Chance Me for Top Computer Science Schools

Schools:

Reach: Harvard (SCEA), Stanford (RD), MIT (RD), Princeton (RD), Cornell (RD), Carnegie Mellon (RD), UIUC (In-State, EA), Georgia Tech (RD), CalTech (RD)

Match: Purdue (Rolling),

Safety: UIC (Rolling), ASU (Rolling)

Demographics: Male, Indian, Illinois, decent public school

Academics:

SAT: 1560/1600, 800 Math, 760 CR+W

SAT II: Math Level 2: 800, Physics: 770

Class rank: School does not give specific ranks, but I am in the highest bracket (top 5%)

UW/W GPA: 3.8/4.0 (UW), 4.5 (W, all honors and APs are +1)

Coursework: Mostly A’s (B in freshman semester 1 English 9 Honors, sophomore semester 2 Pre-Calculus Honors, junior AP Physics 1 both semesters, and junior Calculus BC both semesters). Nearly all Honors and APs. Here are all the AP exams I’ve taken (all 4s and 5s):

Freshman Year: AP Human Geography, AP Psychology (self study), AP Environmental Science (self study)

Sophomore: Comparative Gov (self study), Microeconomics (self study), European History, Computer Science A, Macroeconomics (self study)

Junior: English Language, US History, Calculus BC, Statistics, Physics 1, Physics C: Mechanics (Self-Study), French Language (Self Study)

Senior: US Government, Calculus III (through UIUC), World History, English Literature

Awards: National AP Scholar, school award for making a positive impact in the school body (nominated by pre-calculus teacher, award is by nomination only), outstanding state mock trial witness back to back

Extracurriculars:

Worked as a CS Intern at a $500k+ international non-profit academic organization (3 years)

Mock Trial (4 Years) Placed Top 5 twice at prestigious international tournament * Consistently placed high in state competitions (Basically one of the two best teams in the state) *Won state twice back-to-back for first time in school history and competed at nationals * Secretary 1 Year, Captain 2 Years

Developed and published two Android apps (one game and one database) - the game published through a California company with ~2,000 downloads and the database published individually with ~600 (2 years)

Worked in IT at a local law firm (3 years)

Computer Science Club (3 Years, Executive Board 1 year) Helped develop and design apps for the school district and promote CS contests and activities in order to boost enrollment into CS classes and promote STEM to the school

Math National Honors Society (2 Years, 1 Year Exec Board) - tutoring and stuff, nothing really special

Winter Madrigals (2 Years) - served as Prince of the madrigal during the other year

Spring Musical (1 Year) - Served as principal role in one year of the musical

~100 hours volunteering at a Hindu temple over 2 years

Essays and Letters of Rec: Essays are a solid 8/10, Counselor Rec is 6/10, Rec #1 (AP Physics 1 teacher) is 8/10, Rec #2 (APUSH teacher) is 9/10, Rec #3 (Founder of the non-profit I intern at) is 9/10

Questions: I’m mainly worried that my UW GPA and my ECs (i.e. the fact that they’re good but not mindblowing) will stop me from even having a chance of making my reaches or UIUC. Am I that screwed?

I think you have a shot but as you noted those top schools are reaches for everyone. I would put UIUC and Georgia Tech more of a low reach than the others. Focus on working on more matches and safeties. You are applying for one of the most competitive majors.

My safeties are guaranteed admits, which is why I haven’t really prioritized any matches.

As long as you would be happy with one of your safeties that makes sense.

You are a very competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are great. Write good essays and you could get accepted to any of these schools