Chance Me

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Currently a Junior
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Upper Middle Class
State: CT
Unweighted GPA: 3.69
Weighted GPA: 4.54
SAT: 1440

  • R/W: 680
  • Math: 760
    Planned Major: Computer Science or something similar

Note: I’ve only taken the SAT once so far, so I would expect at least with superscoring for my R/W score to go up by somewhere between 20-70 points. I’m also planning to take the ACT but I do not think I would do better proportionally than I did on the SAT

AP Classes:
APs aren’t offered to Freshmen/Sophomores in my school.

Junior Year:
AP Statistics (Took AP exam, waiting on score) Also, I am a part of an accelerated math program in my school in which I took the class that the honors kids in the grade above me were taking. Ex. Sophomore year most kids in the Honors track took Algebra II and I took Pre-Calc (Algebra II was freshmen year, etc.)
AP Spanish 5
AP US History (Took AP exam, waiting on score)
AP Physics B (Physics I & II)

Senior Year (Signed up to take):
AP Macroeconomics
AP Calculus AB
AP Computer Science
Spanish 6 Honors (AP version not offered at my school, but generally considered a more difficult class than AP 5)

Note: With the exception of taking Calc AB instead of Calc BC (Both are AP but BC is a full year course and would not fit in my schedule) next year, I have taken the most difficult classes offered by my school since Freshmen year, so one of the questions that I’ve had that is difficult to find the answer to is if that was a smart decision. I think that I definitely could have a 3.85 or 3.9 if I had taken one less AP class this year so I could focus more of my time on the others, but I am banking on my weighted GPA making up for my unweighted. If you have any comments, please let me know what you think.

ECs:
6 years (7 by the time I send my application) of School Orchestra playing Viola
Volunteer at local food pantry
Boy scout, will almost certainly have eagle by August/early September. Senior Patrol Leader of Troop
PTO award for Orchestra
PTO award for History
Member of Debate Team
Placed top 10 three times in CDA Tournament, placed 1st once
Qualified and placed fourth in state tournament
Co Founder of Viola Club
Co Founder of Coding Club
President of Computer Club
President of Hacking Club
Co President of eSports Team
Member of Math Team
Member of Science Olympiad Club
Founder of App Design Club
Member of APK Charities
Helped to start a food drive
Volunteered at charity 5K
Member of Fencing Team (Will be varsity next year, but season starts in the winter so I guess I can’t put that on my app)
National Honors Society Applicant (Still a junior so still have not found out if I’m in or not)
Honor Roll since Freshmen year
Participant at Quinnipiac Coding competition
Volunteer at tons of local events, outside of just boy scouts. With hours from food pantry, my best estimate off the top of my head is 400-500 hours since freshmen year, again in addition to service from boy scouts)
Programmed several games in Unity and GameMaker (Not sure if this is something I want to put on my app but given my interest in computer science I thought it might help, again suggestions/comments appreciated)
Volunteer at Reading Buddies program at local library
Co Founder of Violence To Voices (Teen led gun control advocacy group within the community)
Organized (with the help of others) a rally on our town green

Schools I am planning on applying to:
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) - I consider this to be a relatively safe school, but I really liked a lot of the programs they had despite the relatively low competitiveness
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
Carnegie Mellon - Obviously a reach, but basically the best for what I want to do (CS)
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)
UConn - Definite safety school. I would rather not go to school in CT where I live, so UConn is basically my last choice.

2

wow cmu is definitely in reach for u. ur ecs, gpa, and scores r all very impressive. however, i think u could even aim higher. u can easily get into rit and uconn. consider some other, more competitive colleges.

3

Cal AB is not full year course? too rush then.

4

@gracemcmc

Sometimes popular opinion and overall acceptance rates get in the way of clear data on job placement, graduating student salaries and published research by the faculty/students. Your list has a strong selection of schools for CS in the NE. An HYP selection process would not offer you a more recognized program in CS than CM’s. Your list is a good one.

A look at the RPI and WPI data does not indicate that these school are shoe-ins and that you should add more selective prestige to your list. You should be aware that RPI’s average GPA for entering freshmen in 2016 was 3.78 with 66% of the entering class above 3.75. At WPI in 2017 the average entering class GPA was 3.86 with 77% of the students above 3.75. These are not weighted GPAs. No doubt, CMU’s CS majors have yet higher figures, but they may not be reflected in the University wide data available in a Common Data Set (CDS).

Also keep in mind that given your data, you can do the work anywhere as long as as you remain motivated. Learn about your selected university list as this will put you in a better position to gain admission. Don’t get too top heavy with the popular opinion in hallway conversation. The data indicates a good deal of competition in your selected field of CS. Don’t ignore the data and join the lemming parade as they walk over the cliff.

Pick your targets for what you want to find within your educational experience. Good science is not created by popular opinion, but by wading through hard data and generating some creative questions which apply just to you.