Yea, definitely. CMU, Penn, Cornell, and Princeton are always impossibly high reaches for the majority of students. The other reaches you listed are more realistic. Rn, I’m trying to minimize the impossible reaches and add more safeties
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I had a 740 on math, 760 on English, probably a worse gpa (this is a bit complicated but my first three years got me around a 3.7 unweighted and then my senior year consists of two quarters with 5.0+ Weighted gpas.) definitely worse extracurriculars, and idk my essay was probably ok. I got rejected from Cornell and Mellon. I got waitlisted at northeastern (probably due to CS major and not enough demonstrated interest). I got accepted at Maryland but did not get out straight into CS. This is not actually as bad as one would think though as all you have to do is the same requirements for incoming comp sci majors and you’re automatically in. Maryland even offered me a merit scholarship and admission to a research program. I also got accepted to BU.
I am assuming you’re a junior. In that case I think you should try and up that sat English score and take BC calculus. These two things I think would really help you stand among the group that these top colleges are looking for. Good luck.
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This is a risk at quite a few schools. UIUC is known for doing this, but getting a CS slot then is near impossible. I would be very wary of choosing a school that admits direct to CS, but doesn’t offer that to you. It would suck to spend a year and then get rejected from your intended major.
I’m not going to UMD but they say that there’s a minimum gpa requirement of 2.0. Then a c- in calc 1 and c-s in two different object oriented programming classes. Using ap credit counts towards these requirements, and Maryland does not have a cap on the number of persons in the major.
https://cmns.umd.edu/undergraduate/admissions/new-faqs-computer-science-limited-enrollment
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Good to know. I was speaking more in generalities to the OP so that they would know that they need to know those exact details for every school where they aren’t offered direct admit. Congrats wherever you landed!
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Two of my daughters had UWGPA of 3.9, with a B+ in honors freshman English, the rest all A’s. 33/34 ACT’s, 9 - 11 AP’s, the rest honors, they both ended up at OOS public universities. It’s pretty competitive.
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This is what a lot of kids miss. They see all the marketing. And all the ranges. They miss the 5% or 30% acceptances. Colleges do their best to get you to apply. They all tell you how great they are. Yet many, even with off the charts resumes, don’t get in or get in with no money etc.
There are so many great colleges that offer outstanding opportunities and have Ivy worthy kids. They may go due to location, money, they loved it growing up, or otherwise. It’s too bad kids are raised to be close minded to these awesome opportunities. They are not necessarily second tier. Or at some you can be a standout. And go for cheap !!
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Yea, I’m working on my SAT. Honestly, I think I can get a 1550 at least based on my practice scores. Unfortunately, I can’t take BC calculus bc course scheduling for us is over. I am, however, taking AB calculus, which I think is still okay anyways
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Here are the admit rates for 2020 UC’s based on the capped weighted GPA and not major specific. Also note that test scores were considered in 2020 but the UC’s are now test blind through 2024 so GPA will be even more heavily weighted.
2020 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 14%
UCLA: 8%
UCSD: 39%
UCSB: 40%
UCD: 55%
UCI: 38%
UCSC: 82%
UCR: 90%
UCM: 97%
Admission Rates for Out-of-State Applicants (Domestic):
UCLA: 20.7%
UC Berkeley: 18.3%
UC Santa Barbara: 53.1%
UC Irvine: 63.6%
UC San Diego: 60.3%
UC Davis: 72.1%
UC Merced: 64.9%
UC Riverside: 79.2%
UC Santa Cruz: 83.3%
Just remember the more competitive the major, the lower the admission rates will be.
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Yea, I’m not risking to switch majors. It’s either I don’t get in applying to CS or I do
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I totally understand what you’re saying! A college that isn’t an Ivy League will still get you such a good education. Yet, I don’t know why but I still can’t grasp that concept. Like I even am knowledgeable that whatever college I go to, I’ll still be okay, but that mentality is still stuck with me
Thanks for the stats!
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My dad us a Princeton graduate (and Columbia for MBA), my sister dreamed of going there, was second in her class, excellent test scores, and even back in the 80’s was rejected. Mourned for a minute and committed to the university of Richmond, which she absolutely loved. There aren’t close enough Ivy’s to educate the amount of students who are qualified to attend.
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Plenty of Ivy Leaguers fail in life. Plenty of those who didn’t go to college or went to ones you’ve never heard of are running companies, living in million dollar + homes, and are the bosses of Ivy League types.
A top school is great. But it has costs and you likely won’t get in. Calc AB a blocker. Your freshmam GPA a blocker. The fact that a perfect SAT / ACT is a dime a dozen and most still get rejected is a blocker. Apply. But don’t fall in love with ANY school.
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UCSC is great for CS and even with the lower odds for that major you’d have a good shot. HOWEVER… it’d be 65K.
