What colleges should I apply to?

College Search & Selection
1

Hey guys! I’m a current high school senior, and I’m a bit unsure about what colleges I should apply to.

My unweighted GPA is a 4.2, and my unweighted is a 3.9. My ACT score is a 34. Overall, my superscored ACT is a 35. I’ve also taken 7 APS + college classes and I’ll probably take four more by the time senior year ends.

I’m on the exec board for NHS at my school and the treasurer for another club. I also volunteer at girls who code and my local library (I’m planning to major in comp sci, I took ap comp sci last year and I’m taking a comp sci college class right now, I might take another next semester).

I haven’t started applying yet, but I’m thinking that I’m going to end up applying to Vanderbilt, Ohio State University, UW-Madison, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Michigan Ann-Arbor, UCLA, and maybe USC.

The reason I’m posting this is because I’m gay, and it’s a really big part of who I am (I’m also Indian). I’m not out to my parents, but I plan to be super out-and-proud on campus, and I’d really appreciate it if some of you could recommend me some other colleges or tell me if some of the ones that I’m applying to are really conservative (**IF you go there or know some people that do).

I know that some of the colleges that I said I was applying to are really hard in terms of comp sci (compared to comp sci at other colleges), but I’d rather not go to a college where I have to spend all of my time studying. I’m pretty motivated, but I’d like to have a social life and be involved in clubs and whatnot around campus. Also, it’s not the most important thing to me, but I’d also not like to go to a university where I’ll have to pay a ton for tuition.

Anyways, I know this was a lot to read, and I’d like to thank you guys in advance for helping me out!! I hope you have a good day

2

What is your home state? I’m asking because public universities tend to give little, if any, financial aid to out-of-state students.

3

<<<<<
but I’d also not like to go to a university where I’ll have to pay a ton for tuition.
<<<

Can you clarify? Who will be paying for your schooling? YOU??? With what money?? Or your parents? If parents, how much will they pay? Will they not pay if they find out you’re gay?

4

My parents will, but I still feel a bit bad about it. I genuinely don’t know if they’ll pay if someone outs me, but I won’t come out to them until I’m done with college.
(Also sorry if I’m replying to the wrong person, I have no clue how to use this haha)

5

Wisconsin! And I know, that’s why I was actually looking into Ohio State

6

The schools you listed are large enough to have significant LGBT communities. Vanderbilt would likely be the most conservative on your list so you may want to check with their LGBT office (https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lgbtqi/) for more in-depth info.

You may also want to consider the top-tier women’s colleges which all have a large and robust LGBT presence: Wellesley, Barnard, Mt Holyoke, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Scripps.

Good luck!

7

UW-M, UCLA, Berkeley

8

Thank you so much!!! I’ll look into women’s colleges, I actually never thought about them!

9

I recommend UW-Madison and also the University of Minnesota. (We still have reciprocity, right?)

10

I might apply to UWM as well as UCLA, but I’m not sure I’ll get into UC-Berkeley because I haven’t taken any SAT subject tests or fine arts classes in high school (apparently to get into any UC schools you have to take a year of fine arts in high school but if you’re super competitive for some they’ll let you in, I’m not sure if this is true though).

11

Yes, I think we do, thank you so much!

12

Also be aware that some schools (e.g. UC-Berkeley) have additional requirements for admission to high-demand majors (e.g. Computer Science).
https://ls.berkeley.edu/advising/planning/schedule-planning/choosing-major/high-demand-majors

13

It is my understanding that UC schools give no financial aid to out-of-state students.

I know someone who graduated from the University of Minnesota this year with a degree in computer science. She has a great job. I don’t know about the on-campus scene but I assume that there is a thriving LGBTQ community in the Twin Cities, as there is in Madison.

14

I think I heard about UC Berkeley’s, I’ll look into it more

15

If you are not a California resident, you will receive no financial aid for the UC’s so expect to pay $60K/year to attend. If your parents are willing to pay $240K/year for your undergrad then I am sure the UC’s will glady welcome your money. Even though you have competitive stats, consider UCLA/UCB as Reaches especially for CS.

16

You should look into fishing for merit scholarships. USC is a good option for that. I would recommend checking out Northeastern as well, where you would be a candidate for merit (enough to make it the same price as some OOS state schools, some less) and it has a great CS program in a very LGBT city in Boston, and would be a match rather than a reach (admission is not by major, no secondary application to CS, etc). Northeastern is a co-op school, so look into that. For other CS co-op schools, check out Drexel and RIT as well.

What else are you looking for in a college? You have a lot of big state schools listed - just by chance or do you prefer those environments?

17

I think I’d be fine at a state school or a private. Thank you, I will!

18

Bump because I’ve been looking at safeties and schools w/ good merit aid and I can’t find any good liberal ones.My safeties so far are schools like the University of Alabama and MSOE

I forgot to mention this in my original post but I’m also a National Merit Commended Scholar (not that big of a deal, I know. I slacked off last year and my SI was right below the cutoff for semifinalist, but I’d like to hope that it would make me a bit more competitive for merit aid).

I’ve also added Brown to my list (I doubt that I’ll get in, but it’s worth a shot).