Chance me please? (ED II)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvey Mudd College
1

<p>Hello all, I've been getting increasingly worried about getting into this school and I figured, "why not have random people on the internet tell me what they think instead?" So here I am. Ballpark estimates or exact calculations appreciated :P</p>

<p>I'm white (scottish/irish descent, family's been living in the US since before it was the US), female, live in the bible belt.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.1 weighted on some crazy scale. Translates into As and Bs I believe.</p>

<p>School doesn't rank, the only thing they would give me was I was in the top 50%. It's a magnet school and is ranked in the top 30 on the US world and news report for high schools. We have to do a "senior thesis" project, which is a year long independent research project. </p>

<p>SAT: 2040 (690 CR - 680 MAT - 670 WR)
SAT II hasn't come back yet, thinking 700+ range for math and maybe physics as well.</p>

<p>APs: nine total including this year, three 10, 11, 12
sophomore year-
CS A: 4 - EURO H: 4 - CALC AB: 2
junior year -
US HIS: 4 - CALC BC: 4 (AB subscore 4) - PHYS B: 3</p>

<p>classes:
Freshman year all honors (7 total) except french 2 & PE
sophomore year 5 honors, 3 AP as listed above. Doubled biology and chemistry.
Junior year 3 AP and 3 honors total (including a senior thesis prep class)
Senior year 3 AP, four honors total. Current APs are Physics C, AP Lit, and Music Theory</p>

<p>The only CP classes I've taken are the ones that are mandated CP by the state since my school doesn't offer them.</p>

<p>I've taken french every year, as well as three classes through Stanford's online program (precal (A, took it between fresh&soph year), algebra I (98, between 7th and 8th grade), intro to c programming (during 7th grade, B+))</p>

<p>Distinctions/EC: got plenty of music awards in middle school and a trophy last year if that counts.
Founded the FRC robotics team at my school last year and continue to captain it this year. We won the rookie seed award at our regional last year and tied for first in the qualifying round of an off-season event last month.
Varsity golf freshman year
Academic team (Quiz Bowl team)
Mu Alpha theta (only freshman member when I started)
Internship at a private defense contractor - first in my school county to be accepted
Good grades on the junior year part of thesis? </p>

<p>I flew all the way out a couple of weeks ago and my interviewer seemed to like me and the admissions counselor I talked to said he'd be keeping an eye out for my application. Fell in love with the school and going to make sure my essays reflect that. </p>

<p>Essay: I haven't finished it yet because it's going to be absolutely amazing by the time I turn it in or else I'm going to kill something
Teacher recs: should be good, my teachers like me
Counselor rec: new person so hopefully she knows all the right things to say
I am applying ED II</p>

<p>Thanks for reading any any feedback is appreciated!</p>

2

<p>“GPA: 4.1 weighted on some crazy scale. Translates into As and Bs I believe.”</p>

<p>That’s pretty much meaningless. How many B’s? </p>

<p>Retaking the SAT wouldn’t be a terrible idea, especially if you’ve taken it only once. I went up from a 2160 to a 2370 without even studying, since familiarity with the test format really helps you on your second try. You’re a little bellow average for HMC (around 2200, I think?) and you still have time to improve. </p>

<p>You’ve taken pretty impressive classes, but some of the AP scores are worrying. You might want to strategically “run out of space” for that calc AB score, especially since Mudd is such a math-focused school. </p>

<p>Your EC’s are impressive, especially founding a robotics team and getting an award. (I think my school got the rookie all star award for our region as well, though I personally had nothing to do with it.)</p>

<p>So…chances at 40% or so (pretty random, guesstimated figure :P, don’t trust it at all), but increase that if you can get your SAT score up. </p>

<p>Also: “I flew all the way out a couple of weeks ago and my interviewer seemed to like me and the admissions counselor I talked to said he’d be keeping an eye out for my application.”</p>

<p>Damnit, I might have done an on campus interview if I’d known making a good impression could get them to “keep an eye out” for my app.</p>

3

<p>Okay I pulled my transcript to try to shed some light on my GPA It’s probably worth mentioning that we use a 7 point scale, so a lot of these would be higher otherwise. Not that colleges care but a lot of the honors classes actually have AP curriculum as well. I have: </p>

<p>CP Classes: 2 A, 1 B
Honors Classes: 9 A, 2 B, 2 C
AP Classes: 2 B, 4 C</p>

<p>On a 10-point scale it would be
CP: 3 A
H: 10 A, 4 B
AP: 2 A, 2 B, 2 C</p>

<p>My grades this year so far would be all A’s on a 10 point scale.</p>

<p>As far as the SAT goes, I’ve taken it three times haha. The top scores I got went into that 2040 and apparently it equals exactly my ACT score (31). I actually can run out of room for that AB calc score since they want to you put in the ones you haven’t taken too on the common app…</p>

<p>We actually got the top rookie seed award. Some team that came out of retirement but was still somehow eligible got the rookie all-star award…their robot was awful too…
I was in charge of most of the programming and helped sort out the mess of an electrical department we had when it imploded.</p>

<p>I’m hoping my interest in computer science as a female might give me a boost (low, I know) and my essays should be pretty good as well. Thanks for the feedback!</p>

4

<p>I think your interest in CS is a strength, and it would be a good idea to talk about it. I’m curious about your Intro to C Programming course. Taking AP Computer Science is impressive, too. I would describe the CS-related activities in detail in the essays or additional information section.</p>

5

<p>Mudd particularly likes to support women in CS - google on Maria Klawe and you’ll get the picture. You are a solid candidate, but be prepared to work like crazy freshman year - you might want to do some math prep over the summer.</p>