I’m a current female junior in NJ.
I know that the Ivies are basically impossible to chance but I’d appreciate some feedback (better than average, decent chance, lower than average, etc.) nonetheless.
Thanks
I want to major in CS or EE. (or both/EECS/ECE)
Academics:
98.04 W, 95 UW (on 4.0 scale, I think it’s around a 4.4 W/4.0 UW, but not sure)
1510 PSAT (out of 1520)
800 SAT II Math 2
SAT score not out yet, but if I didn’t get a 1550+ I will retake and try to get that.
5 AP Calc BC, 4 AP Chem, 5 AP Psych
Have taken most difficult courses at school every year (all honors freshman year, 3 APs sophomore year, 3 APs + 1 honors multivariable calc junior year, 5 APs next year). A’s in all classes except for AP Chem (B+) and AP US History Part 1 (B).
ECs/awards/etc.:
Computer Science Club President, initiated programs in the club for increasing the number of women/minorities in tech. Grew the club from a tiny, disorganized group of 15-ish to a bustling organization of 50+. Organizing school/county’s first hackathon this spring; $5,000+ raised so far. Hosted an outreach night for kids as a fundraiser; introduced 130 kids to compsci and raised $2,000 from this event alone. Have attended many hackathons with clubs, helped members get excited about computer science, improve their skills, get honorable mentions (hopefully we’ll get awards soon!)
NCWIT Aspirations Awards NJ Affiliate Honorable Mention ( <-- women in tech award)
MUN officer for 1 year
Science Olympiad member for 3 years; Div. B captain in 9th grade. I’m a top performer on my school’s acclaimed team (we usually place in top 3 at states, first at regionals, first/second at invitationals) and have received 17 medals throughout my career.
Member of Columbia University Science Honors Program
Interned with a local tech company last summer; designed a web app for one of their clients.
Love volunteering through school Interact Club, local environmental organizations, library, and a program where I tutor kids in music and the funds go to schools with underfunded music departments.
Proud flautist, marching band member, wind ensemble member, etc.
NHS member
Applied to summer research programs for this summer. Hoping I get into one of them; if I don’t, I’ll email college professors and try to do some independent research.
U Michigan - I’d say you’re a likely candidate for Umich, especially if you do as well as you’re hoping on the SAT.
Berkeley - Again, similar to umich in terms of selectivity, although maybe a little more so. They care very heavily about GPA, and you’ve got that for them, so again a likely acceptance.
U Penn - Now it gets tough to chance, but I can’t see anything that would hold you back. I’d guess that you get in here, but less confident.
Columbia, Princeton, Harvard.
For these, it’s all going to be the same. They’ve got to see something that fits them, so it’s going to come down to essays and recs. You can get in, but it’s a crapshoot for everyone. I’ll guess that you get in to one of them, or none.
On the whole, I don’t see a weakness with your profile, and obviously you’re passionate about CS things. Maybe my biggest criticism, if you can even call it that, is that I feel like I’ve seen your profile before, even though I haven’t. I guess that’s symptomatic of people applying to CS programs, but just something to be aware of. Good luck.
@Lehnsherr Thanks for chancing! The generic profile is definitely something I’ve been worried about, since I feel like sooo many people who are interested in STEM/CS do the same activities as I do. Do you have any tips to make me stand out of the crowd a bit? I’m really interested in environmental stuff, have studied it a lot through scioly and SHP, and hope to kind of intertwine EE, CS and environmental science in my career (solar panels, AI climate models, etc.) - do you think that is something I should talk about in my application (would it make me stand out/be more interesting?) or should I focus more on my work with CS?
Michigan - match
Berkeley - low reach/reach but I think you will probably get into EECS
UPenn Columbia Princeton Harvard are all reaches. SHP may help for Columbia if you apply ED. But your profile is impressive, and I think your outreach efforts for Women/Minorities in STEM and fundraising will help you stand out against more CS applicants (who may be typecast as ‘code monkeys’).
Michigan - accepted
Berkeley - accepted/ not sure how competitive their computer science program is but just looking at it, you seem to have a really good chance
Ivies - honestly you have a great chance into all of them, you can do so much with those clubs that you have that can make you stand out. I feel as long as your essays are really good and you show these colleges what you’ve got then you can get in.
On things to make yourself stand out, yeah, definitely try and intertwine CS with some other things. I know Columbia in particular really wants engineers to have a lot of stuff they want to apply things to, so it’ll be both good for college apps and a good experience to branch out a little bit in how you use CS. Other than that, it’s going to be generic advice: good scores, keep grades up, leadership roles, recs, essays, blah blah blah. Maybe try and diversify your club interests a tiiiiny bit? Not even really something necessary or important, just something that might be helpful for you to have done in the long run.
What is your UC GPA? Since you are OOS only AP classes taken in 10th/11th grade count. @Gumbymom should have more information.
I beg to differ with kjake2000 about Cal being a lock. CS/EE at Cal is rated in the top 10 and they will reject people with almost perfect GPA/SAT. Since you are female, that would be a big plus in your favor, but Cal is a lock for nobody. I would add Cornell to your list as a low reach as well-you might consider ED. Maybe even CMU.
@Hamurtle how many females do you know are this qualified and are applying to CS/EE? Not many. Thats why she’ll get in. If OP was male, I would say average chances.
Like the other posters said, your scores & GPA are good, and your ECs are solid, if not especially “different.” I would say:
UMichigan: Accept
Berkeley: Accept
UPenn: Waitlist/Accept (Not too familiar with SEAS admissions)
Columbia: Waitlist/Accept
Princeton: Waitlist
Harvard: Waitlist
(The waitlists could turn into acceptances, but because your ECs are pretty standard for CS, I don’t want to be overly optimistic.)
I d say you will probably get into UMich and Berkeley.
Penn,Columbia,Harvard, Princeton are reaches for anyone but still you have a good chance, especially for Penn and Columbia. Harvard, Princeton are overall a bit harder to get in so slightly lower chances than Penn, Columbia.
@Hamurtle I think it’s a 4.29 if I calculated correctly. For context I have 7 classes per year, 3 AP’s last year and 3 AP’s this year. All As with the exception of 2 B’s in 2 AP classes last year.
@Hamurtle Also I am considering Cornell ED, but I feel like I should aim higher - the people at my school who get in there ED have much fewer ECs, lower stats, etc. than me and I just feel like I can “do better” (Don’t mean any offense or anything - I’d be happy at Cornell, I love the school. Just wonder if applying ED to Cornell would make all my effort a little bit less worth it)
Cornell’s CS is ranked #6 by US News, and Ivies aren’t guaranteed by any means, but you are pretty much in with your stats and profile.
My son’s school (highly rated in California-it has been top 25 the last few years) had 2 Cornell ED acceptances (1 for EECS, 1 for ALS) and your numbers are way better then theirs. I know of at least 1 rejection and 1 deferral of kids with similar numbers to yours. The 2 accepted happened to be girls and the deferral/rejects were boys.
I would definitely add CMU to your list as getting accepted for CS there is akin to getting into an Ivy.
Not that you need a safety school but UIUC is a Top 10 school for CS and given the vagaries involved in the college application process it’s better to be safe than sorry. Add Georgia Tech as a match as well.
Chance me back?