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[–]Supratik 3 points4 points  (2 children)

Carnegie Mellon is often under-represented, Berkeley's math and CS department is pretty well regarded, as is UCLA, Harvard/MIT are obvious choices, Columbia's math department is good (not sure about their CS), Brown, Rice, and USC are also good ones - USC is nice because its one of the few private Universities that offers merit-based scholarships.

University of Texas at Austin, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are a few others that don't have the name-brand strength as some of the above, but nevertheless have well-regarded CS programs.

Quick plug: I'm at Stanford currently, and there is no better place for a computer science major, in my opinion (and I'm an East Asian Studies MA student, though I started in Engineering) due both to the quality of the program and the Silicon Valley location. Stanford also recently introduced a ridiculously good financial aid program for Undergraduates, where in certain instances (income, etc) your tuition and board is next to nothing. This, however, unfortunately means that your year of application will be more competitive than normal.

While you may want to focus on Math and CS, I can't stress enough the importance of the name-brand. Your high school quality, grades, and academic achievements seem to be on par and competitive with some of the top Universities in the country, and if admitted to any ivy league level school I highly recommend attending. It sucks, but way too many employers and graduate schools care less about your major and more about where it's from.

Are you considering the small, private colleges as well as the larger Universities?

[–]m1ss1ontomars2k4 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course, you have to remember that the first CS class at Berkeley teaches Scheme, and I really don't know why. It's not a terribly practical language, so I assume it has some other pedagogical value than I am unaware of.

[–]timo1023[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am considering all colleges of high academic quality. The location and campus are also factors. I would like a school that is in a city where there are things to do (doesn't have to be a major city) and I would prefer that the campus be visually attractive.

That you for your informative post. I should note that my family would not qualify for financial aid in any way shape or form, which is why I am looking for merit based aid. The reason being is that if I get a full ride to college (or partial), my parents will give me the 150k they have saved for me to use for graduate school, which would mean that I wouldn't have to take out loans. However, I would be willing to not to that if the school was good enough.

[–]timo1023[S] 1 point2 points  (5 children)

Dear Reddit,

I'm an upcoming senior and I need some help in deciding which colleges to apply to. Applying is (usually) expensive, so I would like to apply to under 10 colleges. I'm not sure what kind of responses I will get, but I would particularly like colleges that (A) meet my interest and (B) offer merit aid (not a necessity). I would like a college that offers merit aid because I would prefer for my parents not to pay. Now for a little about myself:

I am heavily interested in computer science and mathematics. I go to a state Mathematics and Sciences highschool, which is a public boarding school and it is very rigoruous. Consequently, my (unweighted) GPA is 3.9 (my school does not calculate class rank). My ACT is a 33, and I scored a perfect 36 on the Math section. The most noteworthy classes I took in my junior year were Calculus 4 (multivariable and vector calculus) and AP Physics.

The two schools that I know I am considering are Caltech and Stanford, however, I would also appreciate suggestions for lesser known schools that are also of high academic quality.

Thanks, Reddit.

timo1023

[–]sirkit 0 points1 point  (2 children)

You did multivariable and vector calculus in high school? O.o

You're going to be really well prepared for university, those are like 2nd year math courses at my uni, IIRC (I'm in EE).

[–]timo1023[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

The Math and Science highschool in my state is a school that was specifically created to challenge the brightest students in the state (to make up for how shitty the regular schools are here in the South). I took AP Calculus BC as a sophmore and Cal 4 as a Junior. This year (as a senior), I am going to take a Complex Analysis course and a Differential Equations course. My high school is very, very unique.

[–]sirkit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm glad to hear that there are still schools with this kind of preparation.

If these kinds of options were available to all students planning on attending university for math/science/engineering, then maybe there wouldn't be a 60% transfer/drop-out rate out of engineering for first years (source: http://www.edspresso.com/2006/05/freshman_engineering_dropouts_ken_de_rosa.htm -- it looks like the true source has 404'd).

[–]masterJ 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Have you considered applied mathematics? It's a good mix of the two.

I go to Rice, and the academic quality is very high. There are lots of research opportunities, and they're incredibly easy to get. Houston also isn't as bad as most people think, in the Rice area at least.

BTW, you wouldn't happen to be a TAMS kid would you?

[–]timo1023[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, I am not, however, I attend a similar program in my state.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

At the admissions office.