Chance Me - Introverted HS Junior CS Major with Interest in Cyber Security [3.6 GPA, 1400 SAT, wants in-state VA Tech, <$50k]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Please recommend a realistic list of schools for an introverted future engineering or comp sci major with an interest in cyber security. There is still time for some increase in SAT scores and GPA, as he is only a Junior. He is in an IB program, so for those not familiar, IB is similar to AP, and he is taking the most rigorous courses available in math and science, but for junior and senior year will complete only honors English and history instead of the IB versions of the courses.

Demographics

US Citizen
Virginia
Large Public High School with IB Program, high school is well-ranked

Cost Constraints / Budget
50K/year

Intended Major(s)
Computer Science or Engineering with possible focus in Cyber Security

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
(High school has IB program, but he does not plan to finish IB diploma, although will have IB certificates from IB courses)

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.6 (out of 4)
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.3 (1 pt for IB classes, .5 points for Honors)
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1400 (750m/650v)

List your HS coursework

Science:
Bio Honors
Chem Honors
IB Physics SL
IB Physics HL
IB Comp Sci SL
IB Comp Sci HL

Math:
Algebra Honors
Geometry Honors
IB Math 1
IB Math HL

English:
English 9 Honors
English 10 Honors
English 11 Honors
English 12 Honors

History:
History 9 Honors
History 10 Honors
US History 11 Honors
IB Geography SL

Electives:
Comp Sci
Cyber Security
Engineering

Language:
Spanish 2
Spanish 3
IB Spanish SL

Extracurriculars

Part time job since sophomore year, 15-20 hours per week during school year for 3 years of HS
Varsity sport, 4 years.
Business and finance club, 3 years
Computer Science club, 4 years

Essays/LORs/Other
I’m guessing these will be just OK at best. He does not love writing.
LORs: Probably comp sci, math, and science teachers, maybe work supervisor

Schools
These are tentative – still not sure what is a realistic target and what is a reach or safety. No geographic preference, but he is quiet and introverted so would prefer a school with a reputation for being friendly, where it is easy to make friends. Would love recommendations for other schools.

Virginia Tech (would do ED here, but not sure if it’s worth it, and stats may not make acceptance likely). But this is first choice.
Penn State
Arizona State
U Michigan
George Mason University
James Madison University
Florida State
Rochester Institute of Technology

2

Congrats on your record.

Va Tech has EA (non binding), not ED - but yep, take your shot.

PSU is the match to Va Tech - very similar but it’s over $56K this year - and that’s just tuition, room, and board, not books, travel, other fun stuff.- so if $50K, it’s not the school for you. UGA would be another similar - but would be a reach for you. It could make budget.

Arizona State is a safety - you can run the NPC to see how much merit you’ll get.

No shot at U Mich - take your shot - but no shot - and it’s $30K a year over budget so even if you got in, no shot. Use Purdue as a budget making high reach sub.

JMU, GMU - sure

FSU - will be tough

RIT - unlikely to make budget.

If you like the Va Tech/PSU of the world and it’s not the same but Alabama would be in a similar vein (although not exact) and you’d be well under budget with auto merit. Mississippi State would be a smaller school - also inexpensive. To stay closer to Virginia, U Del is a possibilty.

You have acceptances on the list - but PSU will be too much (how about WVU or Ohio State as subs) as is Michigan - but Purdue would work there.

The good news is - you will have a home with this list.

Best of luck.

3

Thank you. Ohio State was originally a top choice, but we were told by so many people that he had no shot there. We have even been told that GMU is a reach. PSU and some other privates are on the list assuming he doesn’t get into any of the state U’s and we need to be more flexible on budget.

4

Virginia Tech does not have ED although they do have non-binding Early Action. They do not publish acceptance data for their EA applicants, so it’s hard to know if there’s any advantage to applying EA.

In his favor is the rigor of his high school curriculum. VA Tech says that this is very important to them. Why is he not going for the IB diploma? I would think that it might acceptance his chances of admission to VA Tech. Also in his favor at VA Tech is that the number of college applicants is expected to decline next year, so admission should be a little less competitive. Along with JMU and GMU, these probably make the most sense financially.

There are a lot of tech schools on your list, so I’ll suggest another to add to your list. Worcester Tech has a reputation for being a very friendly campus and offers an excellent program for his interests. Perhaps it is their unique approach to instruction that accounts for this due to their project based approach to learning which has students working in teams throughout their college careers. In addition, there is no core curriculum (hard to imagine at an engineering school), so students are given a lot of responsibility for making their own curriculum choices right from the beginning. This fosters a sense of collaboration among students because they are seeking advice not only from their academic advisors but from their fellow students as well.

5

I assume the IB maths are at least pre calc.

If Ohio State is a no, why do you have Michigan - ten times harder - forgetting the budget? Michigan State - sure - you get in? Michigan - no chance. Ohio State - will be tough but it’s a reasonable reach and it has merit. UMN would be another to consider, easier than OSU but excellent…

Budget is easy.

With his stats, he’s $26.5K off Alabama. Tuition is $49,188 so you’re in the low 20s.

UAH - smaller school - like 10K kids - similarly priced.

MS State will also be in the $20K-ish range.

All three are safeties and all three do well.

GMU - is in no way a reach that I could see. It’s a safety - with 89% admission.

If you were ok with a smaller school that’s in state for budget, both CNU and UMW have a cyber major.

Good luck.

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6

I was also going to suggest University of Alabama at Huntsville, as @tsbna44 just did. It has a cybersecurity engineering program, here: UAH | Engineering | Departments | Electrical & Computer | Programs | Undergraduate | Cybersecurity Engineering | The University of Alabama in Huntsville, as well as a cybersecurity courses within the computer science undergraduate program in the College of Science, here: UAH | College of Science | Departments | Computer Science | Undergraduate Programs | The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

There should also be automatic scholarship money available, here: UAH | Admission & Aid | Undergraduate Admission | Financial Aid | Scholarships | Freshmen | Freshman Out-of-State Academic Scholarships | The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

And, Huntsville, AL is a neat city (the second-largest in Alabama).

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Did your son take the PSAT’s and if so, how did he do? Run the financial numbers at University of Tulsa (private, not public)… great Cyber program and very friendly campus!

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I was going to add Ohio State, WPI, and UMN but others beat me to it. Will add RPI, which gives quite a bit of merit aid.

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