Chance me for CMU EDII

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>CMU has been my dream since I was in the 7th grade. Please let me know my admission chances.</p>

<p>I'm a senior from Mumbai, India. I have taken up the most rigorous curriculum available (ISC along with preparation for the Indian Engineering examinations)</p>

<p>Please chance me.. [I don't need financial aid]</p>

<p>ACADEMICS-</p>

<p>9th grade- Around 70% (35/300)</p>

<p>10th grade-
In school- Around 70% (28/290)
ICSE board exams- 90%</p>

<p>11th grade- 60% [22/150]</p>

<p>12th grade- 82.5% midterms [2/150]</p>

<p>SAT:
June 2010:
700 CR
620 W
690 M
2010/2400</p>

<p>October 2010:
700 CR
800 M
720 W
2220/2400</p>

<p>SAT2:
November 2010:
Chemistry: Expecting 750-780
Mathematics Lv 2: Expecting 770-800</p>

<p>ESSAYS:
Pretty good, I guess!</p>

<p>TEACHER RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Computer Science teacher in the 10th grade, really really good recommendation
2. Physics teacher in the 11th and 12th grade, really good too.</p>

<p>COUNSELOR RECOMMENDATIONS:
Really good</p>

<p>EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES- </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Consultant, Indiagames.com 9,10,11,12
Consultant, game tester and GoD Doot (gaming tournament and symposium organizer)</p></li>
<li><p>Volunteer, Dharma Bharathi Mission 12
Taught English, Mathematics and Computers to slum children at the Gyan Sadhana School</p></li>
<li><p>Skilled Piano Player
Participation in school festivals and concerts. Piano player since the 6th grade.</p></li>
<li><p>Programming
Skilled programmer, well-versed with Java, HTML, C++, C, PHP, CSS and currently learning Ajax.</p></li>
<li><p>Quizzing
Intra-school and inter-school participation. First position in the DAV Khoj Quiz, Lion’s Club Quiz, Rotaract Club of Mumbai Quiz, Podar Gizmo Geeks quiz and Horlick’s Wiz Kids Quiz, along with participation in many more quiz competitions.</p></li>
<li><p>Volunteer, Tehzeeb
Organized seminars & awareness campaigns about the importance of family values and cultural heritage</p></li>
<li><p>Certified Ethical Hacker
Undertook a course on ethical hacking and IT security at Reliance Infocomm</p></li>
<li><p>Captain of Table Tennis Team
Captain of school’s table tennis team. Intra-school and inter-school participation. </p></li>
<li><p>Team Player | Cricket| Represented the school’s team in various tournaments in and out of the city.</p></li>
<li><p>Organizer, Charity Drive
Collected dilapidated electronic appliances from the community and donated to local recycling center</p></li>
<li><p>Featured on NDTV 24x7
Featured on NDTV 24x7 for 30 minutes regarding my association with Indiagames</p></li>
<li><p>Grade Administrator
Class Prefect & Grade Monitor in Grade 9 and Grade 10. Grade Administrator in Grade 11 and Grade 12.</p></li>
<li><p>Examination paper writer for students with special needs</p></li>
<li><p>Administrator of the official Indiagames.com forum [Tadkalive] and the now-defunct madads.com</p></li>
<li><p>Distinction on the national ASSET aptitude examination</p></li>
<li><p>Ethical Hacker||School network and friend’s email addresses|| Helped friends and relatives recover lost email id’s and find faults in their systems; as well as in the school network</p></li>
<li><p>Volunteer|St Stanislaus Orphanage| Took initiative to teach a 5 yr old child basic English</p></li>
<li><p>Lecturer| Schools and Clubs|Spoke to parents and children about the merits and de-merits of gaming at The Country Club and at my high school.</p></li>
<li><p>Collection of money for charities such as NAB, Cancer Patient’s Aid Association, Dharma Bharathi Mission, HelpAge India</p></li>
<li><p>Preparation for Indian competitive examinations such as IIT-JEE, AIEEE, CET and the Mathematics Olympiad. </p></li>
<li><p>Can read and write French</p></li>
</ol>

<p>PROSPECTIVE MAJOR:</p>

<p>Computer Science</p>

<p>** CHANCE ME AND I WILL CHANCE YOU BACK **</p>

2

<p>As a fellow Indian, I know that the marks received in India are different than what we receive in America. Normally, in the US, we would consider 60% extremely bad, but just judging from your rank, 22/150, while it is very good, it is not at all competitive for SCS (where students are generally in top 5% of their graduating class). Also, your SAT score is average for SCS, so your grades/SAT scores are not going to help you. Actually, your grades will hurt you, if anything. SAT subject scores are great, though. And since you are in the international pool, it will be even harder for you to get admission into SCS, which is comparable with MIT. </p>

<p>A few things about your extracurriculars: </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>When you are filling out the common application that CMU requires, you can’t directly write that down. You have to establish that through like a competition or something or something that shows that you are actually well-versed in that so they know you are not lying.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>A language other than english is mandatory to apply to CMU and other top tier schools, actually.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I’m really not seeing how this counts as an extracurricular, possible essay topic, maybe?</p>

<p>Excellent volunteering service and interest in comp sci. </p>

<p>Overall, I would say your chances are not very high because you are an over represented minority (Indian), male, international student, your grades are subpar and your sat scores are average. </p>

<p>And just for the record, I’m not trying to sound mean or anything, SCS at CMU is just really competitive.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>His class rank seems really good and since when is a 1500/2220 SAT average?</p>

4

<p>“I don’t need financial aid”</p>

<p>FYI- CMU and most US schools will not even consider you for aid anyways.
So a mute point.</p>

5

<p>Blizza: It wouldn’t matter what his /1600 score is since CMU looks at Writing as well. Furthermore, his math score is excellent: it is in SCS’s 75th percentile. However, his CR is a bit below average and his writing is average (for SCS). I am not trying to belittle his SAT scores, I am simply saying a lot of other Asian international students will have just as good or even better SAT scores so they won’t help you too much out there.</p>

<p>Why do you think his class rank is so good? He is out of the top 5% (and even 10%) for 9th, 10th and 11th grade.</p>

<p>Of course, these are simply numbers. It is up to the admissions counselor whether he gets in or not. Just apply and find out.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the help, guys! Very insightful.</p>

<p>I do know that my grades aren’t the best out there. I guess I’m on the borderline. It’s all about selling myself effectively from hereon!</p>

<p>I got a 750 in chem and 790 in Math Level 2, by the way.</p>