Chance Me - Asian Male

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

GPA (UW): 3.97 (My HS does a new grade every single quarter)(I got 1 B+ in English in 9th grade and a B in AP Calculus in 9th Grade)
(Messy 8th Grade Geometry Grades - A-, A-, B+, A-) (Doesn’t count towards GPA)
SAT: 1600
SAT Math II: 800
SAT Physics: 790
(Asian Male, divorced parents, lives in northern Midwest, middle class}

Coursework (Hardest classes available, only listing notable classes)

Freshman Year
AP Calculus (1 B first quarter)(5, AB sub score: 5)
AP Human Geo(test only - 5)
AP Environmental Science(test only - 5)

Sophomore Year
AP Physics (5)
AP Bio (test only - 5)
AP CSA (5)
Multi variable Calculus (Through CC)
APUSH (5)
AP Stats (5)
AP Gov (test only - 5)

Junior Year
(Full time enrollment at state college)
Heavy math & Physics/Science load.
AP Physics C (both) (5)
AP Chem (4)
AP Lang (5)

Senior Year
(Full time enrollment at state college)
Equivalent to a Sophomore in college.

EC
-AIME Qualifier x1, USAMO Qualifier x2
-USAPho (Silver Medalist x1, Gold Medalist x1)
-USACO (Silver x2)

  • FRC Robotics (4 Years, ~40 hours a week for 6 weeks)(Design Lead x1, Captain x2)(World Qualifier x4)
    -Speech(4 Years, ~10 hours a week for 12 weeks)(Captain x2)(Qualified for Nationals x1)
    -Gold Presidents Award x3
    -Track and Field(Top 10 in State for Long Jump)
    -Physics Research at University (3 months)
    -Internship at Lockheed Martin

LORs
Track Coach, Physics professor, Speech Coach.

Colleges
Safeties: UMinnesota, Madison, UIUC
Targets: Michigan, UCLA & Berkeley, Georgia Tech, USC
Reaches: MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Cornell, UPenn

2

You need to check if you’re a freshman or transfer student after spending so long at a CC. Do you have an associate’s from that?

3

I talked with my counselor and she says I will be applying as a Freshman.

4

I don’t see any true safeties on this list and your targets are reaches unless one of those is in your home state.

5

What does full-time enrollment at State U mean? Agree with @penguin2 You might not be considered a freshman applicant
But you have great stats!
ETA: are you recruitable for long jump for the reach schools?

6

It’s dual enrollment through my HS AKA PSEO. I talked with my counselor and they said I’ll be applying as a Freshman

7

Could you suggest some safeties for an aspiring mechanical engineer with my stats?

8

I looked at the ivy league recruiting standards and I meet them. So I think so.

9

You should contact the college coaches ASAP. It might already be too late. But who knows. Esp. for MIT, as it does not send out likely letters.

10

Minn State can be your safety, UIUC should be a match for CS, and UCB should be a reach for OOS.

Can I ask why you’re applying to UPenn and Cornell other than for the obvious Ivy clout? They’re not particularly known for CS.

11

idk. My counselor said that UIUC was gonna be a pretty good safety because of my STEM accomplishments. Should I take her advice with a grain of salt?

12

UIUC is ranked 3rd for CS (Stanford is 4th and Berkeley 5th) and their admission officers and applicants know that.
Of course you’re qualified, but don’t rely on it as you would a safety.

13

Your list checks out, for someone with your caliber of stats I would consider your match schools true matches.

14

@penguin2 CMU, Berkeley, Stanford, MIT are tied for #1 and UIUC is #5.

15

What is your money situation?

If you need financial aid, out of state public schools may not give any, except for merit that is usually reach or high reach for the large ones.

Your divorced parents will need to cooperate disclosing financials for the private schools on your list.

The usual determination of frosh versus transfer is based on whether you took college courses after high school graduation. But each college may have its own rules.

16

I do not need financial aid.

17

Wow I’m just astounded that anyone can take such a hard course load. You should be very proud. Berkeley and UCLA are very hard to get into, particularly for out of state. What about U. of Washington for a safety? or UC Irvine or one of the other UCs?

18

Do I have any chance at UCLA and UCB? I may be eligible to run track there if that helps at all, and I’ve heard that qualifying for USAMO boosts applications a lot towards engineering colleges.

19

Of course you have a chance, but I don’t think anyone considers them targets. That being said, you have very high stats. Other people here know a lot more than I do about college admissions maybe someone will say they are targets for you? (if you want to be really frustrated, I got into both of those schools 20 years ago for engineering and a gpa well below 4.0 - oh my how times have changed!)

20

@Thomasato1234 http://csrankings.org/#/index?all
This is generally considered the most inclusive and in-depth ranking system for CS.