I’m trying to decide which of the California state schools to apply to (CS major) as a first-time freshman. I really don’t have a lot of clubs or anything related to computer science – the most I have is being a student officers on my school’s personal laptop support team.
I know the UCs are very competitive, and my main concern is not meeting their Fine Arts requirement – the courses at my high school are compressed into 1 semester each, so I only have 0.5 credit in Music Theory. Also, my school’s AP registration period has passed, so I can’t sign up for any humanities APs.
According to other CC discussion threads, this won’t immediately kill my chances, but I’d like to know if my other stats will make up for that. Does it help that I’ve taken piano lessons for 9 years and am currently teaching myself the violin?
Note: I meet or exceed all the other high school course requirements.
Female, CS major, potential minors in Linguistics or Military Science
SAT: 1560 (770 Verbal/790 Math)
SAT Essay: 7/7/7
National Merit Semifinalist, likely Finalist
Cumulative GPA ~3.85, unweighted
SAT Subject Tests: Math Level 2 (780) and Literature (770)
AP exams – World History: 5 // Chemistry: 3 // English Lit: 5 // Calc BC: 5
Planning to take AP CS A and AP U.S. Gov in May 2020
College credit via Dual Enrollment in Principles of Financial Accounting and Java Computer Science I
Highest math class: Multivariable Calculus
Coursera certificate of completion with honors in a Java programming course
Taking both Object-Oriented Programming and Web Technologies this semester; taking a Computer Science Seminar: UNIX/Linux and Cybersecurity course next semester
I also have an eye on the Regent Scholars program, but is it presumptuous to think I have a chance at Regent’s or Chancellor’s if I don’t even meet the high school course requirements?