Chances? Georgia Tech, U of Washington, CMU, other major Computer Science colleges

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey all,
I don’t have stellar test grades, but I believe I have a lot of ECs.
I just want to know if I’m on the right path (ECs > grades), or if I should focus on grades.
My GPA has been increasing on a linear trend (at the very least).
Been worrying a ton about my admission chances…

SAT (2110 out of 2400) (will retake):
CR: 700
M: 740 (I can get this to 800)
W: 670 (10)

Subject Tests:
U.S. History: 710
Math II: 740, 790
Biology: 700
World History: 560

AP:
Calc BC: 5
CompSci: 4
U.S. History: 4
Biology: 3
World History: 2

**GPA 4.38 out of 5.3 (3.32 unweighted) **:
4.2 Freshman Year
4.52 Sophomore Year
(estimated) 4.7~5.0 Junior Year
Additional GPA info: My school has an average of a 4.6 for Georgia Tech admittance, and a 5.0 for MIT. (I’m not even considering MIT with my grades…)

AP Courses (including currently taking):
Junior: Physics 1, Stat, Lang & Comp, Government
Sophomore: Chemistry, Calc BC, U.S. History, Comp Sci
Freshman: Biology, World History

H Courses:
Spanish (going for 4 years, AP available didn’t take),
Psychology (AP available didn’t take)
Philosophy
Precalc (weighted as AP in my school)
American + World Literature
and others (minor ones)…

ECs:
1/2 - year Computer Science Club Co-President (Ever since I became co-president, we’ve run out of computers for attendees)
Founder and 4-year president of Game Theory Club (Dungeons and Dragons, nerd games, 10-15 members)
3/4 - years of Student Council (total of 7/8 years if including middle school) (Incumbency!)
All-State, Regional, District Band and Orchestra on Bassoon (don’t burn me…)
2 - 1st degree black belts

Summer work:
Volunteering at senior center
Internship with a university’s computer science professor
(possibly more)

Ethnicity: Asian American

Recs:
Computer Science teacher. He’s also the Computer Science Club advisor. This aspect shouldn’t be worrying.

I absolutely love computer science, and am on track to publish 1 or 2 apps by the end of this year to aid the student body in everyday school-related functions (target of 40~80% of the entire student body).
My grades are absolutely horrendous, but I do hope my ECs show that I wasn’t just sitting around letting my grades drop.
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What might be more useful than chancing me is telling me how to proceed with Junior/Senior year (should I fall into full grade-recovery mode, or push more into my ECs?).

Also, should I re-take the AP Comp Sci test? I got a 4, but will most likely (90%) apply for Computer Science major.
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Thank you very much!!!

2

No need to retake AP exam. My D is at tech this year and her highest AP was a 4 she didn’t do well on AP exams but had a stellar ACT score with a difficult class load. She was accepted with 3’s and 4’s or AP’s and she is doing very well academically so I don’t think AP exams are a good predictor and it didn’t affect her in any college admissions. Focus on taking a challenging course load with math and science classes and getting high grades. GT avg sat score is now 1400 I think work on getting that score up. EC’s I think you have enough so focus your energy on your grades and sat.

3

^^ Avg SAT is 1450/2140 at GTech (should be higher for OOS students)

http://admission.gatech.edu/content/freshman-admission

4

I wasn’t including writing score.

5

I do take a pretty rigorous math/science curriculum.
I’m ahead by 3 years in math compared to the rest of my school. (Sophomore year took AP Calc, got 5).

Thank you for the awesome response!
I’ll definitely shift my focus onto grades.

Again, thank you very much.