Match or reach for me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>Top 10% of class in high school in NJ (400ish people in my class)
GPA: 3.9886 UW (4.3 for A+), 4.53 W (5.3 for A+) (pretty sure it's still considered a 4.0 and 5.0 scale, but not too sure)</p>

<p>SAT:
Superscore - 1500/2300 (700 cr/800 m/800 w)
Best sitting - 2260 (700/760/800)
PSAT: 204 (commended, notified BC and Northwestern)
ACT: 35 composite (34 writing, 36 math, 35, 35)</p>

<p>Senior year schedule:
Physics H
English 4A
AP Spanish
Gym
AP Econ
AP Environmental (hopefully AP Statistics instead)
AP Calc BC
Independent study: portfolio of newspaper stories I'm going to write</p>

<p>ECs:
- Newspaper: Feature editor (10, 11, 12), copy editor (9)
- Key club: editor (12), member (9, 10, 11)
---- 25+ volunteer hours each year from Key Club
- Spanish Honor Society: Co-president (12), member (11)
- NHS member (11, 12)
- Spring track (10, 11, 12)
- Winter track (11, 12)
- Jobs:
- Gym supervising (10, 11)
- Umpiring softball (9, 10, 11)
(each about 7 hours a week during their seasons)
- Tutoring math (started this year, hopefully continuing and more consistent next year)
- Will have jobs this year - if I get the library job, then it's 11 hours per week. If not, same seasonal jobs as before</p>

<p>So, should I count CMU as a match or a reach on my college list?</p>

2

<p>can you fly? your ecs aren’t great nor do they stand out. your other stats are impressive but so is everyone else who is applying to CMU. It also depends on which school you are applying to. Once you get to this level of college unless you are super special these schools will never be matches. maybe a comfortable reach but for like SCS your going up against kids who will most likely have the same stats but better ec so who knows</p>

3

<p>Leave it to someone named ‘dudebroman’ to provide a truly eloquent response. Jeez.</p>

<p>Yanks, which college and major are you looking to apply to? For general CMU, your stats are a fit. It doesn’t look like you’re applying to SCS. Are you?</p>

4

<p>Oops - my bad. Really thought I mentioned it… I would be applying to Humanities and Social Sciences for economics, possibly adding a double major in statistics.</p>

5

<p>You’re a perfect match for HSS Econ or Stat. Make sure your essay is totally watertight and is written on a subject you’re passionate about; it’ll also help if you can do an alumni interview or visit campus as well. (They track these visits at CMU and they’re indicated on your application). That said, that’s really all you can do to give yourself a better shot at this point, I think you’re pretty well off for HSS. :)</p>