Chance Rising Senior (cornell ED, NEU, vandy, etc)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey, I’m building an application list and want to make sure I have a good balance of reaches, matches, and safeties.  If you look at a school and think I can get merit there, let me know! Thanks. More suggestions welcome

I’m white and female with an EFC of about 50k.  I’m looking to go into computer science.

My SAT is 2290 (800 M, 780 CR, 710 W)
My GPA is 3.6 from a highly ranked public magnet highschool.

AP scores:
Comp Sci 3
Calc AB 5
English Lang 4
French Lang 3
Euro hist 4

Planning on taking math 2 and physics subject tests in the fall. Next year I’m taking 5 AP classes.

Extracurriculars:

-partial owner (w/ one other person) of programming startup (don’t want to give details to protect my identity.  It’s a database that should become a ticketing service by application time.)
-girls who code/ACSL club (soph-sr)
-self-taught javascript, html, css, c++, python
-cross country (6 mo/yr)  (captain) (all 4 yrs)
-indoor track (all 4 yrs)
-writing/performing spoken word poetry (junior&senior)
-GSA (all 4 yrs)
-volunteering (hospital, road races, interact club) (all 4 yrs for varying amounts, maybe a total of 200 hrs?)
-sangha (2 hr/wk, all 4 yrs)

I can’t really comment objectively on my essay, but it’s about my own internalized prejudices and what has inspired me to try to overcome them.

My list so far (will cut down):
Cornell (ED)
Vandy (ED2)
USC
Tufts
Barnard
Wake Forest
Harvey mudd
Northeastern
U alabama
UMD-college park
Gtech
Rice
Wash U

Thanks so much in advance!
If you’re also in HS, feel free to link your own profile and I’ll do my best to return the favor.

2

ECs are great, especially since you are a girl who is heavily involved in science. Your GPA isn’t particularly high for some of the schools on your list…but since your school is competitive, if your class rank is high it should be alright. Another concern is your AP comp sci 3, because you seem to be leaning heavily on your passion for coding etc. Also, calc AB is a difficult class for junior year, but it is a little weak if you focus on science as your passion. That being said, your english scores, ECs and ability seems great!

I think your chances will be heavily depend on your class rank, since your gpa is not super high

3

Thank you!

I don’t have an exact class rank, I just know I’m in the top decile.

Do you think I’d be better off if I don’t report my ap scores?

4

I would report them, as usually AP scores are not weighted too heavily and are used to determine the difficulty of your curriculum in order to judge your GPA. If they can establish the curriculum’s rigor through your class rank, you should be okay!