Where will I get in with a ACT score of 32 and 4.1 GPA for Comp Science

College Search & Selection
1

Major: Comp Science/Engineering

Which colleges will be my target/reach based on my stats for computer science?

I am a South Asian female in state. I come from a pretty prestigious public school in socal. I’m between top 5-10% among my graduating class of 850 kids.

Stats:
ACT Composite: 32
E: 34
M: 34
R: 31
S:28
W:10 (from the old writing standards that were out of 12)

SAT Bio E/M: 660 both
SAT 2 Math 2: 770
I’m not retaking any SATs

AP Scores:
4 on AP Bio
5 on AP Lang

GPA: UW 3.83 UC/W GPA: 4.10 (my school doesn’t give weighted GPAs)

Got a rec from my pre-calc and AP bio teacher, HUSH teacher and a professor from USC

Courses:
9th grade: English H (doesn’t count as Honors Credit), Geometry, Biology, Modern World History, Art, Tennis
10th grade: English H (doesn’t count as Honors Credit), Algebra 2, Chemistry, Advanced Art, Spanish 1, Tennis
11th grade: AP Language and Comp, AP Biology, Pre - Calculus, Spanish 2, US History Honors, Tennis
12th grade: AP Literature and Comp, AP Physics C (Electricity and Magnetism 1st sem and Mechanics 2nd sem), AP Calculus AB, AP Comp Gov, Spanish 3
APs/Honors taken: 7 year-long courses (14-semester courses)

I’ve got pretty decent to strong essays

ECs
-Captain of Tennis team (4 years)

  • President of Science National Honor Society (founded it in my school)
  • created website for my local temple/maintain for them
    -volunteered for social causes through charities (i.e volunteering of a women’s shelter, etc)
    -Summer Intern at USC Keck School of Medicine
  • built a computer
    -Self-taught myself coding languages
  • Work as a journalist/Media Executive Director in a youth publication
  • shadowed doctors
    -volunteer at the local library for two years
    -Pre-med club
  • Young democrats club
    -biology club
    -hope can cure cancer club

Thanks guys!

2

What state? You don’t say in your OP. How much can your family afford?

3

I’m from California. Would prefer tuition between 20-40k but if its 40-80k its not that big of an issue

4

Geographical preference? Small or medium or large schools/class sizes? Is CS enough, or do you want Engineering as an undergraduate option too?

5

Have you already applied to UCs and CSUs, since their deadlines have passed?

6

holy crap your stats are almost identicle to mine and im applying to the same major lol.
Anyways heres my list of colleges:
University of Washington(Seattle)- low match
UCD/UCI/UCSB- Match
UCSD- High Match
UCLA/UCB- Reach
Cal Poly SLO- Match/High Match
SJSU- Saftey
UIUC- High Match
Carnegie Mellon- Reach
Georiga Tech- Match
UMich- Match/High Match

7

Washington is probably a reach for everyone applying for direct admission to the CS major (only a few frosh applicants get direct admission to the CS major). Getting admitted to the school but not the CS major is not particularly desirable, since a student in that position has to make a very high GPA and pass a competitive admission process (with an essay and holistic review) to be admitted to the CS major there. Most applicants to the CS major are not admitted.
https://www.engr.washington.edu/current/admissions/admitstats

8

What schools were you considering? Your ECs are listed in laundry list fashion so it is hard to tell if they are significant or not. Some of the more competitive CS schools use holistic admissions. Once you reach a certain criteria in terms of scores, the ECs become more important. Many would probably look for ECs in areas that you are interested in pursuing. So, given your interest in CS, they would be looking for significant evidence that you pursue CS in your spare time. You list that you have taught yourself to code and built a computer. Building a computer can mean anything from ordering components and snapping them in to modifying circuits and custom tailoring a computer to do things that others can’t. Likewise for coding. And, your work as a journalist could be CS related or not. So I think that for you, the level of your ECs could make a real difference depending upon what you have done.

Your scores and grades would meet the criteria for competitive schools. The fact that the first two subscores of the ACTs are the highest is a good thing. The Science ACT sub-scale is not very valid. If score choice is allowed, I’d refrain from sending the bio scores because they are not competitive (57 and 45th percentile).

I don’t think you mentioned what you plan to do with computer science. You have a lot of pre-med sorts of ECs. Are you med school bound? That might impact on choice of college too.

9

@lostaccount I was initially pursuing pre-med but going to Keck, I decided med wasn’t for me. I have always had an initial interest in computers (I built one from scratch with my dad) and taught myself coding since both my parents are in computers so i have a strong background. CS seems pretty interesting and I’ve tried to align my ECs towards Computer Science as much as I could in the little time i had like designing websites for my local temple and stuff.

10

@ucbalumnus yes i have applied to CSU SLO, Cal poly, SDSU, SJSU, and all the UCs already. I wanna know what private universities to look into

11

@ColdinMinny I would like schools in the west but its not that big of deal-I’m pretty flexible

12

bump

13

What characteristics of schools are you interested in, particularly characteristics that are not present in the UCs and CSUs that you have applied to?

14

OK, if you want more western schools, with your Stats, I can give you a couple of schools to consider as far as smaller, private schools are concerned:

Santa Clara is right in Silicon Valley, Tier I for CS, and you should get some merit money too. But you need to get going on applications, now.

Trinity University is in San Antonio, TX, also Tier I in CS, and you should get merit money there, too. Trinity also has an undergraduate engineering program, too. Job market also strong in Texas.

Check them out to see if they are options, and Good Luck!

15

@ucbalumnus all i really care about is that their CS program is really good. I’m pretty flexible on other matters

16

In addition to the above, look at USC .

17

-Azusa Pacific (S)
-Biola University (S)
-Cal Tech ®
-Chapman University (M)
-Gonzaga University (S)
-Harvey Mudd College ®
-Lewis & Clark College (M)
-Mills College (M)
-Pacific Lutheran University (S)
-Pomona College ®
-Stanford University ®
-USC ®
-Westmont College (S)

18

@skycold, your stats indicate that admission to CSE at Washington will not be a problem as long as you take your studies seriously.

19

bump

20

If you’re looking on the east coast at all, check out Northeastern University - it has an amazing undergrad CS program as well as a great co-op program if you like that model - look into it as it’s a big difference from other schools. It would be a high match school.