Realistic college goals?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Hi guys, this is my first post on CC, and I’ve always been sort of shy about posting things online so bear with me :-S
I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on the caliber of schools I should be aiming for. I’m looking into RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and SUNY Binghamton as matches, but I’m really hoping to have a decent shot at some of my reaches. I like Tufts a lot, as well as Carnegie Mellon SCS, and I am also shooting for Upenn, but I know ivy admissions are a crapshoot.
I am also going to add that junior year I struggled a lot with anxiety, and I missed 3 weeks of school in a row. My grades suffered, but I brought them back up to a decent level. I overloaded myself with activities and commitments and I burned out. I don’t understand how some of you guys do what you do without having any problems :frowning:

I am a twin, and my brother and I are looking at several of the same schools.

I’m a girl looking to major in computer science. :x

GPA: my school only gives us our weighted GPA out of 100. Mine is a 98. I go to a public school.

APs: 10th Grade - APWH(3) 11th Grade - Music theory(3) APUSH(4) Physics 1(4) Environmental(5) English lang(5). These were a miracle after missing so much class. Senior year I am taking AP chem, AP bio, AP lit and AP calc, as well as taking non-AP computer science (my school doesn’t offer AP) first semester and teaching the class 2nd semester.

SAT/ACT: have not yet taken due to my fallout with anxiety. I was scheduled for March and April exams but I was not able to sit for them. I do know that I got a 205 on my PSAT without studying so I am confident that my scores will probably be decent when I do take the tests. I predict around a 2150 SAT and a 33 ACT, since me and me twin usually score about the same and these were his results.

ECs (somewhat of a laundry list, sorry):
3 year JV softball (Captain) and will be on varsity next year
4 year varsity tennis (Captain) (MVP Award)
Math team (Captain)
Tri-M Music Honor Society (President)
6 Years of Opera training, 7 year All-County singer. Soprano 1.
Theater groups, co-musical director of the most recent production
Women’s choir and ensemble singers
National Honor Society, Math Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society - community service through tutoring
Individually designed and decorated a middle school hallway with examples of random acts of kindness that kids can perform for each other
Virtual math tutoring - 20 hours
Hospital volunteering - 50 hours
summer camp counselor
I have worked two part time jobs
Took a gifted math course outside of school during my sophomore year
FIRST Robotics (Captain & Programmer)
Mentored the middle school FIRST Lego League team. We conducted research on whether or not using interactive games to study works better than just memorization. The results were that the games worked better.
Working to create school partnership with Girls Who Code, a nonprofit organization that encourages female participation in computer science
Co-author of a computer science research paper that has been submitted for publication
Proficient in JavaScript

See, unlike a lot of the people on here, I’m nothing special. I’m no world champion mathlete, I didn’t start a charity, and I haven’t taken a million APs. But I tried really hard :frowning: and nobody deserves to feel like their best wasn’t good enough.

Anyway I know this has been a long post, but thanks so so much for reading!! :"> Could you guys give me some realistic expectations for the schools that I listed? Might I have a chance at any top schools? Is there anything I should do senior year to give me a better shot? And if you could name a few other schools that I should look into I would greatly appreciate that as well, thanks so much! <3

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Note: Like I said my school only tells us our weighted GPA. A 98 might sound good but lots of smart kids break 100. I’m afraid that colleges might unweight it and it might be like a 93. I don’t know what any of this is on a 4.0 scale and it seems like that’s the scale everyone else uses. I hope it’s not too low :((

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First off, you committed one of the cardinal sins of CC by saying, “I predict this score.” Predictions hold no weight, especially on such a abstract reason as this. Now, onto the chancing. You have some good EC’s. I assume that your passion is computer science??? This is easily seen in your EC’s, which is a good thing. I also see a sort of feminism trait; maybe you’re passionate about social justice? These are good. Colleges want to see that you’re devoted to your beliefs and passions. Your stats seem pretty solid, although we don’t have any ACT/SAT scores, so we can’t be too sure. All in all, you seem like a good, well-rounded student. Being the captain of a varsity team while also being involved in computer science is a rare mix, and a good one at that. I would consider Tufts to be a high match for you, assuming your ACT/SAT scores match up to par with everything else. Carnegie Mellon may be a low reach, but not impossible. All in all, continue doing what you’re doing. This is a solid application.

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Thank you!! And I know the prediction was dangerous, I predicted it because my brother had the exact same PSAT as I did and those were his scores. I’m not my brother so I can’t say for sure, but our test scores are often very similar. Thanks so much for your feedback!

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Anyone else?

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Are there any general tips that you guys could give me about applying to top schools? Any feedback is greatly appreciated

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Don’t look for tips in the chances section. But I would prep well for SAT since you have missed some opportunities to see in advance if you need to retake. Your academics and EC are pretty set now. So starting on your essays and would be the thing to do now. You want a positive essay that shows your strengths so get into that mindset and think how you best wish to present yourself. Do one can tell you that Penn and CMU SCS are realistic or not. But you have some good EC so present yourself well and feel confident. Add some colleges to your list. Maybe a rolling admission or an EA will add confidence. Use the College Search forum and browse the math/cs forum.

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Thanks! Those aren’t the only schools on my list, I have a solid list of matches and safeties as well.