Chance Me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a high school junior hoping to apply for Georgia Tech in-state next year. Honestly, I’m still slightly intimidated, and could use some advice. If I could get some advice on my profile and recommendations on other places to look as well, that would be much appreciated. Thank you so much.

I’m an Indian male trying to go into engineering or computer science, but I’m not sure, so I’m applying as undecided.

GPA - 3.6/3.8 weighted. I’m an As and some Bs student.

SAT/ACT - 1580 and 35 respectively, should also get at least NMSF

APs - Human Geography (4), Computer Science Principles (4), World History (5), and currently taking Calculus AB/BC, Macroeconomics, Physics 1, and Computer Science A. Planning on taking Micro, Government, Physics C Mechanics, and either Statistics or Distance Math at Georgia Tech (If I’m accepted).

SAT Subject Tests - Math II (800), Chem (680), and planning on taking Physics

ECs -

  • Academic Team for 5 years now, we’ve won multiple awards at the regional and state level and qualified for nationals
  • Project Leader for National Honors Society - I work with another club and handle counting the hours - and will have 30 hours by the time I graduate
  • FBLA competitior (trying to be a Treasurer by next year), competed in Intro to Business (10th in State) and Intro to Financial Math (2nd in State, participated in nationals), competing in Web Design and Computer Applications at the state level this year.
  • BETA club - will have volunteered 60 hours by the time I graduate and placed 4th in state for Quiz Bowl
  • TSA competitor in Animatronics and Video Game Design
  • Science NHS - 14 hours by the time I graduate
  • Piano Society - former Treasurer and Technology Chair, now co-President. We’ve played at senior homes, but I have not counted hours for this
  • Mu Alpha Theta (Basically a Math NHS) - Will have devoted 20 hours by graduation
  • HOPING to be a Lab Aide next year, help a science teacher with their class
  • Cyberpatriots Vice President/Co-founder and have competed in and taught cybersecurity
  • I also volunteer at my library. I did a program teaching STEM fields to kids and earned nearly 50 hours. I’m part of the Teen Advisory Board. I’m also trying to apply for a tech-based internship there.
  • About to earn my black belt in karate.
  • Project leader at Environmental Science Club and collaborate with NHS and pick up recycling every week and a few campus clean ups

Pathways -
At my school we also have career based pathways.

  • Finished the Basic Accounting Pathway with courses Intro to Business, Financial Literacy, and Accounting I. I’m certified in Powerpoint.
  • Finishing Computer Science Pathway, I know HTML, CSS, Javascript, Java, and trying to learn C#

I haven’t done any reccs or essays yet.

I’m applying for Georgia Tech, UGA, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, UT Austin, Northeastern, Rutgers, University of Maryland, Syracuse, Penn State, Case Western, University of Michigan, UI Urbana, and Perdue.

If you have any advice for me to boost my profile, that would be great. Also, if you could help me out with any additions/deletions from my college list, that would be much appreciated. Thank you so much again.

2

Almost forgot - Government and Micro won’t be APs, they’ll be Dual Enrollment.

3

You are a DEFINATE shoe in! 1580?! That’s superb, honestly, you BY FAR exceed their average SAT scores and have great extracurriculars with a shown demonstrated interest in your topic of study. The only thing is your SAT 2 Chem score, maybe try to retake that? Also, try to find some internships in your area in the science field- that would definitely help out. Additionally, next year you should really try to get some significant leadership positions and really make a difference so that you have a good essay topic to write on.

4

Delete the colleges that you cannot afford. Consider your instate schools.

5

Too many reaches on your list. If your standardized test scores are real and not hypothetical, they are great, but the GPA is too low for a majority of the schools on your list.

And at least you spelled Berkeley correctly, although Perdue sells chicken. You mean Purdue, correct?

6

He obviously means Purdue; no need to be facetious about it. I think you should be fine for Syracuse & Purdue, but the rest seem to be all reaches. Sort out some more match/safety schools like the two I mentioned above.

I’d try some of the mid-tier UCs. (Calculate your UC GPA using RogerHub’s UC GPA calculator so you can get a better sense of your chances).

7

Thanks so much for your advice!

FUNdamentallyconfused,
Haha thanks, much appreciated. I’m really trying to get a leadership position and tech internship. Instead of taking chem again, I was thinking of just taking Physics. Thoughts? Also, while my test scores might make the mark, my GPA isn’t too great. Any tips on that?

aunt bea and Hamurtle,
I know my college choices are a little out there, but I’m not really sure what to choose in-state or in my league. Any suggestions? Also, I don’t want to just give up on my choices either - what could I add that would make these reaches viable, and how could I increase that GPA?

aVeryHappyChild,
Thanks :slight_smile: and do you know any way to make those reaches more eager to take a student like me?

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And as @“aunt bea” will say, UC mandate is for California kids. Can you afford a UC? And your GPA is low for the majority of OOS publics.

And I am not being facetious-learning to spell the name of a school helps and if you make a mistake it does not help with apps.

9

What state are you in?

You won’t have to give those schools up because the schools will do it for you.
Berkeley, with that GPA, doesn’t appear to be in the cards. Plus paying $65K per year, with no financial aid would be harsh as an OOS. The UC’s use 10th and 11th grades to calculate your admission. Trying to make up the grades is a little too late.
Stanford and MIT won’t happen. They are just too competitive.

Please don’t play the prestige game with your applications. The rejections will hurt.

Plus, there are people on this website that are now finding out that they got into their “dream” schools but they can’t afford them. What good does it do to apply and not be able to pay the bill?
Go on the websites of each university. Go to the Net Price Calculator (NPC) Find out, more or less, how much it is going to cost you and what you might have to pay.

10

Georgia. Also, I kind of figured that the GPA was low, but we have the opportunity for classes over the summer here DE or otherwise.

Whats the prestige game?

Honestly, my focus is getting in right now. I totally agree, and youre right, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. Also, dont worry, I know the spelling of Purdue. That would be pretty bad if I misspelled that in an application.

11

Then choose wisely and pick schools that you will be able to get into with your current GPA (like Univ. of Alabama).
You need to focus on doing well, academically.

This is your problem:

No, you can’t think backwards.
You can’t cross that bridge later. You have to deal with it now.
Your GPA, although not really “low”, is not high enough for those schools.

You don’t seem to understand that it is an issue because there are thousands of students out there with better GPA’s and EC’s, applying to those schools. [Think something like 40k valedictorians vying for a few hundred seats]
To get into the elites, you need to have done something beyond “future club” aspirations. Fourteen hours here and 20 hours there, for future EC hours won’t matter. The AO’s will wonder if you’ve spent too much time on your EC’s and not enough time on your academics. They won’t see a balance. Did you even spend time outside or in a school sport?
Right now, you have a laundry list of EC’s There are kids out there who have spent thousands of hours on their passionate EC’s. It’s about quality not quantity.
You’ve also picked a number of OOS publics, which have obligations to their instate students. They don’t have to provide a dime for your education, and most won’t.