College Plans...

[SWirth86]

First off, I'm going to be a Senior next year in HS. I've gotten mostly A's and some B's for the last few years, and I've taken all Honors classes. This year I took two AP classes, US History and Comp Sci AB. Still havent gotten the scores back, but I got all A's in both the classes and I think I got a 3 on US, and 4 or 5 on Comp Sci. Next year I'll take AP Calc AB, AP Biology, AP Goverment/Politics, and Honors everything else. I've ran track and XC throughout HS at a varsity level, performed well, but not good enough to get a scholarship. I've done concert, jazz, and marching band a couple times, along with some other clubs and organizations. I just got my SAT scores back, I got a 1340 (650 Eng/690 Math).

Anyway, now I've started to look at colleges. I like in northern delaware, right next to University of Delaware. It wouldnt be that expensive to go there, and my sister goes there and likes it, but I dont really want to.I'll still apply, but its not really where I want to go. I'm not 100% sure what I want to major in, but I'm leaning towards Computer Engineering, or maybe Computer Science. I like programming, but I also like messing around with electronics and circuit boards and stuff like that.

Where should I go to college? I dont want to go somewhere really close, and I wouldnt mind going far away. I'd love to go to college in California, its an awesome place. But I'm skeptical about my actual chances of getting in, since I'm out of state. I've just started some research, and I've come up with a few colleges that I think would be good for me:

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
California Polytechnic State University: San Luis Obispo
Georgia Institue of Technology
University of Florida

I'm flying out to California (Santa Barbara) with my parents at the end of the summer, and driving cross country back, so I want to stop at some colleges and check them out on the way.

If anyone has and advice to me, either about these schools or other ones, or just college in general, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks

 

[Stealth1024]

Check out RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology -- Rochester, New York), I'm majoring in Computer Engineering there, going into my second year.

 

[Stealth1024]

In my opinion, CE is the best major, since at RIT it is set up as practically a double major in CS and EE, so when you graduate there are plenty of job opportunities.

 

[ggavinmoss]

There are better schools to do CS/CE at in California than Cal Poly. UC Berkeley, UCSD, UCLA, CalTech, Harvey Mudd, Stanford...

As far as your potential acceptance to a UC goes, you'll have to be a Tier 1 applicant -- really strong numbers that stand on their own.

-geoff

 

A quick note: many of my friends went far far away to school, and I'd say 50% of them are transferring back to school in their hometown (we're all from Ann Arbor, MI). One girl I know started out at Emory (in GA, a terrific school) and just couldn't handle the separation and the culture shock. She transferred to U of M second semester last year.

It might look very appealing to go away to school, but I think that in reality, college is college. I lived in the dorms last year at the U of M, about 10 miles away from my parents, and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. It's great to be able to go home once a week, get a nice meal, and then go back to school with all the parties and fun times.

Just give it some thought. Do you really want to travel 1000 miles for move-in, winter break, back from winter break, home again for spring break, back to school after spring break, and then home for the summer? State universities are made for state residents. They stand as a convenient option for students who are hard workers, and going away to school just to 'get away' from the parents isn't as glamorous as it sounds.

 

[SWirth86]

Originally posted by: Stealth1024
Check out RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology -- Rochester, New York), I'm majoring in Computer Engineering there, going into my second year.

Thanks, that looks pretty good. A little more money than I'd like to, but I'll definetly check it out. Actually, the location of it is good... not too close to home, but not on the other side of the country either.

 

[cchen]

From your stats... it looks to me as if you'd get in the schools you're looking to apply to. GA Tech might be a stretch, depending on your other activities and such

For choosing a college, you really don't need to have a major decided. I've changed my major 2 times already, and had no clue coming into college what I wanted to do.

Anyway, good luck

 

[Corporate Thug]

warning: San Luis Obispo is a BORING @$$ town

 

[HokieESM]

Out of your list, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech are the most accomplished. You might want to check out North Carolina State University, also... their EE and CPE departments are rather accomplished. The Southern schools offer very good "values" for undergraduate education.

As Stealth mentioned, RIT is a good school. As is Carnegie Mellon. Both are a bit pricey, though--being private schools. I know for a fact that NCSU and VT (I graduated from NCSU and I'm doing graduate work at VT) are significantly cheaper (even out of state) than a private school... which is a good thing.

