Chances at Carnegie Mellon SCS with a 3.5 GPA?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
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1

Hey! I’m a current junior with a 3.5 weighted GPA, as I got a C- in honors English my freshman year due to some family issues. In my sophomore year, my grades improved, however, I still ended with mostly Bs and a few As. That year was also the year I took AP computer science A and got a 4 on the exam. This year, as a junior, my grades improved even more, with mostly As and a few Bs, and my major coursework being AP physics, AP psychology, and Advanced computer science AB (the ap that follows ap comp sci, but was discontinued in 2010 due to lack of interest, my school still teaches it, though). Not sure what my exam scores are yet, but I did well in the classes. Also, I took the sat for the first time (and unexpectedly the only time) cold back in December, and ended up with a 1400.

I think where I would truly shine in my application is my recommendations (I have a good relationship with my teachers and my counselor), my essays (I’d like to think I’m a pretty good storyteller), and my extracurriculars. I’ve found I perform really well in self-directed projects, most notably my science fair project from sophomore year, which won me several awards and a few local newspaper articles: an AI that could distinguish between cancerous and non-cancerous skin cells.

When it comes to clubs/activities, I’ve done MUN for three years, but I never really advanced to any leadership positions, however, this year was my first year in cyber patriot club, and I was elected to be president next year. I did some other activities as well (Colorguard, JV boys lacrosse manager-I’m a girl though, in case that wasn’t clear, in-school ap comp sci tutor, etc). I’ve held a job every summer in high school, and as a rising junior, I was a STEM instructor at a prestigious (aka expensive -_-) boarding school. During junior year, I was also a paid, private math tutor outside of school. This summer, I had a cybersecurity internship lined up, but with COVID, it got canceled, so I’ll probably end up working in retail, however, I’m trying to play to my strengths and work on my own side project creating a videogame, might even try to release it online for free or something.

Anyway, that was a lot of background to ask what my chances are. I’m coming in from out of state as class of 2021 (or 2025), and Carnegie Mellon is my dream school. I know their school of computer science is super competitive, but if I somehow got in, it would be a dream come true. Any advice would be helpful!

2

CMU is going to be a huge reach. Your SAT is in the bottom quarter, and you’re applying to one of the most competitive majors in the country.
If you can somehow get your SAT up (or apply test optional) and maintain all As along with nailing every other part of your application, you’ll have a chance.

3

Thankfully, being class of 2021, due to the COVID pandemic, Carnegie Mellon is going test-optional this fall only. Anything else you would recommend I do? Or any other factors that could help me?

4

You’ll be competing with thousand of students with 3.9 and up for a few hundred slots, where the average accepted student has a 3.96 GPA.

Reality is that it’s extremely unlikely.

(For context, my D has a 4.0UW, exceeded her school’s max weighting for a weighted GPA every year, has a 1550+ SAT, Freshman AIME qualifier and three CMU alumni parent/grandparents, and I’ve told her SCS is a longshot)

5

Hi! Thank you for the advice, but I’m a bit confused. Firstly, my school year just ended and my GPA has been updated to a 3.6, with a 3.81 not including my freshman year (which CMU ignores), and a 4.02 for my junior year, which is the most important year, in my opinion. Overall, I show a very strong upward trend in my grades, and I have a lot of other ECs and teacher recs that can back up that point, of how I’ve grown as a student and as a person through high school. I also come from a very competitive county, where we don’t even have an A+ grade, so, overall, our GPAs are lower than the rest of the country, but colleges do recognize the value of an A where I come from, in Fairfax County, Virginia. I don’t mean to come off as defensive, but there’s a lot of other factors that go into admissions besides stats. For instance, due to COVID, many schools are concerned that they won’t be able to provide sufficient financial aid next year, however, I won’t be applying for aid, so that may increase my chances by a small margin.

Secondly, and this is the point I’m confused about, why would it be a longshot for your daughter? She seems to have worked very hard all through high school to achieve stats like those, which are far past the averages for CMU undergrad admittances, is she lacking in another area? Also, I’m glad she has alumni to help her through the process, but my parents are both immigrants, and neither of them went to undergrad in the U.S. (although my dad does have a master’s degree), so I’ll be the first in my family for that. I thank you for your honesty, and I don’t mean to come off as hostile or anything (in fact, I do agree it is a massive reach school for me), but I can’t help but feel your daughter deserves a little more credit. I hope she gets in and wish her luck, she definitely deserves to in my opinion :blush: Hopefully she’ll see this message, I’m rooting for her!

6

You need to separate SCS, which I believe you asked about, from “CMU Undergrad admittances”, which is very different. My D would have a strong case for Engineering and I’d be very confident at Dietrich/Tepper.

SCS is a long shot for pretty much all but maybe a couple hundred students.

The SCS admission statistics are published: Sub 7% acceptance, 3.96UW GPA average, 35 ACT/approx 1550 SAT 25th percentile. That’s very different from 20% and 33/1480 at other schools within CMU.

Grades and tests aren’t everything, but they are the most important thing. Just in my D’s math club, covering 1/2 of one state, there are/have been multiple IMO, PhO, ISEF finalists. You can be sure they have very good recommendation letters and essays. Those are the students against which she will be competing for admission slots (in the mentioned couple hundred).

I have two degrees from CMU, have been active there for 20+ years, was responsible for recruiting students from there for 10+ years, serve as an alumni advisor, and am on campus almost weekly (pre-shutdown). So I know it fairly well. Do with my input what you will.

Good luck to you.