Chance me for SCS and CIT? How hard to transfer?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
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<p>GPA: 3.1-3.2 UW (we don't weigh), shitty freshman year, I'll have an explanation behind it (a condition I'd rather not disclose on the Internet); there was a huge upward trajectory and now I'm at a 3.7-3.8 GPA.
SAT 2270 - 800 M 790 W 680 CR
SAT II Math 2 - 790 (will retake for that 800)
SAT Physics - 800
PSAT 202 - "National Merit Commended Student"
AP US History - 4
AP Calculus BC - 5 (self-studied this class)
Currently taking
AP Government
AP Chemistry
AP Physics C (taking it online via EPGY Mechanics)
Multivariate Calculus (I am doing very well in this course, perhaps that could be an edge as I'd demonstrate mathematical aptitude; also I will be taking Differential Equations in the spring term)</p>

<p>ECs:
- Red Cross Club, Honors Certificate of Completion
- APEX for Youth, an organization aimed at Asian-American outreach and serving Asian-American immigrants to smoothen their transition into the United States
- Investment Club member
- NextGenVest (NextGenVest is a mission centered start-up based in New York City that is providing the next generation with education to manage their money effectively so they can excel in the real world. We believe that all financial decisions should be "in plain English" and that the next generation of financial consumers should receive unbiased and trustworthy information that is easily accessible.)</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendations:
Precalculus (I did really well in the class probably top 1%, and my teacher knows me really well so this should be fine)
US History (Teacher is capable of writing great recs but I did not perform at the very top so we'll see)
GC (knows me very well, this rec should be amazing)</p>

<p>Essays:
It's going to be about immigrating here at the age of 7 and chess, should be decent.
I have a bit of research to do for the "Why CMU?" essay, though. Will mostly be about the innovative, ambitious, over-achieving nature of the school.</p>

<p>Demonstrated Interest:
Attended the info session at our school where a CMU rep visited
Attended Sleeping Night Weekend (actually just came back a day ago)</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Chinese (yes, this is going to hurt me, I know. No, I am not ashamed of being Asian because of this; I'm very proud of my race and that will probably even show up on one of the essays.)</p>

<p>I want to say that my life is a very unique story and my grades don't represent me, but everyone is unique and I'll just end up appearing show-offy anyways. Leave that kind of stuff to the art majors.</p>

<p>As you've probably conjured by the time you read this, I do not have very high chances for SCS. That said, I think I have a shot for CIT. That said, how hard is it to transfer from CIT ECE to SCS? Leave it up to me to take the CS courses and do my best to get the required 3.5 QPA on them (and if I don't then SCS was never meant for me anyways). If I don't transfer that's fine because I'd by happy in CIT but SCS is my biggest aspiration and so is working at Google, so please.</p>

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<p>current student here. “chancing” is nonsense, and I’m sure you know it. you’d be a competitive applicant anywhere. Not a shoe-in, for sure, but virtually nobody is (really). Just apply.</p>

<p>As for the whole SCS/CIT/Google thing:</p>

<ol>
<li>Transferring to SCS is difficult but doable.</li>
<li>There’s almost no reason to do it.</li>
</ol>

<p>You don’t need to be in <em>SCS</em> to get an interview at Google. Your diploma from Carnegie Mellon is more than enough, assuming your grades are half-way decent (i’m talking 3.0+) and you have what they’re looking for. You can do a full double-major in CS without transferring or even applying to another program internally to do so. If you’re really hell-bent on working at Google (why are you, by the way? money? glory? the real world isn’t like high school — the point is not to get from prestigious institution A -> prestigious institution B), you will. SCS or not, CMU or not.</p>

<p>So, apply :slight_smile: You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.</p>

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<p>@sockersocket‌ What is the real world like? It gives me headaches every day to be at the whim of prestigious institutions, begging them at their doorsteps, but I always thought that was natural because it’s natural to want prestigious institutions under your belt. Have you seen US News’s CMU SCS rankings? CIT is good but pales in comparison. I never stop worrying about if a prestigious institution would accept me or not, and I might even have sacrificed some happiness for it but if the results are there then it’s all worth it in the end. The real is either you get into prestigious institution A or you never get into one, right? Besides that’s not even why I want to apply to Google. I visited their building when I was 9 y.o. and was stunned by it. Thinking back, it’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a workplace. They have their own cafeteria and featured chefs for god’s sake.</p>

<p>I am in the midst of processing some very new things. CMU admissions staff who interviewed me told me that my ECs were well-rounded, and I always thought my ECs were a pile of sh*t because the ECs of people in my school look like:
Intel winner
USAMO winner
invented the cure for cancer
recognized athlete
music prodigy
lab research with professor
started nonprofit organization
et al.
…
and then there’s my list. Now you’re telling me that I am a competitive applicant (although “you’re not a shoe-in…FOR SURE” is worrisome because your saying that I’m not a shoe-in means I’m MUCH less than a shoe-in)</p>

<p>But yea general advice how do I make myself more optimistic about this? How do I escape the “prestigious institution mindset” and what are the benefits of doing so? “Prestigious institution” has been 95% of my thoughts for the last 4 months lol</p>

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<p>Also the fact that you have to tell me explicitly to apply, as if it weren’t a given that I’d be applying to my #1 dream school that I have demonstrated interest in over Ivy Leagues (I’d choose SCS over an Ivy), is worrisome. I don’t mind the real truth; you are sure you are being 100% honest and unsugarcoating in your response? I will bear the brunt and take the truth over a sugarcoated answer any day, but either way I will still apply; I just want to make my expectations more realistic.</p>

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<p>I really think that you need to take like a few huge steps back. If you’re referring to colleges by their membership in a sports network, rather than by their merits as an institution, you need to take some more steps back. The “Ivy League” doesn’t have a monopoly on prestige. No school does. </p>

