If you’d be interested in additional targets with somewhat easier admission and top rated CS programs you might look at University of MD, University of Wisconsin and UMass Amherst. While not guaranteed, I believe you’d have a strong chance at any of them.
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That’s not all that uncommon. That’s why I said non-Massachusetts applicants.
OP is looking to study CE, not CS. I don’t believe UMass is as strong in this field, but the other two definitely are. Good suggestions.
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If you let us know your budget and whether your family qualifies for any need-based aid, posters can help you figure out which schools (whether NMF or not) might make good additions to your list. To see if your family qualifies for any need-based aid, run the Net Price Calculator at Princeton, one of the most generous schools. If you don’t qualify for aid there, you probably won’t qualify anywhere.
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Cannot determine major but no significant difference in rates for EA vs RA. Economics likely plays a part as most would not expect non-merit aid and they are well prepared kids.
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Your credentials and EC’s look very good. However, when applying to top schools there are no guarantees. Speaking from personal experience here as DC applied with similar credentials and got deferred in EA but had a great options in RD.
So my advice to you as you will make NMS SF and Finalist as long as you complete the applications on time is
- If FA is needed apply to some schools like UT Dallas etc which are non-binding but will give full ride and stipend. Also apply to UT Austin which is a tops school for CS and has 40 acres scholarship which is full ride merit-based scholarship with first access to popular courses( https://www.texasexes.org/scholarships/forty-acres-scholars-program)
- If FA is not needed apply to your top choice for EA. Don’t do ED just to increase your change of getting in, if you don’t want to attend that school .
RD should give you multiple options. Also applied math may be an easier path than CS depending on your demographics
Good luck
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This is also true for my kids’ school. Our out-of-state school also has a high admit rate for NEU (30-40%), and almost no one applies ED, according to Naviance. I also know of a couple admitted this year for CS. Of the 3-dozen or so admits we have had over the last 5 years I believe only 2 were admitted to Boston.
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This is what seems to be true. The admission rate, if open to other campuses, can serve as a target. But if one wants the Boston campus, it’s a definite reach.
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I don’t know the number of admits this year but I do know that we had 5 accepts, all Boston. I know that there were more acceptances but I’m not sure of the campus.
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First of all, congratulations! You have done exceptionally well. It looks to me like you are likely to continue to do very well regardless of where you attend university.
I think that you are competitive at any university in the US, or any university in the world as long as you speak whatever language they teach in.
Three things come to mind. The first is not to be talked out of applying to any university that you are interested in. You are competitive everywhere.
The second thing that comes to mind is finding one or two true safeties to apply to. I wonder about San Jose State or some of the other CSU’s, but I do not know California well enough to be sure. Others have mostly commented on this issue as well as I can. I have noticed however that universities in Canada tend to do admissions a bit more on stats compared to schools in the US, which makes me wonder about UBC, Toronto, Waterloo, or even Simon Fraser University. I am not sure that any are safeties although they all may be likely.
The third thing that comes to mind is that in spite of our concern for finding safeties, I think that you are likely to end up with many acceptances. This makes me wonder about for example if you were to get accepted to both Stanford and one of the Cal Polys, would it be worth the difference in price to attend Stanford? This is something that no one can know without both running the NPC for Stanford, and knowing your family’s finances and preferences and priorities. This might however be something that you and your family might want to think about. You might end up with a hard decision to make between a list of very good universities with very wide differences in costs.
MIT does not admit by major. You chances of acceptance is the same regardless of what you put down as your intended major (this is for high school seniors applying to be a university freshman, I do not know whether this applies to transfer students and it does not apply to graduate students). I am pretty sure that Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton are the same. However, some other private universities (eg CMU) do admit by major. Generally if it is easier to get in as a math major compared to CS or CE, then there may be some restrictions on changing majors.
MIT has a combined major “Mathematics with Computer Science” 18C. This is relatively close to what I studied there, although the major did not exist when I was there (my degree just says “Mathematics”).
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I think my budget is as much as needed, and I won’t qualify for any need-based aid.
Unfortunately, no. I am homeschooled 
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Hmmm. Trying to decide between going to a school I’m not really familiar with as a safety (even on a full ride) versus one year of college and transferring to a top university.
Also, out of these schools, which ones are flexible with switching from Math to CS?
vanderbilt
Rice
Northeastern
Georgia Tech
Case Western
USC
Cal Poly SLO
Santa Clara
I’d really encourage you to find a safety or two that you’d be happy to attend - and not have transferring as part of the initial plan (unless you plan to use your CC as your safety). Even if you’re looking at CS or engineering, there are UCs that might be safeties and CSUs that would be safeties - as well as others.
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I will apply to UCI, UCSB, and UC Davis. If I don’t get into any of them, I would be surprised, but I would have the option of transferring.
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It’s very realistic you get turned down to these four. It’s also very realistic that you wouldn’t.
We don’t know how your essays will be seen etc.
Your SAT stands really strong except for one thing - it will not help you one iota with these four.
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But if the OP gets National Merit, it can be listed as an award so that signals high test scores.
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I’m just saying - they’re making it out as a safety - one of those four. I’m not sure that’s the case - is all I’m saying.
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I agree that those are not safeties. Possibly targets, but how many times have we seen high stats, high achieving students get shut out of these schools? It happens every year, unfortunately.
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Its worth noting that UCSB’s engineering school is comparatively small (1,800 undergrads). My S23 with similar stats wasn’t even waitlisted at UCSB for EE. Denied also from UCB and UCLA for EE. Admitted UCD.
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The UCs do not consider test scores in their admissions process. Even if a student wrote an essay about their high test scores, it would not be considered in the admissions evaluation.
The Awards & Activities section is used to paint a picture of what a student has spent their time doing outside of the classroom. The awards are usually the result of time and effort in an activity which is what readers are looking at (ex. OP’s debate gold medalist, competitive swimming medals, math olympiad, etc).
Some applicants use NMSF as an award. Many have enough other Awards & Activities that are more significant than NMSF.
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