<p>I am planning on coding an app regardless of college admissions, but I'm wondering if it helps for college admissions. The reason is that it will take a lot of time (conservative estimate of 60-100 hours),and if it won't help for admissions I'll wait till i'm done with my applications and then do it. If it helps for admissions then I'll find the time to do it now. How much will it help my app? I'm considering colleges such as stanford, MIT, caltech, harvard, princeton, CMU CS school (I have safeties and matches as well). I have about a 3.9 gpa, 2350+ SAT, USAJMO qualifier, arml tiebreakers, science olympiad state medals, good AP scores, and have taken math courses at a college. I don't have any organized extracurriculars in programming and especially as I'm indicating it as one of my interests I think I should have some EC in it. Is this considered impressive?</p>
<p>It’s just another EC. Its not as uncommon as you’d think. It’s not really impressive, especially since you won’t have it done by application time (you won’t, trust me, I’ve programmed an iPhone app my senior year, it takes a long it).</p>
<p>It doesn’t hurt, but I’d only do it if I was genuinely interested in the field. Best of luck.</p>
<p>@guineagirl96 @KubricksGhost
Thanks for your help. I am geniunely interested in the field, I think most likely i will major in something related to comp sci. I thought it was fairly uncommon; I don’t know too many kids that do it (actually i know 0 personally). The app that i’m thinking of is more like a mobile website (it would have practice mathcounts tests and answers and formulas etc).
From the sound of things, i’d be better of waiting till after applications are done to do this. any contrary opinions?</p>
<p>May help to get in to CS at UIUC. Also maybe CS at CMU. Probably not that impressive to the adcoms at HYPSM.</p>
<p>This is the sort of thing you should be because you love it, because you need to do it, not because it will “look good”. Getting good grades and doing your applications should be your priority now though.</p>
<p>@bopper I really want to go into cs, and am excited to do this. I’m just debating whether or not to wait till after apps are due to do this because it will take a lot of time and it sounds like it wouldn’t improve my app or help significantly. I love to code although I’ve mainly simple projects up till now and it involves my desire to help
People prepare for math competitions. Even now I might want to do this too much to wait. I might also lose some motivation after apps are done as I’ll be generally lazy. Whatever</p>
<p>I guess it also depends what platform. iPhone I wouldn’t do right now because it takes a lot more time because you have to learn the language (Objective-C, I also had to learn SQLite for the app I did) and the specifics of iOS. Androids are much easier to program since they are written in java, which I assume you already know.</p>
<p>@guineagirl96 I have an iPhone now but am trying to get my parents to let me upgrade to an android 6 months early. I know a decent amount of Java but would likely need to learn a bit more. I think
I can pick up objective c relatively easily and I’ve heard that Apple has a better debugging system. Overall android still seems easier/better.</p>
<p>@theanaconda I went with iPhone because I have apple devices and the app I was writing was geared towards people that generally have iPhone. But my lab director strongly suggested I do Android, which several others in my lab did. He was able to work with them, but not me, since he didn’t know the language. Do you know C? Objective-C was pretty hard for me to pick up from a java background and limited C (arduino, didn’t even realize it was C) and basic. If you already know C, its apparently easier. My dad was able to explain a little to me because he knows C and C++, but there was a disconnect because he doesn’t know java (at least he was never taught it and never uses it, he could probably figure it out if he had to), so some of the things I was confused about he couldn’t really draw connections to. Lol I don’t know why people would say Apple has a better debugger… xCode and the iOS simulator were the source of much agony. And I don’t know how it works with android, but for Apple, you have to pay $99 a year for a developer license to be able to upload the application to a phone (even your own) to test it. If you can do an android, I would say by all means start now if you want to, just know that you’ll be doing it for you.</p>
<p>Probably helps more at the schools that admit by major. UIUC and CMU come to mind.</p>
<p>If you look at the UIUC class of 2018 results thread, pretty much everyone who got in to CS in Engineering had coded an app or was working as a developer at a company already or had done well in some national/international coding competition or had super-high stats or was URM/female.</p>
<p>When my son applied to college 4 years ago, he included a link to a personal website that displayed his Comp Sci projects from various classes he had taken. The website included the games themselves . . . a Boggle Game written in Java that gave you all the answers to words you missed, an 11-round Championship Boxing Game written in Netlogo, and several animation videos hand drawn and written in Flash . . . PLUS the actual code for each project so that Computer Science Departments could inspect his work. When acceptance letters started coming in, every AO commented about his Computer Science projects and how easy it was to present his case to the Admissions Committee. So, my take away: YES, when applying with an intended interest in Computer Science, it’s beneficial if you can demonstrate that you already have a broad range of programming knowledge. </p>
<p>@gibby
It sure sounds like it played a significant role in your son’s admissions. If you wouldn’t mind me asking, which colleges did your son apply/get in to? I don’t think that comp sci will be the primary interest I indicate, but it will likely be my 2nd or 3rd interest I indicate. The primary interest I am indicating is applied mathematics, which does have a lot of connection with computer science in certain areas; especially the ones i’m interested in pursuing.
