Chance Me for Top School Shotgunnin'

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey, I’m in the class of 2018 so much of this is prediction but please chance me as if it were real!
If anything seems unrealistic or if you know a school I should add to my list (or think I should remove a school) please let me know in the comments.

Intended Major: Computer Science/Computer Engineering
Intended Minor: Finance/Physics (Maybe)

Colleges (Legacy in parenthesis):
Stanford SCEA, Northwestern (Mom), Notre Dame (Mom), Yale (Stepfather (basically father), Uncle), Cornell (Aunt), UC Berkeley, UCLA, Caltech, USC, UIUC, UMich, Clemson
(I know it’s kinda a long list, please tell me which schools to remove/add if you think of any)

About Me:
Gender: Male
Race: Hispanic/Native American Cherokee
Income: ~400k
State: Michigan
School: Public, extremely competitive
UW GPA (When applying): 3.77
W GPA (When applying): 4.47
Rank: N/A, prolly about top 30 out of 520

ACT: 36 (35, 35, 36, 36) (Single sitting)
New SAT: 1570 (400R, 370W&L, 800M) (Single sitting)
SAT IIs: M1: 800, taking Physics(760-800) & M2 (720-800)

AP Exams:
Sophomore: APHG (5), APCSA (5), AP Chem (Dropped after 1st semester, explanation lower*)

Junior (Predictions, but I’m like 99% sure these are right as I’m a really good test taker):
Physics I (5), Physics II (5), Stats (5), Calc BC (5), APUSH (5? Maaaaybe a 4), Lang (5), Macro (5), US Gov (5)

Senior courses: APCSA, AP German, AP Physics C, AP Lit, AP Chem (Only 2nd semester, explanation lower*), Guitar II (fine art lol), AP Psych, Multivariable Calc @ our community college

College Courses: Precalculus @ Community College (10th summer)

ECs:
Women in STEM (11, 12)
School Coding Club (9, 10, 11, exec board, probably president 12)
Competiitve Programming Club (Founder & President 11, Founder & President 12)
FBLA (10, 11, 12)
Varsity Lacrosse (10, 11, 99% sure captain 12)
Varsity Basketball (12)
Chess Club (9, 10, president 11, 99% sure president 12)
Math Team (9, 10, 11, 12)
Summer Club Lacrosse (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
Stanford Summer Institutes AI program (10)
Doing more research this summer in big data analytics with a professor at a university nearby, will most likely be published

Awards:
Placed nationally in a really prestigious science fair (Like Intel, Google SF, Siemens’s) for research in machine learning
USAPO Qualifier
USACO Platinum Division
FBLA: 2nd in State
FBLA: National Qualifier
Hopefully All-Conference Lacrosse
Math Team: Placed really well in state in 9th and 11th
National German Exam Gold Medal (10, 11, probably not 12)
NMQ, Hopefully NMF or NMSF
Probably National AP Scholar
Smaller hackathon and CS camp awards

Special explanations:
Sophomore year was a reaaaaally bad year for me. I got 3 Cs (Chem first semester, lit & German 2nd semester). First semester I was having some really bad mental health issues and was hospitalized for around 6 weeks, then second semester my sister was diagnosed with cancer and I went back into hospitalization for another 3 weeks.

I got 3 As (APCSA both semesters, Lit 1st semester), 5 Bs, and 3 Cs sophomore year, and despite one B first semester freshman year I’ve had straight A’s in every class Freshman and Junior year. I’m almost positive I’ll get straight A’s again senior year (knock on wood).

Rec Letters:
10/10 - This one will be from my APCSA, APCSP and Computer Science Honors Teacher who seriously adores me. I’ve spent tons of hours with her outside of class just discussing computer science and she’s also the mentor for our coding cub and the mentor for the competitive programming club I started. We get along super well and she knows about everything that happened sophomore year and I’ve asked her to expand on it in the letter.

9/10 - This letter will be from my Varsity Lacrosse/Club Lacrosse head coach, he’s known me forever and will most likely write about me being really hardworking and tough.

8/10 - This one will only be going to Notre Dame, from my dad’s friend whose entire family has gone to Notre Dame (and I mean all of them, seriously). This guy’s grandpa was a professor, then a coach at ND for about 40 years and literally has a statue on campus of him. While I’ve met this guy a lot and talked a ton with him, I still think he doesn’t know me well enough to write a really personal rec letter and thus the letter will probably be pretty generic.

