Overall Application Strength

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello everyone. I am currently a senior and was wondering how strong my application seems overall?

Background: White male from the Midwest (IN), Mother- Associates, Father- Masters, Household Income- 200,000+
Current grade: Senior
Class Rank: 12/132, top 10% (not ranked publically anymore)
GPA: Weighted: 4.45, Unweighted: 3.9+

Classes This Year: AP English, COM101, AP Latin, AP Calc BC, H. Theology, AP Gov, AP Econ, AP Physics
(I go to a private parochial (catholic) school that doesn’t offer many AP classes but I’m trying to take as many as I can)

SAT (new): 1380
ACT: 30
AP World Exam: 4
AP Computer Science Principles: 4
AP Calc AB: 4

ECs:
-Varsity Tennis, Captain
-Varsity Swimming, Captain
-Treasurer for a Junior Board for a non-profit
-National Honors Society President: planning to start a scholarship for kids not in NHS but show NHS qualities
-Raise money for Special Olympics (via the Polar Plunge)
-Traveled Abroad with the People to People Program (did service work while over there)
-Indiana Junior Classical League (9-12); State Historian, 12
-Student of the Year in Latin 9-11
-Job while in school
-Campus Ministry Core Member
-Senior Class VP

Prospective Colleges (no particular order):
-Notre Dame
-Columbia
-Middlebury College
-Indiana University
-Purdue University
-University of Wisconsin-Madison
-Yale

Looking to major in (French with either Arabic or Russian) or Computer Science. I would appreciate any feedback on my application. Also, feel free to ask for any additional info. Excited to see your thoughts so far. Thanks in advance!

2

You should get in with a foreign language

As for computer science your GPA should be around a 1500-1600 for Columbia and Yale

3

Apply to Columbia ED and I think you may get in. They really like diversity (e.g. catholic school).

4

@hodge812 That is a thing I have to consider still. Is there a way to show that Columbia is my first choice without doing ED? The whole binding part kinda freaks me out

5

Honestly, I don’t think so. The students applying ED will always seem more interested to them.

6

With your family income, you will be full pay wherever you apply, so binding should affect your decision other than price.

Honestly, I think your test scores are too low for Columbia and Yale. They are ultra competitive. You should have multiple acceptances from the others.

7

You’re below the 25% ACT for Notre Dame, Columbia, and Yale (and right at the 25% mark for Middlebury), so I would categorize those all as reaches. You should still apply if you want, but make sure you have other options you like.

I don’t know about computer science specifically, but for general admission, Purdue and Indiana are safeties. Wisconsin is probably a match instead, since you are out of state. I would suggest adding a few more matches that suit your interests.