The College Application Process for Computer Science (CS) Majors

Dec 14

Female student at a good computer science (CS) school working on a coding project.

Applying to college as an computer science (CS) major is highly competitive. One reason is that CS majors are overrepresented in the application pool due to a high interest fueled by the strong return on investment (ROI) of a CS degree.

As a prospective computer science student, you may be wondering:

What are the requirements to gain admission to a top CS school?
What are the best CS colleges and universities?
Where should you apply to major in CS?
What is the application process? What needs to be done and when?
Once you’re in, how do you choose the best school to study CS?

If you have these questions, you’ve come to the right place. I’m a computer scientist and engineer (MS and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, BS from Johns Hopkins University), a dean in the School of Engineering (which houses the CS department) at Tufts University, a former computer science professor at Wellesley College who created undergraduate programs there with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Olin College of Engineering, and a college counselor specializing in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). I’ve distilled over 30 years of experience supporting college students majoring in CS into this complete guide to the college application process for computer science majors.

Table of Contents

Should You Major in Computer Science?
How Can You Get Admitted to a Good CS School?
What Are The Best Computer Science Colleges and Universities?
Which Computer Science Colleges Should You Apply to?
The Application Process For CS Students: What Needs to be Done And When?
You’re in! How to Choose The Best Computer Science School For YOU
How to be Happy And Successful in Your Rigorous College CS Program

Those interested in engineering will benefit from Lantern’s complete guide to the college application process for engineering majors.

If you are looking for personalized, hands-on college application support, at Lantern College Counseling, we have over 25 years of experience helping high school students apply to and transition to college and over 45 years of experience supporting and educating students on college campuses. Schedule a free consultation.

Should You Major in Computer Science?

Ask yourself:

Do you like puzzles, solving problems, creating, making, and building things?
Do you like math? What is the highest level of math that you have taken?
Have you taken physics in high school? Did you enjoy the class?
Have you taken any CS classes? Were they fun?
What are your grades in your math, science, and CS classes?
Have you engaged in any math, science, or CS-related activities? If so, what were they, and did you enjoy them?

If you have challenged yourself, earned strong grades in rigorous STEM classes, and love puzzling, solving problems, creating, making, and building things, you may be a future computer scientist, and you should consider applying to college for CS.

If you are unsure if you want to major in CS, the key is finding schools that support the exploration of STEM majors and provide you with the flexibility to move between them.

What are the best colleges for undecided students, including those considering CS as a major?

Lantern’s college counselors can also help you discern your academic direction. Book a call if you’d like personalized guidance.

How Can You Get Admitted to a Good CS School?

To be competitive for admission to top undergraduate CS schools, students must excel in each of the basic components of an CS college application:

Academic record (grades and rigor)
Standardized test scores
Extracurricular activities (including work experience, internships, awards, and honors)
Personal statement and essays
Letters of recommendation

 What Are The Best Classes to Take in High School to Get Into Computer Science Programs? 

To gain acceptance to CS colleges, take math and science all four years of high school, including the highest levels of math, biology, chemistry, and physics offered by your high school. AP classes are a powerful way of demonstrating rigor. If these courses are available at your high school, admissions officers will expect to see your transcript include them:

AP BC Calculus
AP Physics C
AP Computer Science A

Getting strong grades in rigorous math and science courses is essential. The level of math that you’ve taken and your grades in your math classes are the most important part of the academic part of your application.

Beyond the five core academic subject areas (mathematics, science, English, history, language), take your high school’s rigorous CS electives. These choices show your STEM interests and competencies.

How Many AP Classes Should You Take?

You should take the highest level of classes your high school offers, as many classes at this level as possible, and which you can manage while maintaining all (or almost all) A grades, emotional and physical health, and engagement in other important parts of your life, such as time with friends and family and extracurricular activities. In other words, while remaining healthy and happy.

Should You Take College Classes in High School?

If you’ve exhausted the CS and STEM curriculum at your high school and can take on additional coursework, consider taking further classes outside your high school. Additional math, science, and CS courses will demonstrate your interests and skills and enhance your application.

Some high schools have relationships with colleges or universities to provide dual enrollment. Does yours? If so, this is a natural choice. If not, there are options available to all students, such as massive open online courses (MOOCs) like those available at EdX and Coursera. Harvard’s CS50 is a popular course available through EdX. Many of these courses are free.

Want to discuss your course selection? Lantern College Counseling can help you choose the right high school courses to prepare for computer science college admissions. Schedule a call.

