Chance Me | Rising Junior looking ahead [CA resident for data science/math -> CS]

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics

  • US domestic
  • State/Location of residency: CA
  • Type of high school: magnet school
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: asian female
  • Other special factors: nope tehe

Intended Major(s)
prob data science/math then switch to computer science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.71
  • ACT/SAT Scores: not taken yet, projecting like a 1500 tho

Coursework
9th grade: APWH, APCSP, spanish 1, h bio, h eng, alg 2 h
10th grade: AP Lang, AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, h chem, pre-calc h, spanish 2, cambridge cs, AP calc bc
11th grade: AP Physics Cs, APCSA, APUSH, AP chem, IB spanish 3, IB eng, multivar+linear alg @ local uni, AP stats
12th grade (prob): IB cs, AP econ + gov, AP span :sob:, AP lit, linear alg 1 + 2 and prob some physics course @ local uni

Awards
Research Award @ semi-prestigious national conference, did independent research and presented
Science Olympiad National Competitor (a few national medals, some state, and a lot of regional)
National Cyber Finalist
Cyberpatriot semifinalist
NCWIT
CM10 Piano

Extracurriculars
research internship @ usc in 9th grade summer
research internship @ rit (currently doing), selected among phd and grad students to attend program and continue cyber research
started a hackathon for local students about cybersec+data science
Science Olympiad, A team member, hopefully captain, tons of time tho
Nonprofit president, published a coding book and lead many events to teach coding (200+ volunteers, 700+ participants)
independent cyber research, published in journal + conference too
cyberpatriot, fun times, almost made nationals

Essays/LORs/Other
LOR1: cs teacher from 9th-12th grade, also cyber coach, p strong
LOR2: chem teacher and scioly coach, idk abt this one tho

Cost Constraints / Budget
N/A can pay full

Schools

  • Safety: cal poly pomona, UC davis, community college
  • Likely: nc state (idk did some research thing over there and seemed nice), csuf, ucsb, chapman
  • Match: uci, rit
  • Reach (basically gonna apply as much as i have energy, def not all, ranked): cmu (mb ED idk yet), ucb, ucla, cornell, caltech, stanford, mit, usc (i rlly liked it there), georiga tech

i want to know some other good safety schools for cs and my chances at reaches

2

Depending on the school, switching into CS may not be an option.

All those reaches are unpredictable for a high stats unhooked student like you because they get so many excellent applicants. You do have a shot, but be sure you love your safety/match schools.

Your chances at CMU will be much better than the rest as a female applicant because they strive to maintain a 50-50 gender ratio. And your chances will rise significantly if you apply ED. You must apply directly to SCS CS major.
But be sure CMU is the right kind of school for you - don’t rely solely on its ranking.

You seem to have a strong cybersecurity spike. Check out some of the programs listed here: Top 10 cybersecurity colleges in the U.S. in 2022 | VentureBeat

There’s a wide range of selectivity amongst the schools listed there.

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Congratulations on being a competitive applicant so far but you still have another year to fine tune your application. I am only going to address the UC”s and CSU’s in this post.

First of all, if you want to pursue CS then with the UC’s and CSU’s it is very important you apply as a CS major. For several of the UC’s and CSU’s, if not admitted directly into the CS major, it may be extremely difficult to impossible to switch later. You will need to research the change of major policies for each school of interest. For the UC’s, you need a direct admit for UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCI and UCSC for CS. UCD currently is allowing a change of major switch into CS but they could change depending upon impaction.

At the end of Junior year, you need to calculate your UC/CSU GPA’s which use 10-11th grades only. The exception would be Cal Poly SLO which uses 9-11th grades in their GPA calculation. Here is the UC GPA calculator link and all 3 UC GPA’s will be considered in your application review.

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

Below are the CS admit rates for the UC’s and some CSU’s.

Based on these admit numbers, UC Davis is probably closer to a High Match/Low Reach. UCSB would be a Reach for CS and High Match/Low Reach for Data Science/Math.

Cal Poly Pomona could be a Likely school but since CS is impacted, even if you are a local applicant, it is not a guarantee of admission to your choice major. They do consider alternate majors, so you can select Math as your backup major.

There are several Cal states where CS is not impacted on this chart so they would make good safety schools. All CSU’s admit by major.

2022 CS admit rates if available

Campus CS
UC Berkeley 2.9%-L&S EECS-4.5%
UC Davis No data but <20%
UC Irvine 5.8%
UCLA 3.8%
UC Merced 85%
UC Riverside 36%
UC San Diego No data but <10%
UC Santa Barbara No data Historically 5-6%
UC Santa Cruz 60%
Cal Poly SLO 9%
Cal State Long Beach 54%
San Diego State 40%
San Jose State 31%

Data Science admit rates if available

Campus Data Science
UC Berkeley 8.25%
UC Davis No Data but approximately <20% Capped Major
UC Irvine 7.6%
UCLA 10% Does not admit by major but into College of L&S
UC Merced Major not available
UC Riverside 67%
UC San Diego No data but approximately <10% Capped major
UC Santa Barbara 27% admit rate for College of L&S which does not admit by major
UC Santa Cruz Major not available
4

i would prob apply as the cyber/information systems major at cal poly pomona

5

how does olympiads like usaco (gold or plat) would help tho

6

RIT is a safety.

Good match schools - maybe a Col School of Mines - depends, do you want large or small. A UMass, UMD, Wisconsin, etc.

But frankly - even safeties - an Arizona, Arizona State - they could be safeties and just as “strong” as a target, etc.

Great student - best of luck.

7

For the Cal States, you do not list EC’s or awards in the application so it will have no impact. They are mainly stats based admission.

For the UC’s, your Olympiad medals will help your chances but again no guarantees when it comes to CS.

UCSC and UCR would make very good Target/Low Target schools if you are interested in attending.

8

i might js apply all ucs except uc merced and ucsc, only ones ive visited is davis, la, irvine, and berkeley

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UCLA is a great place to try the bait and switch major strategy (apply as math of computation then switch to CS winter of second year). I think Berkeley is a bit tougher so you may have to apply direct to CS. For the other UC’s you’ll probably have a strong enough shot that you should just apply as CS to begin with.

10

Don’t do this. For all your schools, as a general rule, absolutely apply for CS regardless of likelihood. On a school by school basis for may be a couple of reach schools you can evaluate if a switch to CS option is feasible.

You are a very competitive applicant who should get into at least a couple of the colleges on your list relatively easy.

Also add CalPoly and SJSU to your list as reach/target since the app is relatively simple and with your grades you will be with a good shot.

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