What about Case Western ? Not too far from you and I think you’d be a good candidate…
Could someone suggest a list of realistic reaches, matches, and safeties for an applicant with this type of profile? A lot of people seem to be throwing in random name OOS schools which may not be very helpful. That’s one thing I don’t like about this site. Some suggestions are way too biased and come from a local mindset rather than a large scale one. Is there any chance at the reachy reaches like Stanford and MIT and is there anything a junior in this situation could do to improve their chances, or is it too late?
And is the OP’s gpa really too much of an issue? I think 3.6-3.8 unweighted is excellent for any school (even the top of the top ones) since it pretty much means a huge majority of your grades are A’s.
It’s not about “majority of” grades. For a top private college, with its competitive pool, it matters very much that you have the best grades throughout and most especially, all those related to your possible major. For stem wannabes, it means all hs math and science.
“A Harvard admissions officer once told me that they simply check your stats to see if you’re prepared to do the work and if so you move onto the next round and they evaluate your ec’s, recs, and essays to differentiate among candidates and everyone who makes it to the second round is on the same playing field.”
That’s not the whole story. After first cut, they still review your grades and stats. When they make final admit decisions, they’re cherry picking. And they don’t just “simply check your stats.” They look at the transcript, see your choices and the grades.
Nope, it’s not easy.
@“Prestigious Nerd” :
"But I will say that the 36% acceptance rate at ucsd probably makes it pretty easy to get into for anyone who’s willing to do undeclared. "
Yes, but switching in to CS after going in as undecided at UCSD probably is as tough or tougher than entering CS out of HS.
If your family can afford OOS tuition, UW-Madison is probably the one top CS school left that isn’t terribly difficult to get in to and where declaring for the CS major is pretty easy.
Otherwise, there are schools like RIT and UT-Dallas (also not extremely difficult to enter) where the CS grads seem to do well (both schools made the top 25 of LinkedIn’s college ranking for CS majors, based on the desirability of the companies where CS majors end up; so the greater the proportion of CS majors a school places in to companies that are considered highly desirable by CS majors, the better a school is ranked):
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/14/10/19/032249/be-true-to-your-cs-school-linkedin-ranks-us-schools-for-job-seeking-programmers
'Zona also makes that list.
My spouse has a large software development team and is always hiring fresh grads. It doesn’t matter nearly so much as you think where you go. San Jose State, UCI, CalPoly (both), or Berkeley. You will get a job and if you do well you will move up. Now, those are.all California schools, of different levels, but it is the same in other states.
@“Prestigious Nerd” I didn’t say they did. When there are 100 spots and 200 Asian American kids apply, not all Asian American kids are going to get in. I urge all Asian American kids with good stats to apply to one or two Honors Colleges.
Difficulty finding safeties for such students usually comes from defining “fit” or “desirability” as “prestige” or “selectivity”, in which case all possible safeties fail the “fit” or “desirability” test.
@ucbalumnus I feel like many hs students, including myself feel to understand they definition of a safety? What would you consider a safety
@“Prestigious Nerd” A safety is a school that you are above the 75th percentile and probably will be accepted. Also CS doesn’t need a prestigious degree. Any ABET accredited school will do. In technical interviews if you can’t answer their questions then it doesn’t matter what school you go to.
A safety is a school that you will be admitted to (including to your major), will be able to afford, and like.
@ucbalumnus would you say the bottom half of the UC’s are considered safeties? What about for EECS, CSE, CS? Also, is CS (not EECS or CSE) impacted at the mid tier UC’s and UCSD/UCLA? Which
major would be the easiest to get at these?
And if I was admitted undeclared at SD/LA, would getting a 3.9+ get me my major? I know it was like this a few years ago, but I still don’t get the whole lottery thing. Is it actually random?
In http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21139497#Comment_21139497 , you wrote that “a safety school like ASU would definitely be humiliating to them.” If no safeties are acceptable to your parents (i.e. they won’t pay for them), then there are no safeties for you.
@PrestigiousNerd
I believe the admit rate for CS is around 7-8%. This is similar to the stat provided during an admitted students presentation a in 2014 that my daughter attended.
@“Prestigious Nerd” , going in to UCSD/UCLA and then trying to transfer in to CS seems likely to lead to disappointment and is so unnecessary as well.
UT Dallas just changed admission policy. now it is automatic for top 10% (of Texas residents) and holistic for the rest. I imagine it is getting very popular and that is why they changed.
Going to UCSD or UCSB as an out of state student seems crazy to me period. I can somewhat justify it for Berkeley or LA, but the rest? The long term payback for a good CS student at SD/SB vs their own home state school isn’t enough to justify the $$$$
Pitt would be a great choice for you.