Chance me for Stanford, UT Turing Scholars, MIT, CMU, Harvard, Caltech, Berkeley

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m an Asian male from a magnet school in Texas.


[QUOTE=""]

Stats
4.375 Weighted GPA; my school does unweighted a little differently but using the common method its around ~3.9 since my average in classes is about a 95.

[/QUOTE]

My school doesn’t release class rank out of state but its 15%

1570 SAT, haven’t taken subject tests but intend to on the first test date. I’m debating whether it’s worth taking act

10 APs taken so far - Computer Science A, BC Calculus, Physics C: Mechanics, Physics C: E&M, Physics 1, Physics 2, US History, World History, European History, English Language and Composition. All of them are 5s except Physics 2, which I’m not too worried about due to my scores on Physics C.

3 APs senior year - AP Gov, AP Macro, AP English Literature.


[QUOTE=""]

ECs

  • quiz bowl (and related competitions like national history bee/bowl, academic worldquest, etc.)
  • robotics, I do programming
  • summer programming internship at a software startup
  • another internship at a largeish electrical engineering firm
  • cs club, some uil events and ctfs
  • cyberpatriot, a computer security competition
  • a number of open source contributions
  • monthly linux meetup
  • I’m not sure if I should include this but I edit wikipedia

[/QUOTE]

I also run my school’s student website and co-maintain a mobile app relevant to students.


[QUOTE=""]

Volunteering
Total probably amounts to 20 hrs/semester for duration of high school.

  • robotics outreach to get underprivileged elementary schoolers interested in STEM by mentoring them through robotics projects
  • free cs peer tutoring, organized through cs club
  • nhs
  • local community cleanup/kids help group (I don’t think I should be too specific on the internet, but I will be on my college apps :wink: )

Awards

  • top10 in a few (3-4) national ctf computer security competitions
  • top10 in cyberpatriot state
  • top10 twice in national academic worldquest
  • winner, nscda essay contest
  • national us history bee qualifier
  • various state quizbowl tournament wins, misc awards
  • national ap scholar, bla bla

Leadership
I’m somewhat worried about this

  • captain of worldquest team
  • an officer position in quizbowl (beginning this year)
  • likely cs club officer position too
  • cocaptain of cs ctf team
  • lead programmer for my robotics team I guess

[/QUOTE]

Please let me know if providing any other information would make this easier to chance. Thanks!

2

I think your profile looks pretty strong. Definitely mention that you edit Wikipedia- as an outsider looking at your application, little unique ECs like that really help to bring your app into three dimensions.

I like that you have more of a developed theme of interest in your CS ECs than most people have. I think that will go a long way in helping you stand out. Your volunteer work is great, most EECS majors don’t have that much.

Your leadership looks just fine, I wouldn’t worry about it. And don’t bother taking the ACT!

Overall- I think your chances are great, even as an asian male going into CS (I assume). I don’t see applications on here often that make me say this, but if I were on the Stanford/Caltech/etc adcom, I would admit you. Spend time on your essays, make them personable, and you’ll do just fine.

3

Your profile is pretty strong, considering your software engineering experience and leadership. I wouldn’t take the ACT. You have a stellar SAT so it’s not needed. Take the SAT Math II and Physics, and aim for 750 on Physics and 800 on Math II. You are good to go. Good Luck!!

Just a few questions. What mobile platform do you develop for? What languages have you used in the past few months? Make sure to tag me @collegeboundprogrammer so I get the notification.

4

Speaking mainly regarding Caltech admissions here:

– Looks good. Put time into your essays; they are important.
– Don’t bother with the ACT, especially if your SAT score includes an 800 in math and you get an 800 on the Math II subject test.
– CTF placement and leadership will likely help. May help you with the Honor Code essay question, too. (Also helps at CMU SCS if you did well in picoCTF.)
– Have you taken at least honors Chemistry and Bio?
– You are continuing on in math senior year, right?

5

Looking at your stats, I’d say you should feel good about applying to all of the schools you listed. No stats will give you a lock. Craft your essays with care and see what happens. Do know that tuition will be considerably more outside of Texas, so weigh that in your analysis.