Chance Me for Ivies and other schools (not conventional student!)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello to those who are reading this,

I know that many people find that the chances posts are often dumb and hated, but I would really appreciate it if you could give me a response.

I am a male Indian from Pennsylvania who is approaching his senior year. For my undergrad, I plan to major in Computer Science and Finance ( I know that this is a rather odd couple, but this is what I am interested in).

So far, the schools that I plan to apply to are Johns Hopkins, Duke, UPenn, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Purdue, Dartmouth, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, UPitt, Penn State, Temple. I didn’t name all of the schools because I have a long list and I am still shortening it down, but the list I provided gives a general idea.

For tests, I have a 33 on the ACT and I have an 800 in Math, Physics, and Chemistry. In September, I have an opportunity to bring up that score, if need be.

Work experience includes two internships and two jobs as tutors at separate facilities.

One facility, I teach Java and Python to Middle and High Schoolers, and at another, I teach Math and English to kids from age 3 to age 14. Two of the internships involve working at a community organization and working at a consulting company.

For volunteering hours, I have roughly 300, and I have a plethora of clubs(6 to 7), while also being the founder and the leader of a couple of them(2 to 3).

I have taken 8 AP Classes (Human Geography, Biology, Macro, Government, BC Calc, Language and Composition, Physics Mechanics, and Comp Sci) and have gotten between 3 and 5 on the exams. I plan to take 5 more senior year.

The main problem is my GPA. Freshman year, I had a perfect GPA. Then I moved sophomore year and my GPA fell severely. After this, I was able to bring up my GPA Junior year, but sophomore year still leaves a dent. Currently, My GPA is 3.65.

I know this post is very long, and I appreciate your time in reading it. Essentially, I want to know if I have a decent chance and if I stand as good competition against some of the schools which I am applying to. If you have any thoughts or questions, I will be happy to answer. Thank you

2

Your record looks solid. If you have all As in math that will help. What did you get your Bs in, in sophomore year?

You have a great list of schools for your combined interests in finance and CS. I like Purdue, which you should get into, and Carnegie Mellon. With Carnegie Mellon, if you apply to the School of Computer Science, it may be hard to get in. Look carefully at the various choices at Carnegie Mellon. There is a statistics/data science degree that might work for you.
http://coursecatalog.web.cmu.edu/dietrichcollegeofhumanitiesandsocialsciences/departmentofstatistics/

Note that you would apply under Humanities and Social sciences, Dietrich , to get into this program.

It is easier to get into the data science major than the CS major at Carnegie Mellon. Also look at the finance major. You have to choose a first choice major to apply to Carnegie Mellon. You can have a second choice. What would be your first choice major? Can you apply binding ED to Carnegie Mellon?

What is your first choice school? CMU, Northwestern and Cornell, you may get in, if you have great essays, and IF you apply BINDING Early Decision. to one of those. Again at CMU I would not apply to the School of Computer Science which is very small and super selective, unless you have scored really well on the AMC 12 math exam, then that may help you. If you are very set on a computer science major and not data science, you may want to cross CMU off, but think about it.

Penn State is good, for CS and finance, as a fall back position.

Vanderbilt, I don’t think you can get in, but check Naviance for test scores. From our Colorado IB World School, students need a 35 or 36 on the ACT to get admitted to Vanderbilt. Ditto on UPenn, its just super selective for finance/CS. Warton is popular and they offer an undergrad “economics degree” that includes finance. You will have to pick what major to try for at Penn. Not sure which is best fit for you, CS or the Warton undergrad degree.

Being Asian Indian American may help at Vanderbilt where there are less Asian American students though. In years past, Asian students got into Vandy easier than other ethnic backgrounds , but that could change year to year.
Being from PA and Asian Indian will hurt you for getting into Penn. (too many PA students apply to Penn)

Two other ideas, although you have a long list:
Georgia Tech offers nice math/finance/CS

U of Michigan.

Both are high matches, so not so easy to get in, but maybe look at those programs and see what you think.

I know nothing about Temple, but it seems you will get in, and might as well have a few safeties.
But if you believe you will get into Pitt and Penn State, perhaps you could cross off one of the in state safeties,
but be sure you can get into your desired major at the other in state options.

You have a very sensible list of schools, with some safeties in the mix. Congratulations on picking well.

3

For Vanderbilt, do you plan to apply in Arts and sciences or Engineering? Math scores matter more for College of Engineering. So if you have a 36 on math and apply to Engineering at Vanderbilt, that might help. But if you want to be in Arts and sciences, then your reading score needs to be near perfect too for Vanderbilt. A 33 is usually not enough, but it all depends on many factors.

4

Thank you for your input. I did think about Georgia Tech and I also thought of U Washington since I have family there. U of Michigan never crossed my mind. I have no doubt that I will get into Penn State, Temple, and UPitt. I more or less put the school names here because I was not sure about their honors program. So let’s say I took the ACT again and got a 35 or 36. Would my chance of getting into UPenn or Vanderbilt sharply increase?

To further answer your questions, the areas that I struggled in for Sophomore year were biology and history. I have done well in the majority of my math classes except for BC Calculus, which I got a B+ in, but I got a 5 on the AP Exam. I plan to side more with Computer Science than finance, but if it increases my chances, then I will pick my major first as finance for CMU.

5

For Vanderbilt, I plan to apply for engineering. I have a 35 in Math for the ACT
(it is usually reading that is hard for me).

6

How are you not conventional?

7

Double check, but I believe that CMU does NOT consider freshman year GPA in their calculations, which will hurt you. Recalculate without freshman year in there and see where that puts you against their averages.

8

Ok, when I meant conventional, I meant that I am not the typical student who has an extremely high GPA and a very high SAT/ACT score asking for a chance. I have seen many people in these forums get mad at people for asking that when the person posting the question can pretty much figure out the answer for themselves. I did not want to come off as someone who was boasting, and based off of my stats, I don’ t really have a ton to boast about. I am sorry if conventional was the wrong word, but all I meant was that I am under different circumstances than other students.

CMU does look at freshman year scores, but not that extensively. However, they focus more on senior year statistics than other schools typically would.