I agree with everyone else here… great job on getting admitted to CMU! Go to the office hours… even if you aren’t yet behind. Yes, there probably will be a few jerks who give you a difficult time for being a black woman in CS. Hopefully the good people will far outnumber them. Also you have probably already run into this (and this is a total stereotype but I’ll say it anyway) but just in case you haven’t - even the nice men in your classes might sound like they know a lot more than you think you know, just because guys in general learn to present themselves as confident or overconfident even when they are wrong. So you might be sitting there waiting to answer a question until you are 100% sure you know the answer, while the guy next to you will raise his hand and answer confidently even if he is only 60% sure. (Yes, not all guys. Enough of them that it can be a little intimidating at first until you realize that they aren’t always right).
My apologies that I haven’t read all the responses, but @deadgirl, you are absolutely 100% qualified to be at CMU. You would not admitted there there if you weren’t. Your tests scores indicate that your education has not been, as you put it, “from a really bad high school” Perhaps you feel that way because it is easy for you to get As.
I can’t speak to the race issue, other than to tell you that when the doubts pop up, push them away. They are false. We women often struggle with valuing ourselves. It’s something we all need to learn to address.
Congratulations on your achievements thus far. You clearly have a strong work ethic and a vision of where you want to go. Combined with your intellect, those qualities will propel you to success - as long as you are able to know and appreciate your own value. When you get to CMU, see if there is any kind of counseling/therapy service available for students. Some time with a good therapist might help you re-frame things and learn to push away those doubts when they arise.
A couple of observations from our 2 current college students at a diverse selective university with a significant population from elite private high schools.
Yes, private educations prepared students for freshman and some of sophomore year when the grading curve is a big factor. But, their high school teachers may have spoon fed information so they did not necessarily need to develop good study skills. You already have those. My public school children thrived when problems became more theoretical and information new for the whole class.
If you are receiving financial aid and successfully manage a stipend and/or work study for books and personal expenses, you will reduce your stress. Roommates have had 0 financial literacy with disastrous results.
In a very diverse environment, our children do not differentiate race, religion, ethnic background. They do not participate in expensive activities with very wealthy students, but that does not affect their study and lab groups.
Intro CS classes often start with a language that no one has yet learned (OCaml is an example) to effectively teach programming examples. Since it is difficult to unteach bad habits, often students without experience thrive.
I suggest you print out @MWolf 's reply and take it to college with you so you can read it over when any moments of self-doubt creep up. (And they will.) Don’t beat yourself up for self-doubt, but when it emerges, try to take a step back from yourself and say, “Humm, I’m really doubting myself at this moment. Maybe that’s Imposter Syndrome rearing it’s ugly head. Better check myself on that.”
Also, find allies who will support you, and be open to taking their help. But also realize what you have to give. You might be surprised that the privileged roommate who seems to know everything about algorithms can’t handle their writing course. Or maybe they don’t have the life skills you have and freak out at the slightest sign of adversity. Reach out and be supportive. Don’t let your fear build walls between you and others. Realize that you bring strengths and that you have the work ethic to correct any weaknesses you might actually have (which you are possibly overstating anyway).
I wish you the best!
^Schools like CMU SCS are different. The key is not to fall behind, so having a head start helps. If you fell behind, it’d be not only hard for you to catch up, but you’d be more likely to fall further behind. There’s only finite amount of time in a day and you don’t have more spare time than your peers.
I don’t have much to add here that has not already been said, but I’d like to stress one though about office hours that was mentioned by OP. You SHOULD attend office hours as way to further your knowledge and get to know profs and TAs. You should make a point to attend from day one.
I have a kid who got into a top tech-focused college with light tech prep. She went to a liberal arts focused HS with no science APs, highest level of math was AP Calc AB. Compared to her peers in the first year, she WAS miles behind.
She worked crazy hard her first year. She skipped all but one EC that year, and her social life seemed to be mostly getting together with others to work on problem sets. But… she persisted. 
She took advantage of every resource - tutoring, study sessions, writing center, older/more experienced student help, prof office hours.
By second year, she felt more caught up. And she was SUPER proud of herself to graduate in 4 years and get into grad school. You can do this. You might work harder than your friends, but you really can!
Claim your spot! You definitely earned it and you know how to work hard. Do all the work-smart things you can to prepare and keep up with your school work. Remember to tell yourself everyday that you have as much right to be there as anyone else and you are going to make it. Doubt is a liar. Make sure your positive, useful self-talk is louder. Congrats and be to you!
You are fine. You have all the tools to be successful. Give it a go and be confident you belong there. Maybe CS isn’t the choice for you, but I absolutely believe you can do it with that background and scores. Congratulations!
As a professor for the past two decades, I’d like to share a couple of thoughts.
First, college and university admissions teams admit students they are confident will succeed at their institutions. Your admission was not an oversight or a mistake or some kind of charity. Their job is to choose the best possible institutional matches from among thousands of eager, intelligent, hardworking candidates. They knew what they were doing when they selected you.
Second, the institutions actively support all students throughout their education. They create opportunities for success. Tutoring centers, formalized peer support programs, professor and TA office hours, and more, are all in place to help students succeed. It is absolutely expected that students will struggle in one or more courses, and that’s fine. Take advantage of all the resources that are in place at CMU. They are a great part of the learning experience.
