How did you as a high school junior find the time and the means to publish in top IEEE ACM conferences, which traditionally serve the graduate research students along with their professors? I am sure a lot of HS students would like to emulate that in the future. You mention you are the first author, who are the other co authors ?
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Yes i do have 3 first author papers in peer reviewed CS journals and conferences (which are known for their High impact scores ) with my superviser from a top university…another 2 of my papers as a first author, are under review
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Yes i have completed most of them and remaining requirements with 5 APs are scheduled for next year.
Anyways, thanks everybody…
Thanks, as a first author one needs to write their research paper…My ACT English is 35, Math/Sc is 36…all these are beyond what my school report card says…so i believe i have enough evidences of my English skill as well.
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OP, we all have typos from time to time, or tortured syntax from an edit. And, oveall your English is good, but you are over-confident…@aunt_bea knows what she is talking about:
and of course…
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Thanks Everybody for your comments…I think I have got the answers for my questions…
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How did you connect with a supervisor/prof from top university as a high school sophomore/junior? This is how getting into the elite universities becoming insanely difficult. Everyone has secret weapon. Can you enlighten us ?
keep connecting with Prof. over email. n the email, highlight math accomplishments in terms of the courses you have taken and competitions won. I think I finished Calc 2 and Linear algebra by grade 6 and that helped me in learning the topics for my CS research. I am working with them for a few years now. During the interview I had to prove my knowledge on the foundational contents. I think reading a lot of CS journals and blogs regularly helped me gain those basics.
You have a lot of “book smart” accomplishments you have listed. What else do you do? Anything in the arts? A sport? Something you have done as part of a team?
I’m not an adcom, but your application seems very one dimensional to me…and some tech schools probably will like that. But others are not just looking for award winners, and academic lists of things. They are looking for “other” qualities you might have. So…what are those?
I have more than 100 hours of volunteering (as a STEM tutor and Math/CS Club leader) and am a painter as well. But definitely I am not an all-rounder. Possibly I would also not like to be one.
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What is your family’s budget, @soumya1?
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In the bay area, almost every student is doing the same thing regarding top scorers in AMC, AIME, stanford math tournament, berkeley math tournament, AP, GPA, clubs, tutoring…etc. Did you actually win the competitions to stand out from the rest and then email the stanford professor (for example)? and they will respond to you with yes or no ? Thanks.
yes to both your questions
For some colleges…this will be fine.
If you won those competitions (not just the top 5%) + research papers + you did all the basics requirements, I think you have a good chance to get in those elite universities. I have observed many peers in my high school who got accepted to Stanford, MIT last two years with similar credentials. Congratulations.
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Yes, my Math competition performances ( and regularly logging them as updates in my website) have been instrumental for building my CS collaborations as well. Thanks to all.
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You are a strong applicant for schools like MIT and others on your list. However, your list of schools are highly selective. Every year, we do see a lot qualified students who are rejected from these schools. The schools themselves say they reject a lot of similarly qualified applicants as the ones accepted.
It will be wise to include a good set of Target schools to your list - your school counselor should be able to help you identify those based on where your alumni have been accepted.
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You have impressive accomplishments that certainly may speak to schools looking for “pointy” kids. And there is nothing wrong with that.
Are you asking for suggestions (matches) in addition to your chances at the highly rejective schools you listed?
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First of all, yes you are competitive at the top universities. However, so are between 80% and 85% of the other applicants. I think that Stanford, MIT, UC Berkeley, Caltech, CMU, Cornell and Columbia are worth applications as long as your are interested in these schools, they have a good program in your likely major, and you can afford to attend. Of course if your major is CS, most of the top universities in the USA for CS are on this list.
However, they are all reaches. Your chances of being turned down at any of them will be greater than your chances of acceptance, and it is at least reasonably possible that you could be turned down by all of them.
Your first job is to make sure that you know what your financial constraints are, if there are any. Even for a major in CS you would be better off if you can avoid debt for your bachelor’s degree.
Your second job is to pick out at least two safeties. These are schools that you know you will get into, that you know you will be able to afford, that have a decent program in your major, and that you would be willing to attend. If you are from NY state, there are very good in-state public universities that would be good safeties for you.
Then you think about reaches. I think that the schools that you have listed are reasonable reaches for you (and for other very strong students).
Given how strong your in-state public schools are, it is not obvious to me whether or not you should consider other schools that are very good for CS and easier to get accepted to compared to your reaches. If you do want to consider such schools, U.Mass Amherst is very good for CS, will be a much easier admit compared to your reaches, and is not all that far from NY State.
I think that this is fine. If you read the “applying sideway” blog on the MIT admissions web site, it recommends that you do what is right for you, and do it very well. This sounds like exactly what you have done and are doing.
It looks like you are likely to do well wherever you end up.
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