Starting the Search: Computer Science schools?

College Search & Lists
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My stepson is in 10th grade and is just starting his college search. We don’t have any test scores yet, but he is taking the most challenging curriculum at his school (he goes to an early entrance college high school, and takes about half his classes at his local community college) and has a 4.0 UW GPA. Extracurriculars are: started a chess club, plays oboe in concert band, plays percussion in marching band, had a significant role in the play last year, and is in a handful of other clubs.

He is Hispanic and attends a rural high school in Texas where the majority of students are Hispanic and low-income.

He has a talent for programming and thinks he wants to go into computer science, but is not certain. He has an entrepreneurial spirit and is interested in the idea of business and starting a business, any kind of business. He also thinks he might want to go into engineering or perhaps materials science. He thinks there is a 75% chance he will major in CS and 25% chance he will major in something else at this point. His favorite classes this year are chemistry and history of the theater.

He is intellectually curious and enjoys learning many different subjects, which makes me think he might be a good candidate for a LAC, but there are two things that hold me back: 1.) His weakness is writing-- he struggles to express himself coherently in words, and central Texas schools have really failed to teach him how to write well. 2.) Since he might want to major in engineering, I think he should keep his options open and attend a school where he can major in engineering if that’s what he decides he wants to do.

He loves small classes and discussing and debating. But he can handle large classes, too, and can succeed in most friendly learning environments. I don’t think he will be happy or thrive at school that has an intense “pressure cooker” atmosphere-- he doesn’t like exorbitant amounts of stress or competition. And, while he is a highly capable student, he will be going into college with less preparation than many of his peers due to his background. I don’t know if this should be a factor in selecting a school.

Socially, he makes friends easily, has a girlfriend, and is a sociable guy, but he’s also highly sensitive and introverted and has only one best friend that he really trusts. He’s Christian. Politically, he seems to lean slightly toward the left. He’s turned off by wild parties, drinking, and drugs. But he likes to go out with a small group of his friends and have fun in his own way. He is geeky in a good way and likes being around other people he can geek out with.

Geographically, west or midwest is definitely preferable. But at this point we will explore everything. He doesn’t want to go to school in Texas-- too hot, not novel enough, not far away enough.

Financially, since he doesn’t want to go in-state, we want a (probably private) school that will give generous merit and need based aid. We can pay ~25k per year.

His school has no college counselors, so I really appreciate your thoughts! Thank you.

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That can make the search significantly more difficult, particularly for safeties. Assuming a top-end rank, a Texas public university that he qualifies for automatic admission at and does not have additional competition for CS could be a decent safety at in-state prices, but if those are ruled out, finding an affordable safety becomes much more difficult.

Have you tried the net price calculators on various private schools of interest to see if need-based financial aid may work, or if his college search must be merit-scholarship-seeking?

If he does well enough on the 11th grade PSAT to make National Merit Semifinalist and then advances to Finalist, that can open up a much larger set of scholarships based on National Merit status.

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I would suggest starting by visiting a few schools if that is possible. Even local or nearby schools can be helpful. Would he like an urban campus, like Rice or University of Houston? Would a state flagship campus, like, for example, the University of Oklahoma (UT-Austin is a little more urban than some of these, which is why I use OU)? Would a small LAC in a small town be okay (I don’t know an example in TX, but there are lots of them in the Midwest).

Maybe you drive over to Colorado. University of Colorado in Boulder is a spectacularly beautiful example of a flagship campus; Colorado College in Colorado Springs is a good example of an LAC; Colorado School of Mines in Golden is a good example of a STEM school; University of Denver, urban school with a distinct campus; Colorado State is in the very nice college town of Fort Collins. You could also check out the Air Force Academy, also Colorado Springs.

