Where should I go to college? Lost with my life, please help.

Hi guys, I am a kid from Washington and I have no idea where I should go to college besides UW Seattle. I have a 4.2 W gpa (took 4 out of 5 APs offered at my school, it is a division 1 school), 2080 SAT, great EC’s and awards (I helped financially support my family, worked 20 hours a week for 2 years). I am interested in Computer science/Electrical Engr/Mech.E. Don’t worry about the tuition fees because my uncle(who is very wealthy) is willing to pay it full for me. Please suggest me some colleges to go to.

If your family depends on your salary to get by, you should look for need blind schools that will meet full demonstrated financial need. Do they expect you to continue to support them while you are in college? Will you be able to go out of state?

UW-Seattle is ranked #6 nationally for CS. The relevant question where can you get in, and what do you like better than UWS?

We live in Michigan (also ranked in top ten for CS) and our son is using the same benchmark. What is better from a academic, cost, and lifestyle perspective than the university he is extremely likely to be admitted to?

What is your SAT distribution (CR,M,W) and UW GPA? Many engineering schools just use math and reading for the SAT, and many require SAT II scores. You should start with the supermatch link which might help you narrow it down a bit…

Otherwise you are close to median range for many of the very best programs. For instance Michigan Engineering median SAT (CR/M) is 1430, Cal is similar but Stanford is higher. Do you want a science/engineering focused school like Rice, RPI, Rose-Hulman or Georgia Tech, or one that is part of a larger university like Illinois or Michigan or some hybrid like Harvey Mudd? Do you care it if it is cold in the winter? What about travel to and from home? Male/Female ratio? Social life? Proximity to friends from home? Size?

I would make 2 lists, one without regard to cost and one including costs. Check the Net Price Calculator too. If you plan to go to grad school, consider how the school prepares you for that too. Private schools can be less expensive.

I’d ask your uncle how much he is willing to give you and what conditions he would put on it (behavior, min GPA, etc… this can be a good thing and a powerful incentive) Does your family get along? If you receive financial aid, having your uncle gift money to your parents and the parents pay the school may reduce your financial aid less than paying it directly to the school because of asset computations.

@mamaedefamilia @TooOld4School They will be fine. My uncle is a very wealthy businessmen from China and he has no kids. He treats me like a son and has a lot of empathy for my father who got cancer(hence our financial status). When he brought this up, I mentioned 200k+ and he didn’t even hesitate to say no. So I am guessing he will be willing to spend 200k-300k for me. As for school wise, I heard UW seattle’s CS program is very competitive and even 3.8’s can’t get admitted into the major. My SAT’s are 660 CR 780M 640 W. I am taking Math 2 and chinese this upcoming nov. As for weather wise, I don’t really care. I just want to go to a school where I can actually major in something I want instead of having to worry about fallback majors if I go to UW.

Also, I stressed my school’s AP classes my junior year. So I am taking mainly dual enrollment classes now(multivariable calculus+linear algebra/engr physics 1). Will this give me a better chance?

That will definitely give you a better chance. In engineering math matters the most. Most engineering schools don’t require you to declare until the end of freshman year, and a large number of students change their interests during that time. If you can apply early it will also give you a better chance.

These are the schools my son liked the most. He is interested in ChemE and CS. He wants a school with good academics, happy students (not horribly stressed), and preferred a comprehensive university to a science/engineering school.

Really liked:
Stanford* (#1)
Michigan* (#2)
Rice*
Vanderbilt
Princeton
Georgia Tech*
Alabama (safety-great OOS scholarships)
Penn
Harvard (could take classes at MIT for engineering too)

He didn’t like after visiting:
Cal (too weird)
MIT (too stressful)
CalTech (too male)
MSU (can’t stand the football coach), too much partying
Yale (too small engineering)
Cornell (no better than Michigan at 3x tuition)
Texas-Austin (too hot)
CMU - hated it

I’d also consider:
Purdue
Illinois
USC
U Waterloo
UCSD
Harvey Mudd.

I hope this helps a bit as a start.

*=favorites, money not a factor.

@TooOld4School thanks for the suggestions. Growing up, I had never imagined myself of even having a chance to go to schools like Stanford and GTech. What prompted your son to think Cal was weird? I’ve started researching Cal recently and I found the culture to be very diverse and liberal. I like how they don’t do affirmative action and have such a huge pool of talented students.

What was weird was the protest culture, only one door handle on every set of dual doors, homeless and cross-dressers wandering the campus. The day we visited seemed a bit like a freak show. It was far too left-wing and PC for him, and a bit run-down compared to other places we visited. I think the proximity to Oakland didn’t help either, it didn’t feel all that safe. He didn’t like UChicago for the same reason (safety) or Hopkins (great campuses though) - riots happened just after we visited.

