Reverse Chance Me & Chance Me. Safeties, Targets, Reaches

durban · July 7

For Chance Me:
(Safeties: Purdue, Rutgers New Brunswick Campus, Uni Rochester, University of Washington-Seattle Campus, Uni of Florida)
(Targets: Uni Maryland College Park, Uni Illinois Urbana Champaign, Case Western Reserve, Northeastern, NYU, University of Virginia, Georgia Tech, )
(Reach: Tufts (I might do ED), UMichigan, Yale --> cuz I did YYGS FST program and it has like 20% accep rate so its selective? Perhaps I could nail a good Why Yale essay?)

For the Reverse Chance Me: What safety/ matches/reaches could you recommend me?

I would be interested in a co-ed medium/large schools.

I would definitely prefer urban/suburban....small town if its really worth it, but definitely not rural. I live in a city's suburbs, so thats why I prefer urban OR suburban for the most part.

I don't care about party life / greek life / frats. if it has it: O.K whatever... if it doesn't have it: O.K whatever

I definitely value safe campuses and surrounding area to be safe (in the day time of course because nowhere is obviously safe at night).

The thing is I like tech and I like CS and if I'm going to major in CS I want to have diverse and many CS class options to go further than just 'How to program in C++' such as AI, VR, Machine Learning, etc which is why big or medium universities are better off for me just because they're bigger in size.

Medium/ Big universities also let me pivot easier (I think, maybe not) let's say I want to go from Tech to Finance/Business major/school I should go to a uni where i can do that.

Just for the record, I'm not a super math/sciency guy (but obviously since i have taken math and physics HL I have 'capabilities') and thus I'm also the kind of person that enjoys learning social science and soft skills, etc so I value being able to take classes in things other than CS/science once in a while such as social science, business, etc.

I also highly highly value getting internships, jobs, etc from top tech/finance companies and so those opportunities are important to me. Job experiences are important for me, also I don't think I find doing research jobs/work super interesting.

I'm open to a small school IF you can prove it will give a good quality CS program with good diverse CS classes and manageable facilities... obviously I realize at my current SAT score (see below) i'm not so competitive against other CS major people and I'm guessing at smaller really technical focused universities I will be even less competitive? Or maybe my international status helps, idk.

Ethnicity: Asian, INTERNATIONAL (Japan) Gender: Male

Income Bracket: 250k+ --> Thus I can pay upfront for college. i anyways probably wont qualify for financial aid

Both my parents basically went to community college

Country: Japan. Lived here my whole life, but I'm not Japanese.

High School: International IB Private School (Osaka)

Intended Major: Computer Science

W GPA: 3.9.

I had a 4.0 gpa freshmen year, 3.6/7 sophomore year, but rebounded well in Junior year with 4.2 GPA.

I don't do any electives or take BS 'free A' classes and only take IB classes, so i don't have much fluff nowadays in my grades GPA except for the weighting of IB classes.

No Class Rank at my schoolCourse

Rigor: Taking 3 HLs (Math, Physics, Econ). 3 SLs (Business Management, English, French). Predicted Grades are Math (5.. yes I will try to improve to a 6). Physics (7). Econ (7). English (6). French (5). Business Management (7). TOK will probably get a (2) since thats the average for IB students. Note: predicted 7 is the highest and hardest to get for the subject. Mine all adds up to a 40 if my math improves from 5 to 6 which is good... I took rigorous classes like math and physics HL otherwise i could have gone full on liberal arts (easy classes for me) and just get a 45/45 IB score, but I took the harder route with more rigor especially since I'm doing CS and going for 40/45 which is still really good for IB I heard.

SAT: 1400 (680 EBRW and 720 Math. Retaking soon hope I can get like much much higher especially for math!!).. This is my low point for sure when competing against others in CS. I will be retaking my last test soon.

Extra Curriculars:

FIRST Robotics Team Founder, President, and Captain: I've put literally thousands of hours into building the framework of this club and also of course building my own robot. I've worked to make the club really prestigious at our school and not just be recognized as another 'club' to the point where we compete Nationally. I've pushed forward with more programming and robotics at my school since it didn't used to be so focused on that. So I've really put this Robotics thing as part of my story. Honestly I did kind of have to run it like a business with sponsorships, diplomacy, leadership so I don't think I should regret that I didn't instead start a business for EC and experience.

Varsity Boxing. Was on team for 3 years. Put hundreds of hours (awards below)

Junior Academy: Was accepted to & current member of the New York Academy of Stem Sciences’ Junior Academy Program (10% Acceptance Rate). It is an internationally recognized academy. I have competed in the Big Data Challenge, Wildfire, and Natural Disasters Challenge sponsored by companies such ARM Technologies, Tencent, etc. I have done research with other scientists from around the world and been mentored by scientists. I have also published research and assembled deliverables to be judged. Was invited (and attended) to New York City to the Annual NYASS Conference to showcase my solutions (2018)

History Bowl Team Captain (been doing it for 6 years)

Vice President of the Amnesty International Chapter

I know multiple programming languages well: C++, Python, HTML, CSS. Working knowledge of LAMP Stack, JSON, Swift. I've worked on projects for my school like a swift app for my school website for a teacher, etc

Trying to get an internship at a Blockchain-Ethereum startup this summer. Idk how helpful is that?

