I was looking over my college list and I thought I might be applying to too many reach schools.
I’m in-state for Virginia, and these are my stats:
ACT: 35 (35M, 35E, 35R, 33S)
Math 2: 800
Physics (projected): 770
Rank: Top 7%
GPA weighted: 4.39
GPA unweighted: 3.89
Major: Computer Science w/ emphasis on economics
ECs:
President of debate team - debated varsity and was top 50 at nationals
Visuals Captain & Programmer, FRC Team - went to district champs all 3 times
Data science intern U.S Army Corps of Engineers - worked on military intelligence analysis project
Attended VA Gov school for math science tech - studied CS
Coach of an elementary school VEX IQ team - went to states and won the Amaze Award
Software developer, General Dynamics IT - built an app to help connect veterans with PTSD to mental health specialists
Driver/programmer for VEX team - went to TSA states
co-founded a web development company for local businesses
founder of a club that uses additive manufacturing for making products + giving middle school students Arduino kits, 3d printers, etc.
went to multiple hackathons/competitions and won some
NMSF semi-finalist
It would be great if someone could confirm that the schools on this list do truly fit into the category I placed them in (reach, match, safety). And if there’s any other schools that I should apply to, please let me know!
I’m applying EA to all of these schools:
Reach:
Carnegie Mellon University - applying to information systems ED
University of Michigan
Georgia Tech
You look like you’re on a great track to apply to many of these schools. Your GPA and scores look promising and are stats that match up with many of the other students that are applying to high tier schools, much like yourself.
Extracurriculars are really good, some of the best I’ve ever seen. There is variation in what you do, although there is a lack of volunteering/service and that could be a disadvantage for some schools.
I think your schools are fit in the right place, your reaches are reaches and your safeties are safeties. UVA and UMD are good schools and you are a good match for them too. Overall, your list looks great and you look like you’ll be up there with the most competitive students, so good luck and I hope you get in where you want to!
Your list looks fine, but longer than it needs to be. For example, you are in-state for UVa- why pay the extra for UMd? Why not one of Purdue and UIUC?
I agree with @collegemom3717, there’s no need to apply to both UVA and UMD unless umd is your safety (there’s no need to have as many safeties as you do, imo, but that’s just me)
Also yeah, Purdue and UIUC are very similar, so unless you want to hedge your chances, you’re a big match/low safety to both these schools, and should expect to get in (although UIUC CS is decently hard)
If you’re referring to the University of Southern California as a match, then I’d disagree with that assumption. USCal is a reach to virtually everyone.
Also, with UMich, a CS degree can be obtained via LSA or CoE. Both are still reaches, but CoE would be ever-so-slightly more difficult.
Research Case. Strong STEM but I’ve seen posts that it’s not strong for CS. Plus they might yield protect so not a safety. I’d look at NC State. But other than that it looks solid.