Will take 14 AP Classes by the end of high school. The rest of my classes are majorly composed of honors classes and classes at a local college.
Awards Won a selelctive leadership award at my school for founding my own club
Extracurriculars
founded a computer science club at my school which has gotten to be one of the bigger club at my school
started a patent pending business with around 3k in funding. Trying to get my product to be manufactured over the summer.
Conducted Research at a prestigious laboratory
Have a portfoliio of different cs projects with different clubs and local businesses in web dev, app dev, and AI
Been in a Business Club for all 4 years of high school and am on the board
Essays/LORs/Other
LOR:
I think I can get pretty good letter of recs (around an 8/10) from my sponsor who is the computer science teacher at my school and mentors who have helped me with my business.
Essay:
Idk but im a pretty good writer (at least i’d like to think I am
Budget:
Tuition is not an issue as I am high income.
Schools
(I realize my application is not ideal and this list might be a little too optimistic please let me know)
Safety (certain admission and affordability) Purdue, ASU
Match * UIUC, Northeastern, UVA, UMaryland, UW Madison
Reach * George Tech, All the Ivys, Stanford (no freshman year would hurt me), UC Berkely (same reason as stanford),Carnegie Mellon
What math class will you have senior year? Have you had bio/Chem/physics? Taken 4 years of each the 5 core course disciplines (eng, math, sci, soc studies, foreign language)?
All of your matches are reaches.
ASU a safety, Purdue a match.
Why all the Ivies? Your list is not cohesive, and too prestige focused. I would limit apps to 5 or so reaches. You can do more if your would be happy to attend ASU, but you will be writing many essays and encourage you to get started this summer on those.
Also, you need at least one LoR from a core subject teacher. Many AOs/colleges do not consider CS a core subject area. Who will that be? Do any of your schools require 2 LoRs? If so, you need to ask for a third LoR. The CS rec letter would only go to schools that take extra LoRs.
Northeastern and UVa are in the reach range, but I think you’ll get in. I also think you’ll get into Carnegie Mellon of your reaches. Make sure you apply early to all the schools that allow early apps, since for some, your odds are better if you submit before Nov 1. UNC? U Chicago? Wash U? Will you apply restrictive early action or early decision to any of your reaches?
I will be taking mvc my senior year. I have taken Physics for all my AP Science courses (Phys 1 and C) and cannot take Bio/Chem due to a scheduling conflict. I took 3 years of Foriegn Language ( if spanish 1 in middle school counts) because I wanted to take a business startup class which is how I was able to start my business.
Yeah I realize that Purdue is a match and that my college list is a little rushed because I didn’t put much thought into it ( will work on that) ! Although looking at cs rankings, the majority of the ivys are in the top 20 range. As far as the UC’s and Stanford or other schools I think those schools are a reach because of how they exclude freshman year grades and that was my best year.
For the core rec would I be able to get a rec from my Physics C teacher?
I will be taking mvc my senior year. I have taken Physics for all my AP Science courses (Phys 1 and C) and cannot take Bio/Chem due to a scheduling conflict. I took 3 years of Foriegn Language ( if spanish 1 in middle school counts) because I wanted to take a business startup class which is how I was able to start my business.
Yeah I realize that Purdue is a match and that my college list is a little rushed because I didn’t put much thought into it ( will work on that) ! Although looking at cs rankings, the majority of the ivys are in the top 20 range. As far as the UC’s and Stanford or other schools I think those schools are a reach because of how they exclude freshman year grades and that was my best year.
For the core rec would I be able to get a rec from my Physics C teacher?
Thanks again for your response and advice!
( i posted this as a seperate response sorry about that lol)
12% is still a reach, but I have never seen UIUC show in-state vs OOS breakdown for CS major…do you have a link? (I live in Illinois as well)
Your AP physics teacher would be fine for an LoR as long as they can write a positive one. Check to see if any of your schools require 2 LoRs.
Lastly, I don’t know what CS rankings you are looking at, but apply to schools that you believe you will fit well. Unless you are at a known, highly competitive HS, your GPA and it’s downward trend is going to be an issue at the tippy top schools even tho you are in the top 5%…and are you sure about that?
What are you looking for in a school? Size, location, vibe, etc.
