@CopperlineX2 are you talking about volunteering when you say “community involvement?” Aren’t academic ec’s good enough?
Aunt bea nailed it.
Your question suggests you really don’t know what the tippy top non-UCs look for. It’s not last minute research/personal projects, hackathons, etc. You can’t devlop spike in the 11th hour. Your ideas are off.
Even the UCs are holistic and you’ll compete aagainst plenty of kids who, over 3.5 years, have been investing their time wisely, stretched and engaged in a variety of activities. Yes, including service.
I do believe kids can fine tune, even at the end of junior year. But not when they have nothing to report. Your choices suggest you were missing some energy the top colleges like.
Plus those B grades and the C.
ps. who uses the term, “pseudo Ivy?” It’s dismissive of other colleges’ real strengths. You have some learing to do, to come up with a good list of targets.
Although I also question the “pseudo Ivy” – isn’t USC sort of a pseudo Ivy? A very selective, rich private which excels in both arts/humanities and STEM? Seems to me, the school is on a trajectory to become the Stanford of SoCal, at least…
Lol, I think I’d call USC “a great school, in its own right.”
“Pseudo” implies fake.
Is there any realistic chance for me at the reach schools? What can I do to compensate for 3 years of no ec’s? Should I start doing some service?
You can’t. For that level of schools, it’s not just “doing stuff” it’s having a lasting impact, which takes time to plan, build, network, organize, etc. And if you use your parents’pull or money it’s even worse because you come off as spoiled and entitled (like using your governess to complete homework). Basically that ship has sailed. Obviously you can volunteer and you can tell colleges you’ll continue doing so , which will be good for you generally speaking because it’ll be so different from what you’re used to. But don’t do it for elite college admissions.
Go to your library and borrow Admissions possible, the college solution 2/e, make colleges want you, how to be a high school superstar, plus the Princeton Review’s best colleges insider’s guide to colleges, Publix Honors colleges, and the Fiske guide. Find 20 colleges you’ve never heard of that nevertheless share crucial characteristics with the universities you like.
Build your list from the ground up and focus on finding Excellent honors colleges (outside of UC’s).
Should I be good for UC’s at least? Anything I can do to increase my chances at Berkeley EECS?
Not UCB for CS. Please read this thread and the stats of UCB rejects this year. Also, you have great academic stats, there are lots of great colleges out there, you just need to find the right one.
@suzyQ7 can you give me some suggestions? Where should I be able to get in?
Look at post 14 for suggestions. You need universities where your stats are impressive on their own (they are impressive, basically top 0.5% in the country but that’s still a lot of kids who are almost all applying to the same schools)
If your research gets a national award or you’re a semi finalist, you’ll have a very to very very solid EC.
As of now, you’ve got a pretty good shot at USC which becomes a low reach/high match
When thinking of your odds you have to remember that any college or major that’s 25% or below in acceptance rates is a reach for everyone, you included. 25-40% would be matches. 40-60% would be safeties.
Santa Clara may be a good option to be close to Silicon Valley internships.
Are you even digesting any of the previous posts?
You sat around for 3 years, not doing anything for your school, community or your growth. Why would they pick you? Because your parents can pay?
You haven’t looked at any of the rejections from students with perfect stats, who didn’t get in this year. Especially for EECS!! Take a look at their activities.
Now, you expect to get in, competing with students who have used their years of activities to evolve into themselves.
Since you’re so desperate to get into UCB, apply. You’ll find out, very soon, how much they use their holistic review. You will be electronically signing your application that the information is truthful and correct. I wouldn’t exaggerate if I were you.
What people have perhaps not emphasized is that you don’t actually need to attend an Ivy to do well in CS. Research a reasonable school and continue to work on enhancing your CS skills. Like engineering, companies care about what you can do for them - not what fancy college you went to. I have a friend who is very high up in a CS job in Silicon Valley and did not graduate from anywhere special.
