<p>So, senior year is finally here. I've decided to look at a computer science major, and Stanford would be an amazing school to go to (considering Silicon Valley is right there). However, I don't really know if I should apply or not, considering my GPA might make it extremely unlikely that I will get in. What are your thoughts? What can I do to improve my chances? Are there any other schools that I should be looking at? </p>
<p>Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Indian
Graduating Year: 2010
High School: Very Competitive</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA: ~3.6
Weighted GPA: ~3.9
Course Load: So far, 9 honors courses and 5 AP courses. Planning to take 5 AP courses and 2 honors courses next year.</p>
<p>PSAT CR: 72
PSAT Math: 71
PSAT Writing: 73
(99%ile, possible National Merit in my state)</p>
<p>SAT CR: 770
SAT Writing: 780
SAT Math: 800
^should I retake? This was my first try and I didn't study</p>
<p>ACT Comp: 33</p>
<p>APs:
European History: 4
Environmental Science: 5
American History: 4
Biology: 4</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
- #1 rated girl in the state at chess
- In top 50 girls in the country in chess
- 2nd at All Girls Nationals in chess
- Girl Scout Gold Award -- started camp to teach kids how to play chess
- Chess Team at school (4 years, All League First Team, #1 team in the league for the last four years, I'll be captain senior year)
- Academic Quiz Team (3 years, #1 team in our league for the last three years)
- Science Olympiad (2 years - 1st in a couple events at regionals, my team was first in regionals)
- Volunteering at hospital (last 3 years)
- National Honor Society
- Part of a team of about 10 kids in a P&G Mentorship Program that raises awareness of IT
- Internship at GE Aviation [working in IT] for the summer (first time it was allowed in the history of GE Aviation)</p>
<p>Thank you very much, I appreciate any and all help!!</p>
<p>GPA is important, but not the most important factor to Stanford. You have obviously solid out of school involvement, and once you show you’re quite academically capable, I think factors like what you might contribute to Stanford’s community will take over largely, and maybe that might be something chess-related. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, nobody can in general predict whether you will get admission, just because it’s unpredictable – they want a class full of diverse talents, racial backgrounds, and personal qualities, as you can tell from their application. So while you’ll have something unique to put forth in the application, ultimately it depends if they decide to go for it, and no one thing will give you guarantees. I definitely could see you getting accepted, though.</p>
<p>For computer science, consider all the top schools – Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, CMU, and obviously there are other great ones, but these are some of the most elite. Obviously Berkeley is relatively close to Stanford, so you might want to aim for that side by side. I can say a little about it since that is my home school. Berkeley is a public school, so it will basically factor in all the pluses and minuses of an application into some calculation method, in which grades and test scores will be weighted pretty high. Along with that, ECs and essays are asked for. You would be applying directly to EECS (in which you would specialize in CS), and probably your essays would partially directly relate to what you feel prepared you for your major, or your goals within it, or something like that. I can tell you that you’d very much enjoy the CS opportunities at my home school; some of the gods of theory exist there for one thing. Certainly though, all the top schools I mentioned will pretty much be equally good options, so pick whichever you like, once you have admission of course.</p>
<p>Mathboy; why do you continue to post on the Stanford threads and try to talk young people into applying to your school, UC Berkeley? You pretend to be giving advice when your ulterior motive is to attempt to make Berkeley look good. If Berkeley is as good as you keep claiming it to be, students can find the school on their own. </p>
<p>Just from what I read in a few Stanford threads, Mathboy recently has more posts here than any Stanford student or Stanford alumni. By his own words he has never attended Stanford, yet presents himself as an expert about giving advice on Stanford admissions.</p>
<p>Azia Kim syndrome at work here. (google Azia Kim if you are not familiar with her story). </p>
<p>I would just caution prospective students to use their Theory of Knowledge teachings in regard to taking any advice in general from CC. You simply have no way of knowing about the poster’s advice as to their motives or their knowledge of your target schools. Some of the advice comes from very knowledgeable people and some advice comes from those who probably know less than you do.</p>
<p>Cardfan, she is specifically interested in computer science, if you read the title of the thread; she also asked for recommendations on which other schools she should be considering. It would be foolish to completely disregard CMU, MIT, or Berkeley when considering Stanford for the CS major, as they are all some of the best. Also look into Caltech, a good engineering school, though I don’t know about its CS department in particular. If you must know, I tend to post on threads of schools which are good at the fields I know and care most about.</p>
