Will post a recent reply of mine here which outlines decisions for my son, including any merit. Apologies that I didn’t realize this thread existed. Good luck to all!
Circling back with an update on how things turned out with the hopes that it might be helpful for other high stat/decent EC kids looking for possible merit and wanting to study CS.
In a nutshell:
GPA UW: 4.0, W: 4.9
13 APs (8 5’s, awaiting 5 scores)
ACT 36 (one sitting)
School doesn’t rank
Major ECs: Eagle Scout, Robotics Club (Lead Programmer 2 years, President 2 years, won a couple state competitions), IT intern, has worked 2 years at geek-squad equivalent position, peer tutor, several independent studies with college faculty related to quantum computing and AI (2 abstracts accepted for virtual presentation due to COVID). Several school-level awards, national Latin award, nothing extraordinary.
Essay: while I’m biased, I thought it was outstanding (as did a couple of his teachers)
One teacher shared LOR: it was beautifully written
School-specific essays: he spent a TON of time on these last summer, even attending some virtual dissertation defenses at various schools (out of …
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