As others have pointed out, you’ve got plenty of time to add to your resume. For someone intending a STEM / CS major, you do need to bolster that area. If your school doesn’t offer AP Computer Science, consider self-studying for the test. My S did that when he was in HS. Look into outside coding programs or classes you cuold take. Also, while that may be your intended major now, you could very well change your mind before applications are due or after a semester or two of college. Many do. Make sure you take both ACT and SAT. If I were you, I’d find one of the test-prep places that allow you to sit for a free practice test for each of them. Sometime before December, carve out time to take the two practice tests. See which one you liked better, which one you did better on. Then start studying for that test with an eye towards taking it in the spring of junior year. If you can get out of junior year with scores you are happy with, that’s a huge relief. Good luck & keep us posted!
Just curious as to what it is about these particular schools that you like? Is it simply name recognition and/or rankings or is it something else? Have you visited any of them? They seem like a very disparate group in terms of urban, rural, large, small, etc. Once you narrow down what you like/dislike about them, you can find similar schools that would be more of a match or safety for you. You may have a chance to get into one or two of them, but you don’t want to apply to 6 reaches. My D20’s friends have many of these schools on their lists and I worry that they may be very disappointed come decision time. Overall you are doing great but unfortunately, you will be competing against those kids who did do the robotics club for 6 hours a day as well as maybe coding for a non-profit, inventing an app or a video game, and attending multiple programming camps., as well as having multiple science AP’s. Also, maybe take a look at why you are focused on these majors. Are they really a passion of yours or do they just seem like good majors?
I would say that I don’t think Villanova is any easier to get into than the others. I know two kids this year who did not get in, one is headed to BC and the other to Georgetown.
I visited 5 of the schools: Syracuse, Lehigh, Villanova, BC, and BU… personally I loved all of them equally- I don’t really know what I specifically like yet. Syracuse is my mom’s alma mater so I grew up loving it and Cornell is just a school my dad wants me to apply to.
What’s the deal with you math progression? You took pre-algebra in 9th grade, algebra in 10th. Algebra is a 9th-grade course, and many students take it in 8th grade. In 11th you’re taking algebra 2. When will you take geometry? You need geometry for the SAT and ACT. Also, you are not going to make it to calculus unless you do some serious catching up over the summer. Cornell will be a huge reach without calculus on your transcript.
The math progression for a potential CompSci major is going to be difficult. There is no hard and fast rule that you need to have completed Calculus to apply to college, but that math progression as mentioned by the previous poster is going to be a blemish.
College CompSci depending on whether it is a Math department version or Engineering version will likely require Calculus up to Multivariable, Discrete Math, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra. And Data Structures and Algorithms is pretty math heavy as well.
Omg thanks for pointing that out! I made a huge slip up… I did algebra 1 in 9th grade, geometry in tenth grade and now im going into algebra 2 with trig… yes I will not make it to calculus by senior year- i will do pre-calc but cornell isnt a school I really want to get into anyway.
bump