Aspiring CS Major- How do I look for these top schools? (Stanford, MIT, CMU, etc.)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2230 (760 Reading, 780 Math, 690 Writing) - Retaking in October and goingfor a 730+ on writing so possibly a 2270+
SAT II: Math 2: 800, Physics: 800, Chemistry: 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 unweighted (4.62 weighted)
Rank: School doesn’t rank, but I’d say I’m in the top 15/500
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Chemistry (5), AP Lang (5), AP World (4), AP Programming (4), AP Gov (4)
Senior Year Course Load: AP BC Calc, AP Physics, AP Economics, AP Statistics, AP Lit, 2 Internship periods
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): I’ve won a total of like 9 awards at my county’s science fair, 2 of which are 2nd Place in the Upper Engineering Division. And I have multiple rowing awards, including 2 1st place finishes at the State Championships.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Varsity Crew Team [4 years]
STEM Club 4 years
Stock & Investment Club [4 years]
Model United Nations [2 years]
App Development 4 years
Hardware Company 1 year
Job/Work Experience:
NIH Software Engineer 1 year
Summer Camp Counselor [2 years]
Volunteer/Community service:
800 SSL hours of volunteering
Summer Activities:
All the jobs above
MIT Museum Robotics Course
Essay: My common app essay seems to be pretty good, with a unique experiance
Recommendations:
Chemistry Teacher (8/10- She’s had me for 2 years now in both Honors Chem and AP Chem. Only issue is that English isn’t her 1st language)
English Teacher (9/10- She also has had me for 2 years now in both Honors English 10 and AP Literature. She does some really good recs)
Counselor Rec: 6/10- Probably generic
Additional Rec: 8.5/10- My boss at my internship (head of the division). He’s really nice and smart.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: I’d try, but I doubt it
Intended Major: CS (software engineering)
State (if domestic applicant): Rather not disclose
Country (if international applicant):US
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $200000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I think my extracurriculars are particularly strong, well versed, and attractive. Also might try to be get college’s crew coach’s support for some schools.

General Comments:
How does everything look? I feel like the SAT might be a tad low and my awards aren’t very “major”.

My top schools (in order) are:
Stanford
MIT
CMU
University of Michigan
Princeton
UMD- College Park
Cornell
Yale

Additionally, I am having trouble deciding which schools to apply for EA. I really want to go to Stanford, so I might apply EA there, but then I can’t apply EA anywhere else. Would you recommend that I do this? Also, let me know if I should try to do anything different/new.

Thanks!

2

Bump

3

You don’t have to disclose your home state, but you need to indicate if those public universities are in state for you or not. Otherwise, it is hard to chance. To make it more complicated, you may apply to LSA or CoE for CS major at UMich. Your GPA is great while your SAT is within the mid 50 but not outstanding. For UMich LSA in state, it would be a low match. For CoE LSA, it would be a match. For LSA from OOS, it would be a high match to low reach. For CoE from OOS, it would be a low reach. So it can be a low match to low reach for you.

4

For all intents and purposes, all of the public universities can be considered out of state.

And thanks for mentioning the 2 CS programs at UMich, I think I’m leaning more towards CoE. Hopefully my October SAT will be significantly higher.

5

You probably don’t need a much higher score for UMich CoE. Right now your weakness is in the writing section score which is less important. But you still want to bring it a little bit higher as you said since CoE is just much more competitive. The OOS admission rate is in the teens.

6

Bump. I’m thinking about Stanford REA. What should I do before then to improve my chances?

7

I think you have a good chance. Your academics and extracurriculars are good. I think if you want to go to Stanford, you have to just focus on the essay and recs, etc. Make sure you’re a good fit for stanford.

You said you won state championships for crew? Could you get recruited for some schools?

8

It’s hard to chance for Stanford. I think you can apply to Stanford without wasting your application and that’s it.

9

I am definitely in contact with some crew coaches, but unfortunately I am a lightweight rower and Stanford doesn’t have a lightweight program.

10

Hopefully being a National Merit Semifinalst and AP Scholar w/ Distinction helps out!