Chances at SCS

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>I'm a male, asian, Junior at a good suburban school in New Jersey.</p>

<p>GPA: Unweighted: 93.5, Weighted: 96.5 (my school doesn't do 4.0 scale, but my counselor said it translated to a 4.0)
Rank: my school doesn't do ranks. I'd say I'm top 10%</p>

<p>SAT: 2180 overall
760 Math
740 Critical Reading
680 Writing</p>

<p>PSAT: 221</p>

<p>SAT II:
780 Biology
780 Chemistry
Taking Math II in Oct.</p>

<p>APs:
Computer Science AP-A 5
Computer Science AP-AB 5
Calculus AB 5
Biology 5
Chemistry 5</p>

<p>Taking 6 more tests, 4 more courses in Senior year, including Stat, Econ, Calculus BC, Physics C.</p>

<p>Courses: Taken hardest possible classes except for English, where I've opted to take Honors instead of AP, and 1 year of history, after I decided that AP History wasn't worth it.</p>

<p>EC (not really sure what goes here):
Academic League
Swim team
Swim team manager
Ultimate Frisbee
Took AMC for fun :)
Trend (volunteering club)
Participated in programming competitions
Wrote a game, bot, a lot of other programs
Coded for an open source project that's been around for 15 years (an idea for an essay is to write about how hard this was, and how gratifying it was to see my code accepted. good idea? It's like real world experience)
Volunteered at a hospital for like 50 hours or something
Job tutoring some kids</p>

<p>So, chances?</p>

2

<p>Your stats are within range for admission, but it’s impossible to tell whether you will make it or not. SCS’s acceptance rate last year was down to slightly over 15 %, meaning it should be considered a reach even for highly qualified applicants. </p>

<p>I encourage you to apply, but make sure you add other safeties to your list.</p>

3

<p>i’d say your chances are about the same as mine were. i got in</p>

4

<p>I’d say you have better chances than I did; I got in last year. they like to see perfectish SAT math scores for SCS though…although you still got a 1500 cr/math, so I think you’re good :P</p>

5

<p>760 math is only one or two careless mistakes. Your stats are fine, you should apply - there are no guarantees. The essay idea could work well. My son had similar scores and APs, but better grades, and wrote his essay about computer programming experiences. He’s a rising junior now. (He didn’t like English or History either.)</p>

6

<p>My S is a rising soph at SCS with credentials similar to yours, but far weaker English and stronger math score and more math and CS ECs. (AMC wasn’t just fun for him!) </p>

<p>Have you throught of taking the ACT - if you’re better in math/sci, you’ll beat your SAT equivalent.</p>