Asian Male for CS :( What are my chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Test Scores:
1450 Superscored/1410 Regular (700/750), 31 ACT (32/32/33/26), 800 Math 2

3.6ish UW, 4.175 GPA (my gpa for senior first semester is like 4.8ish (6 weighted As/one non-weighted A) it will boost this)
->Competitive California High School (nationally ranked school, difficult and rigorous classes)

Asian Male (Indian). I want to do CS with a specialization in Cybersecurity.

My awards are only presidential honor roll every semester, National merit commended scholar

Activities/ECs
-I was chosen for an exchange program funded by the us government for cysec, I was taken to London/Bristol for 3 weeks so I could learn about cyber with people in the uk while visiting companies/gov agencies.
-Lots of good placements in ctf/capture the flag competitions (offensive security type completion) - I listed specifics that you can see below.
-Several hours of volunteering related to Stem. (2-3 clubs + leadership positions)
-yt channel based on cybersec with 1.8k subs
-Vp of a club where I gave talks to kids in elementary schools about the importance of cyber.
-Treasurer of two more volunteering clubs; one related to foster care and the other one was related to engineering.
-I have both a beginner and a professional IT certification.
-I spend 9 hours a week studying for a cybersec completion, and younger kids in the same comp come from surrounding districts so I can teach them about network security (3 hour weekly classes)
-I place around 7-14/6760 in a cybersec competition hosted by AFA.
-I have been on my school’s League of Legends and Overwatch eSports teams.
-NHS (regular member)

APs
Freshman: WH, CSP
Sophomore: CSA
Junior: Psych, APUSH, Phys 1
Senior: Macro, Gov, Lang, AB

not much but all tests have been passed (not all 5s)

I had a CS internship for a virtual reality company. 150 hours. (Unity/C# Development)

So far I’ve been accepted to ASU with 20k/yr scholarship as a safety. (Computer Science/cysec)

Colleges I’m applying to:

CPP
CPSLO

UCR
UCSD
UCLA
UCB
UCSC
UCD
UCSB

EA:
UMich → Defer
Tulane → Defer (Only Applied b/c free application, not surprised tbh)
Purdue → Not Out Yet

RD:
NYU (Legacy, they have an event named after a family member)
UWash
Georgia Tech
Northeastern

I also want to add one more school. Does anyone have suggestions? I also need to know if I include my senior grades if the teachers say they are finalized, but the schools have not submitted a mid-year report yet.

This is an excerpt from my Resume on my competition placements.
CyberPatriot XI Round 2: 14th Place/6000+ (December 2018)
CyberPatriot XI Round 3: 29th Place/6000+ (January 2019)
CyberPatriot XII Round 1: 30th Place/6500+ (November 2019)
CyberPatriot XII Round 2: 7th Place/6000+ (November 2019)
CyberPatriot XII Round 3: 14th Place/6000+ (December 2019)
picoCTF (Carnegie Mellon CTF Competition) 16th Place/6500+ High School/Middle School Teams, 60th/28000 All Teams (College and later) (October 2019)
Rooters CTF: 60th/450 Teams (October 2019)
Seccon Security CTF: 25th/800 Teams (October 2019)
RITSEC CTF (Rochester Institute of Technology CTF Competition): 80th Place/10000 (November 2019)
X-MAS CTF (Romania Official CTF Team’s Competition) 22nd/10000+ Teams (December 2019)

2

Also, my LORs are strong and from my CS/Cybersecurity Teachers.

3

The GPA/SAT are low for the likes of Cal/UCLA/UDub to be honest. For the UCs, Riverside is the only match.

I might consider Wisconsin-Madison or UMass Amherst. Possibly Minnesota-Twin Cites.

4

Wow, there were a lot of abbreviations in this post. I agree with @Hamurtle. While schools will consider your GPA in the context of your high school, a 3.6 GPA is on the lower end for most UC’s. Your scores are also somewhat low but your math scores look good which will help for a CS major. Your EC’s sound competitive.

