What would be some good CS match and safety schools for me?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m located in Illinois, so I’m trying to figure out some match and safety schools that are relatively close to me (within the Midwest region) and have good computer science programs.

SAT: 1570 (790ERW, 780M)
ACT: 34 (not planning on submitting this, just the SAT)
Subject Tests: Math2 (740), physics (700)

*My HS uses a 5.0 scale, so the max gpa w ap/honors is 6.0

Freshman yr: No APs | UW gpa: 4.166, W gpa: 4.33
Sophomore yr: No APs | UW gpa: 4.75, W gpa: 4.9
Junior yr: AP CompSci A (5), AP Physics 1 (5), APUSH | UW gpa: 4.75, W gpa: 5.4
Senior yr: AP Chem, AP Calc BC, AP Psych, AP Lit | gpa TBD

UW gpa: 4.5, W gpa: 4.9

**Low cumulative, but note the massive upward trend

ECs
Varsity gymnastics co-captain
Volunteering at hospital (2 hr/wk)
National Honors Society
Contributor to school nonfiction book
Worked on school magazine
Several school clubs, no leadership position
Self-learned Swift for iOS development

LoR: Getting letters from AP CompSci and AP Physics teachers

2

UIUC and Purdue as matches.

3

I talked to an admissions counselor at UIUC and he told me I was likely to be deferred… would Purdue be more likely for me to get into than UIUC?

4

I’m surprised UIUC said you would be deferred. Purdue CS and engineering are competitive but I still think you’d be a match. Have safeties on your list for sure but I think you have a good shot.

5

UIUC CS is probably a reach due to high demand. Especially with the equivalent of what is usually a 3.5 GPA.

https://admissions.illinois.edu/Apply/Freshman/profile says that engineering frosh there had middle 50% GPA of 3.70-4.00 and SAT of 1430-1530. CS is probably one of the most competitive majors within the engineering division.

6

I’m trying to figure out what safeties to apply to haha

7

I am from Illinois also and UIUC is world known for computer science. Also very hard to move into something else and extremely competitive.

UIC would be obvious, Purdue, IIT you would get some merit. Rose Hulman for merit. , Michigan would be tough but worth a try. Michigan State honors would get you merit like half scholarship. Iowa State University good merit and one of the largest engineering fairs around. Minnesota they are on the rise.

8

Totally forgot about DePaul… Check out their program. It’s very good.

9

bump

10

You are instate. It’s hard for me to believe that you’d get deferred at uiuc.

11

@Greymeer believe it.

https://admissions.illinois.edu/Apply/Freshman/profile

Look down at engineering

12

^^^ as a whole they admit nearly 50% of engineering applicants.

He’s got a 1570. He’s in.

13

OP’s GPA (4.5 on a 5.0 scale, which presumably converts to 3.5 on the regular 4.0 scale) is below the middle 50% GPA range for UIUC engineering (3.70-4.00).

https://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=982 says that UIUC considers academic GPA to be “very important”, but standardized tests as “important”, so a test-score-biased applicant like the OP is more likely to be disappointed.

14

Safeties much be known FOR SURE to be affordable; otherwise they can’t be safeties. How much will your parents pay each year?

15

Are you primarily interested in larger universities or would liberal arts colleges with good CS programs be of interest? Some of those put more weight on test scores than public universities.

16

@Greymeer it’s the grade point. For this program they have enough 35 Act /4.0 GPA to admit. Competition is nuts. I do wish the OP well and hope I am wrong. They are also not so holistic like other schools. Stats matter there.

17

UIUC admits 6.5k out of 14k applicant engineering students 2k accept. ~30% yield.

In state student eng. acceptance is around 60%.

His lower GPA actually helps him because he is more likely to be denied by OOS schools thus improving UIUC yield.

I give him a 90% chance of admittance.

18

UIUC does not consider level of applicant’s interest (yield protection) in making admission decisions. So the idea that a lower qualified applicant has a higher chance of admission for yield protection reasons is dubious there.

Note also that UIUC admits by major, not just by division. CS appears to be the most oversubscribed major in UIUC engineering, so it is likely to be significantly more selective than other UIUC engineering majors.

19

@mom2collegekids Not really sure. They’d be willing to pay more if I got into a good school. Also, I’m expecting substantial financial aid from a lot of schools. At this point, I’m just looking at safeties in terms of what I could be admitted to.

20

@Otterma I’d be willing to look at a liberal arts colleges if it has a really good CS program, but mainly just larger universities.