Chance A Sophomore for Top CS/Mechanical Engineering Schhols

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I am a sophomore in a non-competitive high school in MD.

GPA
Freshman Year-
UWGPA(all A’s and 2 high B’s)-4.06
WGPA(school doesn’t calculate, I used an online GPA calculator)-4.19

AP’s
Freshman Year- None(school didn’t offer)
Sophomore Year- AP Gov (only one I could take)
Junior Year(Predicted)- AP World History, AP English 11, possibly AP CSP and AP Physics (look at EC’s for explanation)
Senior Year(Predicted-AP US History, AP English 12, (possibly AP Bio), AP Cal AB(school doesn’t offer BC)

EC’s
A key member of the Mock Trial Team

Trying to start a CS club 11-12 (President and Founder)

Possible Math Tutor 10-12 (have to double check with my math teacher)

Student Ambassador 9 (only did one year cause I moved to a different school)

Trying to advocate for AP classes in my school because they lack classes for kids that want to do STEM(they don’t offer any AP Science or CS classes, that’s why my junior and senior year AP’s are weird)

Aiming for National Merit Semi-finalist

Also looking into possibly starting USACO

If the CS club goes well I plan to organize inter-school CS competitions

Plan/Hope to win the Congressional App Challenge

Tests
Aiming for 1500+ SAT/35+ACT

Hooks: URM(Nigerian male), First-gen, parents are immigrants

Please change me for top CS schools and also UMD and John Hopkins(how do I look for schools in the DMV area)

Thank you, I know this is really earlier, but I would still appreciate responses.

2

You have way too many things that are in the future. Are your grades grades semester grades? What are you getting the B’s in?

3

If you are on a 4.0 scale, your UW GPA can’t be a 4.06- and don’t worry about W: UW is more important.

Don’t be too anxious about APs: you will be evaluated in the context of what your school offers. Pretty surprised that there is a HS in Md w/ humanities APs but not STEM. What are your science & calc options? Is dual enrollment an option?

Starting a club is fine- but it isn’t a magic bullet. Do the things you genuinely want to do- for you. This is my favorite piece of advice for ambitious HS students. It comes from MIT, but applies to everybody:

https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways/

4

Your own guidance counselor can give you the best information about likely admission to UM-College Park, and UM-Baltimore County. That person is also your go-to for information about admission at more selective institutions because your high school has years of data about who was admitted where.

Which county are you in? Your back-up plan could be your own county community college with a transfer program to UM-CP or UM-BC.
How much can your parents pay for your education? Help them run the Net Price Calculator at each college/university website.
Are you first gen in the US, or also first gen for a university-level education? Many of the Nigerian immigrants I know here in Montgomery County have college degrees from universities in Africa.

You say that you are aiming for NMS finalist. What is your testing history on standardized exams? Were you tippy-top every year on the Maryland state exams? That will give you a notion as to whether or not NMS is a reasonable goal for you. Again, your own guidance counselor should be able to help you evaluate this.

5

@Eeyore123 I had a B in Health which was .5 of a credit and I quarter in U.S History Honors. My school does quarters instead of semesters

@collegemom3717 My school is weird, so my UWGPA is actually a 4.06 because A+ are an extra .33 or something like that. As for many science classes I can only take Physics(reg ed, school doesn’t offer honors), and undecided for senior year. As for math, I took Algebra 1 in 8th grade so the highest math I can take in the school is Cal AB. I am looking into dual enrollment though for summer courses.

@happymomof1 My backup plan is PGCC(I’m from PG county)but I’m still aiming high because I know that I can get a scholarship. My parents won’t be able to pay for everything so I plan on applying to outside scholarships and getting some money. My parents are 1 gen Americans and I’m going to be a second-gen college student(parents went uni in Nigeria). I usually do really well on PARCC testing e.t.c but the last time that I took the PSAT 10(my school let me take it in 9th grade)I got a 1070, since then I have been studying for the test.

6

You’ve only written the first chapter of the book that will be your college application. Making projections based on what you “plan to” do isn’t really a fruitful effort.

Focus on taking a challenging courseload and excelling at those courses - which you appear to have done at the 35%-ish point your HS record (realizing that later years will mean more).

As noted, you will be evaluated in the context of you school’s offerings. If you’re taking all the APs that offered, that’s the best you can do and admissions officers will recognize that.

Be involved in, and take leadership roles in, external activities that are meaningful to you.

Good luck.

7

Your back-up plan is solid. You can do the MTAP for PGCC to UMD https://www.admissions.umd.edu/maryland-transfer-advantage-program or the TSA for PGCC to UMBC https://undergraduate.umbc.edu/apply/tsa/

Maryland usually has a very high cutoff score for NMS, so be sure your not-NMS plans are well developed. https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/national-merit-semifinalist-cutoffs/ The PSAT is essentially a shorter version of the SAT, so use good SAT prep materials to help you get ready for both of those tests.