If I get rejected/deferred from early action at my first choice school, I was considering applying to Carnegie Mellon, but I’m not sure if it’ll be worth my time/money. Any feedback appreciated!
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1570 (780 RW, 790 math, 19/24 essay)
SAT II: Physics 730, Math II 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98, roughly 4.36 weighted
Rank: 5/450
AP: Human Geography (4), World History (5), Calc BC (5), APUSH (5), English Lang (5), Physics I (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Stat, AP Physics C, DE Econ, plus a few law classes
Major Awards: National Merit Semifinalist, regional women in computing award, AP Honors with Distinction
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Mock trial, placed eighth in the nation at our first competition of the year, robotics club that regularly placed in the top 5 at regionals (captain), orchestra
Job/Work Experience: worked at city pool over the summer
Volunteer/Community service: not much honestly
Summer Activities: job at city pool, community college classes, working on mock trial and robotics
Essays: Common App (9/10)
Teacher Recommendations: honestly i have no clue what a good rec looks like so I can’t rate them but the teachers know me pretty well and are rooting for me to get into a good school so i’m hopeful
Counselor Rec: my counselor barely even knows my name so who knows
Other:
Financial Aid: yes
Intended Major: Computer Science
State: TX
School Type: public, not particularly competitive either
Ethnicity (Hispanic Y/N/not reported): no
Race: white
Gender: F
Income Bracket: 125-150
Hooks/tips (URM, athlete, legacy, 1st gen, etc.): none
Reflection:
Strengths: I feel really good about my common app essay, it’s about a topic I feel strongly about and relates to my interest in computer science which I think comes across
Weaknesses: I don’t stand out a lot in terms of my extracurriculars and such; I’ve been putting in a lot of hours each week in a couple of things that interest me so now I only have three activities and one leadership position
Where else are you applying: UMich, UT Austin, OU, U of Illinois, USC, Princeton