It depends on what you define as “good CS schools”.
When aiming for large merit scholarships, remember that reach/match/likely/safety is defined by the likelihood of getting the large merit scholarships, not the likelihood of admission. Due to the more limited information about merit scholarship selectivity, competitive merit scholarships should be considered reaches. Those which are automatic for stats or National Merit status or other PSAT-based status that the student has can be considered safeties (the PSAT taken in 11th grade is the important one for National Merit and any other applicable PSAT-based status, so make sure that he takes it).
Thank you @ucbalumnus. I suppose by good CS schools, I’m referring to schools that has a great faculty, with a wide range of CS courses including theoretical. Perhaps the word I should have used was competitive.
I appreciate the info on the merit scholarships! I do understand that less selective schools are likely the schools to provide more merit aid to attract top students, although who knows how our current situation will change things to come. It’s helpful to know that those competitive merit scholarships should be in the “reaches” list. What I’m trying to understand is whether the lack of ECs will make that more of “impossible”.
I hope he does qualify for NMSQT finalist - that would be a huge help. Does one have to practice for those? I’m assuming he will do well due to his SAT score, and he didn’t do any prep for that or his APs other than his homework. He wouldn’t have had time anyway. Thank you!
Note that the National Merit Selection Index double weights the RW section score compared to the M section score. But if he got a 1560 with the least favorable distribution (760 RW, 800 M), it would give a selection index of 76 + 76 + 80 = 232, which appears to be higher than any recent cutoff for National Merit Semi Finalist (the cutoffs vary by state). Obviously, each test day is different, so future test days may not necessarily result in the same score as previous ones.
@arasmom He has time to get some ECs under his belt. Even if he could do peer tutoring in his strong subjects or teach senior citizens how to zoom or play minecraft. What am I saying is he should be able to find something in his wheelhouse that would help with the ECs. Maybe he doesn’t like doing things at school, so outreach in the community may be his thing. There are a number of state schools where you can receive merit aid for just scores and GPA. While I don’t agree with the weight people give US News rankings, for your purposes I think it would be useful to look at the top-ranked computer science departments and then reviewing each school’s policy on merit aid. Put the information in a chart/excel sheet/google doc, so you can track the information easily.
Just note with the current climate, some schools may start to limit aid in the next few years. Hope this helps
@ucbalumnus, thank you for the additional NMSQT info! My son had an even split of 780 on each section and I didn’t know the reading and language sections were double weighted in the calculations for national merit qualifications. Apologies for my ignorance; there is just so much to research and get educated on!
@AfroPuffMom, thank you for your suggestions! He already is a TA in his English class and he’s enjoying that, so I’ll encourage him to continue. He signed up as a volunteer tutor on several sites but haven’t heard back, but this is something he is interested in as well. Good point about creating a spreadsheet to gather data. Thanks again!
That is great. In my experience if students have depth in their extracurriculur activities that is better than a ton of them. Many schools have a supplmeental on favorite XC and it is always clear when a kid writes on something they did because it “looked good” versus something they truly enjoyed/for which they had passion. Best of luck.
@AfroPuffMom Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I have read several times on CC and other forums that a student shouldn’t send an ACT/SAT score this year if not above the 50th percentile for the school, but that this advice doesn’t apply to URM.
I have asked for clarification as to why posters feel this way and haven’t really seen an answer. Do you agree that this advice doesn’t apply to URM?
@Aguadecoco I do not agree with such a blanket statement. Some questions I would explore before deciding: Does the score track with gpa/other scores of the application or is it higher/lower? What is the HS profile? Does student have tremendous leadership or community service?
So for example if student attends a HS that doesn’t have APs or only a few, a test score could help an URM show rigor. But if the student is getting an IB diploma and has a 6 on 2 SL exams, I probably would not include the standardized test score.
I think this is a bit too general. Plenty of low income students are perfectly capable of getting into elite colleges. Elite colleges are also looking to have a diverse student body. In my kids’ experience, the HS counselors particularly in a big urban HS, steered everyone towards state and city schools. My kids, meantime, were admitted to private schools and with much better FA that they would g=have gotten at a public school. Public school, even if the tuition is covered by a state scholarship, such as Excelsior in NY state, won’t help with room and board. Private schools often do.
@AfroPuffMom, my parents does not want me to return to school, They are worried sick about the virus and bring it home, any advice on how to convinced them?
@Joseque007 I can only tell you what worked for me. My son showed me he was responsible and careful concerning COVID protocols when he was at home (mask-wearing, washing hands, social distancing with friends). He gave me a plan of how he was going to do things at school. The school itself has a very good, aggressive policy so I felt good from the institutional side. He also agreed to have a test within 72 hours of returning home for Thanksgiving. In the end, I thought he had mitigated the risk sufficiently and I understood why he did not want to stay living with his parents at age 20 even if college experience 2020-2021 wasn’t ideal. Best of luck.