Give Me A Rough Chance?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Schools I'm thinking about: MIT, UC Berkeley, SCS at Carnegie Mellon, Tufts University, Brandeis, Boston University & UMass Amherst(for safety)
Grade: Junior
Gender: Male
Ethncity: Asian
GPA: around 3.8, unweighted. My school doesn't give out weighted GPA, so I calculated it myself- around 4.45.
SAT: will get it in 10 days, but I'm getting around a 2200 on my practice tests
APs: AP Music Theory, messed up the exam and got a 3, but I have an A- in that class grade-wise
BC Calculus, currently enrolled in. Grades between A and A-
Computer science, self-studied(I'm a pretty strong programmer)
Possibly AP stats, also self-studied
APs next year: Physics C, Bio and Gov</p>

<p>Extracurricular:
Designed and published an Android app, it's got 100+ downloads</p>

<p>Worked in a joint lab of Harvard Medical School and MIT for 2+ years</p>

<p>Participated in MIT PRIMES research program this year, and definitely next year- for those of you who don't know, it's like RSI while being relatively less selective(still very legit though). I anticipate to complete and publish a Software Development Kit</p>

<p>Second author of a research manuscript- submitted, not yet published. Hopefully it will before I apply to college</p>

<p>Operated 3D printer for a local teen center for community service</p>

<p>Worked in the same teen center over the summer, earned 1 grand, helped design their website</p>

<p>Administered a Linux server for my lab, with various websites on there.</p>

<p>Kinda trivial, but I got an honorable mention in Purple Comet Math Competition</p>

2

<p>There’s very little information to go on here, especially with no concrete SAT and no ECs listed.</p>

<p>Regardless here are my “rough” guesses:
MIT: High reach for everyone
UCB: Low reach/reach
SCS: High reach for everyone
Tufts: High match/low reach based on gpa/projected scores
Brandeis: High match
BU: Low reach
UMass: safety/low match</p>

<p>This all depends on how you actually do on your SATs, what your ECs are, and the rigor of your course load.</p>

3

<p>Crap, accidentally hit post…
Let’s continue… Computer science, self-studied(I’m a pretty strong programmer)
Possibly AP stats, also self-studied
APs next year: Physics C, Bio and Gov</p>

<p>Extracurricular:
Designed and published an Android app, it’s got 100+ downloads</p>

<p>Worked in a joint lab of Harvard Medical School and MIT for 2+ years</p>

<p>Participated in MIT PRIMES research program this year, and definitely next year- for those of you who don’t know, it’s like RSI while being relatively less selective(still very legit though). I anticipate to complete and publish a Software Development Kit </p>

<p>Second author of a research manuscript- submitted, not yet published. Hopefully it will before I apply to college</p>

<p>Operated 3D printer for a local teen center for community service</p>

<p>Worked in the same teen center over the summer, earned 1 grand, helped design their website</p>

<p>Administered a Linux server for my lab, with various websites on there.</p>

4

<p>@tomwantssnow
I updated my post</p>

5

<p>The thing I’m worried about is that my hard stats aren’t that great. Probably enough to meet the standard, but no where near outstanding. I think that my E.Cs are pretty great though. </p>

6

<p>Why is nobody saying anything? </p>

7

<p>

</p>

<ol>
<li> Because no one here knows. Heck, even an admission councilor wouldn’t know (see Chris’s blog at MIT)</li>
<li> Plenty of people know people with similar stats who were admitted to those and similar schools…and rejected from those and similar schools. </li>
<li> And most importantly…what does it matter? Would you not apply to those schools if fluffy2017 or some other random person on the internet said your chances were 23.5% or 12.5%? I certainly hope not.</li>
</ol>

<p>There is a heck of a lot of useful info on CC, but a random evaluation of your chances from someone who may or may not have any real ability to determine your chances is not one of them.</p>

8

<p>I think that what the first poster wrote is pretty accurate. UCB is a reach rather than a low reach because there’s so many applicants. And if you’re OOS its also hard. Your stats are strong and I see Tufts & Brandeis as matches. BU is a low match. Amherst is a safety. </p>

<p>Schools to look into. These would balance your list more:</p>

<p>Match
USC
UMich
NYU
Boston College</p>

<p>Realistic Reach
Emory
Georgetown</p>

<p>Reach if OOS
UNC
UVA
UCLA</p>

<p>Reach
WashU
Rice
Vanderbilt
JHU</p>

9

<p>@shk909
What’s OOS?</p>

10

<p>@fluffy2017
I guess my main question is probably that can very strong extracurricular activities counteract the not very impressive but still on par SAT scores and GPA? </p>

11

<p>@shk909
Just realized it mean out of state, never mind. Do you think that strong aspects other than GPA/SAT will make schools like Vanderbult my match? You know, having published research paper, designed my own app, letter of rec from university professor etc. </p>

12

<p>@SteveX They are categorized as ‘reaches’ because its a little of a stretch (pretty much b/c your UW gpa) but its still possible.</p>

13

<p>Accept: Tufts, Brandeis, BU (yuck), UMass
Waitlist: UCB, CM
Reject: MIT (Y U No invent micro fusion reactor?).</p>

<p>Signed, Unlicensed and Unauthorized Phoney Adcom</p>

14

<p>@shk909</p>

<p>What if… My gpa goes up a bit, to say 3.82 or 3.85? It certainly seems possible right now.</p>

15

<p>An increase of .03 will hardly matter. </p>

<p>You’ll definitely get accepts at UMass, Brandeis, BU
At the Accept/Waitlist area for Berkeley, Tufts
Waitlist/Reject at MIT, CM</p>

<p>Predict back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1628065-the-ultimate-chancing-thread-with-real-life-incentive.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1628065-the-ultimate-chancing-thread-with-real-life-incentive.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>I think some of the schools recommended aren’t so good to apply to.</p>

<p>Vanderbilt, JHU, Georgetown, WashU, UVA, NYU, USC etc, aren’t primarily known for CS. Tufts and Brandeis additionally aren’t either, unless you really want a liberal arts education. </p>

<p>I was in your exact same position this year (I’m a senior who applied for CS), and what I found was that most schools which are easier to get in than the ones you are currently looking at are public colleges (if you can afford OOS tuition). Here are some you should look into:</p>

<p>UMich
Georgia Tech
UIUC
UT Austin
UMaryland
UW-Seattle
Purdue
UW-Madison</p>

<p>^ The majority of those with the exception of UT and more recently GT are not difficult to get into and are really good for the major. UMass is good as well, but that’s already on your list.</p>

17

<p>@Truust </p>

<p>How do you know that I want to major in CS? lol. I for sure want to do some CS related things in college, but also courses that are good for applying to med school. What do you think of me chances at Brown and Johns Hopkins? </p>

18

<p>Oh sorry, I saw you say “SCS at Carnegie Mellon” which only offers CS so I just assumed that was your intended major. My bad.</p>

<p>Anyways, Brown/JHU are still reaches, no matter what your SAT/GPA.</p>