Chance me for NYU and Northeastern for Early Decision

Chance Me / Match Me!
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I’m planning to apply Early Decision to either NYU or Northeastern University. I was wondering if I had a chance of getting into these schools with these stats.

Ethnicity: Fully Vietnamese. Studying abroad in the US since 9th grade
Intended Major: Computer Science
GPA: 98.37/100 (the scores are considered both weighted and unweighted.)
SAT: expected to be around 1450 (will not submit if lower)
SAT II: N/A
APs:
Junior Year: APUSH (4), AP Computer Science Principles (5), AP Language and Composition (3)
Senior Year: AP Environmental Science, AP Government and Politics, AP Computer Science A, AP Statistics

Volunteer and Extracurriculars:

  • JV Soccer (member freshmen year, captain sophomore year)
  • Varsity Soccer (member senior year)
  • School Drone Team (member sophomore year)
  • Worked as a teaching assistant at an educational institution in Vietnam to help Vietnamese students learn English
  • Volunteered and donated to a nursing home for homeless/disabled Vietnamese elders

Awards:
AP Scholar
Cum Laude

I am pretty confident about my recommendation letters. My essays are still in the works.

Do I have a chance?

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Are you able to full pay for these schools? If you are a full-pay international applicant, your chances may actually be a little better than if you were a domestic US applicant. Both schools rely on international student dollars to subsidize financial aid for domestic students. If you need financial aid, however, an acceptance with the aid you need is not likely.

Both are reaches, especially for CS. Why are you taking AP Stats rather than Calculus? Likewise, why AP Enviro Science rather than, say, AP Physics or AP Chem? More math and science rigor would be a help. I don’t know what you mean about your GPA being both weighted and unweighted. You clearly have good grades, but your course rigor and EC’s are on the light side for highly-competitive STEM programs.

Overall, I’d be more optimistic about an ED application to, say, RIT. I think NYU at NEU are aiming a little too high, from the information you’re giving. Not only are these very competitive schools inherently, but they’re also in very high demand because so many students want to be in Boston and NYC. But, there’s no harm in trying, as long as you’re comfortable with paying full price. If you’re hoping for merit or need-based aid, I’d go back to the drawing board.

3 Likes
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I do not plan to apply for any financial aid. My school does not consider grades weighted or unweighted, but if I were to use a conversion tool, my GPA would be around 4.0 unweighted and 5.0 weighted. I plan on adding more ECs with more of a focus and emphasis on computer science digital literacy this year. As for my APs, it is way too late into the schoolyear for me to be changing anything.

Other than RIT, I would love to hear your opinions on some more possible reach options that are not as ambitious as NYU and NEU for me with the current stats that I have. Tuition costs should not be an issue. Thank you so much!!

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Are you male or female? Your odds go up if you’re female applying for CS.

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Unfortunately, I am male haha

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Shucks! CS and engineering are the only majors where it’s a bit of a disadvantage to be male. The good news is that you’ll get in somewhere since you have a good GPA and ECs. It doesn’t hurt to throw your hat in the ring at one of the two. The one thing you can still do to help improve your chances before you apply is get your SAT up over 1500. Do you have the time/ability to study and take it again if you’re below 1500?

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You’re a senior, right? That means you only have September and October to participate in these activities before the November 1 ED deadline. Not sure how much of an impact two months of ECs will have.

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I believe you have a chance at both if you show a lot of demonstrated interest and write strong essays. Additionally, the test score is important and is there any way you could get a 1500+?

That would really make a difference in such a competitive pool.

Finally, since both schools have ED1 and ED2 would you consider ED2 to the other one if the first school doesn’t workout?

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I think that you should consider applying to U.Mass Amherst. It is very good for CS.

Can you afford these universities without taking on debt?

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5.0 weighted doesn’t make sense unless every class you’ve taken, for all four years, has been eligible for full weighting. Presumably you’ve been in some honors classes in addition to your 3 AP’s so far, but it’s hard to believe that you’ve never taken anything but fully-weighted honors/AP classes. (Often, an A in an Honors class is 4.5 and only AP/DE classes get 5 grade points.)

If you want to shoot the moon, IMHO Northeastern’s CS program is stronger than NYU’s. Do you have a strong secondary interest? NEU’s CX+X combined majors are an excellent way to combine interests, and they also require less higher math than the pure-CS major. Do you want a co-op focused program? (RIT is also good for co-op.)

URochester has an even higher percentage of international undergrads than NYU and NEU, and their admit rate is higher (more because people prefer Boston and NYC over Rochester than because there’s any difference in quality and rigor - it’s a top-notch STEM school). So I’d recommend both URoch and RIT be on your list. Case Western Reserve admits a lot of internationals too. WPI and RPI would be good targets.

Are you going to apply to UC’s? San Diego, Irvine, and Davis are all 17%+ international. They’re test-blind for the upcoming cycle, and your 3 AP’s so far will get you sufficiently above a 4.0 weighted to be a viable candidate. (Honors don’t count for weighting for OOS/Intl GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub ) Davis has a CS major in Arts & Sciences, which isn’t as tough to get into as the one in engineering. San Diego admits to the campus first and then to the major, so you can be accepted to the university even if you don’t get into CS. (And then you have CS-adjacent options like Cognitive Science and Math/CS.) UC Santa Cruz has excellent CS also, and you’d probably get in there. It’s all one application and you’re not price-sensitive, so shotgun all of them except Berkeley and UCLA, and see what happens! (But consider applying to alternative majors at some of them - see below.) Also consider some CSU’s, especially Cal Poly and San Jose State. On the private side, in CA, Santa Clara U.

Consider some less-reachy state flagships that have strong CS and strong honors programs. ASU Barrett, U of Utah, UMinn Twin Cities, Pitt, Ohio State, and UMass Amherst.

If you like stats and environmental science better than calculus and physics, maybe think about CS-adjacent majors like Data Analytics ( Majoring in Data Analytics | Data Analytics Major ), Informatics ( B.S. Informatics | Informatics @ the University of California, Irvine ), UX/Human-Centered Computing ( https://www.rit.edu/study/human-centered-computing-bs ) or GIS. (GIS can be great if you’re into drones. Here’s one example program - and you’d be more likely to get into this than into the CS major at UCSB: BA GIScience | Department of Geography | UC Santa Barbara Here’s another that shows the coursework: Catalog - The University of Utah )

You have a solid record and you should have good options; I just wouldn’t aim too deep into the rarified category of schools where CS applicants who haven’t taken Calculus and AP physical sciences, or done heavy STEM EC’s, will have a hard time getting in. There are many excellent programs that would love to have you.

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