Hi. I’m current Senior in private High School in U.S. and I’m an international student. (Spent three years in US high school and getting US diploma)
I’m trying to get into college/university, computer science major in United States but I just don’t know where should I apply. So please look through my info below and tell me which schools am I eligible to get in or what should I do more/better to get into top or selective schools.
- High School in my home country
Chinese - B
English - A
Korean History - C
Korean Language - A
Math - A
PE - A
Science -A
World History -A
- U.S. Public High School
Citizenship - A
English 2 - A
Food/Wellness - A
Physics - A
Precalc - A
Psychology - A
Raquet Sport - A
T.A - P
- Current U.S Private High School
AP calc AB - A - 5
AP physics 1 - A - 4
AP csp - A - 3
Computer Program - A
English 3 - A
Personal Finance - A
U.S. Culture - P
Morality - A
Wellness for Life - A
- Current U.S Private High School
Web Page Design
AP physics 2
Ap Stats
Ap Eng Lit/Cmp
Religion
Debate
U.S history
U.S Gov
World Geo
Self studying AP calc BC / AP csa / AP Phys C Mech
Unweighted 3.85
Weighted 3.95
Student President / Student Council
JV Football
Volunteering Club
FBLA
Rocket Club
International Club
Student Ambassador
Quiz Bowl
(maybe Debate and NHS also)
Learned python and data science basic from edX course
Basically this is it. I know it’s lengthy but please please look through it and give me some advice.
Plus, it would be wonderful if you can tell me some extracurricular stuff related to cs major. My school does not have a coding club or computer club so if there is any online club or association I could join I would be more than happy to take your advice.
(Oh btw I’m also considering U of Waterloo or U of Toronto. They are in Canada but I hear they are pretty good schools too.)
1. What level(tier) of colleges I should consider?
2. For top tier colleges, what should I do more?
3. Is there any extracurricular I can do for CS major?
“I’m also considering U of Waterloo or U of Toronto”
Canadian schools largely admit based on stats. They do not care at all about grade 9 (your freshman year of high school). As long as you did not flunk out, they will completely disregard grade 9. You have all A’s since then.
Computer science is a very competitive major at both Waterloo and Toronto. However, I still think that you chances are very good.
Canada is also relatively accommodating to international students who graduate from Canadian universities and then want to stay on in Canada on a work visa. This is assuming that the economy recovers by the time that you graduate, but you have four years and the pandemic will have long ended by then.
There are so many colleges in the US, you need to give some more information about what you think you’d like in a college, to narrow it down. School size - big, medium, small? Location - region, urban, rural? Greek life? Sports? Etc.
Any budget constraints?
From your post, you currently attend a private HS in the US. Your school should have a dedicated college counselor and be able to guide you on list creation based on your stats, budget and track record of students from your school.
I understand the desire to try for a T20, T30 or T50 college. However, you are missing some ingredients. For example, you have three years of physics and no discernable biology or chemistry. Also, you are missing 3-4 years of a world language. And while a handful of your classes demonstrate rigor, there are a good number that don’t.
Given gaps like that in the transcript, a less-competitive flagship or a directional might be the way to go, as they will have less requirements and recommendations.
Depending on the kind of college you are looking for, you might try Iowa State or Mizzou (large universities) or see if you meet the requirements for Rose-Hulman (small college).
Self-studying APs will not impress highly selective colleges (they’d rather see you - as a CS hopeful - take Calc BC in high school instead of AP Stats), but flagships and directional colleges would be more likely to award you credit.
I agree with SJ2727 who said we need to know more about what you’re looking for.
The science I took during Freshmen can be considered as either Chem or Bio. And as I’m going into CS major, my school said it would be better to take Physics.
For language classes, I don’t need to take them cause I am already foreign and speaks Korean.
For Calc BC, my schol doesn’t have that course. All self studying AP’s are the courses that my school does not provide.
For competitive US colleges, you nearly always need foreign language studies, despite fluency in a family language. Getting into college is different than getting your own high school’s diploma.
If the student is international, which is different than growing up in the US with a heritage language, does English not count as the foreign language? I think attending a US high school may actually confuse this issue a bit.
I’m not familiar with some of the courses OP talks about. Do courses like “Citizenship” and “US culture” count as a social studies courses towards the usual 3-4 years of history/social studies being required?
English counts as a foreign language when attending a HS where the language of instruction is not English. If attending a HS where the language of instruction is English, selective colleges expect a FL sequence from all students, including internationals.
I would not self-study 3 AP’s on top of your already heavy course load. The AP scores won’t come in time for them to affect admissions anyway. Concentrate on your in-school courses.
You have 3 social science courses in your senior year. It seems like too many.
I agree with the others that your lack of foreign language courses and biology/chemistry will hurt you at the T50. Concentrate your apps on your instate public and Canadian options. Add the University of British Columbia. CS admissions at Waterloo and U of T are holistic. They’re not a safety for anyone. Waterloo has several CS-adjacent majors that get their graduates excellent jobs in the CS industry. You can apply to up to 3 programs at Waterloo. That’s not the case at U of T.
Those three social science courses are essential to graduate. Couldn’t do much about them. And as I mentioned, because English is my second language, lack of foreign language courses are not gonna hurt me.
We will have to agree to disagree on that. Regardless, there will be no covering up the fact you don’t have one year each of biology and chemistry, AND that many of your classes lack rigor AND, unless you have citizenship or permanent residency you’ll be judged in the more competitive bucket that is international applications.
Take your shot (you never did say how high you are aiming), but folks here have given you excellent suggestions on places where you would have a reasonable chance. You would do well to have a bunch of safety and match schools in your mix.
-Can your 9th grade course be clearly marked as Biology and can you take AP chem or chem honors senior year?
Can you take APUSH instead of regular US history? If not, can you take any of the other social science courses as an AP or honors course?
In any case make sure to note in "Additional information" that the three social science classes are a graduation requirement.
Can your school set aside an official period on your schedule for (online/independent study) calc BC?