<p>Not computer science (which is basically programming), but computer engineering (hardware). There's some Comp. Sci. classes I'll have to take, but I want to end up on the hardware side of the industry.</p>
<p>Here's the list I think I'll apply to if I don't get Cornell ED:</p>
<p>Reach: Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth (Cornell engineering is more selective than Thayer I'd think)
Matches/Safeties: Rochester, Washington-Seattle, CU-Boulder, Syracuse</p>
<p>Any other suggestions?</p>
<p>paul - the usnews ranking system is generally on the right track- generally - but there are a few schools in that list that are WAY misplaced and obviously not favored..Rochester being one of them.
Look how bad the ranking is for the regular undergrad - it's undeserved, so in this case i wouldnt look much into the rankings.</p>
<p>It is difficult to give you good advice without knowing your scores (unweighed GPA, class rank, SAT etc...). Anyway, Cornell ED sounds like a good idea. Excellent university with amazing Computer Engineering and Computer Science programs. </p>
<p>I would not apply to Dartmouth. Instead, I would apply to Cal-Berkeley.</p>
<p>I would also not apply to Syracuse or UC-Boulder. They are good schools, but you can apply to schools that are better at what you want to study. </p>
<p>Five schools not your list that I would definitely apply to are :</p>
<p>University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Texas-Austin
Northwestern University
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Purdue University-West Lafayette</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply.</p>
<p>Anyway, I want to go somewhere where I can snowboard, and the midwest or Texas just aren't gonna cut it in that regard :). Those are definitely good suggestions, but location is just very important to me at this point.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how close Berkeley is to some mountains. I need to find that out - I know UCLA is about an hour from some good snowboarding, and they are normally considered the second-best UC (or so I hear), so I may end up applying there (although out-of-state admission is going to be tough). Dartmouth is quite prestigious, not TOO bad of a drive from here in Baltimore, and have their own mountain, so I don't think I'd scrap that as a reach.</p>
<p>Anyway, my stats: </p>
<p>740 Math/710 CR/700 Writing SAT I (retaking in October - should be able to get an 800 on Math and bring up the other two marginally)</p>
<p>Haven't gotten my SATII scores back (should be ~780 on Math and US History, but I blew the Physics so I'll just be happy to break 700).</p>
<p>~3.7/4.0 unweighted GPA, ~5 QPA (weighted GPA), all the toughest classes (1 AP last year, 4 this year, and 4 next year), rank top 5%</p>
<p>Kind of below-average ECs - just Ski Club, 3 years of varsity golf on the state-championship team, and work ~20 hours a week during school, 30-40 during the summer at a local golf club - I'm also looking for some volunteer work this summer. I don't really have much of a "hook" right now, but I've been building and maintaining my own PCs since I was 14, and I'm hoping to get some volunteer jobs writing and adminning different websites for charities this summer as well. My counselor seems to think I'll be fine (my school normally sends 20-30 kids from each class to top-notch, selective schools - about 10 to Ivies, a couple to Berkeley, and then a bunch of LACs and other selective schools) with work, golf, and skiing, as well as the computer thing.</p>
<p>I don't want to sacrifice my education to be near the mountains, and thats why Cornell seems so perfect, but its important to me that I be able to check out on Saturdays or whatever days I have off to ride and relax for the day.</p>
<p>You may want to look into Colorado College. It is quite good, has that interesting "Block Plan", and you can snow board to your heart's content.</p>
<p>take note of them, maybe use them as a starting point for college research, but don't base your decisions on them. </p>
<p>sidenote - an admissions rep from Williams (#1 LAC for several years) advices students to ignore them.</p>
<p>a thread about computer engineering at Rochester, just in case you were interested still.</p>