A few questions from a confused senior

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, well I'll be going into my senior year of high school this year, and the pressure of the college admissions process is finally coming down on me. Hard. So I just had a few questions to ask the CC community to make me a little more relieved, and informed.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>How do I write the essay? What should I write it on? What should it be focused on? What should I be showing in the essay? I've heard a lot of people say it should reveal your personality. How do I do that?</p></li>
<li><p>Do I have GPA/Test Scores to be competitive at top colleges? (Not a chance-ing thread, just whether I'm competitive, or in the range). I feel like I am, but all the 2300+ threads on CC have made me paranoid.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>SAT: 2260: 720M, 740CR, 800W
ACT: 35: 34E, 33M, 36R, 35S
GPA: 95.4 UW, 99.4W (Without junior year grades, expect it to raise a point)</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Do you need a 100 average to get a 4.0 GPA in high school?</p></li>
<li><p>How do interviews work? Does every college need them? How would you go about setting one up? </p></li>
<li><p>If I apply ED, can I apply EA to other schools?</p></li>
<li><p>What colleges should I apply to? I'm interested in Computer Science/Computer Engineering/Applied Math/Financial Engineering, and I live in NY, and I don't want to leave the Northeast.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I'm interested in </p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon (Possibly my ED, do I have a chance for School of Comp Sci or School of Eng?)
Cornell (Probably my ED, How big of a reach is it?)
Columbia (Possibly my ED if it is realistic)
MIT (I want to apply even though I have a low shot)
Harvard (Same as MIT)
Princeton (Same as MIT too lol, just don't want any whatifs)
Renasslaer Poly (Decent match I'd say)
Worcester Poly (Match I guess? Idk how exactly to categorize these?)
NYU/NYU-Poly (Match/Safety?)
Stony Brook (Safety/Low Match I think)
Rutgers (Same as stony)
Brown (Apply even though I probably won't get in)
SUNY Binghamton (Safety)
Rochester Institute of Tech (Safety/Low Match?)
Georgia Tech (Match, only considering it cause cousins live in Atlanta. Would it help my app that they attended this school. And did well, one's at Google)
UMichigan (Probably not attending, but great Eng school)
UIllinois Urbana Champaign (Probably spelled that wrong, but same as Michigan)</p>

<p>Any other schools I should add? How can I narrow this down?</p>

<p>Sorry if I came off as demanding, I'm just really confused right now and I don't know what to do. </p>

<p>I'm an Indian male if that makes any difference.</p>

2

<p>Oh and don’t worry about financial aid. I don’t know exact income, but I do know that there is no way I’m getting need based aid.</p>

3

<p>^ Just becasue you won’t qualify for need based aid doesn’t mean it should not be an upfront discussion with your parents. Are they prepared to spend $60K+ per year for your education? They may not qualify for aid but be unwilling to spend that amount. If so, cross the schools like Harvard and Princeton off your list that only give need based aid and stick with schools you can afford or likely qualify for merit aid. Running school specific financial calculators now will save you from needless applications and hardship later on.</p>

<p>Your stats are competitive. Read a couple of books on writing college essays which will help you identify good writing from yourself when you see it. You want to tell a story and show your accomplishments rather than tell about them. Finally, the schools set up the alumni interviews - there is nothing for you to do unless you want to do an on-campus interview.</p>

4

<ol>
<li>Do you need a 100 average to get a 4.0 GPA in high school?</li>
</ol>

<p>Seriously?</p>

5

<p>Thanks YaleGradandDad. And hkem123, I didn’t think so, but I looked up online how to calculate GPA, and it said to multiply by 4 and divide by 100, so I obviously didn’t come out to be a 4.0. But I looked it up myself, and I think it’s all A’s or above 90 to get a 4.0, which I have. It was a dumb question, but I was freaking out at the time.</p>

<p>And anyone have ideas on my college selection?</p>

6

<p>95 = 4.0, methinks. 100 is 4.5? Not sure, my school doesn’t use conventional weighting (our highest is 6.9, which they admit is not physically possible due to the system…lol.)</p>

<p>Also, I uh…think you can figure some of these questions out by yourself. As for your essay, we can’t tell you much besides “be you.” Don’t be boring and list out your accomplishments. Let your voice show through. I think an anecdote or something that highlights what makes YOU different as a person is the way to go, in general.</p>

<p>If you’re applying ED to a school I don’t see why you’d apply EA because you must obviously be pretty sure you’re going to get in if you’re going ED. And if you don’t think you’re getting need-based aid, that crosses a lot of schools off your list. You HAVE to be sure you can afford what school you’re applying to ED if you’re going to do that, because the last thing you need is to get accepted with no way to pay for it.</p>

<p>I think you should talk these things over with your parents.</p>