Chance Me & Match Me - Confused and Lost Aspiring CS Major [WA resident, 3.8+/1300]

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I would really appreciate everyone’s input on my chances to go to colleges that I have listed below. Please read everything possible and let me know my chances! I also have some situation issues that I added and will absolutely mention one way or another at the bottom.

Demographics:

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: White(Middle Eastern, Caucasian,), African

Type of School: Public I’m not sure whether it’s accurate but basically #1000 school nationally and it’s a choice school

Residence: Washington Resident

Intended Major(s): Computer Science + Maybe Economics or Biology or phycology or something not too certain yet

UW/W: 3.8+/4.3 (Not including senior year grades)

**Class Rank: (none

SAT: 1300+ rn but I haven’t taken it serious so I’m retaking seriously and hope to get around 1500+

Coursework: 7 APs credits(counting a full year not semester and no senior year) (6 at school & 1 Self-Study), 9 Honors (again counting each year not a semester), should also get in 2 college classes under my belt before transcripts are sent out

APs: 10th: Ap Environmental Science

11th: AP Comp Sci, Ap Lang, AP US History, Ap Stats(had to retake), AP Calc(had to retake), AP physics

12th: Our schedules aren’t released yet but I should have at least 2 college courses from a local community college

Finished all Spanish courses and fluent

Honors: 9th: Art 3 honors, Humanities 3 honors, Algebra 2 Honors, Bio honors, International studies 3 honors

10th: Humanities 4 honors, Math Analysis(Precalc) honors, Chem honors, International studies 4 honors

12th: Not sure yet but 2 college courses of math under the belt

Extracurriculars:

  1. I was the lieutenant Governor of Club and I managed 10 schools and organized events as well as releasing monthly newsletter, submitting data and information I got from monthly conferences with them all and attended seasonal conferences.
  2. General exec and then President of Schools Club. Since our school is middle school and high school combined together and we get education in the same environment our club dedicates time to teaching the younger kids, as well as some older ones, to —— and we give weekly lessons and do projects. We also have an advanced group that give people with an interest in a space to spend time as well as possibly share. We plan to start hosting some ——- this year and also started recording Youtube videos to release online on Youtube so other can watch and members of the clubs can also review.
  3. I was the secretary of Science society however I realized that the quality people were receiving there was low due to minimal exec participation so I discussed and was able to merge it with club .
  4. Co-President of Schools club. We do experiments and build tech related items such as pcs and key boards and do experiments with them. We also aid in fixing the schools electronics as well as supplying them. As the suppliers we are also the operators of the schools technology so during assemblies and performances or events we manage the lightings and audio. We are also trying to do a joint project with code club on creating a server using pi’s for the school ASB (Associated Student Body) so that all files and announcements can be in one place for all clubs as well as students to access so they can always stay informed.
  5. I am already the grade —— for our schools ASB (Associated Student Body) and possibly I may be a replacement depending on what the current council decides.
  6. Possible award for a UC paper about economics regarding digital currency and ethical issues that may come with it as well as challenges.
  7. 2 websites I am working on.
  8. Sophomore year to junior year I had a business that sold that were imported from people that I made business connection with in turkey and sold them online. Made about 2.5k from that online.
  9. Currently making another ecommerce business online selling apparel that is also imported from turkey using other business connections I have made on my own and my ——- knowledge of the industry.
  10. Worked in an organization for free called where I taught young kids around the ages of 6-7 how to speak and write. We would have an adult with us and altogether we would help them on assignments as well as manage them. Every year we would also work at a culture fair where we would help build a booth and prepare the kids to sing songs and do traditional dances.
  11. Volunteer and help at my local ——- and help to set up some events and also participate in the community.
  12. Working on making a soccer league since it is hard to find them around my area for people my age that are looking for a competitive environment where they can try their new skills and get in some extra training.
  13. I also have multiple social media content creation accounts.
  14. I was a journalist in my schools short lasting newspaper club. I wrote articles regarding social justice such as racism and equality. As an example one of the articles I wrote was about the dark history behind thanksgiving and what we should do today about it. These were especially difficult as I had to appeal to middle schoolers and high schoolers.

Awards:

  1. I won 2 awards in National History day website division of the competition. My website was regarding the ———— movement and making this website was spurred by the ongoing BLM movement at the time so we delved into its history.

School List:

-Stanford

-UC Berkely

-University of Washington Seattle(Paul Allen)

-Caltech

-Harvey Mudd

-UC Irvine

-UCLA

-University of Florida

-UT Austin

-UCSD

-UC Davis

-Florida State University

-University of Southern Florida

-University of Miami

-Arizona State University

-Washington State University

-Western Washington University

-University of Washington Bothell

Please just be honest with me and give me any advice along with it that can help me as well.

2

I forgot to add this to my extracurriculars but I also worked a job at a restaurant as a server.

3

Do you have a budget ?

The UCs and UW are test free/blind. But Florida is test required.

From this list, I think USF is possible, and ASU, WSU, UW-Bothell, and W Washington are good.

I don’t know your UC GPA but I’m guessing for CS the rest are reaches and high reaches.

Good luck.

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4

Every school on your list in CA will be a reach and will be full price.

Texas is a reach

You might consider looking at Oregon State.

