Intended Major: Comp Sci(Cybersecurity focus if it is an option)
State: NJ
Asian Female
Academic Stats:
Test scores: 1560 SAT Super score(800 Math, 760 English)
SAT IIs: 600 Chem, 690 Math II (taking Math II again in November, reconsidering Chemistry as well)
GPA: ~3.9 unweighted, 5.03 on school’s weighted scale
Percentile: 10%(School does not send personal rankings, only decile)
-Dual enrolled at local uni to take Multivariable Calc and Differential Equations
Awards/Honors (generic):
-3rd place at high school coding competition at local university
-National AP Scholar with Honor
-School Honor Roll
-Outstanding Computer Science award - 11th grade winner
-Commended Student from National Merit Scholarship Program
-Certificate of Recognition from Senator Catharine M. Young
-Congressional Proclamation from Congress member Tom Reed
-Gold Division in Cyber Patriots IX Regional Placements*
-Individual Math Recognition ACSL 2017*
*I’m not sure if these count as I felt that they were achievements(I won a Kindle at ACSL) but I don’t think I received any certificates for those recognition
Extracurriculars:
-Cyber Security Club - President
-Yearbook Club - Business Editor
-Math Honor Society
-Science League
-Computer Club
-National Honor Society
Work Experience:
-Part time job, 15-30 hours a week on average. Have been working for 1+ year
-Animal Shelter Volunteering - I am a manager(in training) as well as the newsletter creator,150+ volunteer hours
-2 weeks high school research- 40 hours a week working on a bioinformatics project with a professor and college student
Computer Science Competitions:
-PicoCTF 2014
-HackRU Fall 2015 and Spring 2016
-ACSL 2017
-2 local university programming contests
-CSAW 2015 and 2016 High School Forensics
-CyberPatriots VIII and IX, X this year but hasn’t started yet
My biggest concern is my subject test scores, and I’ll be retaking them but I’m not sure how much better I can do especially because I also have to focus on school. My initial takes were low because of a family emergency that happened before the test, so I barely had any time to study and those were essentially scores I got with maybe two hours of studying both subjects.
Some other schools I was considering were John Hopkins, University of Rochester, Case Western, etc.
Do you think I have a shot at top tier schools with my application as is? I’m hoping to do a lot better on those SAT IIs but I don’t want to put all of my faith in that. Are my grades on those hugely detrimental to my chances?