FYI: Georgia, Michigan, Texas, and California don’t discriminate by race. (maybe other states too)

Michigan and GT had the best engineering tour, Rice and Yale the best overall tour of the places we visited. Rice was the only school that showed a students actual (not designer) dorm room - that impressed me the most!

@TooOld4School Wow, your son must be thankful to have such an informative dad. I come from a family in which nobody has ever gone to college. How did you set up a tour with the colleges? I would love for a chance to visit and experience the life before deciding to drop hundreds of thousands.

If you go to the website for a school, then do a search for ‘admissions prospective students’ (or similar language) and look for campus tours for visiting students, they generally have info which enables you to sign up for a tour and info session. Here’s an example: http://visit.stanford.edu/tours/prospective.html

Just go to the college web site admissions office to sign up. Most of them have virtual tours too. Many of the private schools (e.g. Vanderbilt) have a regional representative that you can contact for specific questions. The tours usually consist of a presentation by the admissions office (basically, what you need to do and submit for admissions), a tour of the campus, and a specialized engineering/science tour. You can also arrange at many of them to spend a day with a student, or have lunch. Those interactions are especially valuable since they are mostly unbiased. The last 2 tours will help you write your college specific essays about why the college is place where you want to attend and why you will be valuable to the college as a student.

I would start with UW-Seattle, sounds like it is close to you and will serve as a baseline. Hopefully you have already starting writing common app essays and contacted your favorite junior year teachers for recommendation letters. As a first in family college student, you will have a ‘hook’ in competitive admissions colleges so that will help you. If you have time I would also try to re-take the SAT to improve your reading and writing scores a bit, aim for 720-750 on both (especially reading).

The early application deadline is Nov 1 for most of the colleges, you can apply early to (usually) to only one private school, but any/all of the public ones. Applying early increases your chances.

I wanted to mention that even though your uncle says he can pay, I would still apply for financial aid based on your parents’ financial profile. Anything can happen and you want to make sure that you have your bases covered. If he’s willing to be your safety net, you are very lucky indeed.

If you can get up to 2200 on your SAT scores, that will put you in a different category of competitiveness. I recommend that you study and try one more time to see if you can improve.

Our own college search has been geared more towards small LACs so I don’t have much to say about CS programs at larger institutions. Good luck with your research!

U of Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska, Kansas State.

In the west and midwest, for Computer Science but no engineering;
Lewis & Clark College
Beloit College
Willamette University
Ohio Wesleyan University

Engineering etc.
Illinois Institute of Technology
Colorado School of Mines
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
U of Portland

Each of the schools on the list are very fine colleges with solid reputations. Admission to their CS departments is probably less competitive than it is at the UW-Seattle. Each is certainly smaller than a large public university like the UW, therefore you would have the benefit of more personal attention and have a chance to comfortably explore the academics before you fully commit to a major. Moreover, with scholarships/grants at the private schools the total cost of attendance may be less than in-state tuition at the UW, given your family’s financial status. Finally, each engineering school on the list attracts national employers whom recruit the schools’ students. Companies like Intel, NASA, United Technologies Corp., Micron and Ford Motor Company have hired students from the engineering schools listed above.

You are lucky that your state school is a great option. In addition to above suggestions, you might also look into Carnegie-Mellon, Johns Hopkins, URochester and I’d consider Cornell as well.

And as a mom, I’m going to note that you should take the time to thank your uncle for his lovely and very generous gift of your education.

Also, if you ultimately choose a liberal arts college, do not be swayed by the school’s colorful exhortations concerning their 3/2 engineering major program. 3/2 partnerships between liberal arts colleges and engineering universities usually are not advantageous for the student. For a liberal arts college student, it’s better to move on to an M.S. engineering degree program than to enroll in a 3/2 program; or start your college career at a STEM university to begin with.

I’m not sure why you are lost. Too many people apply to many colleges for no reason at all. What would be wrong with applying to UW Seattle only?

Because it is possible that he would not be admitted to the UW, despite the high GPA. The rejection of qualified in-state applicants by the UW-Seattle, to admit full-pay non residents and internationals, has been a very contentious issue in recent years. Notwithstanding the uncle’s tentative gift, it’s the parents’ financial profile that the UW will review in the admissions process, not the Uncle’s. I guess that if the OP doesn’t apply for financial aid, the issue might be moot. But failing to apply for financial aid in this case would be foolish unless the OP is %100 certain of the Uncle’s gift.

^ I would concur about applying for financial aid regardless of what your uncle say he would fork up for your education. When push comes to shove, people back out at the last minute. Cover your bases and apply to safeties too. I’ve actually seen relatives of students back out of promises. Also, for some schools you need to apply to financial aid as a freshman to qualify for the following years.

There are a lot of reach schools being tossed out for a 2080 SAT.