<p>Mathboy’s posts are intelligent and helpful. I don’t see a problem posting on Stanford’s boards if he is at UC Berkeley. I occasionally post on other schools I was accepted and rejected at because I know a fair share about them and their admissions processes, especially in the field I’m in, despite not being a student. </p>
<p>And there is nothing wrong with praising your own school. As long as you give credit to other schools where that is due, which mathboy does (and did here, by saying they are all great). And nothing wrong with getting your school on someone else’s radar when it probably deserves to be there, imo. </p>
<p>OP, you might want to consider UIUC as well. You’d probably get in, and you’ll get a top CS education, at a fairly low cost.</p>
<p>And, to be honest, cardfan, you made a somewhat presumptuous statement about how mathboy views Stanford by bringing up azai kim. You make it seem like he is a bitter rejectee that has absolutely nothing going for him and wants to impersonate being a Stanford student by posting on Stanford’s CC board. Cause, as we all know here, UCB sucks a<strong>, especially for engineering. I mean who the f</strong>* would want to go there? You’re really putting Stanford on such a high pedastal, for what motive I don’t know (actually, I looked at some of your other posts. it seems that your ulterior motive is your son attends stanford. so, you warn against taking advice from people with potential ulterior motives, so why should anyone take advice from you?).</p>
<p>Senior0991; I am going to respond to your last paragraph because every statement in it is incorrect. </p>
<p>I didn’t claim Mathboy is trying to impersonate being a Stanford student. I clearly said he admits he never went to Stanford. </p>
<p>I actually think UC Berkeley has an excellent engineering school.</p>
<p>You ask mockingly who would want to go to Berkeley for engineering. The answer to that would be my son who plans on applying to Berkeley engineering grad school.</p>
<p>You say I am putting Stanford on a high pedestal. I do think Stanford is a good school. It is one of many good schools in the United States. Don’t you think so?</p>
<p>Based on your last paragraph, Senior0991, my advice (to prospective students about being cautious in evaluating advice given on CC) would definitely apply to you.</p>
<p>^Every statement in it is not incorrect. Your son does go to Stanford, first of all. By bringing up azai kim, what was your point if not to imply a reason for mathboy’s posting motives, or at least be rude to him? And I do think Stanford is a good school, as well. I’m glad I’ll be going there. But, you put it on a high pedestal (pedestal implies relativity) by implying that someone who recommends UCB in the same sentence as Stanford for engineering has some ulterior motive. </p>
<p>And, wow, your last statement! First, you didn’t really make it clear. Are you saying I should follow advice when evaluating posts? Because I did, and that is where I found out one of your motives. Or are you saying that people should not listen to me? If so, ouch! By your judgement, I’m not really fit to post on CC. Why? Am I not intelligent enough? Do I not know enough about schools I got accepted at and did some serious research into because I considered attending (the three I mentioned in this thread, among others)? What motives do I have? Honestly! From what I’ve posted here, my motive is clearly to defend someone that you, in my opinion, unfairly criticized. And now my motive is to defend myself.</p>
<p>Cardfan, try reading between the lines a little – Senior might not have meant all his statements to be perfect factual truth, rather may be sending a (very necessary) message that your first post on this thread was irrelevant to the topic and quite presumptuous. There were obvious lines in your post that were guessing at what my motives are for posting, and a lot of those were nonsensical. If you already acknowledge Berkeley has a good program, then as a parent especially, you probably should be happy I suggested it to a young applicant who was asking about what programs to consider.</p>
<p>ignoring the off topic flaming…
OP: as a fellow chess player, I must regretfully say that chess does not really help you all that much. I know someone who was rated 2250 with stellar tests, grades, other ecs, etc. who was rejected from all the top schools! Furthermore, I considered chess one of my strengths, yet when I talked to my admissions officer later, he never once mentioned it! (I was state champion 4x, rated in top 20 in nation at one point; USCF 2000+ ). So sorry to say, your chances do not look too good. Your internship might distinguish you, but you’re going to have to work really hard at it. Good luck</p>
<p>Mathboy: Thanks for your condescending advice. I am sure I will follow it. And thanks for telling me what I should be happy for as a parent.</p>
<p>In regard to your scolding about a post being “irrelevant to the topic”, I suggest you reread your last post and tell me the relevancy to the topic.</p>
<p>no worries about the GPA, OP! I had about the same, and i was even 15th in my class- and now i’m stressing about whether i want to take CS106B or CS106X.
