no problem
Hi all! I am applying to SAMS for summer 2021 … can someone help provide me with better insight on my chances?
Current Sophomore (co 2023)
PSAT (8/9) - 1390/1440 (EBRW: 670/720, Math: 720/720) havent taken actual psat or sat cuz covid lol
GPA: uw: 4.3 w: 4.89 (my school does GPA a weird way lol)
Rank: 1/360
classes this year: ap stats, ap chem, hon algebra 2, hon english, hon us history, hon spanish 4
AP Scores: AP Human Geo: 5 (only allowed to take 1 in 9th grade)
Urban Public school (mostly BIPOC + low-income) - some Ivys a couple years ago but not great track-record with college acceptances
EC’s : Science Olympiad (protein modeling, CAD, disease detectives, chemistry lab) - put a ton of time into it but my schools team sucks and we dont win awards
Math Team - team won division last year but not a big commitment
Math Tutoring - tutored kids at middle school once per week last year
Volunteering through church - mostly feeding homeless and stuff like that
Biogen - MIT Virtual Summer Lab - did this summer program last year (focus was on biotech + neuroscience)
Crown Education Challenge - International comp. run by students from Harvard + Stanford, finalist in STEM field (top 2% of 1600+ submissions from 63 countries) + had report published in Harvard Tech Review
Local Jazz Band - did this last year and played some community events (volunteering)
Demographics:
Mexican-American Male
parents are quite educated (mom has masters, dad has phd - neither in stem tho)
Income: 120K
I expect my LOR will be pretty good and my essays will be solid (i hope xD)
ANYWAYS, sorry for rambling but im kind of anxious abt my chances and would like to better prepare my expectations. Any help is appreciated! @ me or smth if you respond - idek how CC works
Actually, that’s precisely the definition of discrimination. Simply stating “my goal is to accept only white people” doesn’t free a program from the law. Which is why CMU “is required not to discriminate in violation of federal, state or local laws or executive orders.*
Can you provide, or provide a link to, historic acceptance rates by sex, race, etc.? I’ve been unable to find them.
I don’t have historic acceptances by race/whatever. I’ve got personal experiences of interacting with 2019/2020 SAMS acceptees/students. I’m not an AO or anything like that. I don’t think they publish 'em.
Also, again, they don’t bar white people or non-poor people from getting in. I’m white and middle class. I got in. But if a program encourages URMs, first-gen students, and low income kids, it’s probably going to be pretty darn URM/first-gen/low income. Do they throw out an app of a privileged kid? I dunno. I’m 17. Just sharing my personal experiences with the program. As I said in the comment you responded to.
err, at least the “data” I’ve seen (referring to the students I’ve interacted with)
Obviously, I’m not an AO, though, so I could be completely off-base.
Sup! It’s good to hear you’re applying for SAMS. I can’t concretely tell you your chances, but you’re obviously pretty dang qualified. You’ve got way higher stats than I did when I applied and your ECs are good and STEM based. My gut tells me you’ve got a good chance, but your essays are pretty important for SAMS (afaik), so it really comes down to that. I hope I get to meet you at the program!
hey thanks! means a lot coming from someone who was accepted last year lol! for the sams essay, did you do the 1st prompt about struggles, or the 2nd one about “my heart is in the work”?
I did the first essay about struggles!
Do you think it matters which one I do? Like do you think they are more interested in people who do the 1st versus the 2nd?
I wouldn’t think it would matter, honestly.
okay thanks! i’ll let you know if i get in during april!
good luck! (though I doubt you’ll need it) :))
1 Like
Hey anyone heard decision on SAMS 2021 yet??
SAMS decisions are unfortunately not rolling this year!
thanks, on website it says rolling but result to be out on April 15 only.
How long should our essays be? I know the limit is 1000 words, but mine is currently 500. Is that normal, or should I aim for longer?
Hey all sorry if this is a bad question but to preface uhhh I’m male, asian, and middle class. I know that programs like SAMS target underrepresented communities - for me, I live in a rural state/area that is relatively small, and isn’t really focused on academics (think like montana, nebraska, idaho, wyoming, etc). My question is - does geographic diversity play a sizeable role in things like SAMS/MOSTEC?
does anyone know why sams asks for so much financial info?? i understand things like family income, but house price? unpaid mortgage? seems a little excessive to me idrk
anyone know why this is?
1 Like
Hi everyone! I’m sure everyone is busily working on their applications, but does anyone know when a good time to submit is? Would submitting on/before this Friday for example increase my chances? Does anyone know if the date of submission grants any type of advantage is admission?
Submitting early will not grant you any type of advantage.
No-cost programs and scholarship applications will be read collectively and decisions will be released on April 14.
Hey guys! This is unrelated to SAMS but I am applying to the computer science scholars program. What are my chances of being accepted?
3.95 UW GPA
4.6 W GPA
- Played setter for AVVC Volleyball
- CyberPatriots comp and placed 4th state and 68th nationally
- ACSL comp and placed 30th nationally
- Bio-hackathon and placed 2nd
- MIT Research Scholar + Volunteer
- JP Morgan Virtual Internship
- Exec board for school’s comp sci club
- Assistant online editor + website manager for school’s newspaper
- Civil Air Patrol
- Founder of a summer STEM program for middle schoolers + elementary schoolers
Didn’t take any AP courses yet cuz my school only provides them at junior year. Yes, ik kinda weird.
hello! I’m new to college confidential, but I had a few qs about CMU’s AI4ALL program and I think this is the right place to ask.
I’m a south-asian female sophomore with middle/high income parents. I was initially very excited to apply for AI4ALL, but after seeing the financial information section of the application my parents felt as though I wouldn’t have a chance since we aren’t low-income and I’m not part of an underrepresented group. Should I still apply, or should I look for something else to do?
Also does anyone have any recommendations for other compsci summer programs/opportunities that I could look into? I fear that my chance of being accepted into AI4ALL is very low, and I don’t want to waste time on the application if I cannot get accepted.
Thanks in advance!