Chance Me/Match Me - Virginia resident looking to apply to T30 colleges in CS [3.93 GPA, top 1%, 1540 SAT]

VCU seems like a good safety

I think VCU is a decent sure thing…but I’m not sure what that has to do with your NM status.

Nevermind, I read the search result incorrectly. They only give scholarships to Finalists.

ASU is assured. You meet the threshold.

GMU is - I don’t know if it’s assured - but I’d say 99.9%.

I say you get in everywhere down to Wisc - but even if not, I’m confident a few. Assured - no. But I think you easily hit whatever threshold.

I don’t know what this means - [quote=ā€œmello.o, post:4, topic:3697628ā€]
budget is a non-issue, though I would prefer a cheaper university, but I am willing to spend a lot for a top one.
[/quote]

There are no assurances in life. As one parent notes on this site, her parent was recruited by Google from N Georgia. My nephew, who I’m with right now, works for a similar company in New York, had a Poli Sci degree from Arizona with a finance MBA. Had to pass a lot of tests. I just asked him - kids from ā€œtop schoolsā€ get turned down in droves. He listed who is on his and various other teams - they are all over - some of these, some regional, directional, two I’ve not heard of (just looked them up) - one in Kansas, one in Iowa.

Based on that comment though and not truly understanding your NM comment, I’m going to make two suggestions.

  1. U Tulsa - if you are NMSF, they award you free tuition and dorm.
  2. U Alabama, if you get NMF, you get 5 years tuition (think Masters degree), 4 years housing, $4k a year and $3k one time for research or abroad. I just mentored a kid from a similar SEC public (not a CS power) who interned at companies in Nashville, a night in Kansas City, a night in Seattle, and is starting there at $150k with a $25k sign on. He did a 5 year Masters.
  3. I don’t know much about UT Dallas but people here highly recommend it for CS. It’s a large commuter population but also residential. It looks like their NMF gets four year full ride and money to study abroad.

I say apply to these three - why ? Because they are safe, likely easy apps and all three offer enrichment too (Honors and even sub Honors like Randall Research at Alabama). And because when you make a statement like I put in quotes, you’ll want flexibility - in case you talk with your folks later and decide it’s smart to save $2, $3, $400k.

I’ll tell you this without naming the school as I was asked by the mods not to - my MechE son chose Bama over Purdue. One summer he interned (and rented a Airbnb) with kids from one of the schools on your last three tiers. He was invited back a second summer and offered a job. They were not invited back a second summer.

The point - in most instances - it’s the kid, not the school, that matter.

No one knows the market today, let alone four years from now. But here’s an article about today. And there’s others.

Good luck.

So…not gonna lie but really I lied.

Sorry, I’m out. Truth matters, even in a confidential forum. You’re asking people to spend their time offering advice and you can’t even give us accurate information. Good luck to you.

Can’t blame you

I’m missing what the lie is but why would you lie ?? Doesn’t speak to your overall self.

My opinion above doesn’t include whatever it is - but you’re off to a bad start in your academic and professional like if you do this.

I said I got a National Merit Scholarship, and I’m really a National Merit Semifinalist. I’m not a lying person - I prefer honesty in real-life situations, but you’re very right. I just added it as like a ā€œwhy notā€, but now I realize I probably shouldn’t have done that. With deceit, you’re just wasting others’ time.

The proper thing is your are NMSF with a likelihood of getting NMF.

It won’t change your admissions decisions if you don’t. It will change your financial packages at some schools, the last two of which I listed. The first qualifies with NMSF.

Alright. I’ll definitely consider the colleges you suggested. Even so, no matter how many times people say ā€œit won’t matter for job apps what college you went toā€, it’s all so ingrained in my head I wouldn’t possibly be happy with myself if I didn’t go to a T30.