Awards:

Varsity Boxing 2nd place (x2) and 3rd place (x1) in many national tournaments

FIRST Robotics: 1st year got 5th. 2nd year got 4th place at FIRST Robotics Nationals in Japan. Hoping to qualify for internationals when I compete again.

Junior Academy. Was recognized by EARCOS for my work and got an award (I wasn't ever a finalist for the competiton challenges though)

History Bowl: We were national champions. highest points scored in my school, MVP Award

Multiple Academic Distinguishments in Economics, CS Elective, Business Management,

Rec Letters: I've asked two really good teachers to write them, but right now they are not written as its summer for me. Obviously i'll see how this goes as there's a difference between good and excellent

Essays: Hopefully pretty good. I'm doing something unique and interesting and close to my personality.

Hooks: the FIRST Robotics EC 'story' + Junior Academy due to selectivity and prestige + Living in Japan my entire life, but being a foreigner + I know those aren't like really huge hooks?

sbdad12 · July 7

You have good stats. However, Univ of Washington-Seattle is definitely not a safety for you in CS. It's more like a reach as it's a top 10 CS school. Same with UVA (that's a reach out of state, not target) which is more like an Ivy OOS. Remember that CS is an impacted major at a lot of schools.

What about a school like Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for CS? Seems that would be a target or maybe a reach, but out of state, it's less than Michigan (and I went to Michigan) and it's a really good school in a cool town that's about 180 miles from Silicon Valley. https://admissions.calpoly.edu/prospective/profile.html

Gumbymom · July 7

The CS admit rate at Cal Poly SLO is around 5.5% so not a Safety either.

momofsenior1 · July 7

OOS/International applicants for the public flagships on your list, especially for CS, are not safeties or targets. Consider them all reaches.

ProfessorPlum168 · July 7

Your SAT is going to be low, probably too low for virtually all your target schools. Most of your safety schools as well.

sbdad12 · July 7

Agreed on Cal Poly SLO. Might be a reach for him. But something to add to the mix.

Hamurtle · July 7

International student with relatively low SAT and possible need for financial aid-none of the schools on the list are feasible. It might be a good idea to maybe look at LACs or test optional schools.

Since you likely do not have Japanese citizenship, could you apply to a college from your country of origin?

Internships/jobs will also be difficult since you are not a US citizen/permanent resident and you will be restricted in what is available to you.

RPI and WPI might be more reasonable targets, but that SAT retake had better be at or above 1500.

durban · July 8

@Hamurtle @sbdad12 @ProfessorPlum168 @momofsenior1 @Gumbymom FOR THE RECORD: I can pay full cost. I don't need financial aid. However, obviously its the SAT score & me being international that is the reason for all of you saying what you are saying. Being able to pay just removes a negative from me, doesn't add a positive of course.

However, yes I am planning to retake aiming for 1500 for October.
Just surprised my IB score, my GPA, my ECs don't have the effect to help that I thought they would since I put lots of time into all 3.
Perhaps its because you all aren't admissions officers, so you're focusing on what you can actually give me accurate advice on and of course standardized tests are heavily factored in U.S admissions even if it is 'holistic'

Also, so some of the suggestions you made for colleges have been refuted by other users.
So then let's assume my SAT score doesn't change significantly from what it currently is at? I'm trying to make my current college list from where I'm currently at.. obviously if it improves to 1500 that's a different story, but for RIGHT NOW.. what would be good safeties and targets where I can do CS still.

momofsenior1 · July 8

Clarkson should be a safety with your current scores since you aren't concerned about cost.

collegemom3717 · July 8

How + is that $250+? b/c $65K/ is a big chunk of (pre-tax/pre cost of living) $250K. Be *sure* that your parents can & will write that check.

Have you looked at the UK? there are some pretty strong unis that will be very happy with a 39/40 IB prediction, though if you can't get your prediction raised to a 6 for math for CS, that will ding you.

myrna97 · July 8

What about the University of Minnesota? It's a big school in an urban setting. The Greek system is pretty small there. Cost of attendance for an international student is currently about $54K/year. Your numbers are on the low side for the College of Science and Engineering there, but not for the College of Liberal Arts, which offers a BA in CS. The BA would allow you to take more non-science classes than a BS would, so you might even like that more (and if you don't, you might be able to transfer after your first year, if your grades are good).

Hamurtle · July 8

Case Western would be a target.

