I find it pretty difficult to know which schools to consider safeties, matches, and reaches for me. Help? Sorry if profile is a little jumbled! I know most of these are not safeties. Thanks in advance.
SCHOOLS:
Bates College
Carnegie Mellon University
Cornell University
Duke University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Johns Hopkins University
Rice University
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
Vanderbilt University
Wake Forest University
PROFILE:
Background
• State : Florida
• School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: African-American
• Gender: M
• Income Bracket: Low-Income
• Projected Major: Computer Science
Academics
• SAT I : 2120 (680 M), (730 W), (710R)
• GPA (out of 4.0): [3.7 (4.2 W)]
• Rank: 40/600 (top 7%); competitive school/class
• AP Courses: [AP Calculus AB (4), AP World History (4)
• 13 AP Classes taken through HS
• Senior Courses: AP Statistics AP Macroeconomics, AP French, AP Environmental Science, AP U.S. Government and Politics, Honors Astronomy, Workplace Technology Applications
• Major Awards:
•IBM Master the Mainframe online coding competition (3 yrs)
•Principals Honor Roll Award (4 yrs)
•AP Scholar
•“Le Grand Concours” National French Examination “Association Americaine Des Professeurs De Francais” Placed competitively in top quartile (2014,2015)
Extracurriculars
•4 Yrs on Track & Field team (Current Team Captain): 4x800 2nd team All-Conference (2013)
•4 Yrs on Cross Country team (Current Team Captain): Most Improved Runner (10), Most Valuable Runner (12)
•3 Yrs in French Honors Society (Current Treasurer): Fund-raised and facilitated Club events and operations
•Advanced Physics Club (Current President) (2015) – Prototyped solar-powered light partnering with the Liter of Light Campaign to be shipped to village slums in Malaysia
•3 Yrs on National Honor Society
•Robotics Club (Tech Coordinator)
•Programming Club (2015)
•Aeronautical Software Engineering Summer Internship Program
•Local Lake Watch Team
•Hosted Tutoring services for Algebra II and Geometry (2012-2013)
• Job/Work Experience: Front Service Clerk at Publix
• Volunteer/Community service:30 hours @ Second Harvest Food Bank
Well, you definitely have demographics as a hook. The 3.7 uw is a liability. Very solid ECs. Unfortunately these are all difficult schools to get into. Of the schools you’ve listed, Bates, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech look more certain. You need to add some more schools where your chances are better U.Illinois has a great computer science program
You look pretty solid, @zabaan. Your only hitches may come from one or two specialized CS programs that might look for a 700+ on the SAT math section or an equivalent performance on a quantitative SAT subject test. Look for acceptances from ~4 to 10 of your choices.
They all look like high reaches to me except low reach wake forest and bates. I think you should find some safer choices just in case. I would not want my kid to have such a top heavy list. Good Luck.
Did you apply to various Florida publics and schools with full ride merit scholarships (e.g. Florida A&M, Louisiana Tech, Prairie View A&M, Tuskegee; see http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ ) as potential safeties?
Have you run the net price calculator on all of the other schools?
No Florida Universities on your list? What about UF, UCF and University of Miami? You could qualify for the full tuition Hammond Scholarship at UMiami. All three have very good CS departments.
I think your math SAT score is a tad low for your major. Your GPA looks a bit low but you are in the top 7%, so that rank makes me think your school grades hard. Do you have SAT II test scores?
As a low income student with good stats, you should apply to schools that meet full need and to schools that have automatic scholarships. You could get s competetive scholarship but those are tough to get at competetive schools.
Thanks for the response. For some insufficient reason I have not applied to any Florida schools. I will definitely do so though. Although University of Florida’s priority admissions wave has finished. I am still able to apply up to March 1 without priority. I will also apply to UM. I believe I have automatic admission to UCF via their top 10% guarantee. I also have run that net price calc. (money a concern in terms of colleges).
That SAT math score is the bane of my existence. I have a 650 Math II and a 660 USH, so not good at all . I am not going to continue my sport of Track and Cross Country into college unless I were to go D3, then i might, but unlikely.
I considered Wake Forest a low reach only because the acceptance rate is so low. Applying to your state schools sounds like a good backup plan. I am glad you are hoping for the best but planning for every situation.
Remember, safeties first. Pick one or more where you are automatic for admission and enough scholarship or financial aid (e.g. Florida A&M full ride). Then you can apply to reaches.
Personally, I like your chances at GATech. You don’t pre-select your major there, and your ethnicity is certainly going to help in admissions.
Is $ a consideration?
If you will consider LAC’s like Bates, there are several that you should be admitted to as a match that are strong in CS: Denison in Ohio, where you would get merit aid; Furman in SC; Trinity University in Texas, where you would get merit aid. All these are top tier in CS, and Denison and Trinity are D3, so you could compete in track and field if you were interested.
CMU for CS is a major reach for anyone. Think MIT or Stanford tough.
OP needs good financial aid or a big merit scholarship.
Bates is not suitable for CS majors. But many other small schools are. See the list at http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19082841/#Comment_19082841 . However, they should be checked for financial aid or scholarships. And get the affordable safety application in first before spending a lot of time on other schools.
(money a concern in terms of colleges).
. I am not going to continue my sport of Track and Cross Country into college unless I were to go D3, then i might, but unlikely.