I’ve been hyped up to apply for a while but I don’t think my GPA is up to par. I have stronger ECs, but as far as GPA and grades go I didn’t do great (nor did I do well on AP tests). Trying to decide whether to apply CMU CS or to an easier school ED.
Stats:
GPA - 3.8/5.0 weighted, not sure unweighted but probably low 3’s.
Course Rigor - I’ve taken 7 AP classes and am currently in 4 more. I’ve taken 2 science classes/double lab every year since sophomore year.
ACT: 36 (36/36/36/36), 12/12 essay
SAT: 1500 NSAT, 23/24 essay
SAT II: 800 Math II, 760 Physics
AP Tests: 5 Comp Sci, Microecon, Lang; 4 Stat (oops), APES, Physics 1, Physics 2; 3 Macroecon (oops)
ECs:
VEX Robotics - Founder, 2 years, state level awards
FTC Robotics - 4 years, 2 years Head of coding, 2 years captain, advanced to World Championships and won an award that places me 9th overall, founded a community team that has since become intensely successful, have 20+ regional and state level awards at the highest prestige.
World Maker Faire - I’ve exhibited in the last 2 years with 3 total exhibits, twice in the Robot Tent and this year for the first time as a makerspace. Leading role each time, also did an exhibit at Newark Mini Maker Faire.
VR Developer - I made simulations that have been shown and used at World Maker Faire and FIRST Robotics events.
OS Development - I developed an operating system to encourage privacy while providing simple research tools.
Neural Network Developer - two networks, one that can predict college admission using scores and one that can assess any dataset and be customized for easy usage by researchers
Web Developer - I’ve developed over 20 websites and continue to be the webmaster for several organizations.
Ambassador to Hackathon giant - I can’t say the organization’s name here but they’re known worldwide as a hackathon giant, I run events in New Jersey with over 150 members.
Attended a GenCyber camp for a week, it’s a NSA program offered at universities to throw students into a one week course about information security.
MIT Launch - I got finalist status and then proceeded to win 2nd place overall.
Startups - working on a health-based startup for medical training with a fairly large healthcare provider (once again I can’t say who, sorry) with valuation at least $100,000
Tech Liaison for a money management initiative that I can’t say the name of, but in this position I manage all their web applications and visit schools/elderly homes to educate them about proper money management
Community Outreach:
As part of robotics we do outreach; I’ve been to a series of electronics recycling drives, built robots and catapults to entertain disabled children, built robots to provide disabled children with the ability to experience art in a new way, regularly present to younger children in elementary schools. I also mentor a local FLL robotics team.
Also do a senior citizen thing (can’t divulge name without divulging who I am so sorry again) where every month, I work in a group of 6-10 students who help senior citizens learn to use technology.
Recommendation Letters:
Guidance Counselor (9/10 knows me really well)
Physics Teacher (9/10 knows me really really well)
CS Teacher (8/10 knows me pretty well, run a lot of projects past him)
I’m an indian male but I don’t know if CMU cares about race.
Thanks in advance!
