Chance me for Physics? MCS

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
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<p>I am an upcoming senior applying for Early Decision II so they factor in my senior grades.</p>

<p>Gender/Ethnicity: M/Southeast Asian
Location: NJ
High School: Public
High School Type: Extremely Ghetto Public school, almost 70% recieve free lunch.
Will apply for financial aid: Yes
Hooks: I dunno, less than 40k per year?
Major: Physics</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 3.62 (Bad sophomore year)
Rank: Top 10%
8 APs by graduation, rest are either honors or electives.</p>

<p>Scores:
SAT- (Practice Tests, taking on Oct) 2160 is the best I have gotten with my math being the highest at 750</p>

<p>SAT II:
Chemistry-780
Math Level II (Pending November)
Physics (Pending November)
Expecting 750+ on both</p>

<p>AP-
Chemistry-5
Env Science-4
APUSH-4
English-Not worth mentioning</p>

<p>Taking Calc BC, Stats, Physics C, and Eng 4 in senior year.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars: Computer Club (President), Environmental Club (President), Volunteer Club (Treasurer), and I might be an officer in a club in the upcoming year. I have also participated in other clubs that I do not think are worth mentioning in this.</p>

<p>Awards: AP Scholar, #1 in County in the Merck Exam, Several Honor Rolls</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work: 60 Hours in volunteering on walks and such. Fundraised for cancer research.</p>

<p>EXTRA:</p>

<p>We are in the middle of developing an Android app for a project in Computer club in which I taught people a programming language.</p>

<p>I have had Bs in my earlier math classes, but that was at a point where I was not really interested in the subject. But after this year, I fell in love with it and have improved drastically. I am planning on taking BC. I have nearly ALL Bs in sophmore year, just a really bad year for me. But i improved in Junior by getting nearly all As except for in some humanities, and will continue to improve in my junior year. What do you guys think my chances are in ED II CMU assuming the scores I mentioned that are pending are valid?</p>

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<p>^ I’m not very good at chance-me threads because I have no idea what the admission officers are thinking, but one thing I suggest you do in your app is whenever you wrote some sort of excuse in your post, like “Bad sophomore year” or “Bs in math classes”, make sure to elaborate on that in your app, somewhere, there should be a “optional comments” section or something. The officers might wonder what happened if it’s really bad, so try to prove to them that it was something notable and write something like “yeah I messed up because of (this) but this experience has taught me (otherwise)” etc. I just heard that they don’t like seeing discrepancies between your stats without explanations.</p>

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<p>Ugh You see I would do that, but I have heard the exact opposite what you have just said. I heard that they don’t like excuses and I am not sure they would like to hear that I was unmotivated. I would like to hear some other experiences on this that came out successful?</p>

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<p>I got into MCS ED this year so I can judge you somewhat accurately. Your grades aren’t that great, but you can offset their negative impact with some strong essays. Imo, you have a fair chance of getting in if you get 2240+ on the SAT (with a 760+ on math) and 750+ on your remaining SAT IIs. </p>

<p>My main problem with your app is that it doesn’t express much interest in physics. What activities, awards, and/or experiences do you have that show your passion for physics? </p>

<p>P.S. Don’t try to explain your grades if “being unmotivated” is your only defense. Just let your upward trend in GPA speak for itself.</p>

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<p>^ Like FateGoneAwry16 said, I didn’t mean that you must have a simple excuse for everything, only if it really matters. If there was a legitimate reason behind your demotivation, (i.e. family/friends problems, school problems, personal issues, etc) then it’s worth writing about.</p>

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<p>It seems like EDii will not exist next year, which removes my chances of showing my semester grades. I guess I will be doing regular decision, although it is my top choice. I agree fate, but I am not really sure how to show passion for physics.</p>

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<p>I would also like to include that my two teacher recs are likely to be steller. With one seeing the immense improvement of me becoming one of her best students.</p>

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<p>I dont think you stand a chance. Your gpa is way too low. You should have a minimum 3.8</p>

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<p>I have seen the results thread, and while not many have gotten in, there are quite a few with 3.6~</p>

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<p>ehh “chance me” threads… if someone says “no you won’t get in, your stats are horrible”, the asker would try to state otherwise, or would get discouraged from applying/attending the school. Or if someone says “yeah you will most likely get in”, the asker will get his hopes up, which isn’t always a bad thing by the way, and it just feels nice to have someone else believe in your getting in. I was a victim once…
What CMU2016 and most other repliers base their answers off are the “average” statistics, or (hopefully) explain their reasoning behind their response. So my point, darkaeroga, is that while a “standard” average is 3.8-4.0, as CMU2016 has mentioned, it however does <em>not</em> mean you don’t stand a chance. I think CMU2016 was just trying to warn you about your GPA, and not necessarily say that you won’t get in…</p>

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<p>No, I absolutely understand, I am not in a favorable position. However, I have seen a lot of his posts, and he is doing this to nearly everyone.</p>