Help me make a college list? 4.2 GPA (W), 1520 SAT, Comp Sci/Japanese major

College Search & Lists
1

I’m really struggling to come up with a list of realistic schools that appeal to me. I’m a female senior at a high school in CT, and I moved from TX in my junior year, so that made it difficult for me to earn any leadership positions.

I really like computer science (5 on AP Comp Sci A exam), and I’ve been studying Japanese for four years.

My transcript is a mix of A’s, A-'s, and high B+'s. My math classes tend to be higher. My grades were hurt by me moving, and by a difficult home life. I don’t want to make myself seem like… I don’t know, like “woe is me?” I know many other people have it worse than me. But my family is pretty toxic. I hate saying that, but my mother is a verbally abusive alcoholic and my twin sister is autistic/has severe OCD, and she frequently runs away and is in hospitals. My father hurt me in public last year. It’s been a rough year.

But things are looking up for my first quarter in my senior year! I’m anticipating this report card:

AP Chemistry: A-
AP Calculus BC: B+
AP Statistics: A
AP Comp Sci Principles (I know this is lower than A, but it’s all my school had left): A+
Honors American Literature: A

Here are my AP scores:

World History: 5
US History: 5
English Language and Composition: 4
Computer Science A: 5

I made a 1520 on the SAT (750 math, 770 reading).

My essay is about my room. I know that sounds silly, but it’s about how every part of my room is a piece that represents my individuality.

I’m in my school’s top choir. I’ll be sending a vocal supplement to my schools. I run on my school’s cross country team. I’m in NHS and Math NHS. At my old school, I was a member of the Japanese club. I’m considering starting a support group for students whose siblings are mentally ill.

Outside of school, I study Japanese, and I’ve been learning different programming languages on my own. I’m thinking about taking a Cisco NetAcademy course. I contribute to a video game blog. I tutor kids in programming and math.

Okay thank god all of that talk is over. If you need any more of my credentials (?), please let me know!

I’m really struggling to find schools to apply to. Right now, all I’ve really got is that I’m going to apply ED to Northeastern University, but that’s a reach, I’m pretty sure. I want to be in a city and on a coast. Do any of you have any ideas for computer science schools I could realistically get into? Just as safeties, or even any targets?

2

Since you like cities, look into Boston University.

3

Unweighted GPA?

4

Santa Clara U is a target. I suspect it will get more competitive this year as it has just been added to USNews national university list.

Computer Science is a tough admit. So are universities in coastal cities. I can think of several that are reaches or others that are targets but are an hour or two from the coast.

5

Check out Willamette in Salem, Oregon for a safety. I don’t know much about their CS program. They have a partnership with a university in Tokyo and bring Japanese students onto the Willamette campus for year-long exchanges. They give merit aid for good students.

6

Univ. Puget Sound-- LAC in Tacoma WA. Decent Comp Sci with good internship possibilities in Seattle tech. I’m fairly certain they offer Japanese too. You might qualify for merit aid even.

7

What is your budget? What is your unweighted GPA?

Can you afford to be full pay at Northeastern without taking on debt? I agree that it is not a safety, although not knowing your unweighted GPA makes everything a guess.

U.Mass Amherst is not in a city and not on a coast, but it has a great computer science program and is not too far from Connecticut.