What Are The Standardized Testing (SAT, ACT) Requirements For CS?

Students can take either the SAT or ACT. Either is fine for all schools, and there are no distinctions for CS majors. Schools will be looking for CS majors to have earned high math scores on one of these exams.

Given the prevalence of test-optional policies at schools, you might wonder, should you test at all? Yes, unless you have special considerations that interfere with testing, such as health issues, you will have more college options if you have strong standardized test scores to send.

If you need help with a standardized testing plan, Lantern College Counseling can help you. Schedule a consultation.

What Are The Best Extracurricular Activities For Computer Science?

Admission to schools as a CS major is supported by a clear direction in computer science reflected in activities, resume, and coursework: a strong CS “fingerprint.”

What comprises a strong CS fingerprint?

Rigorous STEM courses in high school with strong grades

Math and CS courses that augment the high school offerings
STEM camps, workshops, classes, and programs
Engagement in related high school clubs (robotics, coding, 3D printing, science, math, etc.)
Participation and placement in programming and STEM competitions
Participation and placement in mathematics competitions or hackathons
Activity on GitHub
CS or STEM research
Personal CS projects
Maker portfolios
Art portfolios (remember - artists, computer scientists, and engineers are makers!); music portfolios
Math and CS tutoring of other students
Numerous technical skills (i.e., 3-D printing) and programming languages
Publications of CS or STEM research
CS or STEM patents
CS or STEM work experiences and internships

There is no right or wrong choice of activities. That said, students who distinguish themselves within the applicant pool, for one reason or another, will have better outcomes. Many CS-interested students pursue similar activities.

Students can stand out by being the pointiest within this pointy group, for instance, by achieving national and international accomplishments, awards, and honors. Another way a student may stand out is through less common or self-generated activities that make them "look" different amongst the sea of students who have done many of the more common activities.

Which STEM Extracurricular Activities Look Strongest on an CS Application?

There is no ranked list of activities. Every school is different. Regardless of the school, the most impressive activities will be those where you shine and stand out the most – whatever they may be. Students are likely to be most successful doing things they care about. So, do the activities that genuinely interest you the most, and it will lead to your strongest applications.

How Many Activities Do You Need to be Admitted to Computer Science Schools?

Students should actively participate in as many activities that they can manage meaningfully while keeping their grades up and remaining healthy and happy. Deep engagement with one activity may allow you to take that activity further and be more impactful than if you engage with multiple activities. It can be very powerful if engaging with an activity positively impacts your community or world. Indeed, some schools will even ask you directly to write an essay about how you have bettered the world through your activities or how you plan to better the world through CS.

If you need guidance selecting activities to make your strongest college applications, Lantern College Counseling can help you. Schedule a consultation.

How Can You Write the Personal Statement and Supplemental Essays as a CS Major?

A powerful college essay differentiates and individualizes you in the extremely competitive CS application pool. I’ve found that my students with excellent CS application outcomes have written personal statements that show creative thinking and problem-solving in novel and interesting ways. This makes sense since, at its core, engineering is about creative problem-solving. If you have a unique story to share demonstrating creative problem-solving skills - and as an aspiring CS student, you likely have many - you might want to consider using it as the basis for your college essay. Not sure what to write in your personal essay? We share brainstorming exercises in our article How to Write a Standout College Essay for Computer Science (CS) Applications and, of course, Lantern’s college counselors can help you find your unique story and share it in a standout college essay. Book a call.

Beyond the personal statement, there are several types of supplemental essays that students may be asked to write: elaborate on an interest or activity, why your major (possibly including impact), and why this school (including why this school to study your major.) My students who have had excellent computer science application outcomes have written supplemental essays which demonstrate authentic interest in CS supported by specific examples of ways in which they’ve engaged with the field: their CS fingerprint. When answering why they want to major in CS at a particular school, their essays reflect deep research and reference specific features (academic and extracurricular offerings) that make a school a Deep-Fit™ for them to study CS.

Are you wondering about using AI to help you write your personal statement and college essays? See my articles: What ChatGPT Can Teach Us About How to Write a Strong College Application and Artificial Intelligence for College Applications: What Students Need to Know to understand why NOT.

What Letters of Recommendation do You Need?

Colleges and universities require letters from one or more teachers from the five core academic subject areas. You should arrange for two letters of reference so you are prepared for schools that require more than one. Most CS schools don’t ask for teacher references in specific subject areas.

