Hello again. I’ve posted about two months ago, but things have changed since then. I’m currently looking at MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon (mother is alum), Columbia, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Cornell, RPI, and SUNY Stony Brook. Here’s what I have:
This is very unhelpful, I am aware. My school doesn’t have 4.0/5.0 GPA, and they weight GPA using a 1.1x modifier on honors/AP classes.
ACT: 36
- English: 36
- Math: 36
- Reading: 36
- Science: 36
- Essay: 8 (ouch)
SAT (old): 2280
- Reading: 760
- Math: 770
- Writing: 750
SAT II (I went overboard):
- Biology M: 800
- Chemistry: 800
- Physics: 780
- Math II: 800
- US History: 780
PSAT: 1480
APs:
- World: 3
- US: 4
- English Lang: 5
- Chemistry: 5
- Physics 1: 5
I’m taking AP Bio, AP Calc BC, AP English Lit, and AP Micro for senior year.
I’ve taken a stats class that offered college creds through the local community college, but unfortunately, I didn’t take advantage of it.
EC:
Science Olympiad 7th - present
- 1st place medalist at nationals 2016
- various state medals
- elected officer for senior year
swimming 6th - 10th grade
- advanced to states freshmen year
volunteering at a local children’s science museum 9th - present
- work includes: demonstrations, summer camp, organization/preparation
- 2hr/week, ~45 weeks per year
- ~180 hours accumulated so far
various other EC’s (NHS, a year in jazz band, etc.)
Awards:
- NMS semifinalist
- various school awards, including scholarships to U of R and RIT
Demographics:
- male
- Asian
- US citizen
- New York resident
So, what do you think?
Oh, by the way, I’m fairly sure RPI and Stony Brook are matches for me. I’m not applying to U of R, despite the scholarship, because my parents would rather prefer I go to RPI and save the same amount of money by living at home. (I know…)
Do you have an ECs or academic activities regarding computer science? Does your school not offer AP compsci?
@realbetag Nope, my school only offers two semesters of C, which I have taken. It only really focuses on the syntax more than anything. As for EC’s, my school doesn’t really offer anything CS related either. There’s this one regional programming competition I’ve competed in with the school, but I didn’t do so well due to my lack of experience.
I’ve dabbled in Java one summer, but again, I more focused on the syntax than anything.
The lack of CS in your app might hurt you a bit, especially because of the high caliber schools you are applying too.
Bump.
Does anyone have something a little more conprehensive?
So just regarding Caltech, I don’t think the lack of CS in your application would hurt you too much. The admissions office looks at what opportunities your high school provides and how you took advantage of them - because your high school offered relatively little CS and you did take advantage of those, you should be relatively fine. I’ve known people with no CS experience upon entering Caltech. However, many Caltech freshmen end up taking an introductory CS course (CS 1), so even for those students with no experience, they can exit their first term with at least a basic knowledge of CS.