Match Me: Bad ECs Louisiana Sophomore 3.93 UW GPA with CyberSec schools

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US domestic *
  • State/Location of residency: Louisiana
  • Type of high school Medium-ish school, around 1000 people:
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity Transgender white male:

Intended Major(s)
I am very interested in cybersecurity, however CS is still something I’m considering.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.93
  • Weighted HS GPA 4.19:
  • Class Rank: None
  • ACT/SAT Scores:
    I am in the middle of studying for the ACT! I’ve taken the PreACT and I got a 25 (not my best work…!) I’ll take it in June, but I’m planning on taking it three more times after that to optimize my scores. I do not plan on taking the SAT unless absolutely necessary.

Coursework
9-10th: 7 honors, 2 aps (Gov (i scored a 2…) and Human geo)
Upcoming 11th: 1 honors, 3 duel w/ LATech (psych, chem, + german), 2 AP (Lang + us history)
Predicted 12th: 1 honors, 1 duel w/ LATech (world history), 3 AP (Bio, stats, lit)

Awards
None yet! But I’m going to a Literary rally for German II next year so maybe that… VERY easy to place highly!

Extracurriculars
(9-12) FIRST robotics. Went to worlds for the 2023 season in our rookie season. For my senior year, I’ll be the lead programmer on the team.
(9) Band, but only for one year
(9-12) 300 volunteer hours for STEM camps over the summer, working with 1-8th graders

Cost Constraints / Budget
I have my dad’s G.I. bill, so any public university I can go to for 100% free for two years. For private schools, I get 27k a year but I’ll have to pay for the rest. So, I’d prefer a public university, but my parents have a very good income of like 120k a year, so a more expensive university is no problem for me.

Schools
My ultimate safety is Louisiana Tech, because I live very close to it and I have a slight legacy there. However, I really don’t want to go to a Louisiana school, considering I am transgender and want to be in a trans friendly state. So, this option is a very last resort.

I know my stats aren’t very good for the schools I want to go to, especially my ECs, so please don’t make fun of me too much for my choices haha…

Safeties: LATech
Targets: RIT
Reaches: UIUC, Purdue, UWM, Tulane, UCSB

I am mostly asking for places to look into that are more in my range of where I could actually get into. I don’t know how I’d fair in admissions because of my bad extracurriculars, so I’m really asking for advice. Also, anywhere that is especially trans-friendly would be awesome. Thank you so much for any help!

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Some private schools have >$90k list prices, so after applying $27k, that still leaves $63k to pay if you get no other financial aid or scholarships.

Also, doesn’t the GI Bill cover public university in-state tuition, rather than total costs including living expenses and books?

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The G.I. bill will cover around 1k in books per semester I believe, and will cover a certain amount of housing per semester as well, but it varies from school to school. From my research, it’s around 1.5k provided for housing. Also, yes, it would leave a large sum to still pay for private schools. This is why I’m more focused on public schools so I don’t drown in debt.

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Cybersecurity majors can be moderately technical, like at Purdue:

Or they can be highly technical, as an option within what is basically a computer science major, like at Arizona State:
https://degrees.apps.asu.edu/major-map/ASU00/ESCSEIBS/null/ALL/2024

What type of cybersecurity major would you prefer? A more technical background (or a CS major with appropriate electives in security-related topics) would likely give you more options for and abilities to handle a wider range of work in the area.

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The University of Alabama at Huntsville might be worth looking into for cybersecurity, also.

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Not a trans-friendly state though.

OP, how much cybersecurity exposure have you had? What about it interests you?

I’m asking because it’s a niche field and ranges from cutting-edge AI based threat detection techniques to (far more often) very mundane work like configuring firewalls. It’s a hot in-demand field, but not necessarily as exciting as you might see on TV. It depends on how technical you want to get, and what kind of role you are in.

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Movement Advancement Project | Snapshot: LGBTQ Equality by State (click on gender identity for trans-specific ratings) can help you see which states are more or less friendly. You can also look up specific issues to see where each state stands on it.

Of the schools in your list, they are in states with the following ratings:

  • High: RIT (NY), UIUC (IL), UCSB (CA)
  • Low: UWM (WI, assuming you mean University of Wisconsin Milwaukee)
  • Negative: Louisiana Tech (LA), Tulane (LA), Purdue (IN).
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Great resource!
So, for OP’s reference, the states that get a “High” rating are:

  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Illinois
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Minnesotta
  • Nevada
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • Oregon
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont
  • Washington

All these have great public universities, although many of them will be high targets or reaches. Worth researching them, though.

