Hey guys, I’m a senior next year, and i need help with chances. somebody please chance me!
Thanks for everything!
stats ;
SAT- 1560
sat sub tests; math 3, science (800’s on both)
Act- never took it
Gpa
unweighted- 4.0
weighted (5 honors/ap) = 4.7
All 5’s on AP tests, except apush (lmao)
AP Cal AB, Ap Calc BC, Ap CSP, AP CSA, Ap stats, Ap Lit, Ap chem, Ap physics
^ all 5’s
honors; awards :
National merit finalist
1/800 in class
Rube goldberg national champion
president of robotics club
Founded robotics team, 1x world champions, 3x california state champion, teach kids in needs (stem) at elementary schools.
piano prodigy - soloed at walt disney all, carnegie hall debut at age 9, performed with la sinfonettia, la phil, berlin Philharmoniker, ~10-15 national grand prize winners of various piano competitions, including the virginia waring international piano competition. (other prizes at smaller state competitions)
performed chamber and won 3 national titles (@ different comps)
started non-profit piano organization, performing at senior homes, kids in need.
published coding algorithm in journal
worked with biotech scientists at JPL, worked with professors at caltech with research.
director of community robotics program
other stuff:
NHS, Mu alpha theta,
NEHS, member of triple nine society (high iq),
You have outstanding HS accomplishments – congratulations. I expect you will be a very competitive candidate for any college. That said, all of the schools on your list must be considered reaches for any unhooked applicant.
Like many HS students you appear to be focused only on reach schools. IMO it is even more important that you spend time seeking out match and safety schools that both appear affordable (run net price calculator) and that you would be excited to attend. Trust me – they are out there if you look for them.
As a side note, the idea of “top Ivies” is pretty silly. All of the Ivy (and equivalent) schools are outstanding academic institutions and all of them are incredibly hard to get into with most having acceptance rates in the single digits.
Especially if you’re applying CS, one piece of advice I have for you is to separate your awards from your ECs. The hole you may fall into as a male applying to STEM (I presume) with your stats and resumé is coming off as unifaceted and stereotypical. If you treat your awards differently than your ECs on your application, it shows you’re not a test-taking, Worlds-winning robot (haha robot), but that you have character. So write about your ECs about how they shaped you and molded your personality, not with the focus of winning worlds. Though that is very impressive. Also, are you 86868 by any chance?
Your stats are great. I think that being a pacific islander might help you, although I am not sure how this is categorized and it might depend upon whether you are really more pacific islander or more Asian (and I have no idea how they would know or why they would care). As such, I think that you chances at “top ivies/stanford/mit/caltech” are decent, and it is certainly worth applying. However, they are all still reaches for you. Also, if you are intending to be a CS major I have not been impressed by the very few CS graduates that I have seen from Ivy League schools.
I am not worried about your ECs being unifaceted. My belief is that you should do the ECs that you want to do, and do them well. Then you find a school that has appreciated what you have done. If you are aiming at something in STEM, then you do not need to attend “top ivies/stanford/mit/caltech” to do very well. I think that you will get into very good schools with your stats and ECs.
I would say that it is worth applying. However, you also need to put some thought into safeties.
Tbh I’m not sure what i want to major in . I’m strong in the stem aspect , but idk yet . In your opinion , what schools should I be looking at? I haven’t gotten a chance to talk with really anyone yet except the counselor and parents ofc. My safety is Carnegie Mellon , uc Berkeley, RPI, usc UCLA , and maybe Vanderbilt? I worked with a couple of professors from there , and even though vandy is a reach school for everyone ,admissions saved me a spot for 2027.
And UCLA Engineering is not a safety for anyone either.
Carnegie Mellon is not a match, especially if you’re considering CS. The acceptance rate is on a par with Ivy League schools.
I would work on fine-tuning any essays as well at this point. TBH your writing style doesn’t match someone with those GPA/SAT scores. Be careful with capitalization and punctuation. Have a favorite English teacher review every application essay you write.
You need to do a bit more research on the acceptance rates into CS and STEM majors. You can’t look at the overall acceptance rates. CMU has one of the top rated CS programs in the country and is a reach for all applicants.
I agree with others that this is not likely to be a safety. However, it is a superb school. The 2018 USNWR ranking has Carnegie Mellon ranked #1 in the world for computer science (just ahead of MIT, Stanford, and UC Berkeley). Other rankings of course might differ a bit. However, it is near the top in any ranking. With your stats I would certainly apply to Carnegie Mellon if you are interested in going there.
“member of triple nine society”
I would not mention this on a university application. However, I am curious. Have you found your membership to be useful or interesting?
you need a dose of reality - none of the schools you have mentioned are safeties. All are reaches no matter what your stats are. And given your writing style, I have a feeling you’re exaggerating about your stats.