Hypothetically, if you are an average excellent stem kid, but you don’t know for sure what kind of stem, but you want the option of CS, what schools would be on your list?
Assume you are the kind of well-rounded kid that will grow wherever planted, unhooked, rigorous curriculum, stats and ECs, etc worthy of admission anywhere (as much as anyone unhooked is). Money isn’t a limiting factor, but you don’t care about prestige. The one thing you know is that you aren’t an engineer- but otherwise you have no idea what you want to do when you graduate.
The main criteria is that you don’t have to commit to a major until end of sophomore year. What schools bubble up to the top of your list?
There are going to be better, more specific, posts, but I think size might be an important metric for a kid who I’m assuming is currently in BS (based on your username!). Many LACs - which would otherwise be great options- may feel too similar. Do you think that is relevant? I’m thinking mid-size unis (Cornell, per @momofboiler1, has advisors whose specialty is ‘undecided’ students, but also Rice, NU, Duke, etc.). Do those make sense?
Size doesn’t matter for this kid. He would be fine at Harvey Mudd and equally fine at a huge flagship.
I am particularly stumped for safeties. But reaches and matches are useful, too.
I am guessing the question has broad interest because the more specific threads are either CS specific, pre-med or Engineering. But there have to be kids who just don’t know.
If you live in CA, would a place like UCLA be considered a match or safety? Or are you looking for privates only?
In terms of a top-20 school that is very stats based in terms of admission, consider Vanderbilt. If you look at the scattergrams of most elite schools, the admissions among the high stats kids seem pretty random. But the last time I checked, Vanderbilt was still strongly stats based in terms of who got in and who didn’t. From our school, above a certain GPA and SAT score, about 75% got in.
In terms of pure reaches, my top two recommendations are UChicago and Yale.
UChicago seems to tick a lot of boxes. It is rigorous, doesn’t require declaration of a major until end of sophomore year, and allows students to add double majors and minors easily. And the quarter system allows a great deal of exploration. You should check if your school has a good relationship with UChicago. And if your child decides UChicago is right, consider ED.
Now onto Yale. Among all the HYPSM schools, Yale is the only one that actively recruits strong STEM kids, and so your “average excellent stem kid” child (I suspect you are being modest) has a better shot there than at the other HYPSM schools.
As a suggested criterion for researching schools strong across the sciences, including less challenging admits, consider those with well developed geosciences programs. This field, because of its breadth, can indirectly indicate strength across the natural sciences in general. Geosciences themselves, of course, could make for an appealing area of study.
Amherst, Wesleyan and Williams. All of them get short-shrift in certain corners of the world for being liberal ARTS colleges with little idea that they each have enormous commitments in the lab sciences. The electives in CS will differ from year to year, but otherwise, they are always looking for more STEM kids.
Case Western Reserve, University of Rochester, both you declare sophomore year. I think at almost all the top private uni’s even if you list your major for the app, it’s easy to switch.
This is part of my confusion. I don’t know where each of the UCs are on the safety/match/reach spectrum. Personally, I like UC Davis. But does UCLA or any of them not require you to declare your major? I would assume UCLA is fiercely competitive for stem, and what with it going test blind - what does that portend for a stem kid?
I think of Yale as a humanities school more than stem, but I don’t know why. Something to think about.
I dunno where kiddo falls, he hasn’t gotten his SAT results back (expect them to be good enough to be 75% or higher at any school) and his grades are solid. He is a great student, liked by teachers, and can self-advocate. But there are lots like him out there.
Fwiw, he is master of his own college search- but I want to be able to discuss options intelligently.
Geosciences. That sounds super interesting- especially that it is a marker for strong sciences across the board. So does that mean the schools with “Mines” in their names, or anywhere with that particular major?
Question: With so many stem kids out there these days, I just assume the CS/math/physics departments at LACs are impacted. Does anyone know which schools are planning significant hiring in the immediate future? I know Vanderbilt (not a LAC, but I think of it as similar) announced a big hiring initiative in CS/engineering. Anywhere else? And how realistic is it to assume that that growth would be in time to matter for a current high school junior?
Based on your son’s broad interests, the approach at “Mines” schools may be too narrow. Consider the full range of colleges strong in geosciences, which will overlap with many of the specific suggestions you receive through your topic here.
The biggest decision he needs to make is whether or not engineering might be in the STEM mix. If it’s a possibility, he should start there and move out if it isn’t a fit. That would mean narrowing to schools that have engineering to start with which rules out most LACs.
Next, it isn’t so important that a student enter undeclared. It’s the ease of changing majors that matters. Cal Poly for example not only requires a declared major to apply, but students only compete against students who also want said major. There’s wild differences between the difficulty of acceptance between majors at CP. Once in though, switching largely depends on how competitive they would have been to get into the destination major in the first place. Since CS is ultra-selective there, once in, they can switch to just about anything.
UCLA is very competitive, especially for CS and engineering. I’m not sure how you can say this without test scores in hand and not knowing the students GPA. I think it’s safe to say that no one should consider UCLA a safety for CS. Ditto UCB and particularly Cal Poly.