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Some of the public universities in these states are not as selective, and could be likely or safety for your stats.

Note that California and Washington public universities do not consider SAT or ACT scores for admission. This removes what you see as the weakest part of your college application for those schools. However, computer science is a more competitive admission major at many UCs and some CSUs in California, and at University of Washington.

Also, Hawaii and New Mexico have a high rating for gender identity issues. Their state universities are not difficult to get admitted to.

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Agreed. “many of them will be high targets or reaches” implies that others won’t be (meaning, they will be likelies or safeties).

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Thank you all for the responses!

A more technical degree would most likely be what I’d look for. I’m currently learning programming for a couple different languages, which has me practicing very technical skills, and I love it. While I’m less inclined to pursue a CS degree, I’d love to tackle more technical problems in cybersecurity.

LATech hosts cybersecurity camps every once in a while, and I recently attended one. It was originally created with the intent of recruiting people to the DHS, however it was repurposed for highschoolers. The type of content shown here was definitely more up my ally, and my dad who worked in cybersecurity for the Air Force agreed that the content there was almost identical to what he learned while training for cyber. I’m unsure where that fits in the field. I don’t necessarily want to work for the government, but it introduced me to cyber forensics which really fascinated me. To be honest I’m unsure what I want to do in cybersecurity, but I know that I want to learn more about the subject.

I’m also aware that it can be quite a mundane field, and I’m perfectly fine with that. I’m confident that I’d be happy no matter what I do with a cybersecurity degree.

Also, thank you for the recommendations for states to look into! Such a great resource, and it’ll definitely help me narrow down some college choices. Thanks for all the help!

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You’re welcome. And I’m glad to hear you have had exposure to the field.

Have you run net price calculators on any elite private school websites? It’s possible your family may qualify for need based aid, and you don’t have to rely solely on GI Bill benefits.

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I haven’t run any calculators yet, since I know they sometimes need tax information. I’ll definitely sit down with my family soon and work through it with them to see what I can get for aid.

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I will think more about your situation, but you may want to give some thought to adding LSU or U. of New Orleans as safeties for you. You should qualify for TOPS, so the “tuition” part would be paid for for all four years (though nearly half of “tuition & fees” is fees, as the legislature doesn’t want the cost of TOPS to keep escalating). New Orleans is much more trans friendly than the rest of the state, and though Baton Rouge probably isn’t as trans-friendly as N.O. (though I can’t say for sure), I’d bet it’s far friendlier than Ruston.

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Thank you for the advice! I did consider other regions of the state while beginning to think about colleges. I added Tulane as a reach because I know southern Louisiana is much more accepting than the rest of the state, but LSU was just a school I overlooked. I’ll 100% add it as a safety!

Also, yes I do qualify for TOPS. I’ve been looking for good quality cybersec programs within state, and the best is LATech. But I’m sure I can find other good programs as well. I’ve heard good things about University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s CS program.

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Movement Advancement Project | State Profiles has details on the laws in the state of Louisiana; at the bottom is a section on local laws. According to the latter section, New Orleans and Shreveport are the two localities in Louisiana that have enacted some local laws against discrimination on gender identity in employment, housing, and public accommodations.

However, social attitudes and tendency toward hostile discrimination may differ in different areas with the same laws on the matter.

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I’m glad RIT is on your list. It is a target school for you, has a great cybersecurity program, and has extended benefits for veterans (and dependents).

A friend’s son had a great job offer by the by the end of his junior year and had well paying internships throughout his time there.

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I don’t know about your Major but both Minnesota and Maine are super trans friendly.

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I’ve heard nothing but good about RIT and its cybersecurity program, and it’s definitely the school I’ve looked into the most out of my options. It’ll most likely be my top choice against most of the schools on my list. However, RIT is a private school, and I’d have to pay more tuition there than I would elsewhere. Otherwise, it seems like a perfect fit for me.

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You and your parents can try the RIT net price calculator at Net Price Calculator (linked from Determining Your Financial Need | RIT ) to get an estimate of financial aid and net price there.

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