Chance a Junior [US citizen] from overseas interested in Math [and computer science]

[clockila]

Demographics

• US Citizen living overseas
• India
• IB Diploma international School sending 80% of the class overseas for college
• Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Male, Asian/Indian
• Other special factors: Legacy at the University of Virginia

**Intended Major(s): Mathematics/Computer Science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

• Unweighted HS GPA: 38-39/42 on the IB Diploma. I tried to convert to GPA and got 3.89. My IGCSE was 7 A* 2 A.
• Class Rank: Not ranked
• ACT/SAT Scores: 1550 (770 English/780 Math) that superscores to 1570

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))
(Grades 11-12) IB: Math AA HL, Physics HL, Chemistry HL, English SL, History SL, French ab Initio SL
(Grades 9-10) IGCSE: English Language, English Literature, Hindi, History, International Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, Global Perspectives, Physics, Chemistry

AP Scores: Statistics: 5, Calculus BC: awaiting (but probably a 5)

Awards
AIME Qualification
School Honour Roll
Verbal Mention at MUN

Extracurriculars
Social Sciences paper to be published in HS journal
Semi-prestigious Math Summer Program
Piano upto Intermediate level
Teaching Assistant for Math (~100 hours)
Won National Award at First competiton
TA for programming (~30 hours)
T20 summer program (though the consensus is that it’s not prestigious)
Summer program that required a good percentile on a test

Essays/LORs/Other
Counsellor: 7/10
Math Teacher: 8.5/10
Physics Teacher: 7/10
History Teacher: 7/10

Cost Constraints / Budget
*Full-pay

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)

• Safety
  Indiana University Bloomington
• Likely
  UC Davis
  UMass Amherst
  Purdue
• Match
  UIUC
  Boston University
  UC Irvine
  UC San Diego
  University of Virginia (legacy)
• Reach
  University of Michigan
  Carnegie Mellon University
  Rice University
  UC Berkeley
  UCLA
  Duke (possibly ED)
  Cornell (possibly ED)
  UChicago
  Princeton

I was wondering if this was too top-heavy and interested in some good safeties/likelies. Thanks!

[ucbalumnus]

For safeties, it is best to have colleges with assured admission for your stats (e.g. Arizona public universities). However, such criteria may be based on US-style GPA and/or rank, so you may have to find out how that is determined from your academic record.

However, it does look like Arizona State University has assured admission based on SAT score and course completion, so the GPA conversion issue may not be a problem there.

https://degrees.apps.asu.edu/bachelors/major/ASU00/ESCSEBS/computer-science

First-year admission requirements | Admission | ASU

[hebegebe]

I would consider adding NYU as a low reach or high match as the Courant Institute is world class in math, and it will be easier than some of your reaches.

What are your AIME scores? Can you list the summer program that you attended (feel free to send a PM).

Based upon what you have listed so far, I think that Duke is an over-reach for ED. Cornell is a better choice, and admission to CMU ED would be likely.

[clockila]

I was concerned that ED at CMU would be less useful because the ratio of ED/RD was 1.5, while Cornell was 3.2 and Duke 4.6 (as far as I had data).

[merc81]

For additional ideas, this topic may be of interest: For Students Seeking a College Strong in Mathematics.

[AustenNut]

Which of these universities would you be applying to as a CS major and which ones as a math major? Several of these universities admit by major because there is far more demand for a spot than the universities have available. CS is much more competitive than math, and frequently the stats for CS majors are significantly higher than those at the university as a whole. At colleges that admit by major, it is generally very difficult (if not impossible) to switch into a CS major.

At colleges that don’t admit by major, look and see whether there is a secondary admission process to get into the CS major. If there is, see what the requirements are (i.e. meeting a particular GPA or another holistic admissions process) and how many people are accepted to the major compared to the number who apply.

Assuming that you apply as a CS major, these are my guesses as to what your chances might be. Any institution where I think your chances are lower is not due at all to your qualifications, which are excellent. It is simply that CS is so extremely popular at these schools that even very impressive candidates don’t get accepted. (To see what I mean, look through some of the results threads at the universities on your list.) If you were to decide on a math major, though, there might be some significant movement in how some I would categorize some of these schools.

