Hey, I’m a HS senior applying for autumn 2017. I’m worried about my lack of EC’s relating to my intended major. I’ve only recently realized my interest in CS. I’d like some feedback on my college list. THanks!
School: large public school (3,000 students)
Gender: F
Race/ethnicity: asian
Intended major: computer science
State: CA
GPA:
-3.72 UW
-4.13 W
UC/Cal State GPA:
-3.68 UW
-4.24 W
-4.00 weighted and capped
Rank: N/A
SAT:
-October 2015: composite 2010: M 710, R 670, W 630
-December 2015: composite 2150: M 780, R 650, W 710
Extracurriculars:
-co-founder and vice president of club helping homeless with laundry (gr. 11-12)
-peer tutoring (11)
-Youth and Government: mock legislature and court program (9-10)
-gayageum (korean traditional instrument)
-hs cheer squad (9,10)
-church band/volunteer (9-11)
-piano
Summer activities:
8/9, 9/10: volunteered at local convalescent home
11/12: Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program
My list so far: (i need to cut it down bc i cannot afford to apply to all of these lmao)
UPENN
USC
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Carnegie Mellon
Emory
Georgia Tech
U of Michigan
Cal Poly SLO
UCSB
UCSD
UC Irvine
U of Washington
Purdue
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
Easy. If you need financial aid, cut out all of the OOS public schools that don’t give good financial aid such as UIUC, Purdue, U of Washington, and Georgia Tech. Have you run the net price calculators for all these schools?
So I think with your intended major, you’re right. Besides for the coding, you don’t have much. At the same time, you have something at least, and you could always highlight your passion for cs in your essays. You also could apply as undecided or something more general.
For the schools, I would envision acceptance letters from all your schools and rank them
From most likely to attend to least. Consider program, research, money, classes, feel, etc. the ones that you would not even go to, cross them out. At the same time, stalk the schools on social media to get a Feel for social life, and take out the schools that don’t give money.
You have a lot of schools in different areas of the country. It sounds silly, but see if you can imagine yourself living in that city or state. Like, you might think of CMU and think “I really don’t want to live in Pittsburgh” if you think of it this way. Also keep in mind that you might end up in that city after graduation too. It sounds kind of dumb, but this helped me narrow my list down.
If you wish to study computer science at the following schools, you would need a higher GPA, SAT, and more math, science, and computer science related involvement. If you still wish to attend these schools regardless, consider choosing a major that fits your background in order to maximize your chances. You are more or less matches for the rest of your schools. Good Luck!
UPENN
UC Berkeley
Carnegie Mellon (CS program acceptance rate is on par with Harvard (6%))
It seems as if you need aid and cheaper choices. If I were to make your list for you based off of what you have described it would be more along the lines of:
Safeties:
UC Santa Cruz
UC Riverside
one cal state of your choice other than SLO or Pomona
Targets
Cal Poly Slo
UCSB or UC Davis your choice
UC Irvine
Reaches
UCSD
UCLA
One more elite reach if you choose
If you can afford more choices I would also put down University of Washington, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Purdue, UC Berkeley, UC Davis or SB whichever you didn’t choose.
If you really want to cut down your list to make it more affordable and reasonable, based upon what you have written I would cut out the top five schools and UMich. Add back one of two as reaches if you can afford it but keep your expectations in check. CMU would almost be an impossibility if you apply for CS, please read their posted stats on who gets accepted. Good luck with everything!