What are my Chances of Being Accepted to a Top University?

[merc81]

Academic interests?

[Rednesday]

CS

[Rednesday]

@hearroroym I don’t mind where in the States. But preferably in the Northwest or California.

[Rednesday]

@snakeskin CS

[glittervolcano]

I definitely think you have a great shot! Your marks and extracurriculars seem to be at the level you need as well! It is well worth a try At the end of the day, it is up to the people reviewing your application, and we can never know their thought process, but I strongly believe that some of the things on your application will catch their attention; on top of that, just make sure your essay is grabbing as well. Best of luck!!!

[fallenchemist]

The going consideration is, if you have to retake a test, and didn’t get it on the first try, then the top 20 are out of range.

I would love to see some proof of this @“aunt bea” . I have strong doubts this has any truth to it. As just one example, that would penalize severely a student that was under the weather when they first took the test, but took it anyway. I have never, ever heard of a school penalizing a student for getting a better score the second time they took the SAT or ACT.

In fact, this is demonstrably false. Last time I looked pretty much everyone considered Yale a Top 20 school. From their web site, very recently updated:

Superscoring: When assessing SAT results, admissions officers will focus on your highest individual old or new scores from all test dates. For example, if you took the old SAT twice, your highest Critical Reading, Math and Writing scores will be considered individually. If you took the new SAT twice, your highest Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, Math and Essay scores will be considered individually. If you took both types of SAT, the admissions office will treat them separately and review the best scores on each test. When assessing ACT results, admissions officers focus on the highest ACT Composite and highest Writing score from all test dates, and also consider individual ACT subscores.

http://admissions.yale.edu/standardized-testing

From Brown, another Top 20:

We accept Score Choice. We will super score within both current and redesigned SAT, but will not super score using results from both versions of the test. For the ACT, we consider the highest scores submitted for each section; however, we do not calculate a super scored ACT Composite score.

https://www.brown.edu/admission/undergraduate/do-you-accept-score-choice-or-do-you-super-score-standardized-testing

And that is after only checking 4 schools. At Harvard and Columbia, I simply could find no statement at all. That doesn’t mean they only accept the first try. Columbia’s search engine is a mess, and I got the feeling I just needed to search more on the Harvard site to find it, but these two are enough to make my point.

[jym626]

Many of the top schools do require you to send all scores- not score select.

[fallenchemist]

Yes, that is true. I put in her entire quote, but actually only meant the first sentence to be in question. I have fixed that and am focusing on the claim that the Top 20 penalize you for more than one sitting. I simply don’t believe it and it makes no sense. It smacks of trafficking in rumors.

[oliviaesther95]

@rednesday My mistake! I thought that UCB’s average scores were 1530+. With your profile, it seems like you have a really great chance! Best of luck

[oreo2019]

There are many great schools in California that you can apply to like UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Cal Tech. I have heard Cornell has a great school for computer science too.

[Rednesday]

@oreo2019 Thanks! How do you consider my chances?

[hhjjlala]

Be aware that UCs do not provide financial aid. The merit scholarship, I believe, is the only form of scholarship they give.

[oreo2019]

I think you can get into UC Berkley and probably Cornell. Theres nothing bad about your grades, but Cal Tech and Stanford are just extremely competitive. It is hard to get in for anyone, no matter how good their grades are. But don’t just listen to me, get some more information from other people and see if they agree with me. Most importantly, read up on the school to see if its the right fit for you.

[Rednesday]

@oreo2019 Thank you very much oncemore for your opinion. May I ask what university/college you are/were attending?

[oreo2019]

I am actually in 10th grade in high school. I spend most of my time looking at colleges, so don’t disregard my advice!

[jym626]

Its Berkeley, not Berkley. And as others have said, Cal and the other state schools no longer five FA to out of state students.

[1andonly]

Look up Cal Poly SLO in CA - known for engineering and CS (only 37K a yr for international students).

[MYOS1634]

With your linguistic prowess, I’d apply to Middlebury. It’s a top school, with a serious alumni network - your languages would give you a competitive edge (they like multi lingual, multi cultural students) compared to colleges of a similar caliber.
Case Western, CMU, HarveyMudd, Northwstern for CS specifically. Case a good match, CMU, HMC, and Northwestern reaches.
For an academic match that is a safety if you apply quickly, apply to Penn State for CS (in Engineering) or Cybersecurity (in College of Information Science). Also apply to Schreyer (reach because sub 10% admit rate, but your profile is quite unique and would certainly interest the professors who select the lucky admits.)