Although these are generally accepted norms, each school has different requirements, so it's up to you as the applicant to learn the specific requirements. For example,

Most schools don't request recommendations in specific disciplines, but MIT and Harvey Mudd College require a letter from a humanities, arts, social science, or language teacher.
Some schools allow students to send additional “other” letters of recommendation from people with experience with a student in a non-classroom setting, such as a coach, employer, research supervisor, club advisor, or the like. Computer Science students may want to include a letter from someone who can speak knowledgeably and positively about one of their CS-related activities.
Some schools do not require or even accept letters of recommendation. For instance, the University of California system does not require nor read letters of recommendation

Unless a school is like MIT and Harvey Mudd and encourages letters from specific academic areas, you should select the two teachers who can write you the best letters of recommendation without concern for their discipline.

Read my article, The Often Forgotten College Application Essential: Relationships, for further advice about how to secure strong letters of recommendation. Do you need help navigating your applications’ recommendation requirements? Schedule a consultation.

Are Interviews Important to be Admitted to Computer Science Schools?

Interviews are becoming less and less important over time as institutions work to increase their access. One institution which is transparent about this fact is my alma mater, Carnegie Mellon, which writes, in part:

We’re working hard to move our admission application process in a more inclusive direction.

On-campus sessions are not evaluative, but rather are counseling sessions to help students align their interests with our programs.
We do not offer alumni interviews in advance of admission decisions and have refocused alumni efforts to connect with admitted candidates instead.

In my experience, interviews largely serve the purpose of connecting alumni to the institution, providing applicants with another avenue for connection to the institution, and having their questions answered.

So, should you do interviews? Maybe. I recommend that you check each school's interview options, and if a school says they require or strongly recommend interviews, you should do one. If you are offered one by a school, you should accept the invitation and schedule one. Otherwise, it is up to you if you would like to do an interview at a school. You may learn some important things. It will also take time and energy. So, in the balance, you should decide how it makes sense to spend your time. If you have to choose, it is better to focus on keeping your grades up or your essay than doing an interview.

How Important is Demonstrated Interest in The CS Application Process?

Another lever to strengthen a student’s application is demonstrated interest. Demonstrated interest can be understood narrowly, such as making college visits, opening emails from schools and following the embedded links, spending time on a school’s website, or writing personal emails to admissions officers. While these steps can make a difference at some schools (when I was on the Board of Admission at Wellesley College, I reviewed which of these steps an applicant had taken) many of the most highly selective schools do not track such activities (for example, all Ivy League Institutions, Stanford University, MIT, the California Institute of Technology, and others.)

However, an often-overlooked yet more powerful form of demonstrated interest is a Deep-Fit application. A Deep-Fit application shows that a student knows themselves, deeply knows about the school, and knows what they will bring to that specific college community and how they will grow from it. A Deep-Fit application shows a school that a student is genuinely interested because the student has spent time learning about the school and thoughtfully demonstrating what they have learned in their application materials.

The Deep-Fit Advantage: Powerful Demonstrated Interest

Every college and university wants to admit students who will thrive on their campus. Beyond demonstrating interest, a Deep-Fit application is powerful at all institutions, even those that do not track traditional forms of demonstrated interest, because it shows a school that the student has the potential to thrive within their community.

Institutions are overwhelmed with talented CS applicants, so they have the liberty to pick and choose among them. A Deep-Fit application compellingly differentiates a student from other CS applicants with similar grades, courses, test scores, and activities who have not deeply researched the institution and have not shown that they are a Deep-Fit. It demonstrates that a student knows themselves, knows the college, and that these are in deep alignment and helps an admissions officer see the student on their campus, contributing and thriving. Deep-Fit applications are especially important for strong CS admissions outcomes.

Lantern College Counseling is the home of Deep-Fit. If you’d like to learn more about how you can make Deep-Fit applications and set yourself up for success in the college application process and beyond, book a call.

What Are The Best Computer Science Colleges And Universities?

Should You Study CS at a College or University?

Students can study CS at both colleges and universities. Understanding their differences and how they impact the student experience is essential, especially regarding 1) degree requirements and 2) flexibility and support for students to explore academic subjects. Learn more by reading my articles:

What Are The Best Colleges For Computer Science?

If you’re not sure how to choose which CS colleges to apply to, here are criteria to consider.

Is ABET Accreditation Important For CS Schools?

