Hey guys! I just wanted to know where I am, and if there are some things I can do before its too late as I am a highschool sophomore and I know that I still have time to change my trajectory. I’m interested in schools like Penn, Columbia, Vanderbilt, Duke and Cornell and I know those schools are nearly impossible to get in.
I am interested in going into STEM so either computer science or engineering
Unfortunately, I don’t have any standardized testing as I plan to take those later on this year. I hope to get a 34 on my ACT and over a 1500 on my SAT, but I know there is no guarantee on that.
GPA: 3.9
Race: African-American and I’m trilingual
Varsity Tennis
Founder Website for Women interested in STEM. Planning to expand on this and provide resources for people
Staff editor for scientific website
Marketing Intern at a law firm
Piano for 13 years
Teacher’s assistant at my church’s little kid program
Head of a diversity committee at my school, I plan assemblies and organize fundraisers
Programmer? Would I be able to put that down? I like to code a lot during my free time.
Varsity Speech and Debate, one of the team heads, and also a mentor at a local middle school
Track but I’m not sure if I’m going to do it next year
This is tentative but I might become an intern at a tech company!!
Do you think I have a chance with the path that I’m going in or should I add or change some activities. Thank you for your time!
You definitely have a chance and are on track. You seem to be doing tons of ecs and a lot match your STEM focus but maybe focus more on your STEM extracurriculars. For programming, maybe make an app, website, or any other way to demonstrate your programming knowledge. Make sure to also take SAT 2 subject tests because some of your schools require it. You also have that URM hook which is very helpful.
Just to give you other options, why not also try for GeorgiaTech or UMich. Both have great engineering and CS departments. Arguably, better departments than the schools that you listed.
@holahi thank you!! Im definitely going to work on my STEM ecs but I don’t think I’m going to take off any of my non STEM ecs, because they are activities I enjoy doing.
@collegeready33 Yeah it’s up to you as long as you show passion, enjoy your activities, and have genuine interest and not have what they call “generic” extracurriculars, you should be fine.
Wow, I’m obviously not an admissions officer (I’m a sophomore too lol) but I’m impressed! I don’t know a lot about programming, but if you could make an app/website, it would give schools an example of your work and what you’re capable of. For engineering especially, but CS too (I think?), math is really important, and engineering schools look for top scoring students on the SAT (think at least 750). Again, i know almost nothing about competitive math, but it might be another thing for you to look into on the side. I think you’re really impressive though, great job! (:
@hsstudent13 thank you! I plan to take the hardest math classes available in my school so hopefully that goes well! @bopper thank you for your kind words!
Thank you! @anthonytheboy honestly highschool is going okay I don’t really like too much but I’m surviving. Do you think a spike in STEM is evident based on my ecs?