Match me for Math/CS (Any good ED Targets?) [IN resident, 4.0 GPA, 1550 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics Asian Male

  • US domestic
  • Type of high school *: Large Public
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): None

Intended Major(s) CS and/or Applied Math

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.94
  • College GPA (for transfers): 4.0 DE GPA
  • Class Rank: N/A
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1550 (750 RW/800 M)

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))

Notable: AP Calc BC (5), AP CSA (5), AP Chem (5), AP Physics C: Mechanics + E&M (5 likely), AP Physics 1 (5), APUSH (5), AP Stat (5 likely), AP Gov (5), AP Macroeconomics (5 likely), AP Lang (3-4 likely), Calc 3 (A), DSA (A), Discrete Math (A)

Senior Year: AP Biology, AP Lit, AP World, Linear, Diff Eq

Awards’

  1. USACO Gold Division + Other CS Awards
  2. AIME + AMC12 Distinction + Other Math Awards
  3. Orchestra Award
  4. Research Awards
  5. Minor Stuff

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience) keeping vague

  1. (Summer 24, confirmed) Data Science Intern, will make $6k
  2. (Fall 24, very likely) Paid ML Intern
  3. (Spring 24) Independent Research #1 (going well, will likely make it to conferences)
  4. (9-12) Math Club (President, lots of involvement with county meets and awards)
  5. (9-12) Orchestra (Lots of selective youth orchestras, state orchestras)
  6. (10-12) Volunteering. 200+ Students in Competitive Math and Programming
  7. (Summer 23) Independent Research #2, accepted to conference
  8. (Summer 23) Small Summer Program (Free, not sure on selectiveness)
  9. (10-12) Competitive Programming + President of Tech Club
  10. unsure. Trying to get research position @flagship state this summer/fall if possible.

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.). Assume everything is average. Won’t hurt or help me.

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)

Cost is a factor, however no loans will be needed. I am in-state for Purdue.

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)

Please give more good recommendations.

  • Safety (certain admission and affordability)
    IU
  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)
    Penn State, VT
  • Match
    Purdue, UMD
  • Reach
    GT, UIUC, CMU, UCSD, UCB, UPenn, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, UChicago

Any clear good ED schools? I am interested in both Math and CS as degrees however I’m not sure what I want to pursue after college (SWE, ML, Quant, etc).

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A good ED target is one you can afford and where you want to be.

It’s not for me to tell you where to ED. ED isn’t a game. You will be somewhere for four years, day after day after day.

Purdue is a top school - so congrats. Is your cost desire, as you noted in state, about $22K - $20K + surcharge?

If that’s the case - then why apply to a Ga Tech.

What I’d do is - run the net price calculator for your reaches - the Penn, Cornells of the world - and see how you fair.

If they are $90K+ full price, will your family let you attend over Purdue or IU?

If so, then find the school you would most love to go to - and that’s great.

If not, then know that Purdue and IU will both be OUTSTANDING choices for your majors.

Best of luck.

This is one - of many - but this will show you the #s so you can estimate cost and discuss with your family.

PS - PSU, Va Tech, UMD - not coming close to Purdue or IU costs…same with GT, UIUC, UCSD, UCB.

So get your budget squared away first b4 picking schools to apply. You say no loans are needed but also say you are in-state for Purdue so that is what you have to decide - is their cost the max or your family will go higher. And if so, how high. $400K for four years? Have that disucssion.

Good luck.

Welcome | Net Price Calculator (collegeboard.org)

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Paging @hebegebe who might be able to provide more insight with respect to some of your competition awards.

I would have your family run the Net Price Calculator at the private schools in your reach category (and at Northwestern, which didn’t get listed) to see whether you family is willing and able to pay those prices. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be a big guessing game to get a ballpark price with those schools.

With UCSD and UCB, the costs will be about $75k, and there is no merit aid of significance at those schools. If your family is not willing and able to pay that for those schools, those would be easy cuts.

One school you may want to consider is Stevens Institute of Technology which is right across the river from Manhattan and that does offer merit aid. You may also want to consider Rensselaer Polytechnic or Rochester Institute of Technology. These schools would range between a match and a likely for you.

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Is CMU affordable? If so, I would recommend you apply ED for the CS program.

My rationale for CMU CS is that it is the pre-eminent CS program in the nation, and I think you have a reasonable shot of admission there. You have many solid achievements that CMU CS would care about (the highlights being USACO gold, your internships, AIME, and your research).

You also have good chances of admission at UIUC and Cornell. IMO, the remaining Ivy+ colleges (Columbia, UPenn, Duke and UChicago) are less likely, because they pay less attention to your strengths.

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Yes, but as a fit school, shouldn’t the OP ensure they fit there (or anywhere they’re applying ED).

