I’m a senior with a 3.5 UW GPA, and a 30 act. I have various ECs such as NHS, and sports.
I have taken 8 honors classes, with 6 being APs.
I need some suggestions for some nice medium-larger comp sci schools. I have already applied to Purdue and Penn State.
Thanks guys 
What is your home state? Financial situation?
@intparent michigan, im pretty good going out of state. Budget probably like 50-60k
$50-60K per year, I assume. And your parents have specifically agreed to that? What are your stats?
@intparent yes, 50k - 60k. They agreed but i doubt they would mind going lower :P.
My stats are 3.52 uw gpa and 30 act.
I assume Michigan State is your safety. Have you looked at U of Maryland?
UMass Amherst - A top school for CS, in a top region for CS. The CS department is smaller than the typical state flagship (a good thing) and they give some merit aid to out of state students.
No i havent! I will check that out. I actually made michigan tech my safety school :).
@Mastadon i was looking at that school. Ill check it out.
@intparent do you really think I have a chance to get into the school?
Your scores seem in range. Although CS may be a harder major to get into, I am not sure.
@mastodon OMG the UMASS ranking of 25th in CS is for their GRAD school, not undergrad. The Undergrad program was just given "college " status 2 years ago. Prior to that it was part of the Natural History program. Its amazing the misleading advertising that goes on everywhere.
It was part of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. At Northwestern, an elite school, CS is under… College of Arts and Sciences. It just has to do with administrative structure. And now CS has its own college at UMass, so students have less administrative trouble.
For CS, grad rankings are fairly relevant. Very good students take grad courses in their area of specialization. At higher ranked graduate programs, recent research advancements are more often incorporated into courses. The TAs are better and expectations are higher. Professors are at the top of their field. Research opportunities are abound.
In terms of research and innovation in CS, graduate rankings reflect well, but undergraduate teaching and approach really does vary widely for CS vs grad rankings. A lot of good research schools in CS do not have their rank reflected in how they teach their undergrads.
As far as college separation, that does tell you things about a department. Northwestern may be an overall elite school, but in CS they are much weaker (and have been pushing to improve their department recently because of this), and those types of priorities are often reflected in departmental organization, with some exceptions. The CS departments are shaped by how they developed given how relatively new the field is - some came out of engineering, others out of math, and others were quickly recognized as unique and separated accordingly. A CS program coming from the Arts/Science/Math direction in general and in my experience trend towards the theoretical side and can sometimes fail on the practical side of things.
All that said, I haven’t heard anything to say that UMass Amherst’s teaching doesn’t match. The fact that CS is now its own college says a lot. I would certainly highly recommend it as a good match for what you’re looking for.
I’m assuming you’re applying to Ann Arbor? If not, please do. It’s a great in-state option and strong in CS. Not sure on how that is as a reach/match/safety given in-state though.
Maybe not big enough for you, but RPI has a great CS program (especially in infosec). D1 hockey too. Another option is NEU.
Some big public schools with strong CS programs that you should be able to get into: Wisconsin, Ohio State, Colorado-Boulder, Arizona State, Texas A&M, NCSU. UT-Austin would be better than any of those but harder to get into if your not from Texas. Worth a try though–hard to beat Austin as a city to go to college.
Also USC as a reach.
You may apply to UIUC, and GT as well. They are very selective schools with CS programs