Chances for Computer Science

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
1

<p>High School: Naperville Central, located in Illinois. U of I takes about 90 out of 100 applicants from my school every year out of a class of 800.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.1 weighted and 3.1 unweighted after Junior Year (Got a 4.0 both of Junior Year Semesters)</p>

<p>Classes: Didn't take any waste classes such as foods or woods and etc. Focused on business for my electives. Took normal classes first 3 years of High School, taking AP Chem, AP Macro/Micro, AP Statistics, AP Computer Science, Honors English/Western Lit, and Internship for my Senior Year</p>

<p>ACT: 31 (Subscores: 32 in English, 29 in Math, 32 in Reading, 36 in Science, 9 in Writing)</p>

<p>Activites: </p>

<p>-Club Soccer Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Year
-Urban Arts Club (Dance) Soph, Junior, and Senior Year
-Track Junior Year
-Business Professionals of America Senior Year (Will be getting leadership position soon)
-Have been volunteering for a Catholic retreat every year for two weeks since middle school, along with many other retreats.
-I'm the leader of a Catholic youth group for Domowy Kosciol. (Large Polish, Catholic group based in Chicago)
-I've also been altar serving since elementary school. </p>

<p>**What makes me unique<a href="Basically%20what's%20going%20into%20my%20essays">/b</a>:</p>

<p>Taught myself Visual Basic when I was 12, C# when I was 13, C++/Assembly when I was 14. Began reverse engineering games, anti-cheats, and malware at the age of 14. Last summer I spent 150 hours updating a program for a company in C++, which they could not fix themselves. I impressed several teams of people in England and South Africa. I am now interning for this company as a legitimate programmer and contributer. I am taking 3 online courses at Stanford this semester in the Computer Science field. (So about 30 hours per week total added onto my workload.) So basically, I'm passionate about Computer Science and I love it and I know this is my future career.</p>

<p>English is my second language as I was born in Poland. I am also the first one from my family going to college.</p>

<p>The last thing is that I was a lazy student and quitter for the first years of my life, up until Junior Year. Then, everything changed. I became motivated and now I feel like I can do anything. I turned my life around completely. I feel like I can do whatever I set my mind to, such as getting 4.0's and taking a ton of weighted classes.</p>

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<p>So basically, I'm a student who slacked off freshman and sophomore year who is now desperately trying to make up for it. What are my chances of getting into U of I for Computer Science?</p>

2

<p>I think you have a pretty good chance. They like to see an upward trend in your high school GPA, and you got some impressive extracurricular activities/accomplishments. Just make sure to write a stellar essay, and I think you will have a good chance of being accepted. :)</p>

3

<p>Honestly, your GPA and class rank (which you don’t mention) will make Computer Science a reach for you, but your ACT is well within range. If you don’t apply, your chances of being accepted are zero. Apply within the priority period. Explain your situation and play up your extra-curriculars, especially detailing the business programming that you did.</p>

<p>If you get an offer for DGS in lieu of CS, you’ll be able to take the same CS classes as you would if you were accepted directly into the program. Then you can transfer in after a year.</p>