You might google “colleges that meet full financial need” and “colleges that give good merit aid.” The former may not actually meet all the need that you perceive, but they are striving to meet it, and with as few loans as possible. He sounds like a good student. If his test scores are high, he might be eligible for significant merit aid. It seems to me that most typically LACs (private schools) will effectively discount their sticker prices to attract quality students. Not very many families can pay $60k or so per year. Particularly in the Midwest, students often get approximately $10-$25 off the sticker price, which means they can still be expensive. But sometimes a student can receive more merit aid. I like this simple table to illustrate that (Miami of Ohio is a public university)

http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/

You might also google college entry programs for Hispanic students, and the same with summer programs added, and also college scholarship programs for Hispanic students. These programs are designed to assist students in learning about colleges and the college application process. At many schools, Hispanic students are very underrepresented, and schools are anxious to address this. I don’t know much about this but found these great looking programs in a few minutes of googling.

https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/scholarships/neubauer

https://www.du.edu/admission-aid/undergraduate/pioneer-prep/index.html

https://www.du.edu/admission-aid/undergraduate/pioneer-prep/index.html

I would imagine that most of these summer programs will be taking applications soon after the New Year and into February. So now is a great time to research them.

And especially his junior year, not now, you might look at the admissions webpages for schools that look interesting to find if they offer special opportunities for visiting that might apply. Often schools look positively on student “interest,” which includes getting info on the school and especially visiting and interviewing (not now, more like late junior year/senior year). Also schools have net price calculators (NPCs) on their admissions pages. You can enter your info, and it will give you an estimate of the cost to attend for your particular case.

Good luck!

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If you want the most money, you need to be more flexible on location.g

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I would also suggest you run a few NPCs. When a school says they meet full need, that is based on what they determine your need to be. They may feel you can pay for more the the $25k budget that you have set. Before ruling out in state options just because he wants to be further away make sure they are affordable.

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What is your EFC? 25k is a lot to be able to spend.

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@ucbalumnus Yes, I think we should qualify for substantial need-based aid. We have an older son at Whitman College who is currently receiving 40k per year in grant money, if that gives you an idea. Son #2 looks like he is going to be the stronger candidate, if things continue without hiccups. You’re right that his insistence on going out of state makes things very difficult, and luckily we have some time to help open up his mind to the idea of an in-state school. :slight_smile:

@TTG Thanks for the tips! He has visited UT-Austin and UW-Seattle campuses. He is open to all sizes of schools in all types of environments… but he really wants to get away from Southern heat/humidity. He wants to be able to run and play outside without feeling like he is going to die. :slight_smile: I think he would love Colorado. He is quite interested in Carleton, though is concerned that it doesn’t offer engineering. He also likes the breadth/course selection that a big school can offer him, so… he is all over the map and we really don’t know where to start figuring out where might be a good fit.

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One thing to consider for CS and engineering is that they are popular majors that are filled to capacity at some colleges. In this case, beware of the following situations if he is unsure of his major:

A. Direct admission to the CS or E major is more difficult than admission to the school is generally. Changing into the CS or E major is difficult if one enrolls without direct admission to the CS or E major. (e.g. UT Austin, Washington for CS, UIUC)
B. School enrolls CS or E majors with direct admission, but has high GPA thresholds to stay in the major. (e.g. Wisconsin for engineering)
C. School enrolls frosh in a pre-engineering program, but then requires a moderately competitive process to get into specific CS or E majors. (e.g. Texas A&M, Purdue, Minnesota, probably Washington for engineering)
D. School enrolls frosh in a pre-engineering program; entering a CS or E major is non-competitive if one passes the prerequisites. However, frosh who enroll outside of the pre-engineering program may find it difficult to switch into the pre-engineering program or a CS or E major. (e.g. Michigan, USC)
E. CS and E majors are non-competitive to enter once the student is enrolled at the school. (e.g. Wisconsin for CS, Case Western Reserve, MIT, Stanford)

Obviously, (E) above is the most desirable for an undecided student who may choose CS or an engineering major.

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The University of Arizona and Arizona State are good for CS. Merit money will really depend on his test scores. CS is an impacted major. Very hard to get significant merit sometimes. What is your EFC? Private schools will use the CSS so you might need to target FASFA schools depending on that EFC.

UW Seattle is top ten school for CS. Hard to get into.

