Chance me (black female interested in CS w/ a low-ish [3.7120] gpa) for BU, NYU, NEU, WashU, and JHU ED2 [NJ resident, can pay $30k/year]

Keep in mind that there are a lot of independent scholarships available for African American students entering college. I think that you have a higher likelihood of acceptance than you’ve calculated, being an AA woman interested in CS, and that you will have a higher likelihood of being awarded some “merit” money, in addition to fin need money, by the schools that accept you. As soon as your applications are all in, you need to shift gears to applying for independent merit scholarships. This could greatly decrease the actual cost of attendance for you, especially if these scholarships are awarded on top of the award you get from the school.

One school that is not on your list that you might look into is UMass Amherst. Highly ranked CS dep’t. They’re likely to award you an OOS merit scholarship that would bring your cost of attendance down to 40K. I don’t know if they’d also award you some additional scholarship geared toward AA students, or admit you to their honors college, which is mostly just a nicer, slightly more civilized, newer dorms campus within the college campus - which has the feel of a mid-western US land grant campus, large, green, open spaces, nearby cute little college town, but hours from any major city. It’s about 3 hrs north of NYC (at least the way I speed). But honestly, I still think that Rutgers is a better bet for you.

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