Demographics: Asian male in California attending a competitive and public high school
School: School is one of the top schools in the nation but doesn’t have too many APs. I took a bunch of APs from self studying.
Note: I am applying EA to all schools except USC
Intended major(s): Computer Science
Academics:
- ACT: 33 Composite(32E, 36M, 31R, 33S)
- SAT: N/A
- SAT II: Math Level 2 800; Chemistry 790
- Class rank: N/A
- UW/W GPA: 3.94/4.45
- Coursework: AP Environmental Science (3); AP Computer Science (5); AP Physics 1 (4); AP Calculus BC (5); AP Language & Composition (4); AP Physics C: Mech (4); AP Physics C: E&M (5); AP Psychology (4)
- Senior Year Coursework: AP Chemistry, AP Comparative Government, AP Statistics, French 4 Honors, Contemporary Literature, Multivariable Calculus (at university), Finite Mathematics (at university)
- Awards: 2014-15 Season USACO Gold Medalist; 2014 AMC 10B Distinguished Honor Roll; 2015-16 Season USACO Platinum Medalist; 2016 AMC 12B Distinguished Honor Roll; 2016 Synopsys Science Fair 1st Award in Engineering Category; AP Scholar with Distinction
Extracurriculars:
- Co-Founder & President of a volunteer run organization focused on redirecting the focus of CS education on mathematical principles to aid in algorithm development
- Co-Founder & VP of a volunteer run organization designed to improve student’s approach to olympiad level math problems with an emphasis on critical thinking and creative problem solving
- iOS App Developer who has developed 3 apps, 1 of which has ~20,000 downloads
- Volunteer at math tutoring program (2014-2015); leader at math tutoring program (2015-16)
- Internship at local startup in 2015: Wrote the testing for an app
- Internship at Dell in 2016: Wrote a research paper and completed a project with a team of interns
- COSMOS summer program in summer of 2014: Learned about game development
- Played violin/piano stopped in 9th grade, but there is no proof online of my work/competitions
- Won quite a few hackathons as well (dunno if this would help much)
- 200+ Volunteer Hours
Teacher Recs: They will be good fosho.
Essays: I have really good ideas according to a college counselor and am going to have them rewritten/editted by professional college essay writers.
Colleges I am applying to:
- University of California—Berkeley
- University of California—San Diego
- University of California—Los Angeles
- University of California—Davis
- University of California—Santa Barbara
- University of Illinois—Urbana Champaign
- University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- University of Wisconsin—Madison
- University of Washington
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Harvey Mudd College
- Cornell University
- Washington University St. Louis
- University of Southern California
- California Institute of Technology
- Purdue University
- Princeton University
- Yale University
- Rice University
- Duke University
- New York University
- Northwestern University
- Indiana University—Bloomington
- Santa Clara University
- Pennsylvania State University—University Park
- University of North Carolina
I know my college list is too much, but I just want to see which colleges I have a shot at and which ones I don’t. Which good college is likely for me to get into? Which college do I have no shot at getting? Is there a college that I should apply to that is not on this list?
UC’s do not have EA, only RD. You are a competitive applicant and have a good chance at all the UC’s/SCU and USC. Harvey Mudd and Cal Tech are tough but you are within range. Unless you have a unlimited amount of time and money to spend on applications, you really do need to cut down your list.
How much can your parents pay/year? EFC? Do you need FA (need-based and/or merit aid)? Based on the answers to the questions above, you can probably eliminate some of the OOS schools where you would get little FA such NYU for example.
That’s a lot of applications
@Gumbymom For 4 of my classes, homework is optional and getting A’s is a joke for that class. So I work on my essays and apps during class(they let us use our computers). I am > 200k per year, so no financial aid. Would that fact hurt my chances?
Also, schools like UMich and UIUC are extremely expensive OOS, depends how you feel about them…
@goblue8721 i know that but Im pretty sure I can afford it, but do you think I could get in for computer science?
@slufrustab well just be aware of cost is all. Cali schools are very strong, and especially if you want grad school could be a wise choice! you would have a good shot at both those places, competitive major but you have solid credentials
Do your parents want to pay over $200K for undergrad? Ask them what they are willing to pay each year, first. Run the net price calculators on all the schools and show your parents the costs. You can then eliminate based on costs and if you can get merit aid to offset some of the costs. As a CA resident, the UC’s are a great option and affordable. You can’t go wrong with UCSD/UCLA/UCB or even USC as a CS major.
you can probably get into almost everyone one of those schools
You need to cut your list down or your guidance counselor will cut it for you.
Your GC is not going to send that much documentation to those schools.
Seems contradictory to this statement:
The uni’s don’t like self studying for APs.
Take off Caltech. They take almost perfect scores and their costs are very expensive.
Did you have the financial talk with your parents? I’m assuming you haven’t because you have listed schools that will significantly cut into their >$200k per year. USC is near $70k per year. NYU is above $72k per year.
You have a list of very expensive schools. Slash and burn!
Sorry, I don’t want to sound harsh. But there’s almost no chance for MIT, Yale, Princeton, Cal Tech, Cornell. Reach/lotteries would be Duke, Mudd, Rice, NW, WUStl.
OOS publics are very expensive.
For Computer Sci. you might look at CMU, Case Western, RIT.
Aunt Bea is right. Too many schools, although are good matches/safeties, like Santa Clara and Penn State. But the huge factor here is cost. With 200K per year, you’ll get no fin aid, so are your parents able/willing to pay 60K, 70K per year? And none of the reaches/lotteries will give any merit aid. To get merit you will need a list of less selective but still great, if lesser known, universities and LACs, liked ranked 40 to 80 or so.
@PetulaClark your “almost no chance” has a school that accepts 15% while your “reach” list has several schools that accept 10%. I can’t imagine Mudd, with its middle 50% ACT range of 33 - 35 is easier to get into for a student with a 33 than Yale with it’s 31 - 35 range. Duke and NU admissions are also more competitive than Cornell engineering.
That being said OP, you’re applying to a ton of schools. Why so many out of state publics? Some are non common app, most won’t give you good financial aid, and few will give you a more marketable CS degree than you’d get from a UC. I’d drop UIUC, UW:Madison, Purdue, IU: Bloomington, PSU, UNC (maybe keep UMich, UWash, and GTech, but only if you really feel that there’s some reason to pick one of them over UCSB/Davis/SD/SC). I also wouldn’t recommend seriously considering NYU CS over any of the UCs–you’re paying twice the price for worse weather and a CS degree that’s honestly less marketable in California.
I know you’re primarily looking to cut schools from the list, but is there any reason you’re not applying to Cal Poly SLO or UC Santa Cruz? Both are excellent schools for CS, and you have stats that might qualify you for some cool opportunities.
I think you’re pretty competitive for everywhere (Caltech might not be fond of that 33), but don’t spread yourself too thin–20+ schools is a ton of applications, and if you trade quality for quantity, you’ll have a lot more stress and spend a lot more time and money on apps than the kids that put the effort into fewer higher quality apps.
“Essays: I have really good ideas according to a college counselor and am going to have them rewritten/editted by professional college essay writers.”
^ don’t let your essays be rewritten by a private counselor. Let them be edited/read over for grammar/etc, but write them yourself.
@1d51jklad1 I’ll admit I was hasty to automatically put Cornell over Duke and NW. (The Ivy mystique put a spell over me). Regardless of ACT range, though, I wouldn’t see Yale as easier to get into than Mudd. But your post is detailed (more researched than mine) and spot on regarding the OOS publics, especially since he lives in California. And he needs a smaller list, with some financial safeties, depending on how much folks want to pay.