Chance/Match my son: 3.5/3.93 weighted CA resident, SA 1500(710/790 Math), Competitive public HS CS major

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: CA
  • Type of high school: High competitive public HS
  • Other special factors: None

Cost Constraints / Budget
None

**Intended Major(s) : CS, data science, CS+x **

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.55
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.0, AP +1 point
  • Class Rank: not ranked
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1500 (710 Reading, 790 Math)

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: Honor (9, 10)
  • Math: AP Cal AB/BC, AP statistics, Cal 3, Linear algebra
  • Science: AP chemistry, AP physics 1, 2, AP physics C E&M, AP Physics C Mechanics
  • History and social studies: AP World History, AP Government
  • Language other than English: (including highest level completed)
  • Visual or performing arts:
  • Other academic courses: AP Comp Sci Prin., AP Comp Sci A

AP tests mainly 5, a few 4, did bad in 9/10 grade, up trend in 11, try straight A in 12 first half

Awards

CyberPatriot national finalist (top 10 over 3000 teams), multiple times

PicoCTF top team with over 18000 people participate globally

Bug Bounty Program, Google Hall of fame

Extracurriculars

Cybersecurity Club president
CTF (Capture The Flag) teams co-funder, top 15 teams globally

FTC, programming, math club member

Some independent research on cybersecurity and open source projects

Essays/LORs/Other
Not sure. CS teacher may give a strong LoR

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

If a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below; also, for colleges that admit by major or division, consider that in chance estimate.

  • Assured: ASU Admitted, apply for Honor
  • Extremely Likely: ?
  • Likely: ?
  • Toss-up: Purdue ? UMaryland?
  • Lower Probability:
  • Low Probability: Georgia Tech, UIUC, CMU, Cornell, UMich

EC mainly on cybersecurity, not sure how good they are. Need advice to fill safe and target.

2

I’m curious why you don’t have any CA schools on your list. You have the best public university system in the country, with lots of top notch schools. Are you applying to any in state schools?

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Consider the following:

Rochester Institute of Technology (NY)
Rensselaer Polytech (NY)
Worcester Tech (MA)
Stevens Tech (NJ)
Rose-Hulman (IN)

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4

If you want to stay closer to home, then Utah and Oregon State could be added to ASU (at the former you should get WUE).

Except 3.55UW isn’t going to get you far in terms of admissions for CS, except perhaps Merced and lower ranking CSUs. Even UCSC and SHSU require close to 4.0UW. OP would have to look at math or physics majors instead, and even then no guarantees (my S23 with 3.7UW/4.0W and math/physics APs got off the waitlist at UCSC for astrophysics but didn’t at other UCs or CPSLO/SDSU).

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CA public schools are test blind, so they will not see the OP’s strong SAT score and will rely on the GPA and holistic factors. As @Twoin18 noted, admission is very competitive in the OP’s listed majors.

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6

ECs don’t matter other than you have them, you’ve done what you wanted, etc. In other words, if you walk dogs at the shelter, play in the band, have a job, etc. they’re all great. They needn’t have tied to the major.

ASU (not honors) is a given. Purdue is possible if you go after cyber security - which is in the polytechnic school. You won’t get in for CS. UMD is a no as are your low probability.

Unless you are ok with ASU, you need to add. The question is - do you want cyber (not always in CS) or CS.

Utah Tech and Boise State are in WUE with Cyber related majors. For CS, you can try Colorado State, Hawaii, Nevada (LV and Reno) Oregon State, Utah and UNM amongst others.

Others to consider - U Denver, Penn State (less reachy than UMD), RIT, Indiana, Oregon, and Auburn. I think all but Penn State and Auburn would be likely with those two targets. Auburn - you have to apply early.

Why no Ca publics - like Humboldt?

Good luck.

7

What about CSUs? I realize the top CSUs are competitive for CS, but what about the next tier down?

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OP might prefer ASU to those schools?

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These are more difficult for admission for CS than in general.

Also, they become much more selective if you miss the EA deadline.

Basically, it looks like you have ASU as a safety (already admitted) and some reaches that are either out-of-state flagships or highly selective privates. Some of the reaches seem unrealistic reaches for CS.

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It’s easier and quicker (if not necessarily cheaper) to get to some out of state colleges than Humboldt. And then there are differences in the actual college environment of course.

11

Sure - i just chose one random one as they offer a cyber major - but others already covered the topic - CA is littered with publics and for many, not impacted so why not CA publics (whatever the name).

12

Twoin18 already answered this above. And many are impacted for CS if not overall. For example CPP index implies 3.75 gpa needed for CS.

For costs - that gpa /sat combo should get the poster the presidential scholarship at ASU. I think that makes it not very different to instate CA costs.

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13

Yay! This is one very good university that is in the bank. At this point to state the obvious you only have reason to apply to schools that your son would prefer to ASU. As such anything that we mention is only worth considering after asking the first question: “Would your son prefer it to ASU”.

I would not worry about honors college. If it happens it happens.

