Unweighted GPA: 3.89
Weighted GPA: 4.05
SAT: 670 English, 790 Math
I have currently taken 6 AP’s
AP Chemistry : 3
AP Comp SCi: 3
AP Psych: 4
AP Calc: 4
AP Micro: 5
Ap Macro: 5
I am planning on taking 5 more AP’s senior year
I have Mediocre EC’s and have some awards
Due to some unfortunate events I ended up getting a B in both AP comp sci and AP Calc AB. Other than that I took 44 classes and got 2 B+ and 2 B’s (22 credits in total)
I live in Michigan what would be some good schools to apply to.
My son just graduated from UMD with a BS in Comp Sci and a BS in Applied Math. He applied to the following: Ga Tech, UofM, UMD, UIUC, McGill, RIT, and Taylor University. Was eventually accepted at everyone, but off the waitlist at Ga Tech. I think he’d tell you that he’d have received the very same education at each one. He chose UMD because they offered him the most $$$, but McGill may still have been a little less expensive. He was down to those two, but was a little worried about getting a job back in the US after studying in Canada.
He also wishes he would have applied to Purdue. He didn’t because he read somewhere that they were stronger in hardware than they were in software. After he started he realized that at the undergrad level it wouldn’t matter. I think UofM would be great if you can get in, it is tough to get an in state slot for CS (though they have two disciplines of CS, one in the school of engineering and one in the school of science and I seem to remember one easier to get into then the other).
I’d also look at Michigan Tech. They are a great school that flies a bit under the radar. For majors like engineering and computer science, I believe that the undergrad institution prestige factor is for less important than prestige. Any of the those three Michigan schools will open any door you are interested in the field of Computer Engineering or Computer Science.
It has been 5 years ago, but his GPA was 3.96 unweighted (4.5ish weighted), 10+ AP courses, all 5, except Physics Elec/magnet he got a 4, and SAT somewhere in the 1450 neighborhood. Hope that helps.
What’s your budget, and what kind of school are you hoping to attend?
Michigan State is the obvious in-state target, and Michigan Tech as mentioned above is good too. UMIch is worth a try but reachy especially for the engineering school; CS in LSA could be worth a try but not to be counted upon.
And there are lots of out-of-state public options, like Ohio State as suggested above… U of Cincinnati if you want a co-op program… Purdue, Virginia Tech, Pitt, UMass, UMinn… U of Utah has strong CS and can be very affordable with Utah’s student path to residency… there are tons of state schools you could get into with your stats, so other criteria are needed to narrow down.
Then there are the private tech-focused schools, like RIT, WPI, Rose-Hulman, RPI, Stevens.
But also, you don’t have to go to a tech-focused school to study CS; quite a few liberal arts colleges have very solid CS programs, if it’s not important to you that your school have an engineering program and a large offering of grad-level CS classes.
So, it depends what you want and what you can afford. Make sure you compare the path into the CS major post-acceptance - some schools offer direct-admit, some have a competitive process to get into the major, and others are in between with a specified GPA threshold to qualify.
My teacher knows that I went through a hard time last year and she said she will include it in her letter of reccomendation that my grades fell due to other issues. Also to maximize my chances at University of Michigan LSA CS should I include SAT or no.
