Looking for reach, safety, and target CS schools

[prime loom]

NJIT and Stevens Institute of Technology are good for in state

[nimble dawn]

Hi, a bit late to the conversation here but wanted to ask about Cal Poly. You put it as a target/reach for kancarsson, but is that accurate for Computer Science? I have it on my college list as well, but have been seeing mixed information about acceptance rates online — 40% in general, but with some people saying its CS has a rate of only around 3%?

Finding that somewhat hard to believe, so any clarification would be appreciated. Between my demographic and stats its currently a target, but that's drawing from limited information.

[cobalt saddle]

So each major has a different acceptance rate so the demand changes. The OVERALL acceptance rate is 29% since other majors are tons easier to get into. As such, those can be like 80%. But for computer science, it’s one of the most competitive so applying to that major is 3%

Hope that clarifies it. For most schools it’s common like that

If I had applied Econ, itd be tons easier

The school also has very small spots for cs as well which adds to that competitiveness

[nimble dawn]

I see, thanks for the clarification. Definitely bumping it down then. Was just surprised you put it as target/reach in this thread, given that OP was asking about CS as well.

Pretty awful with the falling CS acceptance rates, not everyone applying is even doing it out of genuine interest in the subject anymore.

Well in any case, appreciate the quick reply and explanation :). Do ping me if you find that doc.

[cobalt saddle]

https://content-calpoly-edu.s3.amazonaws.com/ir/1/images/Not Adjusted for Study Abroad - 2021 Program Level Enrollment Projections_0.pdf

Last year they expected 5838 Freshman applicants for CS with 205 spots available

As such, you can do the math and see the acceptance rate

[cobalt saddle]

Yeah 100%, just too many people applying. There’s others with easier acceptance rates. Just Engineering as a whole is too popular

[nimble dawn]

Would any other Cali universities strike you as good options for CS, yet being less competitive? In a bit of a quandary here, with a quite reach-heavy list. Don't live in the area myself anymore, so I'd imagine you might have some more accurate alternatives than what all the chancing estimators provide.

[cobalt saddle]

Probably Santa Clara University, UCSC, SJSU would be the best options imo

[sick parrot]

I live in NJ

Location: anywhere
Major: Computer Science
GPA: UW: 3.8 GPA/W: 5 GPA
SAT: 1550
Costs: anything underneath 40k which includes housing and transportation
Schools Currently Interested: GA Tech, CMU, UIUC, Northeastern, Purdue, RPI, UMD, Texas A&M, UWash, any UC;s
Additional: I am looking for a really prestigious CS school but also has a great school and community life

[storm epoch]

cmu is expensive af at 80k a year without aid, so thats that

obv the best prestigious cs school with a great community is hands down MIT

and they have pretty generous aid

with your stats i'd definitely apply

gt tuition for oos is ~34k and ~12k instate so its follows your budget

[sick parrot]

got it thanks so much!!!

[storm epoch]

are there any specific subsections of CS that you're specifically interested in?

what are you main goals out of college?

[sick parrot]

data science or machine learning

my mains out of college is to get an internship at one of the FAANG companies

[storm epoch]

gunning for research? high salary? phD?

[sick parrot]

high salary mainly

phD im still thinking abt that not sure yet

[fathom pine]

@sick parrot Hi! Per server rules, we don't allow for chance-mes, so please delete the EC section

[sick parrot]

got it im sorry

[fathom pine]

no worries

Also grab some #810227815260618772

[storm epoch]

there are lots of websites that list salary information cs grads based on schools like this one https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/best-schools-by-majors/computer-science and this one https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/computer-information-sciences/computer-science/rankings/highest-paid-grads/ and you can look through them to see which ones have higher acceptance rates and good communities so you can flush out your targets and safeties

[sick parrot]

got it thanks

[storm epoch]

FAANG is sorta of notable for not exactly caring where you learned your skills, just that you have them

so idk if colleges can specifically help you with that

but i would also suggest looking at what the schools career fairs are like

there are a lot of companies outside FAANG that pay relatively similarly and hire right from colleges

notably citigroup is known for this

[clever wraith]

Yale

I will rep

[storm epoch]

yeah yale is making a solid push towards improving their cs department

so they are head hunting lots of cs kids

[clever wraith]

source: me

[storm epoch]

wpi is expensive tho

they do have a good roi but boy is that tuition cost high

[cobalt saddle]

Is it really that expensive after merit aid? I’m a bit biased with all the FRC grants though from them though

[clever wraith]

joisey

[clever wraith]

honestly, rutgers cs isnt bad

it's always good to have a safety

i dont need to say more since about 50% of your classmates will eventually end up at rutgers

[storm epoch]

if you get aid from them then by all means go, but it's 60k per year and I personally didn't get much merit aid from them

even with finaid and presidential scholar

[cobalt saddle]

Ah makes sense. That was the same with me and UW. The cost after aid was still around 60K a year