Chance me please - SCS

Colleges & Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>Regular decision application to SCS</p>

<p>Stats:
Gender: Male
Race: Chinese
High School: Carmel High School, Carmel, IN, very good and wealthy public school
Unweighted GPA - 3.86
Weighted GPA - School does not start weighting until next year
Class Rank - Not sure, somewhere <69/1000 I think, will be getting rid of it next year
SAT: 2290; 800 Math, 760 Writing, 730 Critical Reading
SAT II: Going to take Physics and Math IIC
PSAT: 223
APs:
- European History - 4
- Computer Science A - 5
- US History - 5
- Computer Science AB - 4 (ouch)
- Macroeconomics - 4
- English Lit and Comp - 4
- Calculus BC - 5
- Physics B - 4</p>

<p>Transcript (semester system):</p>

<p>Grade 9:
English (1st semester) - A
Honors English (2nd semester) - A
Algebra II-1, Hon - A-, B+
Geometry 1, Hon - A, A
Biology I-1, Honor - A, A
Spanish III - A, A-
Physical Educ. - A, A
Begin Orchestra - A, A
Interpersonal Relations (summer) - A</p>

<p>Grade 10:
English (Speech, 1st semester) - A-
Honors English (2nd semester) - B
PreCalc/Trig - A, A-
Chemistry I, Hon - A, A-
AP European Hist - A, A-
Spanish IV - A-, A-
Comp Sci A, AP - A, A
H. Orch Winds - A, A
Adv Orchestra - A, A (we get 4 credits for top orchestra because of extra rehearsals)
Library Media (Webteam) - A, A</p>

<p>Grade 11:
Eng Lit/Comp, AP - A-, A-
Calculus 1 BC/AP - A, A-
Physics I, Honor - A-, A
AP Macroeconomics - A
AP US History - B+, B+
Comp Sci AB, AP - A, A
H. Orch Winds - A, A
Adv Orchestra - A, A
Independent Study Music - A
Library Media (Webteam) - A, A</p>

<p>Grade 12 (will be taking):
Multivariable Calculus/IB Math HL
AP Chemistry
AP Physics C
AP English Language and Composition
AP US Government (1 semester)
Physical Conditioning (1 semester)
IB Film HL
Honors Advanced Orchestra (4 credits)
Library Media (Webteam)</p>

<p>Total Credits: 68</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
- CMU's Andrew's Leap Program (summer before Freshman year)
- Piano, 10 years
- Violin, 6 years, School orchestra, 4 years (~9 hours/week)
- Senior/Carmel Connects Club (teaches computer awareness and usage to old people/younger people), 2 years, Secretary
- Amnesty International Club - 2 years, Audiovisual Director
- Varsity Football - 2 years, Video manager (film and edit video for coaches, manage A/V equipment, etc.), ~20 hours/week
- Varsity Track - 1 year, Video manager, ~15 hours/week
- Math Club, 4 years
- Science Olympiad, 4 years
- Chinese Culture Club - 4 years
- National Honor Society
- Going to start Computer Science Club next year
- Self-employed Computer Consultant - 2 years ($15/hr)
- Paid Summer camp counselor for Indianapolis Chinese Community Center - 2 years
- ~50 hours volunteering for Indianapolis Chinese Community Center (I know I'm really lacking here...)
- Advanced Computer Science course taught by some guy dealing with x86 ASM, SQL, etc, 10th grade, maybe next year too
- Some small local/regional programming competitions</p>

<p>Awards/Accomplishments
- National Merit Semifinalist (should be finalist)
- Indianapolis Piano Teacher's Association Competition - 1st Place
- Indiana State Fair Young Hoosiers Competition - 2nd Place
- Midwest Conservatory Competition - Honorable Mention
- World Piano Competition - Semifinalist
- Symphony Orchestra - Concertmaster, excluding Camerata (10th and 11th grade), Symphony is technically 2nd best orchestra, while the top is called Camerata and is a division of Symphony
- Camerata Orchestra - 1st Violin (will be in it next year)
- 3 Varsity Letters (2 Football, 1 Track). This is where I think it gets confusing because I doubt anyone has ever been in this scenario before. I do a bunch of film/electronics work to contribute to my school, which might be useful since its computer related and might help my chances at SCS? However, would it increase my chances if I just leave it as 3 Varsity Letters? Perhaps the ambiguity of that would lead them to think I play sports well and get me accepted?
- National AP Scholar
- 2 time AIME Qualifier (10th grade - 1, 11th grade - 2)</p>

<p>Recommendations:
Predicted to be decent/pretty good. My APUSH teacher likes me a lot, even though my grades in his class were pretty bad. He's the one that asked me to do Track video stuff, and I even went to his house to fix his computer before. My orchestra teacher likes me a lot too, but I'm not sure how much that will benefit me. I need to get a Math/Science rec though, but I don't really have any good sources at the moment.</p>

<p>Essays:
I'm a terrible essay writer. I know absolutely nothing about the essays. I'll improve on this, hopefully, this summer.</p>

<p>Sorry I wrote a lot. I really want to go to CMU SCS, so help would be greatly appreciated. I'll also be applying to Stanford, MIT, and Caltech, but I think I have a better chance here.</p>

2

<p>I don't know that I'm the best person to "chance you", but I say you've a very strong chance. Your stats are above average for even SCS. As a matter of fact, they're pretty close a student I know who did get in.</p>

<p>Of course, that assumes reasonable essays, etc. And realizing that acceptance at any of the very top schools is something of a crap shoot.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

3

<p>My son's rank was higher, grades and scores were similar. All 5s on APs, but he had fewer than you at the end of jr. year. He had fewer ECs, (state medals in Sci. Olympiad), similar computer science experience. (A course at Columbia, freelance computer programming both for a company and for a biochemist, 2 excellent recommendations from people he'd done programming work for.) He got into CMU, but not Caltech or Stanford. I think your chances for CMU look very good, harder to say for Caltech or Stanford. Only legacies have gotten into Stanford from our east coast school.</p>

4

<p>I really do think you will make into CMU..solid sat scores and transcript. Moreover, i think your ECs and awards are really impressive..not many people can say they were a seminfinialists at a world piano competition..that's crazy!
Good luck man</p>

5

<p>they would be insane not to accept you.</p>