Chance Me for ED to SCS

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
21

@psycholing I’ve known, for quite some time, that my GPA is a major setback. At the schools to which I’ve gone, that easy 3.8+ has not been common; in fact, it seems like most of my schools have suffered from significant grade DEFLATION.

I don’t have all As, but I have As in AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Phys C, AP Calc BC, AP CSA, and AP Euro. The only two classes in which my grades are Bs are Gov and Lit, both of which are subjects outside of my major. Is this okay?

The thing is that my grades just improved, last year. During that one, my highest grades were in Calculus and Physics, but I ended up with a B in APUSH and half Bs AP Stats. (A during second semester and B during first)

Unfortunately, some of my grades won’t be on my semester transcript. (Calc BC and Euro)

Lastly, I really, really want a school at which I can study ML, do research, and get an internship whilst being challenged. A lot of schools won’t even consider me for their honors programs. :confused:

Current List:

MIT
CMU
GTech
UMich
OSU
Purdue
RIT
UConn
Penn State
UPitt
CWRU

Are any of these safeties? I’ve already applied to CMU, OSU, UConn, Penn State, and CWRU and am hoping for some positive responses from them! (worst part is that OSU, which does not allow for self-reporting, didn’t get my 33 and only has my SAT scores/subject tests)

22

GaTech is tough for OOS students since they have a state requirement that at least 60% of their admitted students have to be in state. They heavily stress intellectual curiosity when selecting students, and value that far more than the “prestige” of your high school. If you haven’t already, ready their admission blogs and work on an essay that shows concrete examples of how you were involved in something that allowed you to demonstrate your intellectual curiosity.

23

@shortnuke what do you think of my chances, though? (i.e. percent range or something less vague than “pretty good/bad”)

Also, my HS literally has zero prestige. As aforementioned, our district is primarily impoverished/underfunded, and 60%+ of the students go to community college.

24

The CS admission rate is somewhere around 5% for CMU, and GaTech’s admission rater is around 18% for OOS so your chances are slim simply because of the amount of competition. Your test scores are great, but your UW GPA will hurt. Many students with 4.0 UW GPAs will be rejected from both schools. A well written essay explaining your circumstances and what you have done to overcome your challenges will help.

I’m not sure about the other schools on your list, but I would say that you have a pretty good chance of acceptance at Pitt. This is the first year they are accepting freshmen into their CS program, so it’s hard to guess what the profile of the admitted students will be. However, your stats are competitive for the Swanson College of Engineering and I would assume the CS student profile will be somewhat similar. D was accepted at Pitt last year with a 4.0 UW GPA and 1410 SAT.

25

@shortnuke How slim, though?

I’ve been thinking about doing another year of HS in order to increase my GPA, test scores, ECs, etcetera. Would this be worthwhile, or would it be pointless and/or hurt my chances?