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Certainly a valid point, but I would hope that the schools were already filtered for fit.

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I agree that CMU is a good ED option - if - OP has already considered fit. In my experience, many kids add CMU to their list because it’s a top school without understanding the specific nature of the experience there. So, OP - if you haven’t already then I strongly advise you to dig deeper into the culture and student body at CMU to make sure it’s for you.
It’s no doubt a top CS school but it’s very much a “fit” school.

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From the list provided, I second CMU as the ED choice. Great school for CS, a very nice campus, and lots of research opportunities.

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I’m sure you’ll get plenty of suggestions as to what schools would be “good ED schools”. But please do not apply to a school ED without visiting if at all possible. I know a kid who committed to CMU(the very same school being suggested here) without having visited. Once arriving on campus in the fall, they found a lot of things they didn’t like. Please do you homework on an ED choice.

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Good point. Research, research, research. And visit if at all possible.

OP, I have visited all the schools on your Match and Reach list except for UMD, Columbia, and Chicago. Of those schools I still feel that CMU should be one that you really consider based on what I know about their academics, facilities, and opportunities for research.

But, as you can see from other posts not everyone is a match for CMU. So, make sure it is, in fact, a good match for you.

Actually, our D22 is currently staying in a dorm at CMU for her summer internship in Pittsburgh and we recently returned from getting her moved in. The campus was very nice and Pittsburgh has lots to offer.

If you get a chance watch (YouTube) - The “Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch (a CMU professor). We watched this as a family while my son was considering colleges to apply to. At the end of the video there was not a dry eye in the room. When our S did apply to CMU he mentioned, in one of his essays, thinking about the video as he walked over the “Pausch Bridge” on campus. Our S was ultimately offered admission to CMU (SCS and Dietrich, with a couple of great academic scholarships) but took another path. To this day we still have fond memories of CMU.

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This. Especially Carnegie-Mellon.

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As a general comment, to combine applied math with computing, consider a major in data science.

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First, congratulations!! You have an excellent resume, and are competitive for any college. That being said, remember that there are 6-8 competitive applicants rejected for every one who is accepted.

Your list is great as it is, but I would propose some minor modifications

Why UCSD rather than UCLA? Chicago is only good if you want to focus more on math and on CS theory. For publics, maybe look at Washington.

Maybe look at U Minnesota as a Likely instead of Penn State.

You may want to replace UPenn with Princeton, and there is really no reason for you not to add MIT to your list of reaches.

Remember that Purdue is really as good or better than the rest of your list.

I’m not certain that UMD will be a match for CS, but your GC would know better.

Good luck!

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I heard CMU doesn’t give an ED boost though, and that my awards are probably not enough for the CS program

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Thanks, I visited CMU and it is my 100% top choice however the CS program is so competitive that my chances are slim to none and they don’t offer a great ED boost anyways. I was considering other ED schools like Cornell, which I also visited, because it’s still great and also one of my top choices although not as much as CMU.

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You are looking at things the wrong way.

First and foremost - of every school on your list - where is it you want to attend? Assuming you can afford it, that’s where you ED.

You don’t apply to #3 in hopes of getting better odds, if there’s a #1 you prefer.

Not everyone EDs and one doesn’t need to.

Edit - you posted as I posted. Based on what you wrote, CMU and not Cornell should be your ED. Forgetting they are nothing alike - if you want CMU, then you wouldn’t want to get into Cornell ED, only to find out you also got into CMU.

This is four years of your life - it’s not a game.

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Thanks, I heard UCSD CS is better than UCLA and Washington CS basically only accepts in-state (<2% acc rate oos). I’ll also apply to Princeton and MIT.

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Yes I agree. I’m honestly leaning towards no ED then because CMU ED doesn’t offer a huge boost afaik and I can improve my application by the RD deadline (2024 AMC, More Research, etc)

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They show last year 615 of 4515.

How many were hooked, etc. I don’t know.

Total was 3843 of 33707.

So mathematically there is some advantage - but they also admitted 5x+ more people non ED as they did ED. So people who think only ED works are mistaken.

And their yield is well under 50%.

Good luck.

I’m not saying to ED or not. But I’m saying to ensure where you ED is affordable (is it) and your top choice (it is)…Cornell isn’t.

Good luck.

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You will have great options, unless you have a strong reason, why bother to ED? Do you really want to commit nearly 400K to an education when there will be top ranked publics that may be a third the price with the same opportunities?

Let me suggest UT Austin Turing Scholars and Deans Scholars
They are both in the College on Natural Sciences, many students double major in math and CS, and they have a great pipeline to the opportunities you are looking to explore after college. There are paths to make the cost much closer to Purdue than CMU.

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