If you are finishing sophomore year with a 3.93/4.17, I don’t necessarily think you’re out of the running for schools like UW-Seattle and UMich. But you’ll have to reassess a year from now. And also, the most-competitive schools like these are less likely to have specialty degrees in cybersecurity, at the undergrad level, than ones a tier lower.
There are some great options on that SFS list! In addition to ones that have already been discussed, like RIT, WPI, Michigan Tech, and Cal Poly Pomona, there are additional ones I hadn’t thought of, that look promising.
- U of Delaware: Cybersecurity Engineering | University of Delaware They have a great Honors College too, which may be possible for you.
- UMass Amherst has a fantastic reputation for CS.
- Northeastern is a reach and super-expensive, but if you could get in and get the scholarship, it’s excellent, and Boston could be a great place to be. Cybersecurity, BS | Northeastern University Academic Catalog I think you’d probably have some geographic-diversity advantage, applying from LA. It’s particularly known for co-op education.
- A less-reachy but still well-regarded co-op school is Drexel in Philadelphia, which has this program Bachelor's Degree in Cyber Security & Information Technology | Drexel CCI
- SUNY Binghamton is a great, smaller flagship (NY doesn’t have a single top flagship, but Bing is one of the SUNY’s that’s considered to be in that category), and it has this BSCS with Cybersecurity Track | Computer Science | Binghamton University
- URI has a cybersecurity minor which is most commonly combined with the CS major but can work with other majors too. Lots of upperclassmen live at the beach!
- Virginia Tech has multiple options Undergraduate Cybersecurity Education Programs | Cybersecurity | Virginia Tech
- Oregon State is a great, hands-on school for all things STEM Computer Science Option: Cybersecurity | Oregon State University
- UMD has a Cybersecurity specialization in both CS and ECE. Not an easy admit, especially for CS, and you must apply Early Action as the popular majors fill up, but it could be possible.
- UIUC has this Illinois Cyber Security Scholars Program (ICSSP) | Information Trust Institute | UIUC Their CS+X majors are less reachy than the straight-CS major, and you might like them better anyway. CS+GIS could be a particularly great one to look at.
- Loyola Chicago… not sure if you’d consider a Catholic school, but the Jesuit schools are very inclusive, and this one is making a particular effort wrt trans students. Affirmation of Support for Transgender Students: Office of the Dean of Students: Loyola University Chicago They have a BS in Cybersecurity and a cohort program for the scholarship recipients. It’s in a great neighborhood, and the school itself has so many LGBTQ+ students that it’s sometimes affectionally referred to as “Gayola.”
- In DC, there’s both GWU and Georgetown - the latter may be too reachy, but the former should not be. Doesn’t look like they have a specialty undergrad degree, but they have this B.A./B.S. Computer Science/M.S. in Cybersecurity in Computer Science | School of Engineering & Applied Science | The George Washington University - not sure if the scholarship program lets you take the extra year for the masters.
Anyway, just going down the rabbit hole out of curiosity, but lots of cool possibilities!
One more big reach that is not part of the scholarship program… USC is highly competitive, but their median stats aren’t off the charts (3.82/32), and this program could be particularly attractive if you’re interested in the intelligence aspect of cybersecurity: Intelligence and Cyber Operations B.A. and it can be further enhanced with a cybersecurity minor. (The minor can also be combined with a more traditional Data Science or CS major.) It’s a super-expensive school but does meet need (and the first-year admissions process is need-blind), so it could be worth running the Net Price Calculator.