Advice for M&T, M.E.T, and Stanford (CS)?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Rising Junior
ACT: 36
SAT II: 800 (Math II), 760 (Chem) (Retaking)

GPA: 4.00
APs: Calc BC, Human Geo, Psych, Physics 1, Macro, Micro, Chem

Junior Courseload: APUSH, AP Stats, AP Physics C Mech, APLAC, APCS, Spanish 4 Honors

Awards / Honors:

USACO Silver
Regional Essay Scholarship Winner

Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) Gold

Prudential Spirit of Community – State Finalist
FBLA: 4x national top 5 personal finance/intro to business and a bunch of other regional, state, national awards
DECA: 3x national top 5 personal finance

Regional science fair: 1st Award, Physical Science and Engineering + random special awards, CA State Science Fair qualifier (State’s got canceled b/c of COVID19 lol)

EC’s:

Founder, President of CS Game Dev. Club
FBLA Officer (Likely president senior yr?)
Part-Time CS Tutor

Founder, President - Nonprofit to collect 10,000+ toiletries for homeless in 7+ states (recognition by city’s mayor and state assembly)
UNICEF National Officer
Co-Pres of financial literacy organization that teaches in 5 chapters in NorCal
Regional Chapter Head of a technology literacy organization for seniors
National Homelessness Awareness Ambassador for a large nationwide service organization

Summer Activities:
9th - Research with Prof at Santa Clara University in CS (Paper in IEEE conference proceedings) (Got into COSMOS, didn’t go)
10th - Research with Prof at Stanford in CS
11th - Prolly continue Stanford Research?
(Any recs for summer programs that would be better than research at Stanford?)

Asian Male, Competitive public CA HS ; CS intended major

I don’t know what else I can do to help my application. I know I still have time, but any advice on what I can do to make myself more competitive, especially for M&T at UPENN, M.E.T at UCB, or Stanford CS?

Thanks a lot!!

2

As a rising junior, you still have a while to go before you apply. At your level if you were a rising senior, I would have suggested starting to draft essays and perfecting them. But since you have so much time, try getting to USACO gold, expanding those nonprofits, and maybe getting a CS-related paid job/internship.
The few summer programs better than Stanford CS research are RSI or BU Rise, and maybe SSP.

3

Solid stuff. Depending on your research and how valid the papers are, I would consider shooting for RSI. If you can get in, you will have no trouble getting into almost anywhere you want. Another thing I would recommend would be to start a business because MET, M&T, and Stanford are all looking for people who are business centered with the addition of technology. If you have any questions about the programs, feel free to ask. I attend Stanford as a CS Major and I have friends in MET as well as M&T.

4

@GoBears2023 Thank you for the advice!

MET is my top choice right now, but I have heard the workload there is very stressful (of course, you’re doing 2 majors is 4 yrs) but is it really much worse than Stanford or a comparable CS school? Also, is there anything else negative that METs don’t like from what you’ve heard?

5

Yes, workload for MET is a lot. Kids are almost always working on HW. From what I heard, it is quite a lot more stressful than Stanford CS but no pain, no gain. Nothing negative about MET although you will find that some people will resent you because they are jealous. However, as MET, you have an easier time getting into better clubs around campus.

6

Hey man, I’m also from the bay area with very similar stats and also looking at the same college / programs as you! (EDing to M&T most likely). If you want, PM me and we could talk about things for M&T / M.E.T? I’m also curious about what high school you go to haha

7

MET does require taking heavier course loads than the usual 15-16 units per semester.
http://guide.berkeley.edu/undergraduate/degree-programs/electrical-engineering-computer-sciences-business-administration/#planofstudytext