program for CS in the Arts and Sciences school.)
@shivng You mention that you will need scholarships - how much will your family be able to afford? Public universities generally offer little to no need-based aid for students who are out of state or international. Have you run the NPCs (net price calculators) to determine how much aid you might receive?
Also, the admissions bar is set much higher for engineering and CS so an admissions “safety” for arts and sciences will be more competitive for the majors you desire.
@SJ2727 gave you sound advice - figure out the financial piece and identify universities where you are above average in stats.
@shivng Penn State may be an academic reach for engineering and computer science, especially if you just recently applied (past the EA deadline of Nov. 1 and the priority admission deadline of Nov 30) and gives no financial aid (merit or need-based) to internationals (very little if any aid given to US students, even instate students).
What’s your budget? Do you need a scholarship or is it a ‘nice to have’?
Cu Boulder has very few scholarships.
ASU Barrett does (ASU regular doesn’t) and they’re relatively easy to get but they’re not very high - run the scholarship calculator.
UIC seems to be fairly generous to honors college students so check the CDS to see what percentage students get one.
UMass Amherst may give you a small scholarship.
What about SUNY Plattsburgh? Marist? (For scholarships)
NCSU is better for stem than UNC Chapel Hill and more reachable.
thanks for the support! I checked the freshmen profiles of the colleges I am applying to I made a plan of applying 4 reach, 2 safe, and 2 dream universities…
Now the thing is I have applied to UCSD (dream), UC Davis (reach), and UCSB (reach), and also Penn State (safe).
I am planning to apply to Virginia Tech and Purdue as well, both of which I was considering reach.
Now I don’t know which universities I should choose next… one for dream and one for safe (I was thinking UMass Amherst cause its 50% is b/w 1190-1340 out of 1600).
Also Is my interpretation correct?
I know that Purdue and Virginia tech does not offer many scholarships, but considering their engineering programs, they have a great reputation. I was actually hoping to get scholarships in my safe universities and some other universities. If anyone knows some good universities which provide scholarships to international students, pls reply!
I know that almost all universities in the US do not qualify international students for financial aid. Is there some way that I can get some aid? I will be taking a student loan for applying to the universities as my family income in India is only about $20000.