Computer Science Programs for "B" Students
Future programming gurus and tech geniuses often line up for a chance to be accepted at a school like Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, or Georgia Tech. Unfortunately, students with blemishes on their transcript and imperfect SATs are not going to have much luck making it through the admissions process at these uber-elite institutions. On the positive end, there are a number of CS programs that are happy to take non-straight “A” students and cultivate their talents for four years, eventually sending them to the many of same highly-desirable tech firms as their ultra-selective peers. These include many exceptional publics like Cal Poly, the University of Central Florida, and UNC-Charlotte as well as private institutions like DePauw (Indiana) and Rochester Institute of Technology. For each school we will provide you with an acceptance rate, percent of students in the top 50% of their high school class, as well as middle-50% SAT and ACT data so that you can better assess your personal admissions chances.
| Institution | Admission Rate | SAT R/W (middle 50%) | SAT Math (middle 50%) | ACT (middle 50%) | Rank (Top 10%) | Rank (Top 25%) | Rank (Top 50%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona State University | https://cidse.engineering.asu.edu/computer-science-bs/ | 86% | 560-670 | 560-690 | 22-28 | 31% | 61% | 88% |
| Cal Poly - Pomona | https://www.cpp.edu/sci/computer-science/ | 28% | 620-700 | 620-740 | 26-32 | 54% | 85% | 98% |
| DePauw University | https://www.depauw.edu/academics/departments-programs/computer-science/ | 64% | 560-660 | 570-700 | 23-30 | 43% | 77% | 98% |
| George Mason University | https://cs.gmu.edu/ | 87% | 560-660 | 550-660 | 24-30 | 15% | 44% | 81% |
| Georgia State University | https://www.cs.gsu.edu/ | 57% | 500-590 | 490-600 | 20-26 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Illinois Institute of Technology | https://www.iit.edu/computer-science | 60% | 570-670 | 620-730 | 26-32 | 20% | 33% | 100% |
| Indiana University | https://cs.indiana.edu/ | 78% | 580-670 | 570-690 | 24-31 | 35% | 69% | 95% |
| Iowa State University | https://www.cs.iastate.edu/ | 92% | 540-650 | 560-690 | 22-28 | 28% | 62% | 93% |
| Michigan State University | https://www.cse.msu.edu/ | 71% | 550-650 | 550-670 | 23-29 | 28% | 65% | 93% |
| New Jersey Institute of Technology | https://cs.njit.edu/ | 64% | 580-670 | 610-710 | 23-32 | 34%% | 62% | 90% |
| Oregon State University | https://eecs.oregonstate.edu/undergraduate-programs/computer-science | 84% | 550-660 | 530-660 | 21-28 | 27% | 55% | 87% |
| Rochester Institute of Technology | https://www.rit.edu/computing/department-computer-science | 66% | 590-680 | 610-720 | 27-32 | 37% | 73% | 95% |
| San Jose State University | https://www.sjsu.edu/cs/ | 64% | 510-620 | 520-640 | 18-27 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Stony Brook University | https://www.cs.stonybrook.edu/ | 44% | 590-690 | 640-750 | 26-32 | 51% | 80% | 96% |
| University at Buffalo (SUNY) | https://engineering.buffalo.edu/computer-science-engineering.html | 61% | 570-650 | 590-690 | 24-29 | 30% | 65% | 94% |
| University of Arizona | https://www.cs.arizona.edu/ | 85% | 560-670 | 550-690 | 21-29 | 36% | 65% | 88% |
| University of California, Riverside | https://www.cs.ucr.edu/ | 57% | 560-650 | 550-690 | 24-30 | 94% | 100% | 100% |
| University of California, Santa Cruz | https://www.soe.ucsc.edu/departments/computer-science-and-engineering | 51% | 590-680 | 600-710 | 24-30 | 96% | 100% | 100% |
| University of Central Florida | https://www.cs.ucf.edu/ | 44% | 590-670 | 580-670 | 25-30 | 36% | 74% | 97% |
| University of Colorado Boulder | https://www.colorado.edu/cs/ | 78% | 580-670 | 560-690 | 25-31 | 26% | 56% | 86% |
| University of Illinois at Chicago | https://cs.uic.edu/ | 73% | 510-620 | 520-640 | 21-28 | 28% | 59% | 90% |
| University of Iowa | https://cs.uiowa.edu/ | 83% | 560-660 | 570-680 | 22-29 | 32% | 63% | 93% |
| University of Maryland, Baltimore County | https://www.csee.umbc.edu/ | 61% | 590-670 | 590-690 | 24-29 | 21% | 51% | 83% |
| University of Massachusetts | https://www.cics.umass.edu/ | 64% | 590-680 | 600-710 | 26-32 | 31% | 70% | 96% |
| University of North Carolina at Charlotte | https://cci.uncc.edu/computer-science/ | 65% | 560-640 | 560-650 | 22-26 | 17% | 49% | 83% |
| University of Oregon | https://cs.uoregon.edu/ | 82% | 560-660 | 540-650 | 22-28 | 26% | 57% | 86% |
| University of Tennessee | https://www.eecs.utk.edu/ | 79% | 580-660 | 570-670 | 24-30 | 35% | 63% | 88% |
| University of Texas at Arlington | https://www.uta.edu/academics/schools-colleges/engineering/academics/departments/cse | 61% | N/A | N/A | 20-26 | 27% | 72%% | 96% |
| University of Texas at Dallas | https://cs.utdallas.edu/ | 79% | 610-710 | 630-750 | 26-33 | 39% | 71% | 95% |
| University of Utah | https://www.cs.utah.edu/ | 62% | 570-680 | 570-700 | 22-29 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
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