Brainstorming College Options for Son - Northern VA

[Anonymous]

If you are coming from a private school…3.75 UW is pretty high in the class. Your school will
Also send a performance paper on the rest of the class and how it stands.

The reason so many public school parents are shocked after admissions…they don’t realize that more than half of the class has the exact same courses and scores as their child does. Straight As is the rule…the the exception.

[Anonymous]

Any small liberal arts school. Your son would likely get great merit aid at many of them.

[Anonymous]

Another thread talked about the CS program at William and Mary.

Maryland and Georgia Tech are the top state school options for CS on east coast. Other state schools that have good CS are Michigan and Illinois. All are difficult admits.

For reference on my 2023 grad CS major just to set expectations. 36 ACT 4.0 UW, 4.8 W, 12 AP almost all 5s, leadership, varsity athlete, some national level awards got direct admit and merit to UMD-CP but waitlist at GT and reject/WL at T20s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in Northern VA and new to the college process - looking for college reccomendations for our DC (Class of 2025). SAT 1600, not taken ACT, UW GPA 3.75, interested in Comp Sc. No leadership, 100+ hours of volunteering so far, no passion project, 2 ECs , no awards. Any advice would be appreciated. Interested in In state colleges. Thank you !

In state? ANY in state school other than UVA. Advanced academics and math? My son from NOVA received enough merit last year from UMD, Ohio St and UMN which made the cost comparable to UVA engineering in-state. UMN would have actually been less expensive than UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in Northern VA and new to the college process - looking for college reccomendations for our DC (Class of 2025). SAT 1600, not taken ACT, UW GPA 3.75, interested in Comp Sc. No leadership, 100+ hours of volunteering so far, no passion project, 2 ECs , no awards. Any advice would be appreciated. Interested in In state colleges. Thank you !

OP: If you are only interested in in-state (Virginia) colleges for Computer Science, just apply to all in-state schools which offer a CS major.

Another poster suggested Georgia Tech; Ga.Tech is unlikely for CS with a 3.75 GPA (almost everyone accepted to Georgia Tech CS will have close to a 1600 SAT; so the 1600 SAT is more of a qualifying stat than a distinguishing stat.)

Virginia Tech is your son's best in-state option.

Avoid LACs for a CS major.

[Anonymous]

So don't take leadership too literally--tell him he needs to work on being a leader at something (club, event, peer tutoring)--doesn't have to be the president, just take a leadership role in training, mentoring, leading a discussion, etc.

For awards, how did he do on the PSAT? Is he commended National Merit (that's an award). Tell him to submit something to Scholastic--that's an award.

Also, if he got a 1600 on the SAT, have him take a math and english AP language this April (even without the AP class, those should be sufficient classes to get a 4 without major study--he's obviously a good test taker).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in Northern VA and new to the college process - looking for college reccomendations for our DC (Class of 2025). SAT 1600, not taken ACT, UW GPA 3.75, interested in Comp Sc. No leadership, 100+ hours of volunteering so far, no passion project, 2 ECs , no awards. Any advice would be appreciated. Interested in In state colleges. Thank you !

Apply to a range of instate schools GMU, VCU, JMU, VT, UVA, W&M. The grades are kind of low for a few of them. The test scores indicate potential so can also try to transfer after freshman year to their first choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in Northern VA and new to the college process - looking for college reccomendations for our DC (Class of 2025). SAT 1600, not taken ACT, UW GPA 3.75, interested in Comp Sc. No leadership, 100+ hours of volunteering so far, no passion project, 2 ECs , no awards. Any advice would be appreciated. Interested in In state colleges. Thank you !

What's the weighted GPA? How many APs and Honors classes would he have completed by senior year? Rigor? Given his 1600 SAT, was his PSAT equally impressive? NMSF?

Assuming weighted GPA of over 4.0, a rigorous schedule, and at least one EC that spans multiple years (so that's his 'community'), he should be able to get into pretty much any school below T30 - Ohio State, Pitt, Penn State, etc. May even be able to get into UVA ED. Ignore the naysayers.

[Anonymous]

Have you visited any VA colleges yet? Visit them and see what your son likes, and doesn't like, about them.

[Anonymous]

OP here thank you so very much for all the notes. A few more details. PSAT score was 1500 - he is shortlisted for NMS but from what we heard we will know only next year if he is in the commended or shorlisted list?

He is at Calculus BC level and would have taken 5 APs upon graduation.

Our main reason for looking at in state schools is the cost factor - we will not be able to afford the high tuitions of OOS

[Anonymous]

George Mason for CS and access to job centers w/so many internships being year-round and RTO
unless you can get remote ofc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here thank you so very much for all the notes. A few more details. PSAT score was 1500 - he is shortlisted for NMS but from what we heard we will know only next year if he is in the commended or shorlisted list?

He is at Calculus BC level and would have taken 5 APs upon graduation.

Our main reason for looking at in state schools is the cost factor - we will not be able to afford the high tuitions of OOS

Public or private school? That matters. 3.75uw and 5 APs is on the lower end for NoVa publics, but not private depending on the school.

Have him apply to almost all the VA publics. No harm in not. But us PPs have said, there are many OOS schools who will give great merit aid for a 1600 SAT, not sure if there is a secondary GPA hurdle, but use google and do a search or see if you can find a list at College Confidential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here thank you so very much for all the notes. A few more details. PSAT score was 1500 - he is shortlisted for NMS but from what we heard we will know only next year if he is in the commended or shorlisted list?

He is at Calculus BC level and would have taken 5 APs upon graduation.

Our main reason for looking at in state schools is the cost factor - we will not be able to afford the high tuitions of OOS

Public or private school? That matters. 3.75uw and 5 APs is on the lower end for NoVa publics, but not private depending on the school.

Have him apply to almost all the VA publics. No harm in not. But us PPs have said, there are many OOS schools who will give great merit aid for a 1600 SAT, not sure if there is a secondary GPA hurdle, but use google and do a search or see if you can find a list at College Confidential.

+1 I'd mainly spend time looking at OOS privates if he thinks he'd prefer a small school. We have one kid who wanted the big state U experience, applied to both in-state and OOS and got merit at several but still Virginia Tech was the cheapest (and fortunately his favorite). But our other wanted a LAC and had several good options that were less than W&M (where she ended up waitlisted). She goes to an OOS LAC with merit that makes the price comparable to VT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The SAT is okay, the GPA is a little low, maybe VCU?

3.75 is “a little low?!” I am clearly very out of touch.

Grade inflation is real and spectacular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in Northern VA and new to the college process - looking for college reccomendations for our DC (Class of 2025). SAT 1600, not taken ACT, UW GPA 3.75, interested in Comp Sc. No leadership, 100+ hours of volunteering so far, no passion project, 2 ECs , no awards. Any advice would be appreciated. Interested in In state colleges. Thank you !

OP: If you are only interested in in-state (Virginia) colleges for Computer Science, just apply to all in-state schools which offer a CS major.

Another poster suggested Georgia Tech; Ga.Tech is unlikely for CS with a 3.75 GPA (almost everyone accepted to Georgia Tech CS will have close to a 1600 SAT; so the 1600 SAT is more of a qualifying stat than a distinguishing stat.)

Virginia Tech is your son's best in-state option.

Avoid LACs for a CS major.

There's nothing wrong with majoring in CS at a LAC if a LAC is the best fit for you.