Hello! I’m a Senior from upstate New York. I’ve loved tinkering with computers and whatnot since I was a kid, and I’d love to turn something I do for fun into a degree and a career. My first choice school is MIT (as almost any CE major I’m guessing), but I guess I got a major reality check when I realized I’m missing something crucial compared to most of the guys in HYPSM… I do almost nothing that could be put on a resume beyond my grades. I’d like to know if that will have a large an impact on my chances as I seem to be feeling.
Reach Schools:
MIT
Stanford
CalTech
Match (IMO):
GA Tech
UT Austin
Unsure about others. There aren’t too many high-tier CE colleges in the Northeast from what I’m guessing. Either that or I’m horrible at research.
GPA (as of Junior Year): 4.0(UW), 4.4(W)
Class Rank: Not sure about specific number, but easily top 10. I think I’m even in the top 5.
PSAT: 1410 (Math:710 / Reading-Writing: 700)
New SAT: 1390 (Math:700 / RW:690)
ACT: 34 (Eng: 36 / Math: 32 / Reading: 33 / Sci: 34 / Writing: 24)
SAT II: Math 2: 750 / USH: 710
I need to take a Science SAT II to apply to MIT (a new rule for 2017 applicants, lucky me for wasting that USH test), but here lies the issue: This year is my first taking Physics (only 3 weeks into AP C, skipped AP 1), I took Chem in Soph year and don’t remember enough for a test, and I have minimal experience in Bio. I have no idea which to take between Physics and Chem, and I’m not even sure if I have enough time to take another SAT II before EA expires. I definitely don’t want to miss EA for MIT.
Total APs: 9
Soph: AP Spanish
Junior: AP USH, AP Enviromental Sci
Senior: AP Comp Sci, AP Econ, AP Gov, AP C Mechanics, AP C Elctricity and Magnetism, AP Calc BC
Extra Curriculars (My most impressive section):
Anime Club.
Yes that’s all. I’m not even an officer of said club (at least not in title).
This massive hole in my record is thanks to a combination of my school having few interesting clubs, even fewer means of advertising these clubs, and my own failure to go out of my way to look for things to join (I was raised by my parents’ logic of “grades over everything” and didn’t see much worth in ECs until very recently). I’m planning on trying Debate Club, Rock-Climbing/Hiking Club, Math Club, Math Team, and Solar Car Racing Team, as well as looking into ways of beginning a club of my own (both for my resume and to add some more fun things for the student body to do).
Things I do in free time:
Video games are a pretty big chunk of this. Not just playing, but also modifying and toying around with file systems.
Reading fantasy books (Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher series is my most recent endevour)
Rebuilding and modifying my home computer (which I built myself).
Worked a solid 250+ hours at a convenience store for a friend of my father’s over the summer (This had a large part to do with my lack of research into colleges).
I’m also in the NHS, though I’m sure the 20K other MIT applicants mostly are, too.
I’m Caucasian (Arab), and my parents make under $50K, so financial aid and distance from home are pretty important to me (though I can make sacrifices, which is why Stanford is my second choice).