<p>The ECs (the good part):
1) TEDx Speaker (Internet/Security etc)</p>
<p>2) Founded a software company
-Created a web-browser.
-HTML Editing tool
-App to block phishing URLs
-Online football magazine with 2000 views daily </p>
<p>3) Featured in the national newspaper for my work in the field computers</p>
<p>3) Founded school's Computer club
-hosted an inter-house computer competition in school (350+ participants, 8 events)</p>
<p>4) Created my school's website</p>
<p>5) National Cyber Olympaid (Gold medal)- International rank 167, school rank 1</p>
<p>6) Academic Excellence in Computers award</p>
<p>Scores (The bad part):
SAT- 1900
SAT2- Giving this week, expecting 800 in both math and phy (after getting 800s in most of my practice tests)
Average percentage throughout high-school life: 75%
ACT-giving in december (tired of the SAT and I think i can do way better in the ACT)</p>
<p>I want to apply for BS computer science (highly interested in this field) in Carnegie Mellon, Stanford or Cornell. Does my profile qualify me for a chance in any of these universities despite the bad scores ?</p>
<p>I do not require aid , also, please recommend good universities apart from the ones I mentioned! </p>
<p>I don’t think you have any chance at these schools, but as you don’t require aid, there will be plenty of colleges in the US that will accept you. The challenge is to find the best match - I would suggest applying to a range of colleges with strong CS programs.</p>
<p>A lot of people have told me that I have a shot at stanford because I show an intellectual vitality in computers. The only thing is that I don’t have a good SAT score.
If I get a good SAT / ACT score, will I have a shot ?</p>
<p>also, would you recommend Michigan Ann arbor ?</p>
<p>@awesomeuser - have people with knowledge of the Stanford admissions process told you that you have a shot at Stanford? Unless you’re clearly a future CS superstar, Stanford isn’t going to grant you any special favors, especially as an international student. Stanford is enrolling about 10 students from India each year - I would assume most are academic superstars or have obvious hooks (athletes, development cases, etc).</p>
<p>You will probably have better luck at schools where you are applying specifically for CS (or engineering) rather than to the college as a whole. CMU SCS might be one, but it is extremely competitive. I’d recommend you investigate top 20 CS schools. There are many lists out there, between then you can probably find 40 schools to research in addition to these three. Michigan would be one possibility. Most of these schools will give you no aid - remember it may cost you upwards of $250,000 to earn a degree.</p>
<p>Firstly I would just like to start off by saying ignore the negativity. I would encourage you to retake the SAT from the sound of it you are a smart kid and have the potential to do better. Your application is strong you clearly have a passion for computer science which is sure to work in your advantage but many admissions officers will need to see statistics to back up your interest in the field. At present I recon your application could get you into some good school for computer science such as UCLA and the University of Texas at Austin, if you are into big names check out Brown, they tend to be more forgiving when they see lower SAT scores… Anyway goodluck man! hope it all works out make sure the rest of your academics are strong to compensate! Definately apply to those schools but beef up your list with some safeties. </p>
<p>These are the colleges where I am applying. </p>
<p>1) Stanford
2) Carnegie Mellon
3) University of Texas at Austin
4) University of Michigan ann arbor
5) Cornell University
6) University of Washington- Seattle
7) University of California - Berkeley
8) University of Texas at Dallas
9) State University of New York at Buffalo
10) UCLA</p>
<p>Can you suggest a few safeties and tell me which college should I change/remove etc ?</p>
<p>One more question: How much does alumni recommendation help ? </p>
<p>@bigdreamer54 - I don’t seen any negativity in my posts, I’m the parent of a Harvard student who went though this process last year and I have a fairly good idea what it takes to have a good chance at these schools. Sure, if @awesomeuser retakes the SAT and gets 2200+ (easy to say, hard to do), and follows through with 800 on the SAT subject tests, their application will be given a closer look.</p>
<p>The ECs have the potential to be a hook - for example if the software company has employees, has significant revenue and/or has secured funding - but it’s too easy for a high school student to create a paper company in an effort to impress colleges, and they know this. More than likely they indicate a candidate who is too one-dimensional, although they want bright motivated students in computer sciences, they would like to see them with other interests too. The exception is the academic superstar - in which case the OP needs to convince the admissions committees they would be making a mistake if they pass him/her up.</p>
<p>The OP can get an idea of what these three colleges are looking for in these threads, keeping in mind that it’s tougher to get in as an international, and CMU SCS is far more selective than other schools at CMU</p>
<p>@BldrDad sorry for the misunderstanding wasnt meant to be that harsh on you just wanted to remind him to stay in a positive headspace. @awesomeuser your list is good but maybe remove a few reaches and at schools like wisconson instead</p>
<p>As I am not able to get a good score on the SAT, should I give a shot with ACT? I’m more of a science guy so a lot of people have told me to go for the ACT instead. </p>
<p>I was thinking of taking the ACT in December but I have heard that most schools do not accept December ACT because the scores come a bit late. </p>
<p>Is there any college in my list that does not accept the december scores? I think UC Berkeley /UCLA would be the ones because the of the early deadline (nov 30th)</p>
<p>so can I apply to the colleges and send in scores later?</p>
<p>It looks like you did your homework and have an outstanding list of CS programs from dream/reach schools to match to safeties…having said that, outside of your test scores you seem to be a very interesting and competitive applicant…</p>
<p>…take the ACT if you feel more confident about doing well on it…</p>
<p>…and you might want to add University of Illinois and Georgia Tech to your list…</p>
<p>You also should look into the less selective [url=“<a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”>http://theaitu.org”]AITU[/url</a>] schools. You can get an excellent CS education at most of them. Taking the ACT might be a good idea since a number of schools will take December exams and you might just do better with that format.</p>
<p>I agree it’s worth investigating the AITU schools. Some (MIT, Caltech, CMU, Harvey Mudd, Cooper Union, Olin) might be out of reach, but many of these schools are somewhat less selective and may be interested in you as a full-pay international applicant.</p>
<p>Regarding the ACT: I think it’s a great idea to take the December test. Make sure you take it with writing, as some selective colleges do not accept the ACT without writing. I believe most schools with January ED dates will accept these scores. Buy a couple test prep books and take a number of practice tests so you are familiar with the test prior to the test date.</p>