What schools should I be looking at for computer science or engineering.

College Search & Selection
1

Yesterday I received my SAT II scores, marking the end of my testing and preparation period and the beginning of my college application process. I am looking for a list of safety, reach, and realistic schools that I should apply to. I am definitely going to apply to CMU for computer science and engineering, but beyond that I have nothing set. Thanks in advance.

Objective:

SAT I: 1510 (740 E, 770 M)
SAT II: 800 Math 2, 760 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.82
Weighted GPA: 4.60
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 38 / 309 Unweighted, 25 / 309 Weighted
AP: 5 computer science, 5 bc calc, 4 chem, 3 apush, 3 english language
Past Course Load: All honors for core and language classes, 1 AP class sophomore year, 7 AP classes junior year.
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Physics C E&M, AP Statistics, AP Science research, AP US Government, AP Spanish 6, Health (required fml), Gym (also required fml)
Major Awards:

  • Qualified for states in science olympiad with $100 in funding (team award)
  • Scored highest in school on the AMC 10 in 10th grade (individual award)
  • High honor roll (individual award)
  • National Honors Society member (individual award)
  • 2nd place at math league regionals (team award)
  • RIT Computing Award ($28,000 scholarship, individual award)
  • 2nd place at regional science fair (11th grade, individual award)
  • 1st place at regional science fair and was best project of all 7th and 8th graders (received in 7th grade, not sure if relevant, individual award)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars:

  • Crew (9-12th)
  • Soccer (9-12th)
  • Math League (10-12th)
  • Science Olympiad (11-12th)
  • Ski Club (11th-12th)
  • Quiz Bowl (11th-12th)
  • Computer science research at CMU (11th-12th)
  • Chess Club (president and founder, 11th-12th)

Job/Work Experience: Paid internship at a small digital marketing agency as a developer this summer. Working full time for 7 weeks (280 hours total).
Volunteer/Community service: Will be volunteering at animal shelter this year which requires 2 hours of work per week, but no experience so far. Raised $275 dollars for homeless shelter.
Summer Activities: summer camp, computer science summer program at CMU, work

Other

Intended Major: Computer science / Engineering
State: PA
School Type: Large Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Household Income: 250-300k (estimate)
Hooks: Legacy at UVA (both parents went as undergrads) and Stanford (both parents as grad students). Both are currently full professors at CMU (one in economics, one computer science).

Desired College:

Financial restrictions: none
Region: none
Setting: Urban or suburban

2

Definitely apply CMU - it is often considered the best school for CS (along with Stanford, Berkeley, and MIT). Your stats look good, and both your parents working there and one of them in the CS department should probably help.

I would also apply to UVA and Stanford. Michigan (disclaimer: this is my school) and UIUC are also great options for CS. UIUC probably has a slightly better CS program (perhaps negligible), but Michigan has the overall better reputation when considering all fields of study (this may help a lot if you want to use your CS degree to go into banking/management consulting). Urbana-Champaign is sort of secluded, but a pretty good set of college towns - just not much outside of Urbana-Champaign if I am not mistaken. Ann Arbor is usually considered one of the best, if not the best, college towns.

I would also look into Georgia Tech.

3

@yikesyikesyikes Thanks for the reply! I’ll definitely look into those. Could you give me a rough guess as to which of the 6 that were mentioned (CMU, Stanford, UVA, Michigan, UIUC, and Georgia Tech) would be reach schools, safety schools, and realistic schools for me, just so I can see where I stand? Thanks!

4

Pay attention to admission-to-major issues, due to the CS major being very popular these days.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19262574/#Comment_19262574

CMU CS, UIUC CS, and Stanford should be considered reach for everyone. CMU and UIUC could admit to a second choice major or undeclared, but then getting into CS after enrolling will be difficult. Stanford does not have restrictions to get into the CS major, but getting into the school is very difficult.

5

@ucbalumnus

UIUC CS with engineering might be a reach (I think low reach), but their CS within the LAS is easier (and I heard the Stats+CS and Math+CS get recruited just as well as CS Engineering). For the OP, the non-engineering CS programs at UIUC would be a near-safety (low match I guess since he is OOS).

I agree that CMU CS and Stanford would be reaches. Michigan and UVA would be low reaches as OOS (UVA might even be high match because of the double legacy with great stats/qualifications). GTech for CS would be a similar story.

6

For a CS major unfortunately, none of them are safety schools despite your stats. Michigan, Georgia Tech, UIUC and UVA if you are in-state are probably matches

7

You may do very well in admissions or you may not. Computer science is very unpredictable due to the popularity of the major. I would recommend applying widely to 10-20 schools.