you have excellent test scores. don’t retake your SAT’s, they’re nearly perfect already, and the difference between a 770 and a 790 is just about nonexistent in the eyes of an adcom. Use the extra time and effort to pursue something that interests you in IT or computer science, because the most important thing is to show your passions. I would have to agree with ‘omgitsover9000’ in that chess won’t help you much, simply because its such a common activity among extremely intelligent high school students. It would look better if it was in addition to a strong background of independent CS study and projects. I highly encourage you to apply though. Good luck :D</p>
<p>and yes, mathboy98, you’re basically a ■■■■■ on the Stanford forum. I think the admins should ban you from posting here- i haven’t seen a single thread you’ve posted on where you haven’t endorsed UC Berkley in some way, shape or form. I mean we can always just ignore you, but banning you would be a whole lot easier.</p>
<p>Plus, you’re forgetting one small thing: CAL SUCKS. haha :P</p>
<p>Whateverr: sorry for the distraction. First time it happened to me here. I think you are plenty smart enough to filter out the noise on CC and focus on the signal.</p>
<p>Finally, I can get to some thoughts I have about your resume. My son was also good at chess in high school. He didn’t play on his high school team because it wasn’t competitive enough. I talked to someone (one on one) from Stanford admissions a number of times when my son was a freshman at Stanford. I got the indication that they see many good chess players in their applicant pool and it is not an important factor. So that would mesh with omgit’s sentiments. However, this was only the opinion of one person. You never know what is going to appeal to the admissions officer that reads your essays. </p>
<p>Your SAT’s are incredible. No need to take them again. It may actually work against you to take them another time with those scores. Stanford requires applicants to self-report all SAT I scores, but an applicant may pick and choose the SAT subject scores to submit.</p>
<p>Some of your ECs are very good. Your internship at GE Aviation working in IT is very impressive. I would suggest finding a way to work that into a portion of one of your essays.</p>
<p>Just as a sidelight since you mention Silicon Valley, my son minors in Computer Science. He gets an email almost every other week asking him to work part time for young companies that were either started by or run by former Stanford students. There is a real networking of IT/programming people from Stanford that provide many opportunities in the Silicon Valley. I am sure it happens elsewhere as well.</p>
<p>Uhm, as Cardfan says, this stuff is getting off topic, and even my last post or two were, but I made those and make this one to emphasize one thing: every advice I have given the OP here has been earnest and sound, and only someone who doesn’t have a clue would say otherwise. Posters like you who misrepresent other posters’ views like you do mine should be banned or ignored. </p>
<p>Also – the best advice I can give to students applying to schools is to be themselves and actually market what they are properly in the application, and let the schools pick and choose. If chess isn’t going to help at all, well I’d just give it the best shot possible. If there’s anything I know about the application process, it’s that doing something against what you enjoy to please a school seldom works. Though, doing independent CS work can be good of course, and should be enjoyable to you if you’re considering the CS major.</p>
<p>Also OP, another advice is that when it comes to asking questions about technical majors like CS, the MIT forum might be the best place to go, and it might also encourage you to consider this wonderful school. My guess is you’ll get great advice, while perhaps avoiding the childish flaming posters who seem to creep up here at the mention of schools other than their own.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for all your input everyone! I have a couple questions:</p>
<p>omgitsover9000, I realize that chess might not have as much weight, because a lot of smart kids do it, but if you look at how many girls there are playing chess, the number isn’t very high at all. Often at many tournaments I go to, I’m the only girl playing. That’s why I was under the impression that this EC would be unique, but please correct me if I am wrong. </p>
<p>Thank you for your suggestions regarding colleges, senior and mathboy. I think most of the ones you mentioned are on my list:
Duke
Stanford
MIT
U Illinois
Ohio State
Berkeley
Purdue (?)</p>
<p>I am considering adding Cornell and Princeton to the list as well, but I feel like 1: I don’t have much of a chance at these schools and 2: I don’t want to end up with too many colleges on my list. </p>
<p>ngolsh, what sort of independent study/project in CS do you mean? What kind of projects would it be suitable to mention to a college? Also, my class rank is not nearly as good as yours – I’m only in the top 20% of my class :[ However, my school does not give out class rank unless requested by the colleges. Do colleges request class rank from all schools for all students?</p>
<p>Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate it!</p>
<p>I think Rice had good CS, too, if I recall. They also offer some merit scholarships and research awards without needing a seperate app or anything. </p>
<p>Also possibly UMich? I’m not sure about CS specifically, but it is a great overall school and has great overall engineering. The thing to ask yourself, though, is if you’d attend if you also got into the cheaper (but not by that much) U of I.</p>
<p>And I’m not sure about Cornell vs. Duke admissions. Cornell CoE is tough to get into, despite the high acceptance rate (self selecting applicant pool). I didn’t get in there, but I got into Stanford and UCB. Not sure about Duke, but based on other kids in my class, Duke engineering (or the school in general) was easier to get into than Cornell CoE. No one got accepted into the latter. So yeah…</p>