To the OP, people have been giving you honest advice and there is no need to be rude if their opinions do not match yours. Most of them have experience and @Gumbymom is pretty much the expert here concerning UC admissions on the board.. @ProfessorPlum168 has a son at Berkeley studying Computer Science so he knows what he’s talking about.

ProfessorPlum168 · July 8

The issue here is that the large majority of the schools you have on the list are amongst the very best in the country for CS. As such, the entrance 25-75% for test scores for CS majors is way higher than the published rates that you'll see on web sites. For example, UIUC, Purdue, and Michigan CS averages are around 34 ACT, 1500 SAT and probably getting higher. Same goes for UW-Seattle, Northeastern, NYU, etc.
Georgia Tech will be higher. You'll also find that for a lot of the better public universities, there will be a couple of paths in for CS - a hard path where you need super GPA/test scores to get in, and then a slightly easier entrance, but then you need to qualify with a certain GPA once you are in the university to actually declare for CS.

Rutgers and Rochester you probably are a match for, maybe Florida. If you do get your SAT above 1500, the other issue is that your unweighted GPA needs to be in that 3.85 range and up to have a good chance as well for the schools mentioned in the previous paragraph.

durban · July 8

@Hamurtle @ProfessorPlum168 @Hamurtle @Gumbymom
My sincerest apologies if I sounded rude. I don't disagree with what you're all saying. I'm glad to be discussing this with all of you instead of random passerbys.
Some of these schools that are hard to get in CS offer Comp Sci BAs in College of Arts and Sciences as well. And since I think doing a Comp Sci BA would fit more than doing a Comp Sci BS for me (because I'm not a full-on science-math person) does that make any of the universities you listed less of a reach for me? Or does it not matter? This is the truth, I'm not trying to weasel my way through, I just want to restate my stance on how CS-heavy I'm going to be.

Hamurtle · July 8

@durban Case Western is your best bet if you’re interested in either CompSci or Business. They do not accept by major/college division and my understanding is that transferring between the different schools is relatively easy. They are also pretty generous with merit aid. Make sure that your SAT retest is around 1500.

squ1rrel · July 9

University of Washington is a HIGH Reach for an international Asian male. Try some com sci olympiads

aunt bea · July 9

Perhaps its because you all aren't admissions officers, so you're focusing on what you can actually give me accurate advice on and of course standardized tests are heavily factored in U.S admissions even if it is 'holistic'

I think there's something that you really need to understand about US schools: you would be a guest of the university as well as of the states. You are not a US citizen and as such, the universities are under no obligation to admit nor guarantee an acceptance anywhere.
You've listed a large number of public schools, which are funded by the taxes paid by the residents of that state. Those public universities are obligated by their states to provide spaces for their residents, first and foremost. As a non-citizen and non-resident, you are not considered a priority admission. As an international Asian, you have to be exceptional to even be considered. In other words, they don't have to admit you and are under no obligation to do so. This is what you need to understand about being chanced. This is why you have to consider your status as a "reach" for most schools, especially in CS, which is impacted everywhere.
Understand that as a guest, if you are admitted, the university is there to educate you. That's it. After you graduate, the US is under no obligation to provide a job for you. You are expected to return to your country.

I also highly highly value getting internships, jobs, etc from top tech/finance companies and so those opportunities are important to me. Job experiences are important for me . . .

You could be provided with internships but jobs will be difficult to land. Immigration rules are very strict. US employers have to consider all US citizen potential candidates first, before considering hiring a non-resident, going through the paperwork and paying fees to sponsor you. That very rarely happens.

durban · July 9

@aunt bea Alright. So you're talking about public universities here, but from what I understand my chances of getting in for a BA of CS for a PRIVATE university isn't that good either just because if they accepted too many internationals there would be outrage.. even if they're private.. among other reasons I'm guessing..

But in general i will have better chance with privates of course, right?

aunt bea · July 9

I don't understand why there would be outrage for a private? Privates can accept whomever they want ( international or domestic). They, for the most part don't have to receive government assistance. The privates do tend to favor students who are well rounded, notable athletes, etc. anyone who can bring attention and research dollars to the school.

collegemom3717 · July 9

my chances of getting in for a BA of CS for a PRIVATE university isn't that good either just because if they accepted too many internationals there would be outrage.

No: there are many private (and public) universities that would be happy to have you. Overall, you have great stats, but you are considering applying, as an international student, to some very competitive schools in a very competitive subject (which happens to be strongly linked to math, your least strong IB prediction), and you are not accepting the general feedback that your assessment of what is a reach/match/likely for you is overly optimistic.

The posters here really do know what they are talking about- and they are genuinely trying to help you: they want you to have good choices come next spring. Most of them have been doing this for a long time- and they do it because they want to help students be successful.

ps, it does sound as if a BA CompSci might suit you

MWolf · July 10

CS at Purdue, University of Washington-Seattle Campus, UIUC, NYU, University of Virginia, and Georgia Tech are all reaches. None of these are safeties or targets for anybody.

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