I want to major in either computer science or computer engineering at ASU - Barrett, and I’m in-state. Will this cut it?
GPA Scale: A in a regular class: 4.0 ; Honors/AP:5.0
Unweighted/ Weighted GPA: 3.65 / 4.41
Class rank: Top 15% in the over 650 kids in my graduating class
ACT: 31 (taking classes and hoping to increase this to a 33)
Senior Course Load: AP Econ/Gov (1st/2nd semester), AP Literature, AP Calc AB, AP Physics, AP Computer Science, and Advanced Marketing
AP Courses: 9 by the end of next year
Extra curricular:
DECA:
Arizona DECA State Officer (Represent 9,000 students)
Served as Chapter Vice President & Public Relations Officer
Won 1st Place in Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan Junior Year (Developed an app plan), 3rd Place in Marketing Communications Sophomore Year
Two Year International Career Development Conference Qualifier
International Media Correspondent
Speech & Debate:
4 Year Speech and Debate member
Served as Speech and Debate Secretary
3 Year Varsity Debater
American Red Cross:
4 Year American Red Cross member
Serve as Red Cross Public Relations Officer
Other:
National Honors Society (2 Years)
Mentoring Program
Key Club
Large amount of community service
Arizona State University’s Business Scholar
WORK:
Corporate Marketing IT Intern for 2 Years
IT Development Specialist for 1 Year
Started my own business by coding my own website and creating an online retail website.
Plan on starting an engineering organization at my school
Ethnicity: Asian/Indian
First Generation American
First Generation College Student
I know my GPA is relatively low as is my class rank. Would it be better for me to apply for regular decision and get my grades up first semester of senior year? Also, is there anything I can do to show my passion for engineering and technology? Do you guys know of any place I can get an online certificate or something in CS or CE? Any help/advice would be appreciated!
You should be fine. ASU will be a slam dunk and your ACT score is well above Barrett’s 29 average. Your GPA is slightly below the 3.8 average, but you have taken a harder than average course load. Your extracurriculars are outstanding. I would go ahead and apply ASAP. If this is your dream school, then you should be able to relax and enjoy yourself for most of your senior year after you are admitted. The ASU application should be online any day, so go ahead and apply. Then you will have a couple of months to work on your Barrett application, which should be available on September 9. So be early October you should be all set.
Beaudreau gave a solid answer so I am going to attempt at an answer to the second portion of your question: Also, is there anything I can do to show my passion for engineering and technology?
There is a person I follow on youtube that gives excellent college and life advice.
Here is a link to his channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChj0w0duKtp7SDd_X9CNptw
He is a graduate of Mechanical Engineering, but he gives advice on most STEM majors, including both Computer Science and Computer Engineering. Check out his videos if you are interested in separating yourself from your peers in relation to: admissions, internships, and getting your first job after college.
Hi there!
You sound pretty similar to me what with the Speech and Debate, NHS, Key Club, first gen. American as an Asian!
I attended a program at ASU (haha I’m in-state as well) that taught me quite a bit about Barrett. I’m actually looking to apply to Barrett as well. Beaudreau, like you mentioned, gave you a great answer. 3.80 GPA, 29 ACT, 1300 Reasoning for SAT, but you didn’t mention SAT. The main reason why Barrett denies students, is because they can only take so many–well, obviously, but let me try and break it down.
Barrett has a 15-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio and they are well-known for their intimate class sizes. They have a cutoff on how many students they can accept, and many of those students applied very early. I would highly, HIGHLY suggest, much like Beaudreau, that you apply as early as you possibly can. I’m actually considering putting together my application way beforehand so I can send it in as soon as applications are allowed to be sent in.
Good luck, and please update on how it goes!!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1793953-would-barrett-the-honors-college-and-or-uc-berkeley-accept-me.html#latest