Chances at CMU SCS and CIT please?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
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<p>Hi, this is one of my first few posts on CC and my first chance thread so please bear with me. I want to know if I am a good match for CMU CSC or CIT. Please tell me what I can improve on senior year as well as other colleges I should consider applying to. Thanks in advance for your response.</p>

<p>Grade: Rising Senior
Ethnicity: Asian
School: Public school
Intended Major: Computer Science or Computer Engineering</p>

<p>GPA (UW): 4.0
SAT: 2270 (760 Math, 800 Writing, 710 Reading) (I am planning on retaking in October)
SAT II: 800 Chemistry, 800 Math II (I am planning on taking Physics next year)</p>

<p>Rank: 1 or 2 out of 500
AP's: My school does not offer math/science AP's until senior year. That is why this list is so short.
- AP Comp Sci (5): My CS teacher recommended that I take this so I self studied
- AP Calc BC (5, 5 AB subscore): I took trig/precalc classes at a local college so I
could enroll in the AB Calc class at my school. I took the AB
and self studied for the BC exam.</p>

<p>Senior year I am taking AP Physics B, AP Physics C (self study), AP Economics, AP Statistics, and AP Chemistry. I expect to get 5's on all of them.</p>

<p>EC's:
- Captain of my school's math team (#2 individual scorer in the division)
- ARML (American Regions Math League) competition
- Captain of the school's programming team
- Member of National, Spanish, and Math Honor Societies
- Robotics Club
- Worked in school's IT dept, dealt with various technical difficulties around the school
- Science Club
- Guitar (performances in my town)</p>

<p>Awards:
- Top winner at my school, regional, and state science fairs
- 3 Awards at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
- Various other awards in math/programming competitions</p>

<p>I have also built many programs/software that I have released to some 1000's of users (one of these got me the science fair awards). Should I mention these in my essay?</p>

<p>Thanks for reading this and please let me know if I am on the right track and what I can do to improve this. If I don't have a shot at Carnegie Mellon, please recommend some other good schools for computer science/computer engineering that I might be able to get in to. Thanks again!</p>

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<p>As a native Pittsburgher who has spent a lot of time around CMU, I can tell you with certitude that you’ll get into CIT. SCS is probably around 75% for you as well.
CMU’s admissions statistics are really overblown, but in reality CMU has a very non-self-selecting admissions pool. That is, the students who apply to CMU (whether it be MCS, CIT, SCS) are, in general, not at the same calibur as those applying to MIT, Columbia, etc.
You’ve probably sent your early apps already, but consider Stanford and MIT as well. UWash, Georgia Tech, and Berkeley are also very strong public schools for CS/CE.</p>

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<p>Just a heads up: you can’t take both the Physics B and Physics C exams in the same year. They’re offered at the same time.</p>

<p>If you haven’t already, see if your school will let you take the C exam in lieu of the B. While B covers fluid dynamics and nuclear physics, C is far more in-depth in mechanics and E+M.</p>

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<p>@concernapplicant
Is it possible for you to take one physics test on the “normal” date, and one test on the “late” date? I’m pretty sure most or all AP tests had 2 test dates in May last year.</p>

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<p>I know a kid that did that. He took Mech at the make up date and B and Mag and electricity on the same day on the “normal” test day.</p>