My goal is to attend top 20/30 colleges as a computer science major (Carnegie Mellon, GA tech, UIUC, UMich, Cornell, Rice, etc). I’ve been mostly an A student (Junior) with 2 A-s so far, however this year I’m taking 5 APs and I have gotten 2 B+'s so far (AP econ and AP lang) and it looks like I’m going to end the year off with them. I’ve been able to maintain A’s in AP Psych, AP Physics C: E&M, and AP Calc BC, however.
Whenever I see/hear about the stats of people who’ve been admitted, they always mention virtually all A’s with the occasional A- (these people have unweighted GPA’s of 3.95+). As a result, I’ve been stressing a lot about my two B’s because I’m afraid it will hurt my application significantly since I seem to be on the lower end of the application pool in terms of grades. Can I get input from others about this issue? I’ve been really worried
When you are looking at colleges and programs where the chances of admissions are in the single digits, and so many of the applicants have close to perfect numbers, yes, of course, lower grades can be a factor to take you out of the running. That’s not to say those Bs will eliminate your chances because there could be other factors in your application that render those grades to be less relevant. Without seeing your entire resume, can’t say. But on a pure grade basis, yes, you would be ranked under those who had higher GPAs
Though colleges take holistic factors into account and such factors often are the tipping point that give the accept mark, the statistics show that greater percentages of those with higher goals and test scores get accepted to most all colleges. Doesn’t always apply to any given individual, but overall, higher grades get more favorable results.
The most in-demand CS programs are devilishly hard to get into even with perfect grades. A few B’s, especially in subjects less related to your core interests, will not take you out of the running, but it won’t help; and plenty of people with perfect grades still don’t get in. (So if you don’t get in, you’ll never know if A’s in those classes would even have made the difference!)
The thing is, there are many fine schools where you can get a strong CS education. You’re obviously up to speed on what the “top” programs are; there’s no point in spending more time obsessing about those programs right now. Rather, invest in your happiness and sanity by looking into the many excellent programs that are not so astonishingly competitive, and find a few that you know you could get into and afford. A safety you love is worth its weight in gold! If you tell us more about yourself (including financial profile/constraints), you’ll get lots of good suggestions here. You can still “shoot the moon” when the time comes, but knowing that you have somewhere good to land if that doesn’t work out is priceless.
You’ll want a 3.8+/4.0 UW GPA in order to be competitive at those top schools. CS is a super competitive major. B’s won’t shut you out, but keep in mind that many schools that accept 50-60% of applicants on the whole will only accept 10-15% of their CS applicants.
So while it is okay to apply to a couple T30s as your reaches, you really need to spend even more time researching some solid matches and likely schools. Given CS admittance fates, those are more likely to be found outside the top 100 list.
@yeetys , yes, being first-gen is a hook, but the extent to which it’s considered varies.
What is your home state? The strength of the CS programs at your public U’s, and the financial picture for low-income students in your state, will have a big influence on how you select safeties and matches.
For private colleges and universities, and OOS public U’s, you will need to focus on schools that meet full financial need, or that will meet your full need with some combination of FA and merit. GT, for example, is not likely to be affordable unless you’re a Georgia resident. Likewise, UIUC is unlikely to be an option financially unless you’re an Illinois resident. CMU doesn’t guarantee full-need-met aid, so that’s a financial reach as well as an admissions reach. UMich does meet need for low-income OOS students, so it could be a viable reach school. Top-tier private U’s like Cornell and Rice will be affordable if you can get in, but they will be high reaches admission-wise.
You will have options, but you will need to fine-tune them carefully. You don’t want to aim too high and get shut out. You don’t want to focus entirely on getting accepted and then find out the schools you got into won’t be affordable. You need to find the sweet spot where you can get in, get the financial aid you need, and get a high-quality education. Those schools do exist, but starting with your in-state options and building from there will make it easier to craft a balanced list.
"Any recommendations? Would UMD or Purdue be good options? "
I don’t know about UMD, but Purdue has around a 10% acceptance rate for CS. You need to keep looking. Check out Illinois Institute of Technology, MSOE, Rose Hullman, etc. for matches.
I know that UMD has gotten very competitive and they are implementing a limited enrolment plan for CS majors. https://undergrad.cs.umd.edu/future When you look at colleges you need to be aware that colleges where you apply directly to the computer science program may have vastly different acceptance rates than the overall college acceptance rate. I do not recommend attending a college that limits access to CS in the hopes that you’ll get in later. WPI, RPI and the Stevens Institute of Technology, and the Rochester Institute of Technology may be matches for you depending on your SAT or ACT scores and what the softer part of the application looks like.
The good news is that your B’s are not in math or science, but you have to be aware that there are a lot of straight A kids applying to these same schools. My kid had nearly perfect stats and still got rejected from four universities. Parental pressure can be hard to deal with. They often don’t realize how many great universities there are out there.
George Mason University is a fully ABET accredited CS program. This is one of many CS programs that are not as well known as they should be. As a VA resident, you should look its program over. If it meets your needs, put it on your list. You need solid backups and this might be a good candidate both academically and financially. As a general rule you want ABET accredited programs. See @ https://www2.gmu.edu/academics
Virginia Tech CS is very highly regarded in the CS field @ https://vt.edu/
The university wide, average, unweighted GPA in 2018 at WPI was 3.89. It was probably higher in the CS group. Do look at the WPI, RPI, Stevens, Rochester Group and you might add Clarkson U in upstate NY. Clarkson could be more on the safety side, but these are all private universities and you will probably need financial assistance. They are all very highly regarded, even if your parents never heard about them.
As already stated, there are many very fine university programs out there that are not well known to the general public. These Universities do not make the national headlines every day, but they they do have outstanding placement for their graduates in many fields.
I would not stress at all about the B+ grades. Some top colleges might focus more on GPA but many are not going to differentiate between a perfect GPA and a slightly lower one. They will also take your grades in the context of your high school, so knowing your class rank may be helpful. Your entire application is important from ECs to recommendations to SAT scores to essays. My son got into an Ivy League school with several B+ and A- grades but he had excellent ECs and other parts of his application. His intended major is Computer Science. Picking a balanced list of colleges to apply to is essential, but a few B+ grades is unlikely to be what keeps you out of most schools.
I agree with most of the above comments. My honest answer is that yes, a few B’s on your transcripts do in fact make you less competitive of an applicant compared to the stronger and stronger applications single digit colleges are getting. One advice I give to my younger sister who is a freshman at a specialized high school, is that no matter what, I don’t want a single B on her transcript. (I know…I am very brutal. But, that’s because so is the crazy competition every year. That said, the bar set is really really high for the most selective schools. I would now focus on having a strong first semester senior year with a rigorous course-load, and mostly all As/A- at the very least, and creating a COMPELLING application to showcase my strengths. Finish the rest of the year strong, and focus on those subjective elements that are factored into an admissions decision as well.
@retiredfarmer Thank you for the recommendations. I already had GMU on my list as a safety school. I had previously known of RPI and WPI, however I don’t think I should apply there since they are not need-blind, and I feel as if I will not get a compelling financial aid offer due to their policies.
@Puzzeled101 I also go to a specialized high school for computer science. I often feel overwhelmed by the amount of competition that exists due to the nature of my school, as many of my classmates are intelligent and high achievers
