I believe its March 23, somewhere around 5pm. Not entirely sure though.
Hi all!
I am a current high-school sophomore hoping for admission to COSMOS 2020. I’m having trouble starting my essay, so does anyone have any useful tips? Also, considering my stats (will list below) which cluster will I have the highest chances of getting into?? If anyone answers this, thank you so much!
Here are the clusters I’m considering:
UCDavis:
2 is something I'm interested in, Phys/Eng, but I've not yet taken high school physics (prerequisite), only Physical Sciences in the 8th grade.
4 - Intro to Astrophysics :star:
UCIrvine:
1 - Mimicking Natural Protein Interactions to Target Cancer and Other Diseases
2 - Computation and Machine Learning :star:
4 - Can you make the next billion-dollar antibiotic? :star:? lol
UCSC:
2 - Nanochemistry and Nanotechnology (1st choice only) :star:
UCSD:
1 - Computers in Everyday Life (1st choice only) :star:
7 - Synthetic Biology
GPA: 3.84 UW/4.17 W (kinda low 
because I took Honors Chinese this year)
E.C.s: MUN (member), Children of The World (fundraising, member), Badminton (co-founder, co-president), Yearbook (secretary), Math Madness (part of team)
Standardized Tests: PSAT 10 1490, SAT Bio 670 (low ), 4 and 5 on non-STEM APs
Got to state science fair, 2nd in school for AMC 10
Taking AP Calculus AB, Chemistry
Hi!
I am a current high school freshman and I wanted to get some advice for my COSMOS application.
I want to apply for the UCSC Cluster 1 - Number Theory and Discrete Math.
For my “Activities” section on the application, I am divided between putting violin, which I have been playing for 8 years (more dedication, but not STEM-related) and competitive programming (less dedication, but STEM-related). I am not at a very high level for programming - I only passed USACO Bronze. Can anyone give advice? For my first activity, I put “competitive math” because I am applying for a math cluster (but not an overwhelming amount of dedication, I guess).
What are my odds of getting in with what I have now?
-Math: - school → Precalc Honors
->outside of school → AMC 10 → AIME qualify and Math Prize for Girls (MPfG) qualify last year
-CS: -passed bronze for USACO
-4.0 GPA
Unrelated: -violin (awards and outside orch (leadership position)) → volunteer for teaching autistic kids violin
I feel like I have so little now >.< and I don’t know if I’ll think of a good idea for my essay… Any response would be appreciated! Thanks!
Does anyone know why some clusters are designated as, First Choice Only? Why would that be a requirement?
@Lilina No individual campus is more prestigious than others. The biomedical or bioengineering clusters tend to be much more competitive to get into than most others, and UC davis has the most of those clusters so some people might consider it the hardest campus to get into, but it’s entirely dependent on the cluster you apply to. I went to UCSD to a cluster with an acceptance rate below 10% and it was the best summer of my life and I would absolutely do it again.
@sfSTEM Clusters designated as first choice only have that because they get so many applications that they never even look at people who put it as their second choice. They’re incredibly hard to get into, so if it’s not your first choice and you aren’t totally passionate about it, you won’t get in. Honestly, they do it to save the applicants and the admissions team’s time.
did anyone go to Cluster 5, virtual reality at UCI? if so, can you guys tell me the acceptance rate/recommendations to get in?
Hi y’all,
I’m a freshman seeking to attend either UCI Cluster 2 (Computation and Machine Learning) or Cluster 7 (BioEngineering Your Brain). My extracurriculars are mainly focused on math, computer science, and artificial intelligence, though they aren’t very strong yet (however, I believe I could make up for this with superb essays and somewhat strong grades).
Stats:
GPA: 3.89 UW
Taking AP Human Geography and Integrated Math 3
Extracurriculars:
- MESA National Engineering Design Challenge (made it to state championships last year, the competition for this year hasn’t been hosted)
- USACO (bronze)
- completed 3 of the 5 Deeplearning.ai Deep Learning Specialization courses (currently taking the last two)
- Self-Driving Car Club (President and only member)
- Google Code-in
- a few hackathons
- Computer Science Club
- and other ECs that I feel are either insignificant or irrelevant
Any thoughts on my chances of gaining admission to either of the two?
I’m a freshman and I’m not sure what to write for the personal statement. Does anyone have any advice, tips, or ideas?