As far as your grades/SAT scores... in terms of VT, they're relatively in the norm for admission into the college of engineering for a white male (if that indeed is what you are).... you should get in, but I wouldn't expect money. Same goes for Georgia Tech and NCSU.

If you don't know what you want to major in, I would highly recommend going to a large university with a wide array of majors--that way, if you change your mind as to what you want to do, you don't have to transfer. And take a wide array of classes... learn what you can. You have no idea what may spark your interest later on. Good luck!

 

[SWirth86]

Originally posted by: jumpr
A quick note: many of my friends went far far away to school, and I'd say 50% of them are transferring back to school in their hometown (we're all from Ann Arbor, MI). It might look very appealing to go away to school, but I think that in reality, college is college. I lived in the dorms last year at the U of M, about 10 miles away from my parents, and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. It's great to be able to go home once a week, get a nice meal, and then go back to school with all the parties and fun times.

Just give it some thought. Do you really want to travel 1000 miles for move-in, winter break, back from winter break, home again for spring break, back to school after spring break, and then home for the summer? State universities are made for state residents. They stand as a convenient option for students who are hard workers, and going away to school just to 'get away' from the parents isn't as glamorous as it sounds.

I realize that going far away to college would be more of a hassle, but I want to go somewhere new. not nessicarily as far as California, but I want to experience a new place. UD is just too much of the same places and people. I'm kind of tired of the whole mid atlantic area... I want to go to a different section of the country, to see how it is.

 

You could always try UMD College Park, or NYU, or even Dartmouth or Columbia. All are excellent schools, no matter what you do.

Maybe it's just me, but when I meet someone from, say, Texas who goes to Western Michigan University, I always have to wonder how much it was worth it just to 'get away.'

 

[SWirth86]

ggavinmoss: I realize that there are, but I dont think that my chances are that great of getting into some of them. Cal Poly seemed like a reasonable one that I could be able to get into yet would still have a decent program available. Do you think I would have a chance at some of the other UC colleges?

HokieESM: Yea, I'm a white male so not expecting much money. I could afford RIT or Carnegie Mellon, but I would like to not spend quite that much.

 

[BigPoppa]

I can almost guarantee you'd get into Gatech. I'm going there as a freshmen this fall. Same SAT as me, except mine was 690 verbal, 650 math. I'm not a minority but am from an under (read:0 students) represented state. I played in band for 4 years, lettered, Marine Band Semper Fidelis Award. Also played a bit of football. Your course schedule looks to be a bit more hardcore than mine, which is another plus for you. Make sure you really want a hardcore engineering degree, as school's like Gatech and RPI aren't and won't be pushovers.

 

[Stealth1024]

Let me add this, if you choose RIT, know your major before you go in. Switching between CS, CE, and EE once you are there won't be a huge problem during the first year, but don't start out in Undeclared, RIT starts right in on courses for your major, they don't waste time with generic courses for a year or two.

Also, the CE program is 5 years, and if you get into the accelerated program to get your BS/MS, it'll take up all your summers too. But, CO-OP's are great, you get paid, sometimes very well, they count toward your major (they are required), but you don't pay tuition those quarters.

RIT is also on the quarter system so things move really fast, which in my opinion is great.

You won't have a problem getting into RIT, but staying there is a bit of a challenge, I know a lot of kids either getting kicked out or transferring after being weeded out during the first year...

 

[Stealth1024]

Check out the hs section of my resume to compare: http://www.sbyers.com/resume.htm but I think you'd get in... They weight hs rank a lot higher than SAT's, particularly for their presidential scholarships...

 

[frostgiant]

I am going to Georgia Tech myself this fall to major in Computer Engineering. However, I already live in Georgia, and Georgia residents get a terrific deal on college (all tuition paid by state).

I also applied to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for Computer Engineering and was accepted. However, the price difference was just too much to make me want to go there.

As for what it took to get into Tech, I had a 1430 SAT, lots of AP/honors classes all through high school, cross country, track, academic team, and Science Olympiads. My advice to anyone looking to go there would be to take Calculus your senior year, as everyone from my high school who was accepted also took Calc!

 

[DT4K]

It's true that you don't have to pick your major before you start. But in the science and engineering fields, you better pick it pretty quick. The coursework is much more sequential than it would be for something like an English or History major. So if you don't start your core math and science courses early, you may end up spending an extra year just to get everything done.

