I’m a black female planning to major in computer science and hoping to stay within Chicago or the Midwest in general.
My high school does an all-honors optional AP curriculum so I have a total of 6 APs (including my senior year classes):
-AP European History
-AP Chemistry
-AP Physics
-AP Computer Science
-AP Language and Composition
-AP Calculus AB
But my UW GPA is only a 3.5 and my weighted is a 4.5. I already know that schools do consider course rigor but still compare you to other applicants based on your UW GPA, so yes I do know that’s a disadvantage already.
I got a 34 on the ACT. The only subscores I think are relevant are my math and science scores: my math is a 30 and my science is a 35.
My ECs:
-Editor of the school’s literary magazine (freshman year - current)
-Co-founder of Bad Movie Club (current)
-Completed ASM circuitry and robotics program (2015-2016)
-Interned at the Chicago Public Library (2014-2015)
-(Don’t know if it counts) Currently employed working at least 20 hours a week
-(Don’t know if it counts) Program and esp. practice web development in my free time
I am applying to these schools:
-UIUC (reach, considering how competitive the school is for CS)
-Carnegie Mellon (reach)
-University of Michigan
-Illinois Institute of Technology
-Vassar College
-Lehigh University
-Carleton college
-University of Illinois at Chicago (safety)
Most of these are by my counselor’s recommendation because I wasn’t sure where I should apply (since I know I wouldn’t be cut out for any Ivies) but most of them are still very selective. I don’t think he even listened to me when I said my unweighted GPA is only a 3.5 and I only got a 30 on the math ACT (which for CS is low, I believe).
If anyone could provide some non-arbitrary input that isn’t just made up percentage chances that I could get at Prep Scholar or something, and inform me if there are other (good or at least pretty decent) computer science schools that I would be able to get into, that would be great.