This is very helpful. Given that I don’t have many safeties, do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions?
If admission selectivity varies by major, changing to the more selective major after enrolling likely requires another admission process. This is because the more selective major is filled to its instructional capacity (instructors, labs, classrooms, etc. cannot handle any more students).
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Northeastern and Case are targets if ED. Otherwise a match or reach.
Yes Pomona is safe but would you be happy there ? SCU too.
Your safeties are the most importantly on your list. Find assured admits. Publics are easier to predict than many privates. But this list works.
Ps I put safety suggestions above - RPI, WPI, and Col School of Mines. Lehigh a match.
Note Santa Clara is Jesuit - the only religiously affiliated school on your list. Is that a concern ?
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What’s your budget for college? Also, what was your selection index score on the PSAT? It seems like you might potentially qualify as a National Merit Semi-Finalist (and if so, then almost certainly would make it to Finalist).
If you become a NMF, this thread would make for some interesting reading, and provide a number of options where your costs would be quite low:
Some options with likelier admissions that you may want to consider include:
Extremely Likely
- Arizona State
- Iowa State
- Rochester Institute of Technology (NY)
- U. of Minnesota - Twin Cities
- U. of Texas - Dallas
Likely
- Binghamton (NY)
- Rensselaer Polytechnic (NY)
- Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ)
- U. of Massachusetts - Amherst
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Max score possible on the PSAT is 1520. No state requires a perfect score in order to qualify for NMSF.
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Thanks for the info. That means no matter what OP’s budget, there are a number of options that will be free or very significantly discounted, if OP is interested. UT-Dallas, mentioned above, is one of those schools. According to the thread about big NMF schools, it may be possible to get a combination of awards from U. of Minnesota to get an excellent deal for NMF.
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It is true that most private universities (including Ivys, Stanford, MIT etc that are on your list) do not bind you to a major. That said, math is a popular enough major at all your listed private schools (your reaches) that I’m not sure that declaring math instead of CS would give you much if any edge.
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I don’t think these are sure things. I would say they are targets.
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Thanks. I’ll look into those schools.
I am satisfied with Pomona/Santa Clara but would be disappointed if I didn’t get admitted to anything else.
This is very helpful. Thanks.
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However, CMU is much more selective for CS, and is very difficult to change into CS if enrolled outside the School of Computer Science.
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Santa Clara has become sort of unpredictable in recent years. You are a VERY strong applicant, and it would seem you would get accepted there. I would show some interest. It’s a great school (says this proud parent of an SCU grad).
I do agree that there are other strong schools for your interests where you stand a better chance of acceptance.
Your status as a probable NMF will help you both acceptance wise and financially at a number of colleges…that are not on your list. Do you want suggestions where your NMSF status will be helpful, or not…
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That would be awesome. I looked at the other thread that talked about UTD and Alabama?
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Tulsa = full ride. Florida State, UCF. Others have smaller scholarships. USC at least half. Fordham but maybe not strong in your area. Etc.
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Tulsa’s NMSF Package is a full ride and then some. It includes:
- Full tuition (excluding summers) for five years or until an undergraduate degree is earned.
- Tier I Housing
- Tier II Dining
- Standard Student Fees
- Textbooks (all incoming students receive free textbooks for the entirety of their undergraduate years)
- A minimum $750 scholarship for from the National Merit organization.
USC’s NMF scholarship is half tuition. Housing, meal plans, etc. are at full cost.
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Thanks.
I’m not really interested in Tulsa. Does it have a good CS program?
Also, I heard Vanderbilt has aid for NM?
Tulsa has the highest concentration of NMF but a school like Alabama or UTD will have wider offerings. It doesn’t mean Tulsa isn’t solid - but obviously it’s a smaller school so it may not be your cup of tea.
The difference is these schools are safeties - whereas a Vandy is a reach so it’s ok to go for it, but in planning, if budget matters, then you want to cover all bases.
Here’s what VANDY says - so it’s something but not a ton.
For those finalists who also receive one of Vanderbilt’s merit scholarships, we guarantee an additional $2,000 in National Merit total scholarship dollars per year from all sources (with Vanderbilt supplementing any smaller corporate or one-time National Merit Corporation awards). Beginning with entering students for the fall 2023 class, those finalists who do not receive an additional merit scholarship from Vanderbilt will receive a total of up to $6,000 per year in National Merit scholarship dollars from all sources (with Vanderbilt supplementing any smaller corporate or one-time National Merit Corporation awards). For students entering Vanderbilt before fall 2023, the scholarship total is up to $5,000 per year.
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If the OP has access to Navience or SCOIR data for their school they should look at it to get insights on their chances. For my D’s CA private Northeastern would not be a hard admit for these stats. Her school typically is 50-70% at Northeastern. Same for CWRU and Rochester.
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For EA? And for CS/CE?
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Our school (MA public) has around a 50% acceptance rate at NEU but it is important to remember that many acceptances are not to the Boston campus. If this student is open to any campus I think they will be admitted - even for CS. I’d consider Northeastern a likely if any campus is acceptable but only a target if they want Boston.
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