<p>Hi all, I'm a current senior wondering if I'd have any chance at getting into SCS. I think my weak points are a lack of ECs and significant programming experience (I go to a public school with no CS classes and few ECs offered). I'm a white male from South Dakota if any of that is relevant.</p>
<p>GPA: 4.0 (uw)/ 4.3 (w)
Class Rank: 1/~250
ACT: 35 Composite (35 Math 35 Science 34 English 34 Reading 9 Writing)
SAT and Subject tests: Have yet to take
PSAT: 224 (I'm pretty confident I'll be able to make NMF, given the PSAT and ACT scores)</p>
<p>9th Grade:
Accel. English 9
Geography
Debate
Health
Computer Applications
Design (an art class)
Acc. Algebra 2
Biology
Choir
Spanish 1</p>
<p>10th Grade:
Spanish 2
Choir
Physics
Chemistry
Debate
Acc. English 10
Econ
AP Macro/Micro (no tests)
Honors Earth Science
Precalculus
Electronic Publishing
Accelerated World History</p>
<p>11th Grade:
Acc. English 11
Debate
APUSH (5)
AP Physics (5)
Calculus (5 on BC test)</p>
<p>12th Grade:
AP Language
AP Lit
Psychology
AP Psychology
AP Chemistry
AP Statistics
AP Gov
Debate</p>
<p>Work: 25 hours per week during junior and (planned) senior year. Nothing special though, it's just at a restaurant.</p>
<p>Extra Curriculars:
Debate (all through high school, I've put a lot of time into the activity, will quality over quantity help at all?)
Robotics (Our team placed third at a regional competition)
National Honor Society
Volunteer work at Church
Going to a few math contests in the area</p>
<p>I'd appreciate any estimates at my chances or suggestions on how to improve in my senior year.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>No replies? Could anyone help out by giving a ballpark estimate?</p>
<p>Your stats are actually pretty similar to mine, and and ECS are kinda close too, so I’m gonna going to bump this thread to get answers cause I’m too lazy to make my own. Lol.</p>
<p>you’re academics look pretty good and CMU’s ratio of academics to ec’s is higher than other schools of its prestige. I would say you have a decent chance, but increase your programming knowledge. You don’t need to take classes, most of the best programmers are self taught. Look for tutorials online. CMU will appreciate the effort that you make and will see that you really are passionate about the subject.</p>
<p>You have a decent chance, but all I see are excellent stats: I see really nothing that sets you apart from the many other highly qualified candidates. but if you write really great essays and your recommendations are excellent, who knows.</p>
<p>I’m at CMU now—quite a few of my friends entered with little to no programming experience. It’s worth explaining somewhere in your app the limited opportunities your school/area has and how you’ve tried to remedy this (e.g. by doing robotics, by learning online) if you’re worried about this. Definitely talk about your robotics experience, and tie it in to similar things you might explore at CMU (word is they’re putting together a robotics major and it’s almost finalized, so your year should be able to pursue it!), or how the experience has informed your interest (despite limited experience) with CS.</p>
<p>Also, if debate is something you’ve spent a lot of time on, make sure you show that, either in the tiny Common App description field for your list of extracurriculars, or as a small short answer or essay that elaborates on what you’ve done in debate!</p>