You’d probably be competitive at all of the CSUs except Cal Poly and SJSU.

The good news is that you have some safe bets in your home state.

Good luck.

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5

Have you looked at WUE Schools?

Also, Berkeley has three Es, not two.

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6

You can only list 10 extracurriculars on the common app. Pick the ones that are the most meaningful to you and tell your story.

Unless your new SAT score is well above 1500, Stanford and Caltech are out of reach in my opinion. Sorry. UT-Austin probably also out of reach since you are OOS.

You have some good in state options.

Good luck!

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Congratulations on how you’ve developed your profile in high school. You have some very interesting extracurriculars. In order to improve any chancing, here are a few questions:

  • Are you a US citizen or permanent resident of the U.S. (green card)? If you’re not, then that can impact admissions chances.
  • What is your budget for college? And does your family qualify for any need-based aid?
  • What have your AP scores been?
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You need to calculate out your 3 UC GPA’s: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

2022 CS admit rates if available

Campus CS
UC Berkeley 2.3%-L&S updated 2023 EECS-4.5%
UC Davis No data but estimated <20%
UC Irvine 5.8%
UCLA 3.8%
UC Merced 85%
UC Riverside 36%
UC San Diego No data but estimated <10%
UC Santa Barbara No data Historically 5-6%
UC Santa Cruz 60%

All the UC’s on your list will be High Target/Low Reach to Reach schools. UCD has moved their CS major to the College of Engineering this year which might increase the level of competition for that major.

Your SAT will be used for course placement only and not for admissions or scholarships.

You are competitive applicant and if the UC’s are affordable, worth an application just realize they are unpredictable and have capped the OOS enrollment.

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I haven’t but now that i’ve found out about them I will definitely take a look.

10

I did the calculator and got this.
Unweighted GPA: 3.70
Weighted GPA: 4.40
Weighted and Capped GPA: 3.88
This would be without consideration of my senior year grades

11

I am a US citizen because i was born here. For my budget my parents are really fine with a lot of things and I’ll probably also be paying off half of it and my AP scores have honestly not been good since i took them mostly during my junior year when I was kicked out of the house. Ap scores have been 3s.

12

Thank you for being honest, it is what I need. This was just the right motivation i needed to start the practice test I’ve been procrastinating.

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You don’t want to be “paying” off when there’s plenty of affordable choices - WUE and otherwise. Plus, you can only borrow $5500. Your parents, not you, can borrow more.

14

This will be difficult for the UCs, top CSUs, Stanford Texas and HMC.

This is the most important thing you’ve written. You absolutely do not want to pick a school that will saddle you with a ton of debt, no matter the name. It will drag on your ability to build wealth for a long time. Given the fact that the top 5 employers for CS grads from most schools are pretty consistent, you won’t be disadvantaged if you end up at a “lesser” school and you won’t be hamstrung with debt.

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What are they willing and able to pay on a yearly basis that you will not need to repay?

Was your counselor aware of this? This may be something that the school counselor will want to address in their letter. Additionally, do you have concerns with respect to whether or not your family will consistently provide financial assistance through college?

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UC’s use only 10-11th grades for their GPA calculation. Extra weighting for OOS AP/IB and UC transferable DE/CC classes only. OOS HS Honors courses not weighted.

9th grades are reviewed for completion if the A-G course requirements and rigor. 12th courses are reviewed for rigor. UC’s do not accept Mid-year transcripts so Senior grades are not used for admission purposes in general. Exceptions include an augmented review but this is by invitation only due to specific criteria.

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Most recent admit data based on the Capped weighted UC GPA:
2022 Admit rates. Anything below a 4.0 makes CS highly unlikely.

Campus 4.00+ 3.70-3.99 3.30-3.69 3.00-3.29
Berkeley 17% 3% 1% 0%
Davis 58% 20% 5% 2%
Irvine 35% 10% 3% 0%
Los Angeles 13% 2% 1% 0%
Merced 97% 97% 95% 85%
Riverside 95% 83% 42% 17%
San Diego 37% 8% 1% 0%
Santa Barbara 41% 8% 3% 0%
Santa Cruz 69% 45% 16% 4%
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I do believe my family will be consistent as long as I show consistent performance to their standards. I was kind of shying away form telling this to my councilor but was planning on telling her this when school begins this year. It was also going to be the focus on one of my essays because it caused a drop in my grades that year and it also is just a big part of my current personality and changed me.

19

Based on the information you’ve shared, this is how I would categorize your chances at these schools:

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Arizona State
  • U. of Washington – Bothell
  • Washington State
  • Western Washington

Likely (60-79%)

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • U. of South Florida

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Florida State
  • U. of Washington – Seattle

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Caltech
  • Harvey Mudd
  • Stanford
  • U. of Florida
  • U. of Miami
  • UC Berkeley
  • UCLA
  • UT-Austin

Defer to Others, but suspect low probability which @gumbymom’s most seems to indicate

  • UC-Davis
  • UC-Irvine
  • UCSD
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What are these standards? Do you think you will have any difficulty maintaining these standards in college?

I would not use your essay space to explain why your grades dropped. That can be addressed by your counselor or in the additional information section. With respect to how it has changed you, I would think carefully about this and consider reaching out to some of the CC folks about your essay topic:

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