1 Like
I want to apply to UCI’s tumor cluster or biomedical sciences cluster. Could an ALUM chance me, please?
Asian high school sophomore
From SF Bay Area
W GPA; 4.13
UW GPA: 3.83
Classes in 9th grade:
Mandarin II
Biomed Class (Our school has a program where you take PLTW Biomed classes)
Biology
Advanced Algebra II
Advanced English
Classes in 10th grade:
Advanced English
Second Year Biomed Class
AP European History
Precalculus
AP Chemistry
Mandarin III
Extracurriculars:
shadowing a doctor
volunteering at a local boys and girls club (teach them science)
dance
HOSA (a health club at our school that I am secretary of)
Thanks so much!
@ltwixster thanks for the reply! Do you or anyone else for that matter know about clusters 3 and 8 at UCSD? (Chemistry and climate change, biofuels) I wanted to know how hard it was to get in, or/and the overall experience they had there. Thanks!
hey guys!! i got into cosmos last year as a rising junior and CC gave some great tips, so i came back to check out this year’s thread lol. my general advice is that the essays are definitely the most important part of your application, not stats— i got in with a 3.6 UW GPA haha. and in your essays, passion > experience/knowledge. good luck everyone, and @ me if you have any questions!
@catras wow! So you’re a really recent alumni lol. Do you mind sharing what campus/cluster you applied for and how you managed to show your interest through your essays? I’m having a hard time putting it into a 200 word essay lmao.
Does anyone know how difficult the math clusters are to get in? And how was the experience, if anyone went to them?
Hey, which campus is the most competitive? I am a freshman applying to US Davis in the IoT cluster, so being interested in STEM which campus should I apply to in order to maximize my chances of being accepted?
@Lilina My roommate was in cluster 8, which I believe is tissue engineering. She loved it, but it was also the most rigorous cluster at UCSD. The teacher fellow, who’s been there for like 6 years in a row, is fantastic. The whole cluster would sit together out on the lawn in front of the dorms and go through their homework or evening lab prep together. A girl in my suite was in cluster 3, and everyone envied her a little. We’d spend our days in a mostly windowless lab pipetting, and they went swimming in the ocean lol. Seriously though, almost everyone in cluster 3 loved it. Cluster 6 was biofuels I believe, and I was close friends with a couple girls in that cluster too. They were really cool people and seemed to enjoy the cluster, but it seemed pretty chemistry-intense (which may be great for you, I’m not huge on chem).
As far as acceptance rates go, I know 8 was below or right around 10%, 3 was much higher (I heard numbers closer to 30 or upwards of that but I have no way to confirm that) and 6 is somewhere in between.
Based on your courses, it seems like we attend the same school district LOL
Thanks for the reply! What are the types of people that apply and attend cosmos? Are they all top-of-the-class students or are they less so?
Hi, I noticed that Cosmos allows two recommendation letters from teachers. I currently have one STEM teacher on board with writing me a rec letter, and I could potentially ask my spanish teacher to write me one too.
Should I get a second rec letter and would it hurt my chances if I only had one letter?
Also, my current stats for applying:
Currently a sophomore
4.0 UW GPA in fairly difficult classes (4 APs, 2 honors)
EC: Robotics design team member, robotics mentor at a local middle school, and thats basically about it for stem ecs lol
My main stem classes are AP Calc BC, AP CS, and Honors Chem
I’m leaning towards applying to UCSC for Video game design as my #1 choice.
Any thoughts on how competitive this cluster is and my chances on getting in or if there are other clusters that my extracurriculars would complement better?
My D went to Cosmos UCSC last summer as a rising senior. Her first choice was video gaming. Her second choice (and the one she was accepted into) was blubbers, feathers and fur. She had some prior experience with both: the summer prior she attended girls who code 7 wk immersion program and had been a student volunteer at the zoo for 3 yrs. The essays on why she picked her clusters were easy with having past experience. Her main essay was more of a personal reflection of her character and work ethic, told through an anecdote, not necessarily STEM related.
My D is not planning to study a STEM major in college and as such wasn’t sure she would fit in/enjoy Cosmos but she had an absolute blast. She met some really nice, interesting friends that she continues to see occasionally and keeps in touch with others that are too far away. Great experience! Good luck 2020!