Extremely Likely

• Indiana

Likely

Toss-Up

• UMass
• Purdue
• Boston U.
• UVA

Lower Probability

• UC-Davis (I’m not great on the UCs, though, so hopefully @ucbalumnus or @GumbyMom will chime in
• Michigan

Low Probability (less than 20%)

• UIUC
• UC-Irvine
• UC-San Diego
• Carnegie Mellon
• Rice
• UC-Berkeley
• UCLA
• Duke
• Cornell
• U. Chicago
• Princeton

[ucbalumnus]

Here is some information for UC admission rates by GPA. Computer science is more selective than the campus generally for most UCs, so you should assume that admission rates for computer science were lower than listed.

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Recalculate your HS GPA with GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub . Use the weighted capped version for the table below.

Fall 2021 admission rates by campus and HS GPA range from Freshman fall admissions summary | University of California :

Campus	4.20+	3.80-4.19	3.40-3.79	3.00-3.39
Berkeley	30%	11%	2%	1%
Davis	85%	55%	23%	10%
Irvine	60%	31%	14%	1%
Los Angeles	29%	6%	1%	0%
Merced	97%	98%	96%	89%
Riverside	97%	92%	62%	23%
San Diego	75%	35%	5%	1%
Santa Barbara	73%	28%	4%	1%
Santa Cruz	91%	81%	46%	9%

These are for the whole campus. Different divisions or majors may have different levels selectivity (usually, engineering and computer science majors are more selective).

[hebegebe]

@clockila

I was concerned that ED at CMU would be less useful because the ratio of ED/RD was 1.5, while Cornell was 3.2 and Duke 4.6

But CMU is just an easier admit than Cornell as long as it’s not CS, in which case it’s likely more difficult than Cornell.

[clockila]

Are mid-tier UC’s that competitive for CS? I see Irvine/San Diego have 40% admit rates from my school and UC Davis had a 90% admit rate according to Admissions by source school | University of California. They may not have applied direct CS though (a few did CS at Berkeley but through Arts & Sciences not EECS).

[ucbalumnus]

@clockila

Are mid-tier UC’s that competitive for CS?

Unfortunately, they do not give that information for frosh admission, although you can get some information on relative selectivity by major for junior transfer admission at Transfers by major | University of California . You can see that computer science typically has one of the highest admit GPA ranges and one of the lowest admit rates at each campus for junior transfers.

[momofboiler1]

@AustenNut is correct that for some of the schools on your list, it will make a big difference if you are applying to CS or Math. And in some schools, if you apply for math and change your mind and want to do CS, it will be nearly impossible to switch majors.

I can’t speak to the UC schools but for Purdue and UIUC, CS would make flip the schools into the reach category, not a likely.

Does UVA consider legacy outside of ED?

I also think your list is too reach heavy.

If you like CMU, add RPI to your list for a match. Also agree with the other posters who are suggesting auto admit schools for safeties. Pitt may be a good school to add since they have rolling admission.

[AustenNut]

@clockila

Are mid-tier UC’s that competitive for CS? I see Irvine/San Diego have 40% admit rates from my school and UC Davis had a 90% admit rate according to Admissions by source school | University of California. They may not have applied direct CS though (a few did CS at Berkeley but through Arts & Sciences not EECS).

As I said, I am not an expert in the California publics (or an expert, period). I do know that admissions are very major dependent at the UCs and that the admissions process for CS has gotten much more competitive even in the last year or two. Below are a few quotes from our resident UC experts from various threads that might illustrate your chances more knowledgably than I can.

@Gumbymom

I would put all the UC’s into the Reach Category since CS is impacted at all the UC’s and the selectivity rate is below 10% for all these campuses. UCI for example has a 7.1% admit rate for CS, while UCLA was 5.4% last year. Also the UC’s are test blind permanently so your excellent SAT score will not be considered.

The CS majors in L&S has been having lots of issues lately due to overcrowding and they’re anticipating that the requirements related to that major will soon change (a recent thread). If you want to be guaranteed access to CS, the CoE path is the better route to go at Berkeley. The entire College of Engineering rate is likely much higher than the CS rate as well.

