Java (couldn’t take AP Comp Sci due to prerequisites)
GPA:
3.78 Unweighted (3.87 without 9th grade)
5.2 Weighted
Weighted Rank - top 15-10%
Honors:
1st Place State Chemistry Olympics on Rocket Propulsion
1st Place State Chemistry Olympics on Biodiesel Research
Accepted Biodiesel Paper at an International Conference held at the Imperial College London (not particularly well-known conference, was just for fun)
1st Place and Gold Medal at the State and National level for FCCLA (leadership club), Environmental Ambassador event about air pollution
A bunch of national honor societies (don’t know if I will list them)
ECs:
Co-President of Physics Club (2 years)
Executive Board of Chem Club (there is no president, secretary, etc position) (3 years)
Executive Board of Interact Club (connected to Rotary International) (2 years)
Marathon Runner (all years)
Columbia Science Honors Program participant (this year)
Helping with the family’s home appliances business (managing Amazon listings, repairing machines) (all years)
Volunteered at Hospital 300 hours (1 year)
Worked as a Math Tutor (2 years)
Jazz/Marching Bands (2 years)
Do I have a chance at Carnegie Mellon’s CS program for ED? I am worried about my GPA and am not sure if my ECs and others will help to support me. Thanks!
I’m by no means an expert in admissions, and anything I say is probably something you already know. Either way by the off chance that you don’t i am going to share, your ranking is killing you combined with the GPA, everything else you are solid. However, it’s unfortunate because at top schools they expect everything to be perfect and end up choosing the ones they like from the group of perfect people. I would like to say you have a good chance but you probably don’t, but try i am not a fortune teller lol- hope you prove me wrong.
I would say that you’re ECs are solid, however your lack of computer science-ness in your application might hurt you. I do not see a single reason in your application for being computer science. They generally are accepting to people with little CS background, but you should be certain and have reasons for choosing CS and your application as shown above does not tell why. A lot of admission rests on how passionate you are about your subject and how they think you will be able to push yourself and work hard at it. Just my two cents.
Thank you @CMUSCSStudent and @JonathanK for your feedback! In my Why essay, I definitely did go into why I would like to study CS. I talked about where my love for CS began, how it developed, and my experiences helped to shape my career goals.
@BerniceNJ There is NO need for “compter science ness” in your profile Bernie! My son had NONE except for an AP Comp Sc class he took in 10th grade.
He did exceptionally well in Math and had deep love for languages, and crafted his Common App essay on a certain aspect of languages.
You dont need to have invented super computing to get in, sorry!
(I know some kids and some parents alike believe if their kid or they are coding from age 3 then CMU or MIT will love them, thats not necessarily true)
BerniceNJ - I think you have a profile that will be really attractive to the CS admissions committee. Extensive CS experience is not essential. Excellent math skills are, which you show good evidence of having. I think it’s the other things you’ve done which are especially interesting. No guarantee, but I think you will get a very good look. Best of luck to you.