Chances with Low GPA/moderately High SAT

Colleges & Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>Personal:
Ethnicity: Asian Male
Location: New York
School Type: Moderately Competitive Medical Magnet High School
Intended Major: Biology/Chemistry or Computer Science/Engineering</p>

<p>GPA:
3.1 UW</p>

<p>SAT I :
Critical Reading: 740
Mathematics: 780
Writing: 740
(1520/2280)</p>

<p>SAT II:
United States History: 750
Physics: 790
Math Level II: 780</p>

<p>Extra-curricular Activities:</p>

<p>H.P.R.E.P. (Health Professions Recruitment and Exposure Program) at
Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University</p>

<p>R.E.A.D.Y. Program (Responsibly Employed And Dedicated Youth)</p>

<p>Leadership Positions:
Treasurer of Student Government (11)
Founder of the Chess Club
President of the Chess Club</p>

<p>Club Activities:
Member of the Health Sciences Club (11,12)
Member of the Social Wellness Club (12)</p>

<p>Instrument :
Experience Playing Piano (8 years)
Experience Playing Harmonium (10 years)</p>

<p>Work Experience :
Private Student Tutoring in literacy, grammar, and mathematics (9,10)</p>

<p>Community Service :
220 hours for Website Design
30 hours as Teacher's Assistant</p>

<p>College Now Courses at York College : (11)
PSY 102 : Introductory Psychology – B
POL 103 : Politics and Government in the United States *
College Now Course at Borough of Manhattan Community College :
CHE 110 : General Chemistry *</p>

<ul>
<li>Will be completed before applications are due.</li>
</ul>

<p>Senior Year Schedule: (Most rigorous schedule possible)
AP Biology
AP Calculus AB
Honors English IV
Participation in Government/Economics
POL 103 : Politics and Government in the United States (CUNY York)
CHE 110 : General Chemistry (CUNY BMCC)</p>

<p>Do I have any chance at Carnegie Mellon? Also, it would be gladly appreciated if you could suggest solid safety, and match schools. Thank you for your help!</p>

2

<p>GPA is probably deflated. Nobody has a higher GPA than 94. I have an 89.</p>

3

<p>Do you have a class rank?</p>

4

<p>See my message to your inquiry about your chances at Hopkins for details. Here is the list of schools that I don't think you'll make, and schools in your range. These include "solid safeties." This last list separates the big schools from liberal arts colleges. </p>

<p>NOT IN YOUR BALLPARK:
University of Virginia, College of William and Mary, University of North Carolina, University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown University, Emory University</p>

<p>MATCH SCHOOLS ON THE UPPER END:
Vanderbilt University, University of Notre Dame</p>

<p>MORE OF YOUR RANGE (it's pretty wide because of disparate gpa/sat):
Full universities include: Wake Forest University, Lehigh University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Pittsburgh, Stevens Tech, Rutgers-New Brunswick, Binghamton, and Stony Brook. I include the last two because you're from New York. </p>

<p>Smaller schools include: Davidson College, Washington and Lee University, University of Richmond, College of New Jersey.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that many of the schools I mentioned do not have engineering. Bio and Chem are a given at almost every school however. Message me if you still have questions.</p>

5

<p>Definintly apply. I learned alot by using this website, but I also learned not to heed anyone's advice. This served as a great wakeup tool for me and I finished highschool strong and got into CMU. However, now that I think about it, I'm not really sure many people said I could even get into CMU. My final SAT's were about 2200 and ACT 35 so that probably helped me get in, but I didn't have any outstanding activities to be proud of, I went to a crappy public school and only got a 3.6 (35/202). However, I did show passion my final year of highschool and accomplished a lot in mathamatics, chess, and football (my three favorite things).</p>

<p>But, no offense, I don't know how the race thing will go over :( (i heard it is harder for asian males to get into engeneering?)</p>

<p>The point is to finish high school strong. Continue and intensify everything that you love to do. Don't waste anytime at all, and in the end wherever you get in you WILL love it. Trust me.</p>

6

<p>I agree with you SISIS and finishing HS is real important. I mentioned the race thing to him. If anyone wants to go for the big boys, go at them, but no one, especially Asian males should expect to be a sure shot at a science/math/eng school with numbers at around the range or slightly below.</p>

<p>My final rank was 42/279, but when I applied four long years ago, it was 57/279.</p>

7

<p>Apply to CMU, but just make sure you have a safety (or two or three) that you'd be happy with. That's what everyone should do, if they're truly interested in CMU.</p>