<p>To be perfectly blunt, you are applying to colleges for the wrong reasons. Please, please realize that “prestige” is not everything. In fact, it’s barely anything — the most it helps with is a foot in the door or some preferential treatment in a job application queue. What matters is not the college’s brand, it’s YOUR brand. You. Your talents and skills. What YOU can do, not what your college can do.</p>

<p>You use the word “worrisome” a lot. It’s clear that you’re very worried, and that you’re looking for some re-assurance and objective truths. You’re not going to be satisfied with the answers to those things, ever. Worrying will get you absolutely nowhere. I told you to apply because you seemed genuinely interested in the school and because you have statistically competitive grades and test scores. Did I see in you some special “oh, that makes him CMU material” badge? No, because that does not exist. There is no ideal applicant, because CMU (like every school with selective admissions) is looking to build a diverse incoming class.</p>

<p>College admissions are non-deterministic. You need to accept that. There is literally nothing short of rigging the admissions process by illicit means which will guarantee your acceptance. Full stop.</p>

<p>Going back to some of what you said earlier: “but I always thought that was natural because it’s natural to want prestigious institutions under your belt.”</p>

<p>Why do you want prestigious institutions under your belt? So when you die your tombstone will read “Here lies Mathematical, he was accepted into 3 elite institutions”? I’m not trying to be sassy — I’m trying to make a point. Where you go to school DOES NOT determine your worth, it DOES NOT determine your future, and it sure as hell does not determine who you are and what you can and will do with your life.</p>

<p>What do you want to do with your life? What happens after you’ve tucked these “institutions” under your belt? What then? What do you hope they will get you? Happiness? Fame? Fortune? You seem to be operating under the belief that getting into a prestigious institution is something inherently great or important. It’s not. Making the world a better place is. And that’s not something you can buy for four years’ worth of tuition.</p>

<p>So why go to college at all? To better yourself and ultimately to better the world. Go somewhere that you believe will give you the best opportunity, community, and resources to do that. If you don’t get into your dream school, so what? All that means is you’ll need to work a little harder. It’s really that simple. I asked you why you wanted to work at Google — the only concrete detail you gave me was the fact that it had a cafeteria and on-staff catering. Again, please, please consider what I’m writing here. You have your priorities all mixed up. </p>

<p>How do you make yourself more optimistic about this? My suggestion is that you change your mindset.</p>

<p>Please do not read between the lines of what I’ve written here. There are no hidden answers to your worry and nervousness about college. There is only my attempt to help you realize that the world is bigger and more beautiful than an institutional rat-race, climbing from one ivy tower to the next. And, hopefully, to help you realize how silly it is to ask strangers on the Internet to confirm and assess your worth.</p>

<p>In summary:</p>

<p>How do you escape the “prestigious institution mindset”? Realize that YOU define your life and what you stand for, not your diploma.</p>

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<p>Believe me when I say I want to better the world. One of the reasons I want to get into Google is that as I read somewhere, it “works to solve the hardest problems in computer science.” I love solving problems, and the satisfaction you get from acquiring a solution (sometimes to questions you come up with on your own. I mean if no one asked the question “What is a better way to exchange information?” would the internet ever have been created?) is worth more than the glory and wage much of the time, especially if the problem was extremely difficult, and that is the case at Google. I would rather work for Google at 30k a year than work at a non-intellectually stimulating job for 200k. I know how my original post could have been misconstrued though; the food thing isn’t why I want to get into Google, it was a bad example and tongue in cheek. Also, I hardly mentioned wage, because I do not actually think it is that important; Google is my dream employer for reasons beyond food and money.</p>

<p>I want to develop a sense of humility, because that is how you better the world; going to a prestigious institution is anathema to that goal. I realize this. However, at the same time, I’ve come to derive happiness solely from my achievements (solving difficult problems is an achievement) (my achievements pale in comparison to my peers’) and going to a good college is one, so part of it is fear that I will be going nowhere while all my peers post “OMG!! GOT INTO MIT!! CORNELL!!” on their Facebook walls in April. A lot of it has to do with how little I’ve done compared to others and how much I want to be at the top. I haven’t been feeling good about myself for the last 4 months, as I mentioned, because of this, but I can’t seem to find a way around it. Please enlighten me with a way to be confident about myself when there’s nothing to be confident about. </p>

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<p>On an unrelated note, 3.1-3.2 GPA is competitive?</p>

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<p>Your GPA puts you below the average for sure. Plus, taking your Math II subject test again with a 790 makes you look foolish.</p>

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<p>@mnm111 but my SAT, and the fact that my GPA is polarized because of a huge upward trend, helps offset that below average to SOME EXTENT right? I definitely won’t be the best applicant, but with some luck (and also I have demonstrated a lot of interest which is important to CMU) I could at least pull off CIT, right? There’s also the fact that my high school is the most competitive and best ranked high school in New York (which also has an advantage over, say, Wyoming), so would that help in offsetting some of the negatives as well? </p>

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<p>Our school is apparently pretty popular with CMU according to interviewer when I visited during sleeping bag wknd</p>

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<p>bump</p>

<p>any tips for minimizing the impact of my GPA? Usually, high SAT + low GPA -> colleges assume you are a slacker right? Well, I will do everything I can to prove that’s false - because it is, and take my word for it. That kind of can be attributed to:

  1. being in a huge public, very competitive high school with not much support and a lot of bureaucracy
  2. medical condition </p>

<p>3) I overcame my struggles for the most part.</p>

<p>My ability to minimize the impact of my shameful, disgraceful 3.2 GPA will hold the key to admissions.</p>

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<p>DAYUUUMM, preach sockersocket!</p>