Chance me! Rising Senior, Interested in Comp Sci, IB Diploma Candidate, Decent ECS

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US domestic: Arizona (State of record), but can get in-state almost everywhere due to GI Bill
  • State/Location of residency: Poland, but US Citizen
  • Type of high school: Private Full IB Highschool
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Male, White, Brazilian-American
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): Moved during highschool / Military family / thats it I think

Intended Major(s) Computer Science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA:
    4.0 Freshman & Sophomore, Full IB Junior (predicted 28, will def be higher though) (and full IB Senior since IB Diploma)
  • Class Rank: Not given
  • ACT/SAT Scores: SAT 1200- retaking in Aug

Coursework
HL: Comp Sci (5), Physics (3), English Lang & Lit (4)
SL: Spanish (6), Math AA (5), Business Management (5)
AP US History
6 years I believe of spanish on transcript (I did some funky stuff and somehow got earlier years of spanish added onto my highschool transcript at my old school)

Awards
National honor society
Silver academic recognition award
Principal’s list
Billy Mitchell Award
Wright Brothers Award
CyberPatriot XII & XIII

Extracurriculars
In order as on common app

  1. Type: Community Service
    Position: Cadet 2nd LT, BCT Instructor, Flight C Instructor
    Name: Civil Air Patrol
    Description: Led drill teams, instructed cadets, organized practices, taught CAP customs, supported tech tasks, planned training events for smooth operations.

  2. Type: Computer/Technology
    Position: Founder, Lead programmer, Financial accountant
    Name: GamingChair
    Description: Founded & recruited 3 team members, $4000+ in sales, 2100 active users at peak, kept financials trained 1 member, coded in c++, ran security & website

  3. Type: Internship
    Position: Administrative assistant
    Name: Department of State, United States - Embassy in Warsaw, Poland
    Description: Was an administrative assistant assisting in administrative tasks within the embassy. Coordinated / led multiple meetings, small & large events.

  4. Type: Community Service
    Position: Vice-president & Co-Founder
    Name: Cat Club
    Description: Raised funds for a non profit cat shelter ranging from bake sales to virtually adopting a cat, raised over $2,500 for surgeries and utilities.

  5. Type: Computer/Technology
    Position: Windows Server Leader
    Name: CyberPatriot
    Description: I was the leader for the windows server operating system while we competed & in training. Trained other members. We received regional awards.

  6. Type: Athletics: JV/Varsity
    Sport: Cross-country
    Position: Member
    Description: Travelled once to Budapest for a cross country tournament with CEESA, attended meetings & was a good friend encouraging and helping others grow

  7. Type: Athletics: Club
    Position: Member
    Description: We didn’t only deal with cross country but with every sport in the school, raising funds, organizing trips, purchasing stuff for the teams, fundraisers

  8. Type: LGBT
    Position: Member
    Name: PRISM
    Description: We organized lots of school inclusive events including a pride week & gender neutral bathrooms.

  9. Type: Community Service
    Position: Team member
    Name: Legacy Club
    Description: Engaged in heroic environmental stewardship, fearlessly tackling the scourge of litter and plastic pollution, purifying local communities.

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
Id say my essays are mid, not fantastic but not bad, I talk about my ec’s and how they changed me, and the unique experiences with them and leadership within, so overall not bad. LORS, one from counselor, one from comp sci teacher, one from math and one from physics, overall they should be okay as they all know me decently well.

Cost Constraints / Budget
100k a year max, besides that pretty certain ill be getting a full tuition scholarship & have GI Bill

Schools (everything is EA if possible, if not RD, only ED is NYU)
SUNY University at Stony Brook - Target
Arizona State University - Safety
New York University - Reach, ED
Rutgers University - Target
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Reach
Virginia Tech - Reach
University of Maryland - Reach

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Congratulations on your achievements. I don’t know how to interpret your IB score but I assume it’s strong like the 4.0 you got freshman and sophomore year?
You have very good ECs. I would suggest applying test optional.

I think your list of schools is correctly classified, and I think you will get into
several of these schools. Since you have a solid safety you’re happy with, no harm in shooting your shot at the reaches.

I’m curious though - why NYU? They’re not particularly well known for CS. If you’re looking for a prestigious name, maybe check out Columbia or Princeton? They have much stronger CS programs.

This means you can afford full cost at every school in America. Just want to make sure that’s what you meant. The GI Bill I think will only pay up to $27k/year for private schools. So the rest (for example, $90k - $27k at NYU) is on you.

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Yeah I mean so my IB grades arent as strong as my 4.0 as the curriculum and such is just harder (at least for me), its out of 7 total points so some stuff like Physics are low. I would say averaged out for Freshan - Junior I have around a 3.56? (IB really sucks :frowning: )And yeah the budget is right, it is 100k max per year. I chose NYU because I feel like I could maybe get in while Columbia and Princeton I most likely have no chance, NYU isnt know but it doesnt seem to have a horrific cs program at the same time. Also the location is nice.

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Have you visited NYU or plan to, before applying? How much do you know about it?

If you like the NYC metro area, you might also want to consider Stevens Institute of Technology. It’ll be a target, and while it’s not in NYC - it’s right across the river in Hoboken, NJ with easy access to Manhattan. They have a really nice, new high-rise dorm. Very good co-op programs too (if that interests you), and they’re well known in the NYC/NJ region.

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I’ve looked a good bit at NYU and researched it, it does seem like it would be a good school and somewhere I wouldn’t mind attending, I do also see its downsides of since there is no central campus its harder to make friends and all that but that really isnt a concern for me. I did look at Stevens a tad but never really got too deep into it due its comp sci research ranking being a tad higher (not sure if its that accurate). I’ll look at it again though and do more research on it though.

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Bump, would love some more opinions :slight_smile:

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It’s true that New York is an exciting place to be, but is it really worth the extra $50K per year to you and your family over the many excellent public universities where you could qualify for in-state tuition?

In addition to the public universities you have already listed, I would also look into the UCs, University of Washington, Madison, UT-Dallas, etc.

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