You could try Cal Poly SLO (reach) and CPP (low match) if you want to be in CA. COA would be under 50K.
https://admissions.sa.ucsc.edu/majors/cs
https://admissions.sa.ucsc.edu/majors/network
https://www.soe.ucsc.edu/departments/computer-science-and-engineering
Penn State has CS, Data Science, and Informatics. So does UCincinnati (as well as UMichigan and Cornell but I don’t think it’s worth applying there.) Information science or Computing can also be found. All those tend to be less selective than CS and still very CS-heavy.
https://cech.uc.edu/schools/it/undergrad-programs/bachelorsofscienceininformationtechnology/bsit-gds.html
https://cech.uc.edu/schools/it/undergrad-programs/bachelorsofscienceininformationtechnology/bsit-sd.html
https://cech.uc.edu/schools/it/undergrad-programs/bachelor-cybersecurity/bachelor-cybersecurity-curriculum.html
I’m sure the 800 will help you out and I wish you luck.
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I think with 9th grade in the mix, Cal Poly is almost certainly a no for CS, even in a year when tests are used. There’s no place to show rising grades and ECs are quantitative only. The national president of Key Club gets the same algorithm points as the HS Key Club secretary.
If the OP wants to apply to Cal Poly, I’d strongly recommend Software Engineering instead. It’s a little less competitive and afterall, most CSs end up doing SE anyway.
Strong second for Cal Poly - Pomona though. Solid program and as a CSU, good value.
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I am a bit confused. Are you a junior with your junior year of high school just ending, planning on applying in the fall?
I agree with others that you need to consider that acceptance for CS can be more difficult, and you need more safeties (or any safeties). If you get into Rutgers it is a great university and being in-state will make it a relative bargain. I have worked with many graduates from Rutgers and have been impressed. I would add NJIT to your list.
For the reach schools (which is most of your list) and for your out of state public schools you may be overestimating your chances to get in as a CS major.
I agree with a couple of comments above that Canadian universities will not care at all about your freshman year, which will help you. I have seen students get accepted based solely on grades 10 and 11, and have heard that you can get in based only on grades 11 and 12 (which seems to imply getting a late acceptance since they will need at least midterm grades from grade 12). @MYOS1634 has a good list of universities up there. If you were to get accepted to let’s say NJIT and SFU, I think it would just be a matter of choice which one you wanted to attend. If you would definitely prefer to attend NJIT and if your guidance counselor agrees that you will get into NJIT that would sort of remove any point of applying to schools in Canada.
You should make sure that your parents are okay with the potential cost of your out of state and private universities. You might want to get them to run the NPCs for a few schools. Given how strong Rutgers is, if you get in there I could see instead paying the price for a few of the top ranked schools, but only if you can afford it, and I think that the price for some schools on your list might not be worth it.
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@kulnel: have you visited or thought of your instate universities?
However, keep in mind CS in the College of Engineering is VERY VERY difficult to get into at Rutgers, and you wouldn’t receive a scholarship.
(NJIT and Rowan could be your safeties if you like them enough).
@eyemgh : I agree, I tried to list a variety of other majors that are CS-adjacent
I’ll add Software engineering at Cal Poly SLO 
(not for the faint hearted math-wise)
https://catalog.calpoly.edu/collegesandprograms/collegeofengineering/computersciencesoftwareengineering/bssoftwareengineering/
An advantage to Canadian universities is that, more or less, if your (11-12th) grades and scores match what they want, your odds of getting in are very very high. Then, once in, it’s up to you not to fail out 
At SFU, for instance, all you need is a C in AP English plus good grades in AP Calc, AP Chem, and AP Physics + 2 other academic courses.
At McGill (one of the top 3 universities in Canada), you need a 3.7 GPA + a minimum of A- in Precalc, physics, and chemistry, and an ACT of 31 (or SAT 700 + 2 subject tests but since that option is no longer possible…) Then you’ll be ranked compared to all American candidates and admitted based on your rank, which means you could be admitted in December… or in April.
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If you are interested in UCs:
Recalculate your HS GPA with GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub . Use the weighted capped version for the table below.
Fall 2020 admission rates by campus and HS GPA range from Freshman fall admissions summary | University of California :
| Campus | 4.20+ | 3.80-4.19 | 3.40-3.79 | 3.00-3.39 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley | 37% | 14% | 2% | 1% |
| Davis | 86% | 55% | 16% | 7% |
| Irvine | 60% | 38% | 9% | 1% |
| Los Angeles | 38% | 8% | 1% | 1% |
| Merced | 98% | 97% | 95% | 88% |
| Riverside | 97% | 90% | 65% | 30% |
| San Diego | 78% | 39% | 8% | 1% |
| Santa Barbara | 81% | 40% | 9% | 2% |
| Santa Cruz | 92% | 82% | 59% | 26% |
These are for the whole campus. Different divisions or majors may have different levels selectivity (usually, engineering and computer science majors are more selective).