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

For a likely, look into Pitt. They’d weigh his test scores equally with GPA&rigor and that’d be in his favor. They have rolling admissions so if you apply ASAP you should hear soon. There’s an Honors college, too.

Penn State is highly thought of in cybersecurity and similar fields AFAIK but they weigh GPA × rigor much more than test scores so it’s a low reach rather than a likely compared to Pitt, unless he checks “summer start” (ie., bridge session in July with a cohort of 24 taking the same 2 classes, an RA who plans field trips etc) which would make it more a toss up.

If those are too far, UOregon+Honors would be a great possibility closer to home, UO likely and Honors a reach.
UMN Data Science could be another target.

What about WPI? Lafayette? Lehigh?
Some colleges would likely know your HS and its rigor so that reputation+test score should mitigate the GPA at some of the smaller or private colleges.

Oh - were you asking his original list or the list I put above.

The list I put above was any school ABET accredited in Cyber Security - there’s only 40. That said, it’s far from the only way to make a career in it.

Yes, I was asking about your list.

Are you saying that it is the complete list of ABET accredited schools for cybersecurity? There are 32 schools on your list.

Is it important in the field of cybersecurity that your college be ABET accredited?

Yes, that was it and not big names.

Is it important? I highly doubt it. One parent above said their student is at an LAC in CS and interning in Cyber Security - and that makes sense.

And Penn State shows up in rankings often and I know one from there who couldn’t find a job but that could be kid based.

I’d assume like most areas - it’s more kid than school. I’m sure Cyber Security is changing daily and a CS kid can easily end up there. Just an assumption.

But at the same time, if there’s an accreditation list, I think it’s always a good reference point.

What’s interesting is Purdue has the major in its Poly Technic school - so OP would be a match for that vs. a high reach in CS - and yet, it’s not accredited. But it’s online university is - go figure.

But it was just more for OP to see.

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Thanks. :+1:

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Sorry, are you saying cyber in poly is not accredited?

Cyber security, which falls under computer and info tech, is ABET accredited at Purdue as of this year

Accreditation

The computer and information technology program is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org, under the commission’s general criteria and program criteria for Information Technology and similarly named computing programs.

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@albright7 I put the list above of schools accredited in cyber. If Purdue now is, great - ABET needs to update their list. If you notice, none of the schools you listed are on it - so maybe it’s not important - and again, for many, it’s through CS, not Cyber specifically.

Purdue is a great school - and for these type topics, ABET might not be necessary. I simply like it as a validator.

Note what the link @momofboiler1 just wrote say - The computer and information technology program is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org, under the commission’s general criteria and program criteria for Information Technology and similarly named computing programs.

This tells me - it’s more a “generalist” thing than specific major - and that’s ok too.

If you go to Name Search you can search by school (what are they certified in) or go to “category” and type in cyber. I only chose Cyber Security but there is also Cyber Engineering and a third that includes Cyber Engineering Technology (Idaho State).

If you get in, I’d think Purdue would make an excellent choice - if your student would be ok that far from home. But you noted other schools, like ASU are closer, so that should be a consideration too.

In Purdue’s case, ABET accreditation for the cyber security major is under general criteria for IT and similar programs, not CS.

Presumably, this means a less technical education than for a CS based major.

Given the major is in polytechnic, that makes sense but given OP won’t likely have a realistic chance at CS but will Cyber Security since it’s in a different school, hopefully that will work for them.

But if they want more technical, they should pursue a CS degree then - which will mean not at Purdue (or A&M or UMD), etc.