The importance of ABET accreditation depends on a student’s career and professional goals. For some disciplines and careers, think civil engineering and bridge inspection, the ABET-accredited degree is paramount. ABET also plays an essential role in licensing professional engineers (PEs). ABET accreditation is less needed for some engineering majors, fields, and careers, including newer ones like computer science. In fact, many CS programs are not ABET-accredited. Not only those at outstanding liberal arts colleges like Amherst College but also those at CS powerhouses like Carnegie Mellon University and Stanford University. Indeed, Stanford’s "Consider CS?" website states, “While (ABET) accreditation is useful in certain disciplines such as civil engineering, it has no practical significance whatsoever in computer science.” Additionally, if a student plans to go to law or business school, ABET is less important. Learn more in my article: For Aspiring Engineers: Understanding the Value of ABET Accreditation.

What do You Need to Know if You Want to Study Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

Very few colleges and universities offer a formal AI major or degree. Indeed, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, only twelve US institutions currently offer a formal major in artificial intelligence. You do not have to major in artificial intelligence to be prepared for careers in AI. Students can often be extremely well prepared through a typical undergraduate computer science degree by making course selections to ensure they are learning key AI concepts. Learn more in my article Best Colleges for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Majors.

Which Computer Science Colleges Should You Apply to?

You can look at the US News & World Report or other well-known rankings as much as you want ... but that won't tell you what your experience would be like at a school and whether YOU will be happy and successful there. If you need help identifying Deep-Fit schools where you will thrive, book a call.

Our general guidance? Apply to a balanced list of Deep-Fit colleges where you have a range of admissions chances. For CS applicants we recommend you apply to about 12 schools:

at least three schools where you have a high chance of admission (having at least three is especially important for the CS since it is so highly competitive)
a few aspirational schools (where you have a low chance of admission)
the remaining schools should be places where you have a medium chance of admission.

Every school on the list should be well-researched and where you are reasonably confident you will thrive (i.e., a Deep-Fit.) Learn how to do deep research to determine Deep-Fit and how to identify Deep-Fit colleges beyond the obvious criteria.

Generally, a student applying to schools as a CS major should expect their schools’ admissions probabilities to be far less hopeful than their peers applying to the same institutions with a different major. It is paramount to be realistic about your admissions chances so that you have options once admissions outcomes are released.

Do you need help building your college list? Schedule a consultation.

The Application Process For CS Students: What Needs to be Done And When?

All these pieces of the college application process are a lot to organize! Here’s a basic overview of what computer science applicants need to consider:

Freshman year: Select challenging math and science classes and enriching STEM extracurricular activities.
Sophomore year: Explore potential CS-related careers and majors and make a standardized testing plan.
Junior year: Take the SAT or ACT. Build a balanced college list: research and visit colleges. Finalize your list. Know the school at each institution that you will be applying to for CS. Understand admission chances to that school and how competitive CS admission is relative to other majors there. Make sure you have at least three schools where you have a high chance of admission on your list. Confirm with your school counselor that your admissions assessments are accurate.
Senior year: Write your essays & complete your applications! Make Deep-Fit applications. Deep-Fit applications are especially important for strong computer science admissions outcomes.

See our detailed task timeline (coming soon) to help you ensure everything gets done on time.

Need help along the way? Set up a time to speak with one of our experienced college counselors to discuss how we can help you every step of the way.

You’re in! How to Choose The Best Computer Science School For YOU

Congratulations, your application was so strong that you’ve got some amazing options! Now what?

Whether you got accepted to all of your colleges or just a few, it's time to make a decision ... and nobody can make that choice for you based on objective metrics, because your choice should be based on which college is a Deep-Fit for YOU. Where are you most likely to have impactful college experiences linked to lifelong success and preparedness? See my article Navigating the Competitive Landscape of Computer Science Admissions: An Expert’s Approach for essential criteria to consider when choosing a CS program.

How to be Happy and Successful in Your Rigorous College CS Program

At Lantern, we’ve developed a road map for college success, including over 70 action items in five main areas: wellness, academic success, know and use your resources, build your community, and create your future (career readiness) to help you make the most of your college experience. We also advise enrolled college students who need support finding academic direction, are experiencing difficulty, or are considering transferring. Look out for a formal offering of this service, College Success Coaching Services, in spring 2025.

If you’re applying to college to study computer science and need hands-on support and guidance to develop a standout CS college application, please explore our services, learn about their value, and schedule a free consultation at the link below.

Schedule a Consultation

Jennifer Stephan

Jennifer Stephan is a college admissions expert based in Massachusetts. Read more.