Chance me for top CS privates and publics

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics:

Race: Indian

Sex: Male

Intended Major: CS (oof)

State: NJ, Competitive Public School

Income: 300k+ (payment isn’t an issue)

Obligatory Stats:

3.84 UW (very strong upward trend, bad freshman year)

4.8/4.9 ish weighted

35 ACT

800 Math II, 800 (Hopefully) Physics (just took it yesterday)

APs: One of the most rigorous courseloads possible, AP CSA(5), AP Physics 1(4), AP Calc BC (took this year), APUSH (this year), AP Physics C E&M and Mechanics (this year)

Awards:

Google Code in Finalist (should I put this as an activity as well?)

USACO Gold (should I put this as an activity as well?)

National Merit Commended

National French Contest 3rd Place

Some local algorithmic competition wins

Racquetball awards at state level

Hackathon Win

ECs:

Silicon Valley Internship last summer

Research at Hopkins this summer

Research with a UNC professor (also this summer)

Hackathon organizer (this coming fall)

JSA (possible leadership)

Computer Science Club (possible leadership, develop problems for high school capture the flag competition)

Rowing (4 years varsity, compete at regional level, 24-26 hours a week)

Racquetball (2 years, competed at state and national level, couple of awards at state level)

Hackathons (Won one, attended multiple)

MOOCs (Machine learning, linear alg, self studied python, html, js)

School List:

Carnegie Mellon University (ED)

Stanford University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cornell University

Harvey Mudd College

University of Southern California

California Institute of Technology

University of California-Los Angeles

University of California-Berkeley

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

The University of Texas at Austin

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Johns Hopkins University

Northeastern University

University of California-San Diego

Purdue University-Main Campus

University of Maryland-College Park

University of Wisconsin-Madison

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Rutgers University-New Brunswick

2

Pretty much any ranking list you look at Georgia Tech and U Washington are in the middle of the Top 10. Above most schools in your list.

Easiest (list) acceptances for you:
Rutgers, Purdue, Wisconsin, Illinois, Maryland, probably Northeastern

Most likely rejections:
CMU, MIT, Stanford, UCB. You don’t have a Caltech profile. 90% of the students at Texas are from Texas.

https://www.ivyachievement.com/computer-science-rankings/

3

You don’t have anything for teamwork on there, they seem entirely individual activities. Make sure you highlight some instance where you worked with others.

4

Illinois is t5 for cs, don’t count it as a safety. It can be very hard to get into. CS is just unpredictable, write good essays and pray.

5

Amherst might be the only real match on that list for CS.

Even though OP says cost is no object, UCs aren’t worth it for OOS. Plus CS admittance for Cal/UCLA will be extremely difficult, especially for the Engineering school.

For a Top-25 admittance, best chance might be Cornell, but the demographic (South Asian interested in CS/STEM) doesn’t help.

6

Your gonna get into rutgers for sure

7

Add University of Washington…great CS program. Hard to get into but I think you definitely would. Bonus is you are a rower.

8

Rowing is inherently a team sport. I have worked as a part of and will work as a part of my team through my internship last summer and through a research team next summer. JSA is a speaking and leadership club. Hackathon participant and organizer are also part of a team. I don’t see how theres an absence of team work, but if there really is I think I can skew it as needed.

9

Frankly the issue of the UCs not being worth it isn’t something thats going to be left up to me. If the best schools I get into are LA or UCB, however unlikely it is, my parents want me to get the best CS education possible regardless of cost because that is their end goal as immigrants - to make sure that their kids are successful. I’m not going to definitively say that Amherst is or isn’t the only match school on my list because CS is a crapshoot, but I think I have a decently good shot at everything below UIUC except for JHU and maybe? UCSD. I think at the end of the day CollegeSoteria described it best, its really random and I just have to write well and pay.

10

For UCB you have a better chance of getting in via L&S CS, though it will still be under 50%. Maybe 30% chance. For EECS at UCB, your GPA is on the low side, it will be tough. UCLA EECS will be the same issue. But worth a try, of course. UIUC and U-Dub can be tricky though when it comes to direct admittance for CS even though you should be able to get in otherwise. UT-Austin will be tough mainly because they’re so in-state centric. I think all the other public schools, you have a good shot at getting in. Don’t let others tell you what a school is worth, there’s zero inherent reason why a private school is worth more than a public school other than perhaps smaller classes. When it comes to CS, private schools have big classes also. And there’s a reason why so many of the public schools are in the top 20 for CS - bigger schools means better offerings for classes which evolve quickly.

As far as private schools, CMU I would go for ED, that might give you a boost. Northeastern you should be able to get in. USC, you also might get a boost if you apply before Nov 1 (not sure what they call it, it’s not EA/ED). The others, all very tough to get in.

11

Asian male is the hardest category for college admission. But if you can highlight some uniqueness in your essay, you will have a good chance. You will do well wherever you go. But I hope you layer your admission in level (safety, match and reach) as well as timing of admission. D did EA for GT, U Michigan, for example. No need to apply EA to MIT, but fill out the recruitment questionnaire would help. D did that with swimming and got an email from the swimming coach several days before pie day.

Best of luck!

12

All of those schools are “reaches for everyone” schools (even UIUC, Purdue, UMASS, & UMD are reaches, because you want CS). I would cut that list down to eight, and then add about four matches and safeties.

You’re a competitive candidate. Still, you will find it hard to thoughtfully and carefully match yourself to 20+ highly selective colleges.