Please Chance Me for MIT, CMU, Berkeley, Georgia Tech, University of Michigan, and others!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

TL;DR: (Full-pay) International student applying for Computer Science with International Science Olympiad medals but uncertain about how holistic admission works :frowning:

Stats
SAT I: 1600
SAT II: 800 for Math II and Physics
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Weighted GPA: School doesnā€™t calculate, but I have a 44/45 predicted score for the IB Diploma
IB: HL Mathematics, HL Further Mathematics, HL Physics, HL Computer Science, etcā€¦

Major Awards
Silver Medal at the International Physics Olympiad
Silver Medal at the Asian Physics Olympiad
Gold Medal at the International Olympiad of Metropolises in Physics

Common Awards
Gold Medal at national Informatics Olympiad (top 10)
Training team to represent nation at International Olympiad in Informatics this summer
First place in South East Asian Math Competition (less prestigious though)
Third place in World Scholarā€™s Cup Global Round Senior Division (a kind of debate / writing competition similar to the Academic Decathlon)
Some school level stuff

Extracurriculars
Physics and Informatics training programs (~10 hours a week each for two years)
School App Development - Lead developer of a mobile app for my schoolā€™s students, used by ~65% of student body
Research Internship - Worked with professor over the summer doing research in CS, unlikely to be published though
Leader of Math + Debate clubs / teams - Coach younger students in those subjects, lead teams to local and overseas competitions
Robotics Projects - Worked both individually and in teams to build robots to accomplish various tasks (e.g. solve a Rubikā€™s cube in under 2 seconds, play Flappy Bird indefinitely, stuff like that). Iā€™m submitting a portfolio summarizing my favorite projects to MIT and CMU, and linking to it in the Common App additional information.
Miscellaneous volunteer work

Recommendations and Essays
My teachers are fairly experienced at writing recommendation letters for US applicants, and Iā€™m fairly certain mine are strong. Iā€™ve also gotten a recommendation letter from the coach of the Physics Olympiad team. I know Iā€™ve been rated as ā€œOne of the top few Iā€™ve encounteredā€ 11 times and as ā€œOutstandingā€ for the other four times, but I donā€™t know how good this is.

Iā€™ve got feedback from a private consultant when writing my essays (so they arenā€™t terrible!) but the language / writing / voice / whatever is all entirely my own.

Where Iā€™ve applied
Iā€™ve gotten conflicting advice from my school, so Iā€™m not going to classify these into reach / match / safety:

  • MIT
  • CMU (School of Computer Science)
  • UC Berkeley (EECS)
  • All other UCs for CS or CSE
  • Cornell (Engineering)
  • Georgia Tech
  • University of Michigan-Ann Arbour
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison

Questions
I know college admissions are random, but do you think Iā€™ve got a shot at any of the above schools? I thought I was set for Georgia Tech and maybe UCLA, but based on the stats of people Iā€™ve seen get rejected Iā€™m not so sure anymore :stuck_out_tongue:

In particular, Iā€™d appreciate it if you all could give me some idea of the probability of me getting into one of MIT, Berkeley, CMU, or Cornell, as Iā€™d be ecstatic if admitted there. Also, do you think my lack of significant community service (starting a charity or similar) would be a major drawback to my application? I ask because Iā€™m aiming to run a major hackathon-esque event later this year, and might take a gap year and reapply if you feel that including it would boost my chances.

2

You will be admitted (at least) to one of your top three.

3

Thanks a lot for your input! To be honest, Iā€™m quite surprised by your assessment, especially given how selective those three schools are. Iā€™d love to know which parts of my application you felt contributed the most (i.e. are my Olympiad medals the deciding factor, or do my other extracurriculars help as well?).

Out of interest, would you happen to know how my status as an international applicant (albeit one not needing aid) would affect my chances?

4

@uclaparent9 Just realized that I should probably have referenced your username in my reply. Sorry about that!

5

It is definitely tougher to be admitted as an international, but with your perfect stats as well as your Olympiad medals (that alone gives you an edge over many) you are well qualified.

6

How did you take so many IB Math subjects ? Is it possible to take more than one math course?

7

@Brian1025 Yes, IB offers the Further Mathematics course that can be taken in parallel to HL Mathematics.

8

You are an extremely competitive applicant. Despite admissions being harder for international applicants, I could see you getting into all of these school, or at least many of them if your essays are good

9

MIT, CMU, UCB EECS, UCLA CS(E), UCSD CSE, Cornell should all be considered reaches. Note: UCSD may admit to the school but not the major; getting into the CSE major after enrolling undeclared is extremely difficult.

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1903428-faq-uc-historical-frosh-admit-rates-by-hs-gpa.html may help you with other UCs, but CS is typically more competitive than the campus overall.

This assumes that you do not need financial aid. If so, most or all become super-reach for scholarships necessary to make them affordable, since financial aid tends not to be available for international students.