8

<p>Thank you to those who have contributed. Any other suggestions?</p>

9

<p>i got into h&ss with a 3.0-3.1 1410 SAT so its definitely possible. gl with everything</p>

10

<p>Anyone else have an opinion?</p>

11

<p>Bump (10 characters)</p>

12

<p>Every school looks for different things in their applicants. You definitely have high enough scores, and fairly strong extracurriculars, though you may want to think about why there are few that you continued for all four years of high school, should you be asked that in an interview for any school.</p>

<p>Do you know anyone from your school who applied to CMU in previous years? Maybe they can give you an idea of how CMU looks at GPAs from your school.</p>

13

<p>the admissions office will probably like the fact that you are taking college level classes in your spare time (it shows initiative)</p>

<p>from what i remember, the admissions office tries to see things other than the pure numbers. so basically beef up your application by presenting yourself as a well rounded student with a passion for learning</p>

<p>also, the race card definately does not work.</p>

14

<p>how is william and mary not in his ballpark...but davidson is? that's absurd. don't listen to wmalum.</p>

15

<p>Hey, Piano89, I want to first apologize for taking so long to respond.</p>

<p>Your GPA is going to be a negative factor on your application. However you said "Nobody has a higher GPA than 94. I have an 89.", so that leads me to believe that you attend an elite high school. If that is the case, then CMU will understand the "low" GPA better, especially if CMU is familiar with your high school. GPA isn't always the most accurate indicator; class rank is more indicative and thus more important. For instance at my old public high school the grade inflation was a joke. 25% of the class had straight As. At the private boarding school I attended the last 3 years of high school we had only 3 or 4 students in a class (albeit we only had about 50 students in a typical class) get straight As. Some of the advantage of going to an elite school however can be lost, if a particular college isn't familiar with how good your high school is, as was the case for me with Caltech (who my college counselor said was "unfamiliar with us" because they're on th West Coast and we're in the East.)</p>

<p>Try to focus on doing really well in the courses you are taking at York College. Grades at college are usually a little more standardized than grades in high school, so a strong performance in a course there could help alleviate doubts of whether you could handle the workload at CMU. Your SATs seem fine, but do you have any AP results you could submit as AP exams are good standardized indicators (as well as proof that one takes the most rigorous courses)? I know you said you were taking 2 APs this year, but do you have any AP results from previous years you can submit? Also a good AMC score and particularly a good AIME score will be helpful for a prospective engineer or computer science major. Good teacher recommendations might be the best opportunity to convey the difficulty and quality of your high school.</p>

<p>As far as the reaches, matches, and safeties go, there are many options. It's hard to narrow down because you haven't decided on one definite major, but I tried to list a bunch of good math/science schools and place them in their appropriate category for you.</p>

<p>Huge Reaches
MIT
Caltech
Harvey Mudd
Olin
Cornell
Cal-Berkeley
Michigan (for an out of state student)</p>

<p>Slight Reaches
Notre Dame
Carnegie Mellon
Illinois
Lehigh
Tufts</p>

<p>Matches
Case Western
Wisconsin
Georgia Tech
RIT
RPI</p>

<p>Safeties
Clemson
Drexel
Dayton
Indiana
Minnesota</p>

<p>Hope this advice helps and best of luck in the college process. Feel free to write back with any more questions or comments.</p>

16

<p>Tufts slight reach, but Michigan big reach for OOS? That doesn't make any sense. Try reversing those two...Tufts is much more difficult to get into than Lehigh and Illinois, and certainly more difficult than Michigan.</p>

17

<p>Interesting you should say that Worldband. I know someone from high school going to Tufts who got deferred/rejected from Michigan. I thought Michigan was a lot harder for out of state students than in state, but I don't have the exact statistics so perhaps I am wrong. Sorry for any misleading info.</p>

18

<p>I know someone who got into MIT but was waitlisted at Washington University in St. Louis (for ECE). It's hard to compare selectivity of different schools, since they all look for different things.</p>

19

<p>most people who post on this website have inflated expectations and beliefs about what will get you into college. your sat's show you've got some good brain power. your gpa is a little bit on the low side but guess what...that really doesn't matter as long as you've taken challenging courses. judging by your extracurrics list, you've kept yourself busy. so don't listen to that list of schools out of your range - B.S. apply everywhere you want, and you'll get in. as a frosh this fall at CMU, i can say that you'll probably get in here.</p>

<p>good luck.</p>

20

<p>btw. i'm asian male from NY.</p>