#schools for the “alright!” cs student

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

manic lintel
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Location/Region: city to suburb!
Major: computer science alongside possible dual major with english
GPA/Test Scores (optional): 4.0 UW, 7/9 APs by senior year, as well as 3 DE classes. 36 ACT, aiming for 1550+ SAT. no major CS-specific accolades
Curriculum: not a huge factor personally, but at least a medium to medium-difficult.
Size: semi-large, but not overwhelming. want to have access to variety of clubs, etc.
Costs: not a strict limit, but definitely preferring schools that meet a good amount of need based aid.
Schools you're currently looking at (if any): UW-Madison if i apply undecided, as i’m in state. cs + undecided school are same there but still not betting on anything lmao
Additional: minor prestige ho, looking for schools with less competitive cultures regardless of the admissions, prefer “older” campuses as well as larger campuses rather than ones that feel cramped in the city.

rose dock
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Brown and Cornell come to mind. Brown because it fits the less competitive culture while still prestigious category and Cornell because of the incredible campus. Cornell has a reputation for a competitive culture, but after talking to current students, you don't have to surround yourself with the competitive culture if you don't want to. Yes, classes will be super difficult and such, but competition doesn't have to be the way you approach it (idk if that makes sense)

manic lintel
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thank you for the suggestion nonetheless 🙏🏻

thick bridge
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try looking at umass amherst, umd, ucsb, ucsd for some good cs schools from like safety/easy target - hard target/low reach range

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all fairly large but definitely have good opportunities and worth having on the list at the least and not known for being super cutthroat

rose dock
manic lintel
manic lintel
thick bridge
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ah got it

manic lintel
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i know my stats are quite good, the primary thing i'm worried about are my ECs 😅

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which is why i wanted to be relatively conservative about the schools i apply for

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wisco

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i staunchly turned on my original decision to be a humanities-focused student this year so a lot of my portfolio isn't very related to CS, especially in comparison with other CS students

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thankfully i'm only a sophomore atm, so i was planning to connect the fields together down the line

rose dock
manic lintel
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LMAOOO i'm anxious ab everything so i'm just trying to be conservative 😅

thick bridge
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if you also like humanities stuff maybe consider northwestern uchicago also? they still have fairly good cs courses and research offerings

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lmao

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uva rn but transferring to northwestern

manic lintel
thick bridge
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tyty

manic lintel
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YES ME

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low income first gen, qualifying for those waivers 🙏

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😳

rose dock
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Maybe check out WPI. They have a pretty campus, solid CS program, and a required humanities distribution. Idk much about their fin aid

manic lintel
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the enthusiasm is overwhelming

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thank you all for your suggestions 🙏

thick bridge
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^^

manic lintel
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YOU GUYS 😭

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these are both potentials lmao. my preACT was a perfect score and i'm grinding out both test preps in order to prep for the NMSQT

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oh yeah it's already on my list. i'm over the 60k for family of four thing but i have two in-college siblings so i hope i'm still in the running 🙏

manic lintel
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so i've added yale, brown, cornell, NW, and uchicago to my reaches lol. targets are still up in the air as UCs, UMass, and MD are all quite unlikely due to OOS lack of need-based aid :(

manic lintel
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cómo se dice “not at all”

modest imp
manic lintel
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yeah i would probably have to apply to need blind. OOS public NPCs like UMD n the UCs give me results that me and my family aren’t willing to or can pay at all :/

modest imp
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TAMU isn't that bad for engineering

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might have similar prestige CS

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I'm not sure tho

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I'm playing all my cards to UT austin cuz im in state

manic lintel
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i’m in state for madison which is good and bad? good school for cs and u can apply undecided and the school you auto admit to is the same as the cs one

modest imp
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great CS school

manic lintel
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quite !

modest imp
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try make that your goal

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and apply to some safety in state

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and reach OOS

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unless u rich no reason to apply for safety oos

manic lintel
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not getting into UWM would be emotionally devastating methinks

modest imp
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praying my gpa is horrible but I'm praying on instate

manic lintel
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everyone hypes it up as being impossible to get into meltingsob

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when i know like five students in our grad class going there 😵‍💫

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idk i don’t get this thing at all basically

modest imp
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UW hard to get into

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if u oos

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and if ur tryna go CS

manic lintel
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in state 😍😍

modest imp
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maybe have EC's wide variety and nto just CS related

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and like u said go undecided

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then change to CS

manic lintel
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college of letters and sci is the cs school and you auto admit if ur undecided. that’s my (very fallible) master plan

modest imp
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eh u got like a year

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dw bout it

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also im tryna do CS and I have 3.54 UW

manic lintel
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i want to get my ducks in a row before i decide my ECs for the rest of my years 😵‍💫

modest imp
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honestly just do stuff u like

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ez pz

manic lintel
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i do rn! but i feel like i have no chance when ISEF qualification is the bare minimum for CS t30s or whateve 😵‍💫😵‍💫

modest imp
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u should do USACO

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hella hard tho

manic lintel
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i would love to

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but i am not actually very well versed in CS

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believe it or not

modest imp
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lol

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💀

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its barely CS

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it's just math

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and problem solving

manic lintel
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💀 not good at mafs either 💀💀💀

modest imp
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then why cs

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?

manic lintel
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bc i like it

modest imp
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fair

manic lintel
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i love doing it when i have ready access to stack exchange 😍😍😍

modest imp
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😩

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i mean just keep coding

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then

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you'll prob get the hang of it

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or find what sector in cs u wanna pursue

manic lintel
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hold on… THESE are the USACO problems?

modest imp
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wat*

manic lintel
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i’m looking at past USACO problems?

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lmao?

modest imp
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wat about them

manic lintel
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they seem a lot simpler than i thought they were gonna be ??

modest imp
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idk which ones u saw

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but like

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gold and up

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look poopy

manic lintel
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idk ¯_(ツ)_/¯

modest imp
manic lintel
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kinda rethinking my major choice LMAO