(Should I get more letters? Please let me know)

Essays:
9/10 - Going to write mostly about my sophomore year as a struggle, with my sister and mental health and all that.
10/10 - Writing about how my stepfather contrasting with my real father greatly influenced the person I’ve grown up into, and how this contrast ignited my passion for computer science.
9/10 - Writing about strength relating to my sister, stepfather, and mom putting up with my real father and relating it to my love of CS as well.

What do y’all think? Anything I should add or remove? Please please please let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

2

Your chances look great at any of those schools! Especially Stanford. Your ECs especially are awesome. Really, really kickass ECs. However, two things:

–I don’t know how much, if any, the Notre Dame letter will help you. Unless he can speak to an aspect of your personality that has not been picked up on by the rest of your recs and your essays, it might look like you’re just getting him to write a rec because of who he is. But your application is about you! Not him. You stand quite sturdily on your own. I don’t think you need the rec.

–You listed Women in Stem as one of your ECs but gave your gender as male. All WIS clubs that I’ve been around have been women only. Your ECs are GREAT but they’re so great that I’m wondering if this is a fake profile. If you’re a part of a really inclusive WIS club, I apologize for my assumptions a thousand times over- and take it as a compliment that your ECs are so good that I’m wondering if you’re a troll!

Best of luck- and remember to add a safety!

3

Yale (not familiar with requirements of the others on your list) wants recommendation letters from teachers of two academic subjects so you need to select an additional teacher for a rec. Could still submit the coach’s rec as a supplemental

4

You have a very good chance at any school you apply to. Your GPA is a little low, but an upward trend combined with perfect standardized test scores, URM status, and great ECs more than make up for the GPA.

Recommendation letters really only matter from your academic teachers. Not sure if the letter from the Notre Dame person would help but it is definitely worth a try. Legacy usually only counts if your Dad or Mom attended the university so an Uncle or Aunt won’t be very impactful.

5

Your academic qualifications are pretty good (despite your seemingly low GPA which is actually not bad at all). Your test scores and other academic qualifications will probably overshadow your GPA. I think your ECs are pretty well centralized around your interest in comp sci and you seem to have a lot of achievements as well. This, combined with your legacy status at many of these schools and your URM status, definitely gives you a strong chance at most of these schools. I think you can definitely get into most of these schools (Stanford is a bit difficult as it is a reach for everyone). Good luck! I would appreciate it if you could chance me back here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1995754-chance-me-low-gpa-rank-cornell-rice-wash-u-ucla-etc-p1.html

6

@newkidnewtrix No I definitely understand what you’re saying, don’t apologize!! I just called it a women in STEM club as the more specific name might be a giveaway towards my high school. While the club is for awareness mostly about women in computer science, anyone who wants to get involved in really helping any minorities in STEM can come. We go on little field trips and organize meetings with influential minorities in all of STEM. It’s a super great club, I wish I had joined it earlier in HS and wish this more inclusive type of club existed more.

7

@tdy123 I’ll definitely ask another teacher that I had in mind for one then. Thanks!

8

@doorrealthe Thanks! I’ll look into that rec letter for ND, you guys might be right about it being unnecessary.

9

@tripledouble2000 Thanks and yeah, Stanford will always be a bit of a pipe dream hahaha. Heading over to your post right now!

10

Congrats on some great achievements. If you have the time this summer, you should show off your CS skills by building an app or a game. It’s a lot of time, but it’s worth it.

11

edit: *** the only weird thing is that you listed that you were a “Male,” but that you were in “Women in STEM” club at school. I guess it wouldn’t be that unusual for a male to join a Women in STEM Club in this generation, but please clarify your gender. Women in STEM as an underrepresented minority applicant is a huge advantage.

For you to be an Hispanic/Native American Cherokee applicant with a 36 and national awards is incredible. There’s no need to build a “game” to show of your CS skills. Right now, that is TERRIBLE advice from the posters above. It’s NOT worth the time^^^. You already have the strongest ECs that demonstrate your intellectual curiosity. Your national award is amazing, even amongst the best of applicants. Spend the summer writing your essays instead and you’re solid.

12

You definitely need to connect your cultural background to your essays, otherwise it doesn’t help. I don’t see any other cultural connections from from your profile. Hispanic and or Native American clubs/organizations/etc.

13

If you can validate your American Indian heritage and show you’re part of it as opposed to checking the box, you’re pretty much in anywhere, no joke. Native American is the biggest hook, outside of possibly recruitable athlete. Work on your essays and make sure you position the ECs to highlight depth. Good luck.