Chance a disabled student for Georgia Tech? :-)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgia Institute of Technology
1

Info and hooks:
State: FL
Hooks: Hearing-impaired
Male, dual citizenship
White

Academics:
GPA: 3.60UW / 4.35W (5.00 scale)
SAT: 800M & 710R (1510)
ACT: n/a
SAT II: 720 Math II & 660 Chem
Major: Computer Science
APs: 12 so far with 5 AP this year and 2 dual-enrollment. I have passed all exams.
Senior courseload: AP Calc BC, AP Gov, AP Microecon, AP Physics, Honors Engineering Course (academy) , AP Lit, and two computer science courses at a local cc.

Extracurriculars:
This is how they appear on my Common Application:

  • I operate a business on eBay and made software for it that processes hundreds of payments monthly. Program handles transactions and support tickets.
  • I am an active developer of three apps on Google Play that have over 225 active users. I am projected to reach over 300 active users by 2019.
  • Unpaid IT internship at local middle school for three consecutive summers helping IT replace defective computer systems.
  • I tutor my friend’s younger brother on Wednesdays bi-weekly to help with his courses. I have tutored him with both honors and AP courses.
  • I have been drumming for nine years and have played live a few times. I played with my drum instructor’s band at a local pizza place on two occasions.
  • Made software for my AICE Global Perspectives teacher. It shortened the process of collecting student portfolios and submitting them to Cambridge.
  • My mother’s second job gave vague payout details. I wrote a specific program that would calculate her exact earnings for her shift.
  • Over the summer, I implemented machine learning analytics into my eBay business software. I used mathematical techniques I’d learned from school.
  • Math Honor Society Tutor
    Every day during lunch, I tutor students struggling with math homework and/or seeking help with any math-related work.

Awards:
PLTW engineering certified
AP Scholar
Nominee for highly competitive scholarship in FL. I was selected as my school nominee for Computer Science.

Misc:
Essay is a solid 8 or 9. I wrote it about overcoming my disability.
Recs are probably good. Both teachers like me a lot.
I feel that my GPA is quite sub-par for GT, but I can hope they’ll overlook it due to my extenuating circumstances. I think my ECs are pretty good for a CS major, though. Hopefully they’ll balance out.

For reference, I was accepted to the University of Central FL, and deferred admission for Princeton (applied early action).

Thank you for your consideration. I’m really just curious about how I compare to other applicants. It would be unreasonable for me to expect a full-on prognosis for my chances.

Thanks again.

2

I don’t think having a hearing impairment is a hook except maybe in the northeast, Ivy type schools. . GaTech admits on stats with a little bit of wholistic efforts there. You should check at each college you apply to, on what they can do for you, as far as how you will get help on lectures, can you read lips, or need notes? Can you get lectures in book form? GaTech is very good with study support for sorts of disabilities, they will give extra time on tests for some types of disabilities.

On other potential matches for you–

There is a school for the deaf at RIT, but RIT may not have the programs you want, but I would say RIT is better than UCF for many engineering majors just because its more personal. UCF is a very large school. Its easy to get lost there, and most majors require an internship and UCF may not help you get that internship. One of my nephews took six years to get through UCF because of the difficulty of getting an internship in his field criminal justice, but he did get a good job offer at the end of that.

I don’t think GaTech spends a lot of time scrutinizing ECs for freshman, but if you apply for any special housing at GaTech, like Grand Challenges, those ECs come into play. With that, students that have techy ECs do tend to get in as long as they have top scores in math, which it seems you do. They get 10s of thousands of applications, and many of those are from the state of Florida so its always a gamble from Florida to get into GaTech.

Apply to UF Gainesville, its much stronger than UCF in engineering, and will lead to a better job if you do not get into GaTech or choose to stay in state for cost reasons. Also UF will cost less for you, than GT, if that matters to your parents and/or you.

3

You may still want to stick an APP in at RIT for CS, if you feel that you would attend versus UCF. Did you apply EA or RD for GT?