With a 3.5 GPA, even with an uptrend, your reach or “low probability” schools seem quite unlikely to me.

The various Universities of California will not care about grade 9 results. What is your son’s GPA without considering grade 9? I do wonder about UC Merced or UC Riverside, or perhaps some CSUs other than the most competitive 2 or 3.

A wild thought. Universities in Canada will not care about grade 9, and in general accept students based on the most recent two years of high school. Uptrends help with admissions to universities in Canada. When I was in high school, which was in Canada, most of us got accepted to Canadian universities based on sophomore and junior years of high school, but I knew a few students who got accepted based on their junior and senior years of high school. This did result in a few late acceptances, and at least one person I vaguely knew getting an acceptance to McGill late enough that they had already put down a deposit somewhere else. There are some west coast universities in Canada which are good for CS. UBC, Simon Fraser, and the University of Victoria might be possible. U.Alberta and U.Calgary are also possible but will have colder winters (particularly Alberta). Again, do not be shocked if they were to ask for senior year grades (whether mid term or even end of year), or if an acceptance comes in late in the process.

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Thank you all for great advice. Yes, we will anyway apply all UCs, I forgot to include it. For CSUs, since they only look at GPA which disqualify us for most of better schools. We are fine to go with ASU if no other at least one tier higher options. We do think ASU is a decent choice and also close to home.
For his GPA, he has dip in 10th grade and then bounce back at 11.
BTW, we also consider TAMU.

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If you want to be closer to home, why schools like UMD and TAMU where you’re not going to get into - vs. an Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, Colorado State, etc.

I wouldn’t say there are “better” schools but there are harder admits - i.e. CSUs. A kid who goes to San Bernardino might be a stud, or in a small section, and has access to resources.

A friend’s kid went to Penn State (high ranked in Cyber) and you think it’s a burgeoning field and he couldn’t find a job for a year - and according to the dad, he wasn’t alone.

No where - no matter the rank - is an assurance and going to a less selective doesn’t mean you’ll fail.

You have a list of great schools - but if distance to home is a concern, then find schools closer to home.

btw - you have no cost constraints but just for fun, at U of Alabama, you’d be under $20K a year all in - given automerit. Your 1420+ (in your case 1500 - as long as it’s in one sitting) gets you $30,500 in auto merit. Of course, you need a 3.5 for that, not a 3.49.

It’s ABET accredited too, in cyber. Given there’s less than 40, that might mean something too. Note - Purdue is through the global school, not main campus - but if you apply Purdue (great school), you have little chance at CS but a possible chance if you apply to cyber, which is not in CS but polytechnic.
The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Alabama
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Prescott Prescott Arizona
The University of Central Arkansas Conway Arkansas
United States Air Force Academy USAFA Colorado
United States Coast Guard Academy New London Connecticut
Florida International University Miami Florida
University of West Florida Pensacola Florida
University of South Florida Tampa Florida
Purdue University Global West Lafayette Indiana
Kansas State University Manhattan Kansas
United States Naval Academy Annapolis Maryland
Bowie State University Bowie Maryland
Capitol Technology University Laurel Maryland
Towson University Towson Maryland
Ferris State University Big Rapids Michigan
Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti Michigan
Southwest Baptist University Bolivar Missouri
Southeast Missouri State University Cape Girardeau Missouri
Fontbonne University Saint Louis Missouri
University of Central Missouri Warrensburg Missouri
St. John’s University Queens New York
United States Military Academy West Point New York
Cedarville University Cedarville Ohio
University of Cincinnati Cincinnati Ohio
Gannon University Erie Pennsylvania
Robert Morris University Moon Township Pennsylvania
Charleston Southern University North Charleston South Carolina
East Tennessee State University Johnson City Tennessee
Brigham Young University Provo Utah
Radford University Radford Virginia
Regent University Virginia Beach Virginia
West Virginia University Morgantown West Virginia
16

Texas A&M admits to general undeclared engineering. Getting into CS requires either a 3.75 college GPA in first year engineering courses or competitive admission (CS has little space for those below 3.75 college GPA, so chances are very low below 3.75 college GPA).

17

Am I missing something? I only see two years of English, and only two years of social studies on your course listing above.

And no arts courses (required for CA publics if you choose to add them).

Get your application to Maryland submitted in the early round…soon…as they accept the vast majority of their incoming class in the early round.

You are already admitted to ASU, right? If you are happy with that option, you actually don’t need any other sure things for admission…unless you would like to have some choices come May 1.

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FYI, I don’t think they listed all their courses. ASU requires 4 years of English, 3 of science and 1 of VPA for admission (as well as 4 math and 2 social science) so I think they do have them. Maybe they can clarify the social sciences. Edit: CA requires 3 social studies courses to graduate so that should be ok.

19

What’s the list of?

Thanks in advance. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I want to second RIT for cyber - here’s a podcast talking about cyber major there:

Also want to add, my daughter did an internship in and has secured a return offer in cyber defense & engineering consulting. She is a CS major at an open curriculum LAC. So you can get to the end result a lot of different ways.

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