@ucbalumnus

From OPA – University of California Berkeley , choose the Academic Indicators tab. “Last updated on October 22, 2021” for the “last 3 complete application cycles”.

GPA appears to be weighted, not capped. Calculate using GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

Admission rates only:

GPA	L&S	CoE	CoC	CNR	CED
3.800-4.000	6.3%	2.7%	4.5%	11.5%	8.7%
4.001-4.199	10.6%	3.9%	8.2%	23.7%	14.7%
4.200-4.399	21.8%	8.8%	17.5%	38.9%	29.1%
4.400-4.599	34.8%	16.4%	33.3%	53.0%	39.5%
4.600-4.799	40.9%	21.4%	39.6%	52.4%	49.4%
4.800-5.000	41.5%	20.7%	36.2%	46.1%	43.0%

This post shows how a CS GPA might be nearly 2 points higher than the rest of the school’s GPA if it’s a popular CS program.

@ucbalumnus

For SJSU CS, the frosh admission threshold was equivalent to a 4.35 GPA, although some students effectively got +0.25 add-ons for being in the local area.

However, most majors at most CSUs are not so competitive that the student taking that many additional courses (presumably a strong student with a high GPA) would have to worry about it (e.g. many majors at SJSU had frosh admission thresholds equivalent to a 2.60 GPA).

This post was written recently to a student with a 4.0UW GPA/4.56W GPA and a 35 ACT

@Gumbymom

For UCB and UCLA, CS will be a Reach. You are looking a 3-5% acceptance rates for CS at the top UC’s. Since CS is impacted at all the UC’s, many 4.0+ students have been waitlisted or denied at many of the UC’s, the past few years.

Target schools for CS in California where you would have a solid chance for acceptance are UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, Santa Clara, San Diego State, CSU Long Beach, Chapman University to name a few. UC’s like UC Davis, Irvine, Santa Barbara are no longer target schools for CS due to popularity and impaction.

[AustenNut]

@momofboiler1

I can’t speak to the UC schools but for Purdue and UIUC, CS would make flip the schools into the reach category, not a likely.

Thanks @momofboiler1 for always sharing your knowledge with us, particularly as it pertains to Purdue! Does Purdue have a list of GPA/test scores for admitted/enrolled students by major? And do you have a sense of whether admissions to those majors is pretty much stat-based for those slots, or is it still a bit holistic once students have cleared the “satisfactory” hurdle or expected stats?

[momofboiler1]

Purdue engineering shares stats for their admitted class but I don’t know that CoS which houses CS, does the same.

Purdue is still holistic in terms of admission but GPA, test scores, and rigor are what they list as being very important on the CDS. ECs, recommendations, essays, and first gen are listed as important.

[txfriendly]

UVa will consider legacy for OOS applicants in EA also. My D22 applied EA OOS, and we received a letter acknowledging that she is a legacy applicant and thanking her for applying.

[Twoin18]

Utah is a good safety which is strong in math. As a US citizen you’d qualify for residency after the first year which would reduce the total cost to ~$25K per year in years 2-4.

[clockila]

From my school, Purdue CS takes strong students, with the three students I recall going there all having 1500+ SAT scores and two of those having 42-43 on the IB Diploma. Other students going to Purdue are less stellar though, which may have influenced my classification.

Generally speaking, how hard is it to get a minor in CS? Does it require to have to declare a minor upfront?

[momofboiler1]

@clockila

how hard is it to get a minor in CS

https://www.cs.purdue.edu/undergraduate/curriculum/minor.html

• The CS department cannot guarantee students seeking a minor access to any courses.

  • Enrollment in all CS courses is subject to space availability.

  • CS majors are given priority in registering for all CS courses.

• All Course prerequisites must be met in order to enroll in any Computer Science course.

  • No overrides for prerequisites will be approved.

• All courses used for the minor must be taken at Purdue University West Lafayette campus.

  • Students must earn a minimum grade of ‘C’ in all CS courses used towards the minor (a ‘C-’ in not accepted).

*** CS Minors are expected to take CS courses during off-peak sessions.**

• Course Access & Request Policy

• CS Minors are limited to five (5) CS courses and no more.