Do NOT go into Computer Science. The job market is bad enough as is and I certainly don't need any more talented programmers to compete against in the future. If everybody could please spread the word that programming is a really boring, dead-end job, that would help me out a lot. Thanks.

But seriously, whether or not you will enjoy being far away from home depends on your personality and how much you like your family. If you are an outgoing type who makes friends fast, going away could be a great experience. I live about a 3 hour drive away from my parents and I think it's the perfect distance. It's far enough away that I don't have them stopping by my house all the time, but it's an easy drive to spend a weekend at their house.

 

[CastorTr0y]

hey, im going to gatech too, but for cs

 

[Dragnov]

San Luis Obispo is in the middle of nowhere. It's in California yeah, but right smack in the middle of Northern and Southern California where there is nothing. Their engineering programs are a lot stronger than their CS program also.

Probably the best tech oriented college other than the UC's here in California though. You'll get financially raped being out of state and yoru chances are very slim if you do want to go to a UC.

 

[Futher]

I'm headed to RIT myself. Great campus (as cold as cold can be). Want to Study New Media and Design and CG and Animation.

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: Gr1mL0cK
San Luis Obispo is in the middle of nowhere. It's in California yeah, but right smack in the middle of Northern and Southern California where there is nothing. Their engineering programs are a lot stronger than their CS program also.

Probably the best tech oriented college other than the UC's here in California though. You'll get financially raped being out of state and yoru chances are very slim if you do want to go to a UC.

Paying out of state tuition at CA will still be cheaper than paying for a private college.

And plus since SLO is a Cal State University, all they'll ask for are grades and SAT..no EC's or anything if IIRC.

The top UC's are hard enough to get into as a CA resident, and given that they admit less than 5% (I believe) from out of state, it makes your chances to get in even lower. You might want to try Davis or Irvine though..Irvine being in Southern California and not too far from the whole LA life.

Being from Delaware though, I'm sure you're used to being surrounded by lots of white people, and a transition to a UC will mean being surrounded by at least 40% asian people, and in the case of Irvine 60%. Cal Poly though might be closer to what you're used to however, which may be important in the whole adjustment period.

 

[oznerol]

I have a friend in RIT. He's a Comp Eng major.

I go to Boston University. I, too, am a Comp Eng major.

Our classes cover the same things and are roughly equal in difficulty. The semesters are split differently at RIT, though, so he goes to class more but gets done with things sooner.

I live in a big city with tons of women. My dorm is a block away from Fenway Park. And a subway stop is a one minute walk.

He lives in a wintry hell. In the middle of nowhere. And needs to cling onto his friend who has a car there. Most of the kids go home on the weekends, so he is left studying alone quite often. There are also no (attractive) women in the school, though Rochester isn't too bad of a city for the ladies, just RIT.

It all depends on what you want. He studies all the time in his wintry hell. I study all the time in a big city. The quality of education is relatively equal no matter where you go, and remember that actual work experience is very important, if not more important that actual knowledge.

And another note. He pays roughly 10k a year for his school with scholorships and whatnot. I pay nothing to go to BU, because they are quite good with financial aid and whatnot.

Also, we're both from upper-low class families in NJ, if that is relevant to you at all.

 

[emmpee]

Originally posted by: ducci
I have a friend in RIT. He's a Comp Eng major. Most of the kids go home on the weekends, so he is left studying alone quite often.

Most of your other points are valid, but I've never really experienced this one at RIT... I knew a couple people that would go home appx. once monthly, but that's it.

 

[SWirth86]

Thanks for all the information guys. Next weekend me and a couple friends are going to take a trip down to Virginia Tech, and check out the campus. Are there any other colleges worth visiting along the way? We'll be going right through Baltimore.

 

[LS20]

Originally posted by: SWirth86
Thanks for all the information guys. Next weekend me and a couple friends are going to take a trip down to Virginia Tech, and check out the campus. Are there any other colleges worth visiting along the way? We'll be going right through Baltimore.

firstly scratch off Georgia Tech.. i hear the quality of life is horrible
Cal Poly is cheap and good, but the town is kinda quiet
I would look into UC Santa Cruz, then UC Santa Barbara, then UC Irvine. i think you have a very good chance of getting into those
check out UVA on your road trip.. UMD... Penn State.. MSU

good luck!