Hello,
My Daughter is interested in Computer Science major and business minor (or double major). So far she shortlisted Stanford, Georgia Tech, UT Austin (CSB), Rice, UCal Berkely, UPenn, CMU, MIT. She wants to apply to one more university among Harvard, Princeton and Columbia. Need your guidance on chose which university she should focus her energy on.
We are from Texas.
Her metrics are:
SAT 1580/1600 (780M, 800CR); Her writing is low 15/24 (pretty low); she is very analytical & logical and not a big fan of big essays.
SAT Math II: 800/800
SAT Physics: 800/800
PSAT: 1500/1520 (so far NMSF)
AP Courses: By the time she finishes senior year, 15 courses.(including AP CompSi(5)); National AP Scholar.
Some leadership positions in her school clubs like NHS. Other than online CS courses, not much CS related ECs (like coding competitions) as her school doesn’t have CS related interest. She is not interested in coding competitions as she is interested in data sciences and AI.
Ethnicity: Asian - Indian - Female
We are not qualified for financial aid and not applying for one.
Please help us in finalizing the 9th university she could apply to among Harvard, Princeton and Columbia. Her interests are in CS and Business (more of entrepreneur mindset). It’s important for her to be able to major in either CS or Business (preferably CS) and be able to take courses in other area (preferably to major or minor in it).
So if a minor in business, or a double major in business, is something your daughter wants, she needs to cross of HCP from her list of colleges. (All of them do offer degree’s in CS.)
I think your daughter needs to first do more homework on what it is that she really wants out of college and which college offers those opportunities.
As @gibby mentioned, HP and Columbia are not options. Penn is not an option for a CS major/business minor or double major. It is an option for dual degree form Engineering and Wharton, but that requires a boatload of credits over the “normal” requirements.
On an unrelated subject, forum rules prohibit repetitive posts, so I’ve merged the threads and moved to the correct section.
Princeton doesn’t either, as every student has to write a senior thesis.
Her list is pretty top-heavy. It may be a good idea to add a couple of matches (Case Western? Northeastern?) unless UT Austin is a lock and she’d be happy to attend.
USC is a great option for a CS/business combo. It’s one of the top 5 feeder schools to Silicon Valley. Merit aid is a strong possibility with her stats; NMFs at USC are eligible for a half-tuition scholarship (currently ~$27,600 per year).
Thank you all very much, sorry about cross posting into 3 forums.Thank you @skieurope for merging them. You right about UPenn dual degree program. She doesn’t mind doing extra courses.
Thank you @warblersrule we will look into USC. Her class rank is 1. She is an auto admit to UT Austin. CS/BHP is no guarantee, UT Austin CSB program is one of her top choices. She was very impressed with Dr.Lin’s info session at UT Austin.
Thank you @gibby for your suggestions. We will look into New York University. I believe she she looked at your other suggestions, but will share as well…
You’re getting good advice here, but if her interests are CS and Business, I still wouldn’t automatically rule out great schools that don’t offer double majors or undergrad business degrees. After all, the schools you’re asking about send many, many grads into the business world! A combo of CS and econ, CS and applied math, or CS and statistics from any of your top choices would put your daughter in a great position to compete for great jobs in the most prestigious banking or business sectors, and a few years of business experience would have her ready for a top MBA program. I wouldn’t be so concerned about double majoring, even–a major in one of those subjects with significant course work and expertise in another would render her an outstanding candidate for the most desirable positions in banking and business, @HoustonTxDad . Oh, and congrats–your daughter has achieved some impressive success. Here’s to more in the coming years!
^ I agree with this. Princeton, for example, in addition to good CS has a robust operations research and financial engineering department that offers courses with all sorts of potential business applications. Personally, I wouldn’t bother with UCB if UT is a firm option. UCs aren’t a great deal for out of state kids.
UChicago does not offer undergraduate majors in Business or (AFAIK) Business Econ.
You might be able to combine CS with some other major/minor, but keep in mind that UChicago has heavy Core requirements, which (along with major prerequisites) could interfere with some such combinations.
I should have provided additional context on why CS & Business combination,. CS is her interest due to her logical/analytical brain likes the challenges, and Business as she has entrepreneur mindset. So not exactly looking for corporate career ladder. She wants to get sound understanding on business management fundamentals via the 2nd major or dual degree in UG.
I am educating myself about CS& Econ combination. Thank you for those suggestions.
@politeperson UCB has a combined program CS and Business,
@politeperson my edits didn’t go in the earlier post. UCB has M.E.T program CS, Entrepreneurship and Business that program along with the Silicon Valley startups exposure is interesting. Costs point of view, once we go out of TX, all the schools we are considering are in the same ballpark. Thank you for your input.
Northwestern University offers a CS major, but does not have an undergraduate business school. However, Northwestern University offers a Masters in Science of Management Sciences (MSMS) degree which is offered only to recent graduates of Northwestern University with one year or less of post undergraduate work experience. Neither the GMAT or GRE is required in order to apply for this exceptional program.
Northwestern University is a target school for the top management consulting (MC) firms & for the top investment banking firms (IB).
After one completes the 10 month MSMS degree & gets a couple of years of work experience, that person is then eligible for the one year MBA program offered by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business. Kellogg is an M-7 MBA school (Harvard, Stanford, Penn-Wharton, Chicago, Northwestern-Kellogg, MIT &, I think, Columbia).
(Of course, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business offers the traditional 2 year MBA program, but recommends the one year program for those who have earned the MSMS degree.)
That UCB MET program in an engineering major + business is similar curriculum-wise as doing both majors. The difference is that students are direct-admitted to both majors (normally, business is competitive admission during one’s second year). Completing both majors means taking overload schedules averaging 20 credit units per semester instead of 15-16 credit units per semester.
Beware that some engineering employers see engineering applicants with substantial business courses as those who may be less interested in engineering itself, as opposed to using it as a fast track to management. This may be unfavorable when seeking engineering jobs. @HPuck35 can say more.