Your list is reach and match heavy. I’d suggest that you make that additional school an affordable in-state safety. The only thing left to do is make sure that your essays are strong and you choose recs that will speak highly of who you are as a person and a student.

5

I would also consider one of RPI or WPI and take out most of your out of state public schools.

6

Thanks!

7

UC GPA’s? https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Being at a competitive HS will be taken into consideration. Very good ECs. Senior grades for the CSU’s and UC’s are unfortunately not a consideration in the admission process.

I personally think you have plenty of schools on your list. Best of luck.

Cal Poly SLO: Reach
Cal Poly Pomona: Safety
UCR: Low Target/Safety
UCSC: Target
UCD/UCSB: High Target
UCSD: Low Reach
UCB/UCLA: Reach

2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific so CS would have lower admit rates:
UCB: 10%
UCLA: 9%
UCSD: 34%
UCSB: 38%
UCD: 41%
UCI: 38%
UCSC: 70%
UCR: 84%
UCM: 95%

2019 UC capped weighted GPA averages along with 25th-75th percentile range:
UCB: 4.23 (4.15-4.30)
UCLA: 4.25 (4.18-4.32)
UCSD: 4.16 (4.03-4.28)
UCSB: 4.16 (4.04-4.28)
UCI: 4.13 (4.00-4.25)
UCD: 4.13 (4.00-4.26)
UCSC: 3.96 (3.76-4.16)
UCR: 3.90 (3.69-4.11)
UCM: 3.73 (3.45-4.00)

2019 Data:
25th - 75th percentiles for SAT totals:
UCB: 1340-1540

UCLA: 1330-1550
UCSD: 1300-1520
UCSB: 1280-1520
UCD: 1230-1490
UCI: 1250-1510
UCSC: 1200-1450
UCR: 1130-1400
UCM: 1020-1290

8

Your GPA is below ~95% of the accepted applicants for Ga Tech and ~85% for UMich. Then you add OOS and CS on top of that and your chances are very low for either. UMich dosen’t reject many during EA so don’t let the deferral give you too much hope.

You should put down whatever gpa is on your most current official transcript. Your GC should upload or send your updated official transcript when it is available.

I 2nd taking a look at RPI as a better match.

9

ASU with 20,000 a year isn’t too bad. At least you have that all set.

RIT might be another school to consider as well.

And for schools that few consider, Colorado School of Mines and the former University of Missouri-Rolla (can’t remember the new name of the school even though I have a kid who goes to school in the state) might be worth looking at.

10

Yeah UW really hurts. My GPA jumps drastically when weighted/freshman year is ignored.

I’ve seen several poor things about RPI on reddit so I do not thing I will even consider applying there.

Most likely, I’ll end up in cpp and hope to transfer somewhere better.

Thanks.

11

I believe most of the issues with RPI are with the current president alienating students/alumni with her actions and not necessarily with the quality of instruction.

12

At the same time, with college being so expensive going all the way across the country to a school with any blatant problems to the point where several students are complaining does not seem like a smart move.

13

“My GPA jumps drastically when weighted/freshman year is ignored.”

If your freshman year of high school is the weakest part of your application, my understanding is that most of the Universities of California ignore your freshman year, which should help you in-state. Your guidance counselor should know this well. Universities in Canada also ignore your freshman year of high school.

To me GT and Michigan look like high reaches. For us Northeastern was very expensive. U.Mass Amherst looks like a better bet IMHO.

14

Thanks!

For some schools, I intend to apply for different majors. Since my end goal is a job in the cybersecurity field, my choice of major reflects that. For example, for Georgia Tech, Purdue, and Cal Poly Pomona, they all have these majors that I will be applying to. One of the UCs (I think SB) has an information technology major that is my primary.

Would this have a large effect or am I still ucr/cpp bound?