Chance me: Purdue, UT Dallas, UT Austin, UIUC, Northwestern, TAMU

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Asain male from competitive high school in suburban Houston
Going to be a senior this fall

I appreciate all feedback:

Academics -
GPA (unweighted): 3.57
GPA (weighted): 4.2 (out of 5, Honors and AP = 5)
All honors and AP wherever possible
Taken 3 years of Computer Science (AP CS, CS2 (data structures class), and CS3 this fall) and got As in all of them
SAT Superscore: 1480 (740 reading and math)
Raw SAT: 1450 (710 math 740 reading) (will be taking again in August)
AP Computer Science: 5
AP Lang: 5
AP Calculus BC: 5
AP Psychology: 5
I took AP Physics 1 but did not take the exam
Will be taking another 6-7 AP classes and exams next year
I can’t take multivariable calculus next year as it is a schedule conflict with Computer Science 3, instead, I will be self-studying it through MIT’s free online course (is this worth mentioning on my app/essay?)

EC -
3 years of band (marching and concert) (second highest band sophomore and junior year)
NHS member 11th-12th
SNSH member 11th-12th (lots of STEM volunteering)
Computer Science Club member 11th-12th
Chess Club member 10th-12th (secretary junior year and vice-president senior year)
Starting a JMA (junior medical academy) branch this year (check out jma.education for details on what this is)
Robotics (FRC) member 10th-12th
Received a 1 (highest rating) at solo-ensemble sophomore year
Will probably be doing Cyber Patriot event this year and maybe Cyber Code Quest

Recs -
Computer Science teacher has agreed to write a rec (I’ve heard his are pretty strong)
Waiting on response from English, Physics, and Chem teacher. I’m pretty sure I’ll get at least 1-2 of them to write me one

Misc -
I think I’m a pretty strong writer and can write strong essays
Did pretty much nothing freshman year but it was due to personal reasons
We did some large projects in CS2 in which we implemented and utilized several data structures. Worth mentioning?
Realistically, I think I can get into Purdue, UT Dallas, and TAMU. Pretty uneasy about the other ones.
Looking into a cyber-security specialization with my CS degree. Purdue has a program called CERIAS which is essentially what I’m looking for.

Again, I appreciate all feedback.

2

Forgot to mention I did some mini projects with a Raspberry Pi (made a vpn and a DNS adblocking filter): are these worth mentioning?

Also volunteered at daycare center to teach kids chess

3

Your unweighted GPA is on the low side but you have great everything else. I think you are right on your matching with Purdue, TAMU, UT Dallas and I also think UIUC. I would say Northwestern would be a high reach and UT Austin a reach.

4

Doesn’t Texas have that 6% rule? If you are in the top 6% of your class you’re in? That would be my answer to UT

I think Purdue would be a great fit for you! I’m biased, but I think it is a better engineering school then NW anyway :^)

But @momofsenior1 and I agree except if you qualify for the UT top 6% of your class rule.

5

The GPA is on the lower side. Also, your ECs don’t show too much leadership. You’ve written “member” for most clubs, so that may be an issue. Otherwise, you seem pretty good, so I agree with those above. UT Austin and NW might be a little hard, but you have a good chance for everything else.