By the end of senior year I will have completed 9 APs.
sophomore: 4 ap world history
junior: 5 ap stat, 5 ap ush, 5 ap psychology, 4 physics
senior: planning on taking calc bc, ap macro/micro, ap compsci
My GPA is a 4.0, if you were to score out of 100, my GPA is around a 97.8
I don’t have too many extracurriculars, however. I have been in my school’s JROTC program for 4 years, and I’ve been on some of their teams. I have been in my schools key club and newscast production club. That’s about it.
I’m looking to major in computer science or computer engineering.
My top schools are:
UMichigan
Northeastern University
NYU
Macaulay Baruch College
Cooper Union
Boston College
Northwestern University
Can someone give me an opinion on what they think which schools I can possibly get into?
Or even suggest schools that I should be looking into?
I don’t know enough about Cooper Union or Macaulay Baruch to give an opinion, but I would expect you to be admitted into UMichigan, NYU, Boston and Northeastern without much difficulty. Northwestern would be a little more of a reach but I think you still have a good chance – definitely apply if you’re interested!
I’m no expert, but most of the schools you’re listing look well within reach for you! Of course, Cooper Union is a reach, but it is for everybody anyway.
I’ve got similar stats, similar location, similar major, and I’m looking at Northeastern and Cooper Union too! In addition, I’m also looking at RPI, WPI, CMU, CWRU, Clarkson, and Binghamton and U at Buffalo as safety/ more affordable schools. All of them are well known for comp sci and engineering and are well within your reach considering cold hard stats (except CMU might be a reach, even with more extracurriculars/ slightly better stats). I’m also applying to MIT as a super reach/ dream school because hey, you never know!
Good luck this year, application season is coming!
You don’t mention anything about finances. Have you run the Net Price Calculators for the schools you listed, and do the results indicate that they would be affordable?
Your stats are above average for Macaulay Baruch, but ECs are very important at MHC, especially leadership. Please also note that MHC only takes your CR+M so your SAT would be a 1490 which is excellent! I have a few friends who had good SAT scores and GPAs but weak ECs and got admitted to Baruch Dean’s Honors (full scholarship). Worst case scenario, if you apply to Baruch as your first Macaulay choice and don’t get in, you are automatically put in the pool for Baruch Honors as well. Best of luck!
Will you be in ROTC? You have excellent credentials. I would think you’d be competitive for some of the strongest engineering programs-depending upon outstanding letters, etc. If so, the very best are need blind and they match need so you may end up spending less than you would if you went to a public university. If you are certain about engineering, why not MIT, Cornell, Princeton, Stanford. Not need blind but public: Georgia Teach, Virginia Tech ( a natural if you do ROTC), UC Berkeley, etc.
Some students, seeking merit aid, apply only to schools where their credentials make them a stand out. I’m not big fan of that approach. At the top schools, the critical mass of outstanding students serves as an incubator for ideas. It creates an energized climate that I don’t think as likely in schools where the bulk of the student body lacks similar capability or levels of achievement. It may be easier to establish yourself as the top student but it is less likely that you tap into your true potential because it will be unnecessary to “do well”.
I’ve heard some concerns from students seeking a “typical” college experience who attended the CUNY schools- even MaCaulay.