@guineagirl96 Thanks for you help. Lol I don’t know C, but if I had to I think I could pick it up, but using java would be a lot easier. Regardless, I spoke to my father, and he said that we could get an android tablet perhaps and that it’s possible that I can just download an android virtual machine to test the code on/program. I will move ahead with this I think, but if it’s taking too much time I might take a break from it. </p>
<p>@Scioly1997: My son applied to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, Williams, Middlebury, Pomona, Georgetown, Boston College, Vanderbilt, Wesleyan and SUNY Binghamton. He was accepted everywhere but Harvard.</p>
<p>Slightly off topic, but do you think my current profile as is would at least get me deferred from Stanford? It’s my #1 choice, but I don’t want to get rejected and I feel that waiting (especially if I can code an app) would boost my profile. I think less than 20% of applicants are deferred or admitted.</p>
<p>@Scioly1997. Most of the brilliant students that get admitted to Stanford did not “code” or produce an “app” by the time they applied…rather, they were involved with their extracurricular activity (whatever field it happen to be) that stimulated their intellectual curiosity as far as they could possibly pursue it…</p>
<p>…so having or developing an app isn’t going to matter…</p>
<p>@gravitas2
I know that. But my 2 main interests/majors are (applied) mathematics and computer science. I’ve pursued mathematics very far (university classes, making usajmo, other competitions, volunteering for it etc). But comp Sci is another one of my interests. So coding an app (which I’m interested in doing) is a (in my opinion) significant EC. And I really am very interested in it, it just happens to be extremely time consuming. I will do it at some point this year, I’m just trying to decide when and am using how that will effect college admissions as a factor in that decision. Ultimately I probably will proceed with it now anyways as I am too interested to wait but we’ll see.</p>
<p>You may not have understood what I wrote…but, let me put it more bluntly…regardless of what you may want to “major” in…they are looking for extremely intelligent people who have an “open” mind to pursue all the wonderful options/courses that they offer outside of your “focused interests”…and they could easily fill each class with the top CS/engineering/tech entrepreneur/venture capitalist in the world…but, they don’t and won’t!</p>
<p>…I have seen too many students get rejected who seem only “hell bent” on becoming the next great tech entrepreneur…</p>
<p>…be wise and be careful how you write your essays…be forewarned…</p>
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<p>@Scioly1997: Demonstrating to Stanford (or any other college) that you can code an app IS NOT going to boost your chances. In fact, it may decrease them, as it will put you in the pool of all other applicants, like my son, that are demonstrating they can program on multiple levels. No matter how your great your App might turn out to be, it’s not going to be as impressive as someone who submits a half-dozen different Apps – your one app is just going to seem weak by comparison.</p>
<p>I agree with @gravitas2: You would better served by working on your essays. FWIW: My son spent 4 months writing, editing, re-writing and polishing his essays – much more time than he spent putting together his website that showcased his apps. And, in addition to commenting about my son’s comp sci ability, AO’s wrote how much they enjoyed his essays. At this point in the process, I would concentrate on the required parts of the application, not the extra’s. </p>
<p>@gravitas2 @gibby
Thanks guys. What you guys are saying makes perfect sense, Stanford is sure to have plenty of people who are better at coding interested in their CS. I will not put down coding experience on my application for schools like Stanford and MIT then. So should I not indicate CS as one of my interests as I don’t have the profile to get in at these top schools and put down other interests? I’m just so confused lol. Will it really hurt me even if CS is not my primary interest. I’ve decided to go ahead and do it anyways, I really want to. Now I’m just debating whether to keep it on my app.</p>