Reach, Match, or Safety?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi im applying to these schools for computer science and I wanted to get an idea where I stand in terms of admissions:</p>

<p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Michigan
University of California, Berkley
Stanford University
University of Washington
Harvard University
University of California Los Angeles
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Chicago</p>

<p>Here is my information:</p>

<ol>
<li>I'm studying in the British Education System. So we don't have AP's, GPA or any of those options other than our A level and GCSE certifications.</li>
<li>Im currently at the beginning of the 11th grade(year 12 in British system) I finish school by July 2015</li>
<li>Im Indian and a Zoroastrian, one of the world's oldest and smallest communities in terms of members</li>
<li>I live on a very small island country in the Middle East.</li>
<li>My father's highest degree of education was a bachelors and my mother never completed college.</li>
</ol>

<p>Academics
-I received 7a's and 4b's at GCSE level, with Maths being a grade A, ICT being an AA<em>A</em>
-I got 1410 on my first try at my practice SAT's without ever having done anything like them before and I'm still practicing and my score is now 2240
-I was placed in all the higher sets for my Math, Science and English classes
-I have been self teaching myself computer programming through code academy, learning programs like JavaScript.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
-I started my own graphics class at school, teaching younger students graphic design, web design and many other things that are needed for them to excel at their GCSE exam
-Im part of my school's marathon team, running 3km, 5km and 10km at national level
-I have taken part in MUN many times and built the website for my own school's MUN
-Im an accomplished martial artist with more than 6 years of training
-I achieved grade 4 in classical guitar, with constant distinction grade(highest attainable result)
- I have an interest in poetry and even have a blog where that poetry is posted.
- I am a talented artist both in painting and sketch( I took Art at GCSE level and received an A)
-I have a passion for graphic designing which i do as a hobby
-I worked at a graphics firm for 1 week for work experience and was then asked to continue working for another month so that i could finish off a concept and design for an advert(That was used)
-I have successfully completed my Duke of Edinburgh Award at Bronze and Silver level, and am currently working towards achieving Gold(To achieve the award a student must do a certain amount of community service, a sport and a skill, as well as an expedition. The higher the level the more time needed for completion. For my expedition I went with my school for a 3 day mountain trek in Oman.)
-I was part of my school choir and sing at both tenor and bass level
-For community service, i work at my school library, for the last 3 years.
-I am part of the Sports Leadership Program
-I was the Head member of my school Media Council, in charge of running my own club, finalizing designs for newsletters and yearbooks and so forth.
-I was a member of the Economics/Business Blog group, where we write articles about happening news, tragedy's and economic issues in the world.
-I am the only international member of an environment protection organisation, that was started up by a friend in India, and has expanded across many states there. I have helped expand the organisation internationally by bringing it to Bahrain, and i hope to have it expand across the Middle East.
-By july i will have gone to Nepal, where i will teach children in an orphanage how to use a computer for the very first time in their lives
-I have been nominated to run as Headboy for my school (the American equivalent would be a combination of both valedictorian and head of student council I suppose)</p>

<p>I don't have any recommendations written as this is something that teachers and counselors only start writing in our last year.</p>

<p>Thank you very much.</p>

2

<p>I do not know much about international student admissions, they are unique for each school. And this is not just directed at you, but rather everyone else.
Your practice scores are actually irrelevant, because some people are excellent at test-taking they will perform better during the real thing, vice versa, most succumb to pressure and therefore, often perform significantly worse than they do on practice tests. Your 2240 practice score is bounded by at least a hundred some point, you might get a near perfect score, or something around 2100.
Setting that issue aside, your Extracurriculars look solid,
I will note for a second that most of the schools you want to apply to are extremely competitive, and no one can truly ever chance you for how likely you will get in.</p>

3

<p>I agree with @antismathmatter that you have too many reach schools on your list. You need to remove at least 3 and find some match/safeties. You do not want to be one of those students that is waitlisted or rejected from all your colleges. Good Luck and get a great score on the SAT.</p>

4

<p>Admission standards for US schools are tougher for international students. You need to have better grades, scores and ECs than applicants in the US. It sounds like your GCSE level GPA is about 3.6, which I think might make MIT, CMU, UCB, Stanford, Harvard, UW, UChicago reaches. That GPA would make those schools high-match to reach for a US applicant. As an international student, it is even harder. I think your ECs are great, but your academic-side might not be competitive enough.</p>