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Yes, if he is your step son, then some colleges may require financial information from his other biological parent as well.

https://profile.collegeboard.org/profile/ppi/participatingInstitutions.aspx lists colleges that use CSS Profile in addition to FAFSA. Column 4 indicates whether the CSS non-custodial parent Profile is used. Beware that there are a few schools that require non-custodial parent information but not on CSS Profile (e.g. Oberlin; Princeton also, but not if the custodial parent is (re)married). If the non-custodial parent is uncooperative with financial aid forms or has significant income/wealth but will not pay, that can make these colleges unaffordable on need-based financial aid.

When running net price calculators, check the college’s web site whether non-custodial parent information is required. If so, include the finances for his other biological parent as well as those of your household to avoid getting an unrealistically optimistic estimate based only on your household finances (but net price calculators are often less accurate in this case even if you do that).

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I shouldn’t have set such a specific price in my original posting, because we really don’t know enough at this point to have a budget. I don’t know what his EFC is because his parents, according to FAFSA rules, are his mom and stepdad, and they won’t share that information with us. I know that with my first stepson, we are currently spending approximately 20k per year after 40k in need/merit aid (at Whitman College), which is why 25k seemed like a reasonable number to me. If we need to spend more like 35k, we’ll do that; if we end up spending less than 25k, that would be peachy! But “full pay” at an out of state school would be a burden for us.

The most helpful thing at this point would be to have an idea of which schools would be a good fit for him academically/socially, so that we have some starting point with the search… then we can figure out, to the best of our ability (without his “parents’s” info), how much these places cost and how much we’re willing to spend.

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^BUT you are asking about private schools so all of yours and your husband earnings and property will impact financial aid. CSS schools. The Arizona schools are a fit for both quality and intensity for his tech fields. And FASFA only in your favor. I think he may get merit at U of A.

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Ok, if I understand correctly, you are the spouse of his biological father, who is the non-custodial parent?

Whitman’s cost of attendance is about $63k, so it looks like his mother and stepfather are contributing very little, if anything. Whitman is listed as using CSS Profile including non-custodial parent finances, so you presumably had to fill that out for him, right?

You may be able to reverse-engineer an approximation of their finances with Whitman’s net price calculator at https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/whitman , although it may be less reliable if merit scholarships are mixed in to the actual award.

It may be best to start by first doing your financial planning so that you know your price limit. Of course, there are the complexities of negotiating with his mother and stepfather in terms of shares of college money to pay, but you need to know where you stand beforehand, and he needs to know what the price limit is before he makes his application list (so that he knows that admission with too high a net price = rejection).

It may also be best to nudge the initial college search toward schools with significant merit scholarships, due to the uncertainty around need-based financial aid based on divorced parents.

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Colorado publics won’t give OP’s stepson the FA/merit aid he needs. They live for out of state full-pay students.

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If son #1 is as far away as Whitman, try WPI in Massachusetts. Your son should be taking both the ACT and SAT to see which he scores higher on

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@katliamom, yes I agree that Colorado publics will probably not provide aid. I was mostly suggesting a visit to those schools just because they might be a reasonable drive (depending where OP lives in TX) to see a nice collection of different types of schools outside of TX. That way maybe OP could focus possible later, more expensive, longer visits on more likely type schools. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify.

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@gearmom Thank you for the tip about Arizona schools. We looked (online) at U of A and ASU because of your tip-- both look like they would give good merit aid, and ASU’s honors college looks great. We’ve added those schools to his list!

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@quarkpie It takes a village. Good luck!

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@ucbalumnus, your considerations for a student unsure about CS vs E major was extremely useful. Thank you. Could you name additional schools that fall into Category E?

E. CS and E majors are non-competitive to enter once the student is enrolled at the school. (e.g. Wisconsin for CS, Case Western Reserve, MIT, Stanford)

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Here is an older listing of secondary admission requirements for CS majors at selected colleges and universities:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19854939/#Comment_19854939

For other schools, you may want to try searching for “[name of school] change major computer science” and “[name of school] change major engineering”. If the result is unclear, you may want to ask the school directly.