Chances at RD colleges. Will chance back

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Colleges:
UIUC, UCLA, UMichigan (Engineering and Ross), UC Berkeley (EECS), Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, UPenn (M&T and SEAS), Cornell (Engineering), Columbia (Engineering), Carnegie Mellon (SCS and MCS), Georgia Tech, Yale-NUS.

International student, male, no FA needed.

Stats:
– 34 ACT, 800 Math L2, 700 Physics. (Single Sitting)
– 3.95 GPA (Rank 1/320; Toughest course available)
– APs aren’t offered at my school

ECs:
– Published research x2 in CS (but impact factors of journals aren’t that high). Worked on math research x2 (results are fairly significant, will publish in high impact journal).
– Teach CS (programming, app development, web development) to underprivileged children through my NPO. Nationwide presence (>10 cities). Handle national operations on a daily basis as well as personally teach in my city. Built a network of 100+ volunteers across the country.
– Manage my own startup which I founded with a few friends. Employ 14 people. Raised money (not that significant though). I also specifically learnt iOS development so that we could save money on employing engineers.
– Debate club (President), CS club (President), Math club (Member)
– Head Boy at my school (highest position on the student council), house captain at my older school (3rd highest position on the council)
– Played varsity sports (soccer and basketball; captained both teams) till 10th grade (wanted to start rec team at new school, but it turned out to be a dud)
– Perform card magic (at small events)

Awards:
– ISEF 2016 Semi Finalist in my country (Two of my projects got selected*, top 15 in CS category and top 8 in math category out of an estimated total of 15K submissions this year)
– Qualified the equivalent of AIME in my country
– Top 40 rank at national computing olympiad
– Some state level examinations (which aren’t that significant)
– Some school awards (award for ranking first (overall) in junior year, award for highest grades in CS, etc.)

Essays:
Common App essay: 9-10/10 (Received a lot of amazing feedback, and it’s definitely my best writing ever. But take my words with a grain of salt though :-p )
Supplementary essays: Put a lot of work into them

Recommendations:
Math teacher: Knows me pretty well. ‘one of the best students ever’ and stuff
English teacher: Same as above. Perks of killing it in school :-p
Additional Rec: From one of my research mentors. He told me that he would write a really good rec. He did his AB from Harvard and PhD from MIT, if it matters.

Thank you for your time! Have a great day!

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BUMP

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UIUC-Match
UCLA-Match
UC Berkeley-Low match
Harvard-High Reach
Stanford-High Reach
Princeton-High Reach
Dartmouth-Reach
Yale-High Reach
Penn-Low Reach
Cornell-Reach
Columbia-Reach
Carnegie Mellon-Low Match
Georgia Tech-Match

A lot of these schools are high reaches for everybody so it’s hard to predict.

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I see. Thanks!

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:open_mouth: wow your credentials are amazing! I am ashamed when I look at your ECs. I think if you can sell your CS experiences well you have a good chance. However, standards are so much higher for international students so I hope you will hit it out of the park with your supplementary essays. :slight_smile:

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I would say you are a strong candidate for any school. Some are reaches for anyone but I’d say you have as good a shot at the most competitive schools as anyone out there. I disagree about any being “high reach” for you. But, the most competitive are reaches for everyone.

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@anotherdude I personally wouldn’t include the varsity sports until 10th grade because it looks sort of odd, considering that you no longer partake in said activity.

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@legendarypotato Hahaha, you’re too flattering :-p Thanks, though. I’ll do my best with the supplementary essays

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@lostaccount Thanks! I’ll just do my best with the essays and hope for the best

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@vibrantviolet Thanks for the suggestion. I did include them on the applications that I already sent out though, since they did have a lot of impact on me. I’ll revise my Activities list now!

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You have great stats (obviously), and very unique ECs and awards. Like people mentioned above, I agree that international students have higher standards, and possibly more competition, especially for the Ivies. However, I’m sure that as long as you fully demonstrated your passion for CS in your apps, you’ll make it into most of those schools, and Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia being a maybe. Btw, what country are you from?

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It depends on the country you are from. You have what it takes to get into the final rounds but you don’t have anything that differentiates you (unless you come from an under represented country). Your best chances will be with Georgia Tech (high match - 30%) and the rest are super reaches (5% chance or less) and just not likely without a hook. No top 20 college is a match for anyone without a hook (or something the college really needs). Stanford does like people who start companies but the competition is so very stiff that it’s like winning the lottery. Columbia really likes international students so if you come from a under represented country your chances increase significantly. I hope you have at least one or two backup schools. Good luck!

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@Sal3602 I’m from India ;_;

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@KathleenA Thanks for replying. Yeah, I do have two backup schools in the US and two in another country. What could be possible hooks? I’m not a recruited athlete, nor do I have any legacy. I’m also not a URM and nor am I a first gen college student (technically, I am, but I don’t think that it matters for international students, does it?) Could any of my ECs be a hook?

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@anotherdude Teaching CS or managing your own start-up seem to be major hooks in my opinion

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No you don’t have a hook so your competition will be all those applying from India. All these school do want at least one or two students from India. But will they choose a girl from India studying science with a 35 ACT over you? Probably. Your EC’s will help you stand out but the competition from india is stiff. The only thing that you could do to improve your chances would be to increase your ACT and Physics scores and write amazing essays. Good luck!

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You could get into any of these schools, but it is still somewhat unpredictable given the selectivity of the schools.

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don’t listen to the person that said cornell is a reach. With a 34, those grades, and those credentials it is a match or safety.

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It is hard to chance international students.
@meetthemets It would be impossible to call any Ivy a safety even with perfect score/GPA and extra superior EC. ACT 34 is just within the mid 50 and not really outstanding at all for Cornell and it’s tier. OP’s EC is good, particularly with the publications. Cornell may be a very high match to low reach at most.

UIUC CS would be similar as it is highly competitive. ACT 34 is around the admission average, but OOS admission is tough. UMich CoE would be in the same range too. Their are plenty of Indians applying, so the chance may be lower than domestic OOS.

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Thanks for the input. I cant really retake any of the tests because of financial as well as time constraints. I’m hoping that my ACT science (35) and school physics grades might help compensate for the lower SAT physics score