I’m probably freaking out too much/overthinking, but I realized recently I’ll probably need to apply for a CS Major to have any hopes of double majoring in CS and Math (which was the goal from the beginning) because that major’s just so much more competitive than math. The thing is I don’t believe my CS ECs are all that great compared to my math ECs, mainly because of lack of accomplishments and involvement, and I feel like that might have a huge impact on my chances. I’m applying to MIT and Caltech EA, and then CMU, UIUC, UCLA, UCB, UCSD, UCSB (in-state), etc RD.
Background: Asian, upper middle class, male
SAT: 1540 (740 RW, 800 M), 20 Essay, I know my score’s slightly low, but in the ballpark
APs: Chinese (5), Calc BC & AB subscore (5), CSA (5), WHAP (5), APUSH (5), AP Lit (3), AP Seminar (4), AP Chem (5), AP Stats (5)
SAT IIs: Math 2 (800), Chinese (800), Chemistry (800), Physics (took yesterday, predicting 800), might take SAT Lit in October to compensate for the 3 in AP Lit
WGPA: 4.3670, UWGPA: 4.0, (10-11) WGPA: 4.5594
Class Rank: 1 out of 107
12th grade courseload: AP Research, AP Biology, AP English Language, Multimedia Arts, AP Psychology, Economics, AP Government, AP Spanish Language, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations (If I can fit it into my schedule).
AMC 10: 120 (10th grade), AMC 12: 100.5 (11th grade), AIME: 5 (10th grade), 10 (11th grade grade)
USACO Silver (I wasn’t able to participate the past 3 contests, but I should be able to make Platinum in the January contest in 2020), I may or may not include this in my apps
2018 Fall OMO: 36th place globally out of 334+ teams
Dell Tech Challenge Participant(9th grade)
Math Club Founder and President (10-12th grade)
MATHCOUNTS Founder and Assistant Coach (11-12th grade) (I go to a combined middle and high school)
MOEMS and ARML team founder (12th grade)
Web Design Club Cofounder and Copresident (10-12th grade): I teach members HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, organize club trips to local hackathons, and we’re working on a redesign of our school website, which will be done in November of this year. This club was inspired by our APCSA final project, where we had to use Java to design a software that is beneficial to the world.
3rd place at SrcHacks Hackathon (11th grade): My team and I won 3rd place in the SrcHacks Hackathon in 11th grade with a website. I’ve only been to 2 Hackathons.
Math Research (9-12th grade): I did independent math research in 9th and 10th grade, where I’d try to solve generalizations and variations of problems from math competitions. In 11th grade, I participated in the annual CrowdMath research problem, and got a research position under a professor at Columbia University.
Boy Scouts (9-12th grade): Currently a Life Scout and serving as Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, will likely become Eagle Scout in January, 2020.
Varsity Volleyball (11th grade): I’m trying out again this year.
WINK Leader (10th, 12th grade): Helped new 7th graders and freshmen in orientation, and held and planned class-bonding activities throughout the year for them
Other achievements/activities (likely won’t include): Honorable Mention (top 10 I think) in schoolwide essay contest, USNCO Local 32/60 (1st place in school), FBLA (10th grade), Science Olympiad (10th grade), music development, graphic designing, animating, chi gong, martial arts
Essays: I haven’t started on my CommonApp Essay, but I’m planning on writing it on my creativity and personality as shown through my music developments and performances, or maybe some life experience and what I learned from it. For UC PIQs, I have one about my leadership in Boy Scouts and putting troop interest over mine, founding Web Design and its purpose, my passion for math and problem solving, and my self-discovery through experimentation with music.
LoR 1, Calc BC Math Teacher & Math Club Adviser: We know each other quite well through our years working together with the Math Club, and he knows my passion and ability in math, as well as some more personal experiences I’ve went through.
LoR 2, Spanish Teacher: He’s had me for two years now, and he knows me quite well. We actually first met at the talent show where I played Despacito on the piano, which happened to be his favorite song at the time. He puts a lot of trust in me, and assigns me to lead my group during class activities, and he’s been really encouraging to my education. We’ve also had some fun anecdotes, which I think would really bring out my personality in his LoR.
LoR 3, Guidance Counselor: I didn’t know my guidance counselor too well until this year. I have AP Research and AP English Lang this year with her, and we get along really well. She knows about a lot of my awards in math, as well as my passion for math, and she likes to use me as an example in class. I think her LoR would at least be decent.
P.S. I have taken some online CS courses (Web Development, Algorithms, and some Machine Learning) after APCSA in 10th grade, which I’ll include in the activities section. I heard they don’t help much though.