5

<p>But GPA is not the only indicator that will decide my admission. Anyways i plan on doing really well this year so that i can push my gpa up to at least 3.8 or 3.9</p>

6

<p>can someone please give me their opinion on the matter? which schools would be a match,safety, or reach in terms of my academics.</p>

7

<p>Is your safety at home?</p>

8

<p>your ECs look good, but int pool is much tougher so mid reach</p>

9

<p>can someone please state whether they are reach, match or safety by each university on my list?</p>

10

<p>U of M, U of I, U of W - match
UCLA/UCB - High reach
The rest - very high reach</p>

11

<p>@wannabefeynman‌ you’re the first person whose placed those universities as “high” or “very high” reaches. Please explain to me the reasons to your choice?</p>

12

<p>What I wrote was a little bit misleading. What I really meant was:
U of M, U of I, U of W - match/safety
UCLA, UCB, Cornell - low reach/reach
The rest - high reach</p>

13

<p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology–Big Reach
Carnegie Mellon University–Reach
University of Michigan–Match
University of California, Berkley–Reach
Stanford University–Big Reach
University of Washington–Match
Harvard University–Big Reach
University of California Los Angeles–Reach
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign–Match
University of Chicago–Big Reach</p>

<p>Reasoning:
For the big reaches, those schools are a reach for pretty much anyone. These schools are some of the most selective in the world, and they see applications from a boatload of qualified applicants, and your application has nothing that really makes you stand out against all of the other applicants. The fact that you’re an international applicant doesn’t necessarily change much in my opinion, but I don’t know maybe it could help.
For the reaches, those schools are also excellent, but they are just a tiny bit less selective. Their acceptance rate is greater and they often take more students every year in general. However, again, there is nothing in your qualifications that really makes you stand out, and that’s really what matters on college applications. Your GPA is lower than the average at these schools, and as someone mentioned above, practice SAT scores don’t mean anything.
For the matches, your stats fit the bill for these colleges. Again, you wouldn’t be a standout in their pool of prospects, but you have a solid shot of getting in.
I’m not saying that for the reaches or big reaches that they are out of reach, but that would be my assessment. Good luck with your application process!</p>

14

<p>@fitz1234‌
I completely agree.</p>

<p>By the way, UCLA may be a low reach for the original poster. Regardless, he/she has good chances to all the schools he/she applied to. </p>

15

<p>@wannabefeynman,
No one can put UMich as safety. It is a high match at best and likely a low reach for CoE with GPA below 3.9 which is their admission average.</p>

16

<p>@billcsho‌
I did not really want to differentiate them, so I just labelled them “match/safety.”</p>

17

<p>^ There are big differences though. Actually, calling it match/reach is more appropriate than match/safety.</p>

18

<p>i would have said that i have a decent chance at ucla or uc berkeley and a very good chance U michigan, urbana champaign or university of washington. The others are yes reaches, but they would be reaches for any applicant in this field.</p>

19

<p>For computer science at UMich, you may apply to either LSA or CoE. The former would be easier and is a match for you. If you want to apply to CoE, then it will be a high match to low reach depending on your GPA. UMich is very sensitive to GPA. UIUC engineering is comparable to UMich CoE in admission with the same mid 50 ACT (31-34) and average admission GPA. However, there are 2 other computer science programs in LAS (with Math or Stat). Nevertheless, they are also a kind of competitive. UCLA admits more international students and may be a tad easier than the above two Engineering schools but not far off. UCB would be more a bit more competitive.
It is hard to chance international students.</p>

20

<p>I will chance you at 3.8/2240 (with British-patterned education, I always operated under the impression that GCSE was worth 1/2 of the GPA, and A-levels the other half)</p>

<p>MIT: Reach
CMU: Reach
Harvard: Reach
U Chicago: Reach (pay attention to your essays)
UMI: Match/High match
UIUC: Low match-Match (depends on whether you want business, engineering or any other unit)
Berkeley: Match (can you pay full-freight?)
UCLA: Match
UWA: Low match (can you pay full-freight?)
Stanford: Reach</p>