Bad ECs, Top Computer Science Schools (MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, UIUC, Harvard)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Schools:

Reach: MIT (EA), Stanford (RD), UC-Berkeley (RD), Harvard (RD)

Match: UIUC (In-State, EA), Purdue (Rolling), UCLA (RD), UChicago (RD)

Safety: University of Illinois at Chicago (In-State, Rolling)

Demographics: Male, Asian, Illinois, pretty good public school (top 25 US News for the state)

Intended major: Computer Science

Academics:

SAT: 1560/1600 (Sophomore) - 800 Math, 760 Reading

SAT II: Math Level 2: 800, Physics: 750

Class rank: School does not rank, but based off previous years, definitely top 1-3%, but not salutorian or valedictorian.

GPA: These do not include senior year. 3.97/4 (UW), 4.15 (UC, used some online calculator that had a max of 8 AP classes), 4.7/5 (Weighted, Honors and AP gains +1), 4.43/5 (Weighted, only AP gains +1)

Coursework: Nearly all A’s. Only one B from 9th grade English, rip in mice and men. All Honors and AP, with the exception of three years of honors choir (which is considered a regular class). All are 4s and 5s

Freshman Year: AP Human Geography, AP Psychology (self study), AP Environmental Science (self study)

Sophomore: Comparative Gov (self study), Microeconomics (self study), European History, Computer Science

Junior: English Language, Calculus BC, APUSH, Physics 1, Statistics. Is this enough? Should I put French Lang in junior year? Our french lang class has a lower pass rate than national average, which is why I’m hesitant to do the AP junior year.

Senior (upcoming): English Literature, US Gov, Macroeconomics, Calculus III (through UIUC), Physics 2, French Lang.

Awards: National AP Scholar, USACO Bronze

Extracurriculars:

Mock Trial (4 Years)

  • Placed Top 10 at prestigious nternational tournament
  • Consistently placed high in state competitions (The best team in the state)
  • Secretary 2 Years, Captain 1 Year

Debate (4 Years)

  • Student Coach for 3 Years
  • Captain for 2 Years
  • Basically helped make a rising debate team from a mediocre program become way better]

Konami of America Yugioh Level 1 Judge for 3 years (basically a job that sounds cool and professional because Konami is a huge company)

Taught at middle school Computer Science club for 3 years

Created an app that has over 5,000 downloads on iOS and Android

Dungeons & Dragons Club 4 years

Assisted in professor’s research at local college for 2 years, nothing insanely prestigious. Hopefully I can luck out and get into RSI, believe in the dream bois

Tutoring 2 years

NHS 2 years

Social Studies NHS 2 years

~30 hours volunteering at a Hindu church

Do I even have a slim chance for my reaches/UIUC?

2

Reorganized your list a bit (in order):

Reach:
Stanford (RD)
Harvard (RD)
MIT (EA)
UChicago (RD)

Match:
UC-Berkeley (RD)
UCLA (RD)
UIUC (In-State, EA)

Safety:
Purdue (Rolling)
University of Illinois at Chicago (In-State, Rolling)

You should have a good shot at Berkeley, UCLA, and UIUC.

Why not apply UChicago EA as well? You can do it concurrently with the other EA options, and it has a higher acceptance rate for early (10% vs 3%).

3

Bump

4

Double bump

5

Can you afford the schools?
FYI: The UCs do not give financial aid to non-residents. $55K per year.

6

@aunt bea Yep!

7

UIUC CS is much more competitive than the campus overall.

8

@ucbalumnus I’m aware, but I think in-state and EA should help bring it into at least a high match territory. It certainly is nowhere near a safety.

9

Personally knowing an MIT accepted student, I think you have a significant chance of getting into UCLA and MIT.
Your Extra-curriculars are actually really significant compared to many of the engineering aspiring students i know. The fact that you are taking Calculus III clearly makes you a very competitive candidate.

10

For UCs, see http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1903428-faq-uc-historical-frosh-admit-rates-by-hs-gpa.html .

But note that UCB EECS and UCLA CS are highly competitive majors, so overall campus admit rates for a given GPA range do not reflect the fact that these will be more difficult for admission than the campus overall.

11

@2150Loser Thank you for the feedback, although I’m unsure if simply taking Calc III would make me competitive in the grand scheme of their holistic admissions.

@ucbalumnus I’m aware. I’m still very unsure if I should apply to the UCs since they’re removing OOS financial aid, and the price is a bit ridiculous compared to something like UIUC or Purdue

12

Bump