Chance Me for SCS! :D

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
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<p>Hi guys, I'm a female Asian(Chinese) student from a pretty prestigious public school in California, Carnegie Mellon is my dream school so I'm going to apply for ED I! Please chance me! :DD thank you in advance (:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.90UM/4.53W
Class Rank: 13 out of 816, (9 out of 816 for 10th-12th grade)
ACT: 1st 31 (32 Math, 31 English, 32 Reading, 27 Science)
2nd 34 (34 Math 31 English, 34 Reading, 36 Science)
SAT I: 2060...uh yeah not sending... (710 Math, 720 CR, 630 Writing)
SAT II Bio: 630 (definitely retaking, aiming for 750+)
SAT II Math II: 800
SAT II Chinese: 800
Awards: FBLA regional 1st place Personal Finance, 1st place Global Business, 2nd place Business Math, 5th place Word Processing. </p>

<p>Future Business Leaders of America (9-12 VP Senior year)
Key Club (9-12)
Lowercase People(we organize the school talent show and other events such as acoustic night to raise funds for a different charity each year, (9-12, Treasurer Senior year)
Future Investors of America (11-12 VP Junior + Senior year)
Science Olympiad (9-10 VP both years)
Tutoring for failing freshmen (10-12)
Working currently for Revolution Prep, an SAT prep program. Main duty is Marketing.
Volunteer at local food bank (9-12)
Planning to start TEDx at my school, currently organizing it with my school's administration.
Took Chemistry, Sociology, Intro to Comp Info Systems, and Global Business at my local community college, 4.0 GPA</p>

<p>Sophomore APs: AP Bio, AP World History, (took AP Chinese test, but didn't take the class, got a 5...but my native language is Chinese so...)
Junior APs: AP Eng Comp, AP Chem, AP Stats, APUSH
Senior APs: AP Calc BC, AP Physics, AP Eng Lit, AP Art History, AP Econ/Gov, AP French</p>

<p>I immigrated here in 5th grade.</p>

2

<p>So supposedly Mellon’s SCS is like getting into HYPS for guys, but is much easier for girls, so I would guess you have a decent shot. Given that you are committing to being a CS major, it would be ideal if you could say you have some more programming/CS experience. I know you took the intro to comp systems, any experience outside of that (esp that you could write about for your essays?) If you don’t have any more CS experience, are you sure that you actually want to commit to SCS?</p>

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<p>oh yes, most of my experience comes from self teaching, since my school doesn’t offer any CS classes, although I’m planning to take a programming class this fall at my community college. I have committed this summer to learn Java since I will most likely be taking the AP Comp Sci test next May. I’m also touching on Python, so far, I’ve enjoyed this learning process very much.</p>

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<p>Female applicants have a big advantage when applying to SCS.</p>

5

<p>I always knew being a girl would give me an edge, but does it really give me a big advantage?</p>

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<p>That’s a tricky question. If you want a better idea of your chances, it’s worth nosing around [url=<a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/ira/index.html]here[/url”>What we can do for you: - Institutional Research and Analysis - Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning - Carnegie Mellon University]here[/url</a>]. The common data set (2011) especially has a lot of information, although it doesn’t break down statistics by college. For example:</p>

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<p>So for the university as a whole, the acceptance rate for female students is higher (34% compared to 28%) but yield is lower (26.5% compared to 30%). I’m sure that’s even more true in SCS.</p>

<p>According to the [url=<a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/ira/factbook/pdf/facts2012/3_admission-section-final.pdf]factbook[/url”>http://www.cmu.edu/ira/factbook/pdf/facts2012/3_admission-section-final.pdf]factbook[/url</a>], 2011’s freshman SCS class had 152 students, with 104 Male and 48 Female overall. However, Asians were the only ethnic group where Female outnumbered male (23 Asian Male and 24 Asian Female–compared, for example, to 47 White Male and 14 White Female). I’d really like to know how those numbers compare to the entire applicant pool.</p>

<p>I’d say being a female probably gives you an edge as an SCS applicant, but I’ve never seen anything that would imply female applicants can get in with lower test scores or less impressive credentials than male applicants. Yes, a higher proportion of female applicants get accepted, but female students in general tend to have better test scores, and they self-select for STEM fields. If you find any more information on that, by all means share it.</p>

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<p>Thank you so much for all the info! I really appreciate it. (:</p>