8

CMU CS, UIUC CS, and Stanford UVA UMich G Tech

-Boston University (Match)
-Case Western Reserve University (Match)
-Northeastern University (High Match)
-Pitzer College (Reach)
-UT Austin (Match)

9

UT Austin is probably a reach, not a match, since the OP is not in the automatic admission group that is targeted to take up about three quarters of the class, and the OP’s rank of top 9% or top 13% may not be that competitive for the non automatic admission group (which includes all out-of-state and international applicants). In addition, CS is a more selective major there.

10

I’m curious about what schools your parents think you should apply to-they are in a unique position here.

11

@MotherOfDragons My parents have not been very strong willed on the topic, but the ones that they have mentioned are CMU, University of Toronto (I am a Canadian citizen), Stanford, Penn state (safety), and UVA.

12

@yikesyikesyikes @ucbalumnus @Wje9164be @bouders @newjerseygirl98 @10s4life

I’d like to thank everyone for their input thus far. This is the running list I have from people suggestions:

Reaches:

  • CMU CS
  • UIUC CS (seem to be conflicting opinions on how to categorize this one)
  • Stanford
  • UC Berkeley
  • UT Austin
  • Pitzner
  • Michigan (low reach)
  • UVA (low reach)
  • Georgia Tech (low reach)

Matches:

  • Northeastern University (low reach)
  • Boston University
  • Case Western Reserve University
  • UCLA

Safety:

  • Penn State

Any thoughts on University of Toronto (I am a Canadian citizen) and Pitt? Also if I categorized anything incorrectly or anyone has more recommendations for schools, my ears are open!

13

GA Tech may be more of a reach rather than a low reach-it’s gotten so competitive for the in-state kids (I’m in state), and I’m seeing kids with perfect stats get rejected from there now.

I don’t see Caltech on your list? I think there’s a lot of overlap with kids that apply to CMU and Caltech for cs.

14

Toronto is a well respected school for CS.

CS at Penn State is a selective major, although not as selective relative to the school as at some other schools.

15

Yes, Cal Tech should be on your list.

Regarding University of Toronto -

U of T spun computer science off into its own “program” a few years ago. This means that you can apply directly for admission into the program. The cutoff admission average is roughly 90% for Ontario students. Your GPA should meet that threshold.

For the 2016 entering class however, the scuttlebutt is that U of T took a lot of computer science students early (people who applied November/December) and ran out of spaces (for those who applied in January). So those who applied later in the application season were summarily rejected.

Admission to the computer science “program” does not guarantee admission to the computer science major (or specialist - in order to graduate at U of T, you’re required to do one specialist or two majors). Students must meet the cutoff for admission to the major or specialist based on their grades in CSC148 and CSC165. Students who applied for the major/specialist this year had to have a minimum average of 74% in these courses. Sounds easy, right? Nope. The class averages in these courses is in the 69-72% range. Thus, even if you’re admitted to the computer science program, you’ll have to be at least in the top half of the class to be admitted to the major.

There is a second route to the major/specialist - you can enter via a different program, take the two courses above, and apply for the major or specialist. Getting into the two courses is problematic because the students who were admitted to the computer science program get to enrol in those courses two weeks before everyone else does. This year, one required a minimum average of 83% in the two courses (essentially top 10% of the class).

The cutoff minimum averages for admission to the major/specialist has been increasing by leaps and bounds the past few years as more and more students apply.

All that being said, U of T is a great school, in the middle of a great city. There is a wide selection of computer science courses available.

Other great Canadian schools to look at would be University of Waterloo, which has the largest co op program in North America and is a pipeline to Silicon Valley and University of British Columbia (UBC). Waterloo has a low admission rate and has holistic admissions, but once you are into computer science, you’re in. Waterloo is more focused on industry application (ie preparing you for a job after you a job after you graduate) whereas U of T and UBC are more focused on theory (ie preparing you for grad school), although they are moving more towards preparing for industry. U of T doesn’t have co op, but they do have PEY (professional experience year).

Tuition at U of T for computer science is roughly $11K CAD/year. For computer science co op at Waterloo, it’s roughly $15K CAD/year. This is for domestic applicants, which you are. International student tuition is much, much higher.

16

*To clarify, U of T students who were not admitted to the computer science program required an average of 83% or greater in CSC148 and CSC165 to be admitted to the computer science major or specialist. This represents being in the top 10-15% of students who took those courses.

17

Caltech is an outstanding school, but not for everyone. As my D16 was told by current CS students during admitted students day, CS at Caltech is very theoretical. You should definitely visit before applying.

18

Pitt would be a super safety. Penn State would be a safety.

UIUC CS depends on CS in Engineering or CS in LAS - both are excellent programs.