Third, don’t be shy to approach your professors or TAs outside of class. Nearly every student has areas of strength AND areas of weakness, so even (and sometimes especially) the “top” students come in to ask for help at one point or another. We faculty expect this, and we view it as a good thing. It’s the students who don’t doubt themselves, who don’t push themselves beyond their comfort zone, that I see as a bigger worry, because they are looking the other way when things get tough. Reading your post, I KNOW you are going to succeed. After 20+ years of teaching thousands, I can tell you that I’m not worried about you. Your instincts (and follow through) to seek out challenges and to push yourself through them are the first clue. The skill with which you communicate your ideas is another. I have no doubt that you can and will turn your current feelings of concern and insecurity into hard work and success. Will CMU be challenging for you? Yes, probably, and that’s okay. Will it defeat you? Nope, not a chance. Not you.
Lastly, I want to directly address your concern as stated in the title of your post. Colleges and universities, for their own sake, actively want students to pass courses and graduate in a timely manner. They are also generally filled with good people who care. Whether faculty, staff, or administration, the entire reason most of us went into higher education is be a small part of lifting up the generations that follow us. As such, we track course completion and graduation of students, including demographically, to better understand how well we are succeeding at this task. There is no college on the planet that admits unqualified students of color only to watch them fail. I guarantee you were not “only admitted because” you’re black — not even close. You were chosen for your intellectual prowess (1500+ SAT coming out of a substandard high school??? Amazing.) And you were chosen for your work ethic. For your writing skill and ability to express yourself. For deliberately seeking out ways to challenge yourself. I could go on and on. But the bottom line is that you were carefully and purposely selected by a very experienced admissions committee, whose eyes were wide open and who had lots of other options, because YOU are an institutional match.
@MusakParent makes a good point. You may find CS isn’t what you love, and that would be OK too. Each one of us has a special blend of skills, talents and experiences that make us unique allow us to offer something of value to the world. For some, cultivating those talents and finding their passion is a life-long process, but college is a great place to get started.
Here’s a bit of practical advice (which I gave my son and which I wish someone had given me)
Don’t try to skip ahead even if it’s offered. College equivalent courses to high school AP courses will be more difficult and more compact. A lot of the material may be review but by looking at it again you will see things about the subject that you missed before. Also, the teachers of the material in college will almost certainly have greater depth of knowledge in the field. Taking these courses again will give you reassurance that your foundational knowledge is strong when you move into upper level courses.
1000 likes for what @CardinalBobcat said!!
I appreciate your realistic evaluation of your own achievement thus far, and the rigor (or possible lack thereof) of your high school curriculum. And yes, being an AA applicant DID boost your application. You might not have been admitted, had you not been AA. You are right to be concerned.
Over thirty years ago, I knew a young man, AA, who had been admitted from a low-level college to arguably the best med school in the country. The school supported him in every possible way, but when he just couldn’t learn the material, he finally had to drop out, with lots of debt. It was really sad - he would have made a good doctor, I think, but should have gone to a least competitive med school, with a significant AA student population, where I think he could have made it through.
All that being said, YOU ARE WRONG TO DOUBT YOURSELF!!! Even though you didn’t get 1600 SATs, 1510 is nothing to scoff at. And a bunch of 4s on the APs is also nothing to scoff at. Most importantly, you work very hard for what you get. This is a GOOD thing - you will be a hard and steady worker through college, and you will get through. A friend of mine with four kids, said of her least bright, but hardest working kid, “Give me a hundred like that one, as opposed to my lazy brilliant ones.” And it’s true- that one is at an Ivy, doing extremely well, even though they’re the least bright of the kids.
Prepare yourself by reaching out even before you get there to every student academic support/tutoring organization there is on campus. Also reach out to AA student support groups - you won’t be the only one arriving who might not be the best prepared, and you will all help each other.
You CAN do it, and what’s more, given your previous track record of achievement, you WILL do it!!!
There are TWO historically AA sororities at CMU - Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Delta Sigma Theta. It might be a good idea to reach out now, before the end of their semester, to both of them. I think that they could provide you with a great deal of support, both social and academic, when you arrive on campus.
1500+ SAT and 4s on AP tests are nothing to be ashamed of. You did something right that attracted an AO. So don’t worry about ‘not belonging’ and do your best.
CS is a grind for even the most intelligent student and CMU is going to be an eye opener for them as well. Sometimes hard work trumps smarts and you seem to be a student who is willing to put in the work. Good luck!
You did well in *college/I while in high school. Doing well in college is a strong predictor of how well you will do in college in the future.
Regarding CS, do NOT allow yourself to be intimidated by “coder boys” who’ve been living and breathing CS for many years. They WILL show off, make one-upping comments, hog discussion time, and sound like know it alls. Trust me - they don’t know it all. They likely have some bad habits, and some big gaps in their knowledge. Some of them will be too arrogant to pay careful attention to assignment details or prof instructions, too.
Don’t let them get you down. You can start with good habits and learning what your profs want you to know. In some ways, you’ll have an edge in the long run.
OP, in your first post you mentioned sitting in on an Algorithms class. That is a sophomore level class and you aren’t expected to know that quite yet. Don’t think you’re underprepared.
Perhaps get some programming books to get a head start. Or take a Discrete Math or Linear Algebra class at your local community college to get some early exposure.
I have heard that a lot of CompSci majors have had little actual programming experience before starting college. Don’t feel disadvantaged or feel that you have a case of imposter’s syndrome… Everybody has given you support and advice on how to succeed.
I don’t know if you are familiar with the Art of War, but some of your posts indicate that you know a lot about yourself. So look at the following and take it to heart:
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”