Need to finalize college list HELP?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey CC!
I’m currently a junior at a very selective high school in Illinois and if you’re reading this, please do keep reading and help me figure out where I fit in!!!

Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.56
Weighted GPA: 4.6 (hopefully going to go up to around a 4.8 by end of semester)

ACT: 32 (going to go up hopefully)

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 15%

AP Classes: AP US History, AP Computer Science, AP Physics, AP Language, AP Psychology

Senior Year Course Load: Plan on taking AP Microeconomics, AP Statistics, AP Literature, AP Computer Science Principles (First year ever), Honors Neuroscience and some Honors Art/Music electives required for grad.

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Fifty for the Future, Questbridge College Prep Scholar, Chicago Scholar, some Computer Science fair awards

Extracurricular (place leadership in parentheses):

  • JV Robotics (Head Programmer, 11)
  • Varsity Robotics (Team Captain, 11 12)
  • Varsity Tennis 11 & 12
  • Club Basketball (Team Captain, 9 10 11 12)
  • Muslim Club (Officer 11)

Job/Work Experience:

  • CTO and Co-Founder of multi-million dollar cancer startup company ( 11 12)
  • Research Assistant at UChicago Conte Institute for CS (10)
  • Paid IT Consultant (9,10,11,12)
  • Founder of organization to teach kids to program in Afghanistan (9 10 11 12)

Volunteer/Community Service:

  • Service trip to Afghanistan, Pakistan (9 10)
  • YMCA Volunteer ( 9 10 11)
  • Tutoring refugees in math/CS on the weekends (9 10 11)
  • Volunteer Worker for Habitat for Humanity International (9 10 11)

Summer Activities:

  • Worked at mini golf place (Summer of 10, Summer of 11)
  • Mission trip (listed above)
  • Research Assistant at UChicago Conte Institute for CS (10)
  • Cancer AI research on my own; published a lot of code online
  • Founder of organization to teach kids to program in Afghanistan (9 10 11 12)

Additionally: I’m currently a CS Major at my school which is pretty rare as not a lot of kids take CS for 4 years. I’ve won CS science fairs for my work in machine learning.

Intended Major: Computer Science

Other
State (if domestic applicant): Illinois
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: Public High School
Ethnicity: Asian/ Middle Eastern
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: ~80,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Schools:
Pepperdine
Indiana University
Cornell University
Yale
Stanford
Harvard
UMass Amherst
University of Michigan
University of Illinois in Chicago
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
UW Madison
USC
UCLA
Marquette
Rutgers

*I know this list is long and I’m hoping I can cut some down with your help

If you guys have any other schools that you’d think I’d be a good fit for, let me know!!! I’m going to major in CS but anything can change.

2

I would remove UCLA from your list unless your parents can afford $55K/year with no financial aid for OOS applicants. Your UW GPA looks low for many of the elite schools on your list.

3

@Gumbymom duly noted. my personal list has been updated. And yes it is quite obvious to me that my UW GPA is low for some of these schools but is there a chance my EC’s could help? Also what schools would let me in with that GPA and ACT score?

4

Most important thing for you at this point is to get that test score up. Re-take the ACT or take the new SAT which is supposedly easier than the old one. The UW GPA might be a little low but if your school is truly that competitive it might be okay. However if you don’t have a good score to prove yourself, it is hard to make a case that you are truly prepared for the schools on your list. Fortunately for you, if you can tell a good enough story with your ECs, you might be in.

5

bump

6

Might wanna cut Yale Stanford and Harvard with your GPA and scores. Also you can take out some of those less selective schools.

7

@blueguy99 any matches not listed on there you’d recommend for a prospective CS major?

8

I think your ACT is good for most of these schools, but, like others said, your unweighted GPA could be better for some of these more competitive schools.

9

@junior2017 do you have any safety or other matches for me?

10

If you want to go safe i would suggest holy cross. other schools could be nyu, liberal arts colleges (maybe amherst) .

11

@junior2017 haha, yes, let’s put the #1 LAC as a safety. That sounds good.

OP, if you want some real safeties:
Ohio State
CWR
Northeastern (possibly, try to raise ACT just a little bit)

12

Maybe the mid level UCs are good matches. UCSB, UCSD, and UCD have awesome CS programs.

Georgia tech is awesome for CS and probably is a match.

UT Austin is unpredictable but that would be awesome. Not sure if it’s a reach or match though.

U Washington is amazing for it as well but I heard your not directly admitted into the program.

I know these are all big schools. If that puts you off, might want to look elsewhere besides these

13

@thisisfine2020 i didn’t meant as a safety. i meant other schools they may like.

14

@blueguy99 I wouldn’t recommend UC schools as matches for him. Again, he needs to worry about tuition, and his UW GPA is very worryingly low. As an OOS student, OP needs to be wise when applying to certain schools, especially large and competitive publics.

15

@thisisfine2020 I would not say that his UW is “worrying low”. It is all relative, but no, it’s not a 4.0, but it isn’t a terrible GPA.
I do agree with your other comments though!

16

@c011e9e

I would say it is. OOS students are held to a significantly higher standard.

OP, you should probably shorten your list. Its very large and is a bit too heavily weighted toward high reaches, especially for someone with a 32 ACT (that’s my score too). You should have maybe one or two high reaches.

17

@RoundGenius okay, fair point. I did not take into account the OOS factor.
I withdraw my previous statement :slight_smile:

18

@RoundGenius @c011e9e thanks a lot for your help guys! If I were to improve my ACT score (which is v. possible) how do I fare then? can it make up for my low UW GPA? also any other safeties or matches that you guys know of for me? I do need to balance my list out because there are many high reaches.

19

I think IU will be a good match, maybe safety for you.
Have you looked at Purdue University? I think that would be a good match for you.
Getting your test score up will obviously improve your chances, but with some of the very selective schools on your list, you still won’t be guaranteed acceptance.
Best of luck with everything!!