What sort of colleges would be good for me?

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I haven’t done enough research on colleges, and as the season for applications is beginning to flower again, I’m looking for places to go to. I’d really like some suggestions for safety schools, reach schools, and absurdly-hard-to-get-into schools.</p>

<p>I suppose I’ll have to post my CV:</p>

<p>White, French immigrant (perfectly bilingual, no worries); 17 years old. I live in Southern California. Not qualifying for any sort of financial aid.</p>

<p>Examinations:
SAT: 2280 (760 in all categories)
SAT II: 800 in Math II, Physics
AP: 5 in Computer Science, European History, Physics C (Mechanics); expecting 5 in French Lang, US History, English Composition, Biology (not sure about a 5 in Bio, actually…)</p>

<p>GPA:
4.0 Junior year, 3.91 Sophomore year on an “unweighted” scale</p>

<p>Courses:
Aside from the AP classes, I’ve taken courses from the local community college in integral calculus; I’m taking more in political science and linear algebra / graph theory / number theory. Next year I’ll be taking AP courses in English Literature, Statistics, and Music Theory (that last is just for fun). I took the really advanced computer science class at my school (3 people took it this year, lots of fun), but it’s an unweighted class.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
I’ve interned a bit at UCSD; one summer doing nanotech (results ended up published in Advanced Optical Materials), one summer at the Supercomputer Center, and I’m currently interning for the Protein Data Bank. The work at the Protein Data Bank will most likely end up getting published in PLoS or something, since it’s never really been done before.</p>

<p>In addition, I’ve made a few projects that are pretty impressive:

  • Godot, a Java chess engine that’s pretty darn good (a science fair project I made with it got 1st locally, honorable mention in the state)
  • Turk, an interactive and 3D in-browser robot like the xylophone thing in Animusic (Chrome only: ulysse.io) (made in Javascript, it’s pretty cool and you should check it out since you’re here already)
  • Interlingua, a Ruby program that lets you create custom programming languages with your own customized keywords</p>

<p>I’m decent at web design (jQuery, responsive / adaptive CSS and everything); my website is ulyssecarion.com .</p>

<p>I’m on GitHub: github.com/ulyssecarion
I have a real CV (LaTeX and everything, fo realz): ulysssecarion.com/cv.pdf</p>

<p>Unfortunately, I realize that the stuff that’s kind of unique about me (viz., having experience making cool stuff) will be difficult to incorporate into my applications (not gonna put a URL in my essays, am I?). I’ve been more focused on being attractive to potential hirers in SV (who focus on your CV, website, and GitHub) than colleges. Oh well.</p>

<p>Any thoughts? I’d really like a balanced portfolio of options that are surefire, realistic, and quixotic. And sorry for the word wall.</p>

<p>Edit: I’m interested in computer science; having opportunities for research would great, but a legitimate CS dept. is what matters most. I’d prefer to stay in-state (CA), but I will certainly apply to east-coast colleges too. I’d prefer a big school in some non-middle-of-nowhere area.</p>

2

<p>Salut Mec, as with many of these queries on CC you are trying to sell yourself without letting us know in what kind of place you will thrive. Research U vs. LAC, Big or Small, Urban or Suburban or Rural, Greek or not, campus culture, financial need, any particular areas of departmental strength, region of country, etc. You need to find the right place for you, not game where you can get into. Give that info and you may get helpful ideas. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>@snarlatron: Thanks for the recommendation; I’ve edited my message at the bottom to be more explicit in what I’m looking for.</p>

4

<p>You appear to have a great network - use it. Talk with the people on github / UCSD / other places where you interned. Ask them where they got their degrees, ask for names and suggestions. They would probably be much more informative and helpful than CC.</p>

5

<p>@SlackerMomMD: Good idea! I’ve been doing this unintentionally for awhile now (where people went to school comes up in conversations quite a bit, esp. with graduate students), but many of these people are coming from bioinformatics, not pure computer programming. But you’re right, and in hindsight I’ve been exposed to a few colleges (Harvey Mudd and Georgia Tech) by talking to sysadmins and whatnot.</p>

<p>However, these people are not really familiar with admissions; I’m afraid that by asking the people around me and focusing only on where they went, I’ll have a selection bias towards really top-notch colleges (while failing to find any good safety schools).</p>

6

<p>Berkeley would seem to be a logical and obvious choice.
It’s in-state (where you say you’d prefer to stay).
It meets your “big school in some non-middle-of-nowhere area” criterion.
Its CS department is very highly regarded.
You say you won’t qualify for need-based aid, so it will be much less expensive than any private alternative or most OOS public schools, unless you get a big merit scholarship.</p>

<p>Admission should be very likely with your stats. Look at the other UCs for a safety.</p>

<p>As for reach schools, it may be hard to beat Berkeley for what you say you want. There’s Stanford, if you do want to stay in California and are willing to pay a lot more. Or Harvey Mudd if you decide you want something smaller. MIT and Carnegie Mellon are other schools (along with Stanford and Berkeley) that frequently get cited for best CS programs.</p>

7

<p>Sorry, I wasn’t very clear. I wasn’t talking about the alums being aware or knowledgeable about the admission process. What you want is for the admissions office to be aware of <em>you</em> and if the colleges know that you’ve been talking to their alum, that’s good. Have alums write letters of recommendations for you, especially if they are well-respected in their careers. In your case, with your CV, it’s as important to make sure the colleges know you’re interested in them; no one wants to be the safety school.</p>

<p>UC-Berkeley is probably your best bet. Show lots of interest. Visit often. Connect with and talk to professors there. Do UCSD profs know anyone there you can chat with? That’s what I mean by networking.</p>

<p>Can UCSD be your safety? You seem very well connected there. (I don’t know how good the CS department is.) Again, if the professors know you, they can put in a good word for you.</p>

8

<p>The best computer science departments in California are (in subjective order): Stanford, Caltech, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UCLA</p>

<p>The “lesser” UCs all have decent CS departments</p>