Are you certain you don’t have ANY ECs? How about a part-time job, sports, art, theater. No clubs, volunteering or responsibility at home, like caring for a sibling or elderly relative? It doesn’t have to be academic. Have you self-taught yourself programming languages? What do you do after school, on weekends or summers? You must have hobbies beyond video games.
@Dancingmom518 video games, hanging out with friends at the beach and the movies, watching YouTube videos, pretty much just enjoying myself. I seriously regret it now.
Well, I did score a 123 on the AMC 12 and qualified for the AIME and scored a 4. I also forgot to mention that I’m a USNCO qualifier. Maybe that counts??
As I mentioned, i also did a community college programming class last semester. I’m doing two more this semester and am expecting A’s in them. I’ve also spent some time learning through online courses, but haven’t really done any independent projects.
Okay, I did leave out some things, but they’re highly unremarkable. I have about 15 volunteer hours. I’m also a builder of my school’s robotics team (we meet like once every two weeks), but I’ve accomplished absolutely nothing notable. We’re pretty bad, only went to one competition and did awful. I’m also on my school’s math team and have attended a few competitions and haven’t done too great. So why even bother mentioning it?
I think there are a few things going on here. One seems to be that you are undervaluing yourself. You made it seem like you were a hermit shut up in your room every day doing nothing but gaming. That isn’t true. The more we push, the more you reveal. You do have some involvement in your school. You have research with a college professor. You are self studying subjects that you find interesting. The robotics club, the research…these ARE ECS. Whether or not you win awards doesn’t change that fact that you have ECs. Whether these are enough to get you into the schools you want is another question. No one here can really answer that. But you are not the kid you first indicated. You are not someone who sat in a dark room for three years doing nothing. You are like so many others here. You are devaluing your experience because you think that unless you have national recognition, you have nothing.
There are two important things you can do for yourself. The first is to take the advice of the many other posters who have told you that you don’t need an IVY to be successful. Even if you had the worlds best resume, you might still not get into those tippy top schools. If you can find some less selective places, you will take a lot of the pressure off of yourself.
The next thing you need to do is find someone to help you put your own experience in the best light. That might mean an experienced college counselor. But you really do need someone to help you present yourself and SEE yourself as an accomplished, interesting and motivated person.
Definitely mention the school robotics team and math team. It shows you contributed to a group effort and cared enough to represent your school. It doesn’t matter that you guys didn’t win. Colleges want to know that you’ll come to their school and participate in their programs with other students. Maybe you could take on a leadership role for math or robotics next year. Take a look at the 8 personal insight questions for the UC application. You will need to choose 4. It’s challenging to write them with few E.C.’s. Start brainstorming to figure out how to craft them sooner rather than later.
OP can’t put anything together until he knows what matters. He needs to do some of his own digging into what those colleges like and want. If he doesn’t, a) he won’t have any idea and b) he isn’t showing the level of thinking, comprehension and action these colleges want. They do the choosing. One either rises to this challenge or not.
If you want an MIT, Cal-freaking-Tech, Stanford or an Ivy, UCB or UCLA, you have to be an energized type, think on a certain level. The kids with the best shot don’t turn to others to translate the basics for them. What others can do for him is suggest an alternative range of colleges
@lookingforward look I’m not applying right now, I have many months to craft a compelling story.
“I’d definitely prefer a top UC, Ivy, or pseudo-Ivy school.”
I agree with the general tone of this thread that these are not likely. Also, most of the Ivy’s are not particularly good for CS.
I think that you need to find two safeties where you would be happy to attend. Top UCs are not safeties for you. Ivy league schools are not safeties for you. Pseudo-Ivy’s such as Stanford, MIT, and Caltech are not safeties for you. Most of these are at best reaches.
UCM, UCR, CSU’s, ASU, or somewhere in Canada come to mind as possible choices. I am not sure if these are all safeties but they are closer than your list. For CS the top Canadian schools (UBC, Waterloo, Toronto, McGill) are not safeties either but most of the rest would be.
Once you have two safeties picked out, then it makes sense to start thinking about matches and reaches. Many of the UCs probably fall into this range.