This is more of a “What if” type post because I’ll be a college freshman, and I didn’t apply to these schools last fall/winter. But I would like to know what my chances would have been like if I did apply.
Applying as OOS/International from Tennessee for CS. ACT Comp is 32, 33 superscore. 34 Math, 34 Reading, 34 English-9 Writing. School only offered 4 APs and schedule worked out to where I was able to take 2. Top 10% of class.
GPA is 3.78/4.0 and 4.6+/5.0 I had 0 prior experience in Computer Science during application season.
Few EC’s like Treasurer of Math Club, Chess Club, National Beta Club, Kenpo Karate, Rec league basketball.
200+ volunteer hours at public library
Rejected from: Ivies, UCLA, UCB, UT Austin, Rice, Duke, CMU, Stanford, MIT, Vanderbilt, waitlisted/rejected at GaTech&UIUC,
Accepted at: UTK, Purdue, USCD, U of T
Match for UWisc but reach for UMich and USC.
For UMich, your GPA is below admission average. For UMich, it is around admission average for LSA but below average for CoE.
^ Oops, the last srntence is referring to your ACT score. They don’t superscore ACT there.
@billcsho Haha thanks. I don’t care much for UWisc, but now knowing that USC and UMich are reaches for me makes me regret not applying less since all my other reaches have rejected me lol
I am really surprised you were rejected from UT Austin. You’re credentials make you seems perfect candidate. Then again. OOS really hurts you with any Texas admissions. I would say UWisc is a safety, while USC is a high match and UMich is a s well. Your stats make you pretty competitive anywhere, It’s just an admissions preference when it comes down to it.
@wardroger000 UT Austin has a policy where only 10% of admits can be OOS. I am both OOS and International (Canadian but live in the YS), so my chances are even lower. 10% of their 40% overall acceptance rate is 4% for OOS students, so they’d probably pick those who are more qualified. And the main reason I was rejected from a lot of my schools, especially the ones I was waitlisted for, is due to no outstanding EC’s or any relating to my major and 0 experience and background in Computer Science haha I was lucky enough to get even Purdue to accept me with those qualifications. I think a competitive CS program like UMich might have ended in a rejection since my friend who applied for Comp Eng with same EC’s but 3.97 GPA and 31 ACT was waitlisted-rejected
After filling 75% of the seats by automatic in state admission, the remaining 25% is very competitive even for in state students. I am not surprise at all OP got rejected by UT Austin, particularly for engineering.
@billcsho Computer Science; but yeah, it’s UT Austin’s most competitive major
@dhruv97 what were your 10-11 grade ap courses? It could be your rigor.
UIUC CS is also super competitive. I have heard single digit admission rate from last year.
@dhruv97 Wow, I guess I never realized the extent of the “bias” admission committees. I have seen friends of mine who, well, are just plain stupid, and they’ve gotten accepted due to the top “%7” rule. Either way, yeah, Outstanding EC’s seem like a must nowadays. But I think its a little unfair for the to judge the classes and their relation to your major. What if that was al that was offered. I hunk instead colleges should look at an applicants overall potential to succeed, not just bis a pieces individually. Now you’ve got me ranting. LOLZ.
@harshil1499 my school only offered 4 AP’s and 99% of my class’ schedules got screwed to where we could only take 2 of the 4
Outstanding EC is great and important for highly competitive schools in additional to great test scores and GPA. Having a major related EC would be a plus although not necessary.
@Dhruv97
Match for Wisconsin but USC and Michigan are a reach.
Also try University of Washington. It looks like an average school but there CS program is amazing. Also University of Washington has close ties with Seattle’s Industries like Microsoft and Amazon. With your stats I would say UW is a match and you would have the oppurtinity to go to an Engineering school in the top 10 like you dreamed of.
Hope this helps 
@Dhruv So you mean 4% of students are OOS?
Or the acceptance rate for OOS is 4%
Or you are math challenged