Yeah, NEU’s really hard to get in- I would absolutely classify it as a reach, but you never know. /musing
there are alternate entry programs (Global Scholars- two semesters abroad, each semester different location, then 2nd year and beyond is at Boston campus. NU.in is more popular imo, with 1 semester abroad, and then Boston campus 2nd semester and beyond. if those are of interest to you, know both options are relatively easier ways of getting in, but nothing is guaranteed and I’m sure admission to those programs is equally tough. /honest
I think OP has a shot at NEU, but in order to have the best chances of getting in, my best advice is apply ED (if financially feasible and #1 choice) or apply EA- both rounds skew the most amount of acceptances- (this is from my experience of talking to admitted/incoming/current students + their CDS) /thoughtful
Northeastern also has combined majors (I’m a incoming freshman doing a combined major in Bio + English, so)- this one with CS + Business will be up your alley. /warmly
It’s not letting me copy and paste the link directly, so here- the list of combined majors, you should be able to find the CS + Business combined major. /warmly
Tbh i’m just looking for a good CS school that has a decent business program for if I ever wanted to dual major. I haven’t considered any of the other factors but thanks for the input as I will look into each school thoroughly with that in mind!
Also I am sure because I was looking at last years stats for my school in which I qualified for the top 5% of my school.
According to CMUs CDS, more than 90% of admitted students have GPAs higher than 3.75 on a 4.0 scale. I certainly wouldn’t tell someone with a GPA lower than that that they are a likely admit. I wouldn’t tell most anyone that they are a likely admit into CMU.
Move UIUC CS and Purdue CS to reach. Your other “matches” could be reaches, but I will let others comment (Maryland will be a reach if you do not apply EA).
Which ASU? Arizona State University should be a safety if you meet its course requirements, since 3.0 HS GPA admits to the campus and CS major. But there are other ASUs like Alabama, Albany, Alcorn, Angelo, Appalachian, Arkansas, Athens State University.
BTW, the acceptance rate for CS at UIUC is 6.7%. HIGH Reach odds even if you had a perfect 4.0 (UW). One of my current seniors (I’m a college counselor) who has a much higher profile than yours and got into Ivies, Georgia Tech, Northeastern, and CMU (all for CS), got Waitlisted for CS at UIUC.
The CS programs you listed are very reachy (very slim) odds for anyone, including those with a better GPA than you have and who have no downward trend. You need a better balanced list and input as to your odds at each school for CS evaluated by a professional, not your own assessment of your odds.
Also, your list seems like the main criteria for selection is prestige and rankings…not a good way to build a college list. ALL the Ivies? They are dissimilar.
But not at CMU and the other super reach schools listed here. CMU is considered the best CS school in the country - they get plenty of full pay applicants, so it doesn’t move the needle.
My student who got into CMU for CS (but has chosen Brown) is full pay. That said, I have many full pay CS clients with tippy top profiles and some get into the colleges mentioned here and many do not. The odds are very slim, and so the fact that this student is full pay is not likely to change much for these schools for CS with his profile because there are plenty of such applicants and lots who have better grades and even they are getting denied. This student can try and has a shot, but the shot is slim for anyone, full pay or not, and the current college list is not realistic or well balanced.
You have suggested that your freshman year of high school was stronger than other years. Can you give us unweighted GPA per year?
At least where we live, an unweighted GPA of 3.68 and “top 5% of school” are not consistent, but it is entirely possible that your high school has a different grade scale compared to what I am used to.
I am generally concerned when I see “all Ivy’s” and “Computer Science” in the same description. I wonder what you want in a university and how these particular 8 schools are all a good fit for a potential CS major.
You need to make sure that you really have at least one and preferably two solid safeties. You also should be sure that you would be happy if your safeties are the only schools that you get accepted to. Let’s suggest a hypothetical outcome: Suppose that you get accepted to Arizona State University and rejected everywhere else, would you be happy with this result? Would there be any other schools that you would have also wanted to apply to?
When I see a 3.68 GPA I consider Stanford, Ivy League schools, UC Berkeley out of state, and GT out of state as rather high reaches, with your matches perhaps being lower reaches. However, whether your class rigor makes up for this is hard to say.
And of course if you get in with your preferred major then UIUC is very good for computer science and should be a relative bargain since you are in-state. I wonder whether you want to also apply to any other in-state public schools.
