Junior looking forward for studying cs or game design looking for advice

[analog garnet]

• Location/Region: Applying to US schools as US citizen, though my permanent residency is international

• Major: Preferably Game design or Computer Science, currently leaning more towards Computer science for possible more diverse set of future opportunities though not sure

• GPA/Test Scores: GPA is 4.0 uw this year, 4.25 weighted. For APs I have 5s in chemistry, calculus ab, microeconomics, Chinese, physics 1, and CSP. I’m studying and planning to take CSA, physics c, biology, stats, English lang, macroeconomics, psychology, and calc bc this year. SAT score is 1570

(our school has a weird system where there is no weighting for specific and A+’s count as 4.25 in weighting, all my courses are AP courses this year but my school doesn’t count ap courses as more specially weighted, I feel like the system is so weird my weighted might not even be counted)

• Curriculum: Some Classes I’m interested in: game design if I’m not taking it as major, 3D modeling/vfx, digital art, music theory, sound design,

• Size: I prefer medium class sizes and get very nervous around very big amounts of people, especially if the classes are so big the professor won’t be able to check in on how im doing, preferably I don’t want to worry a lot when it comes to whether a class will run out of places before I choose it too

• Costs: My family has total balance of $100k-ish, and income is $20kish a year, need-blind schools would be important for my family to afford, and although I am an us citizen because my family does not pay taxes in the us I am not eligible for need-based financial aid. If it doesn’t have I’m also looking for other forms of financial aid I’m still eligible for even without tax forms if the school doesn’t have need-blind

Currently typing the rest

[nocturne flame]

oh you’re basically me lol

welcome to the very small club of a2c game devs

I would have suggested USC’s computer science games program but it is prob out of your price range unless you win the merit scholarship

[analog garnet]

• Schools You're Currently Looking At: Harvard since I was born in Cambridge + my school gives. $143k cash for students who get in there but weirdly not nearly as much for other great school

• Additional: - my extracurriculars are very chemistry and biology focused, as is my ap tests, so I’m very likely to apply using these data to a school and decide on my major to be likely cs or game design in the third year (I think that’s how it works) so a school where you’re not locked into major right away is a bonus so I can still apply and decide where I’m going later after taking enough general courses.

• though not very good as I’m self studied I am very interested in art and 3D modeling so related clubs would be great
  -I’m gay so a school with larger queer community would make me feel welcome -a school in more inclusive community to Asian people would be great - I prefer it if school is in a safe place without many guns and stuff - I want the place to have not too expensive living costs - I prefer dorms of 4 or less people - extra points if the nearby region and community is traversable without needing me to drive - I prefer good food in the school and or surrounding community, especially with authentic Chinese food, a diverse set of cuisines would be a great bonus - very very hot or cold regions lose points, though less prioritized compared to other factors, if it’s mostly 60-80 ish degrees without getting too humid it’s a plus - extra points if there’s a local furry community

[nocturne flame]

born in harvard 💀

[analog garnet]

my mom was studying there as a visiting scholar in one of their programs

and I spawned in a local hospital

[nocturne flame]

consider mit’s comparative media program

you can transfer to cs after your 1st year

it’s a very niche major only 2 adMITs ended up continuing with it in undergrad

georgia tech and duke have computational media which is neat

uhh

yeah my number one pick for you is mit comparative media

get a dorm in east campus if you want to see gay furries

[silver bronze]

Don't apply chem/bio just because your ECs are in that. Your ECs dont have to match your intended major

[worn basin]

Yeah just to clarify even though you don't formally declare until mid or end of 2nd year, you should still be taking classes in the degree that you want to graduate in otherwise you wouldn't graduate on time.
Also if a school doesn't admit by major already then what you apply for doesn't matter in terms of its connection to your ECs. so you can just apply for CS or game dev or whichever directly.

Also in terms of financial aid. Even if a school is need blind you'd still need to file some sort of financial intonation to get the aid from the financial aid office. The good news is a lot of schools have something called the CSS profile which you can fill out without needing US tax returns. I would also research what the process of filling out the FAFSA without a tax return is because that's an option too for people who aren't required to file taxes in the US I believe.

[rotund arrow]

if ur looking for safties I'd suggest umass amherst as a decent in-state option

I'd personally stay away from BU or Northeastern, they're way too pricey and imo the boston are doesn't have THAT many good places for cs majors apart from maybe google (but getting internships there would be super hard even with NU's Co-op)

If ur looking for somewhere with a larger queer community and great cs programs, Wniversity of Washington Seattle has a pretty big one. They have an LGBTQ+ org with over 400 members (idk if thats actually really large, it feels welcoming to me) and their cs program is top notch for the most part

However price-wise they don't really give out that much aid to oos students so keep thatin mind