What is my chance for getting into Carnegie Mellon, NYU, University of Michigan? (CS major)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I want to apply to there following schools for undergraduate studies on Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon, NYU, University of Michigan, Princeton, and Cornell
What are my chances. I even planned to do early decision for Carnegie Mellon is it worth it?</p>

<p>Objective:
Computer Science and Mathematics joint major or just Computer science major is the program I want to get in.</p>

<p>GPA:
Fresh: 3.5(uw) 3.7(w)
Soph: 3.4 (uw) 3.7(w)
Junior: 3.4 (uw) 4.0(w)
Senior: unknown</p>

<p>Tests:
AP Computer Science: 4
AP Chinese: 5
AP Chemistry: 5
AP Biology:4
AP US History: 3
AP Psychology: 3</p>

<p>ACT: 30/ 31(superscore)
English: 28, Math:31, Reading: 33, Science:31</p>

<p>SAT II:
SAT Chinese: 800
SAT Math: 760
SAT US History: 640
SAT Chemistry: 740
SAT Biology: 730</p>

<p>Extracular Activities:
1. Learned C++, Java (Object-oriented languages)
2. Two years of Waterpolo team
3. AP Computer Science Score:4 (Self-studied)
5. Computer Science Club President and founder (from sophomore year to Senior year)
6. Developed an information sharing website</p>

<p>Work Experiences / Volunteer:
1. Chinese Club Teaching (Volunteer)
-Teacher Assistant for a local Chinese club
2. Jisan Research Institute Summer Research Program (Internship)
-Conducted research under the guidance of Dr. Sanza Kazadi, graduate from Caltech
3. Boys and Girls Club (Volunteer)</p>

<p>Honors & Awards:
1. Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Finalist
2. American Computer Science League Finalist
3. AIME Qualifier
4. AMC Honors Distinguished Roll
5. AP Scholar with Distinction
7. ExploraVision Honorable Mention
8. Young Naturalist Awards 2013 Semi-Finalist
9. Voice of Democracy Certificate of Merit: Outstanding Spokesperson for Freedom</p>

<p>Courses:
1. Learned HTML, CSS, Javascript on Codecademy.com (web development languages)
2. Certificate for Software Engineering as a Service Part 1 and Part 2 <a href="UC%20Berkeley%20Online%20Program%20on%20EDX">Finished with 90% and higher</a>
3. Certificate for Introduction to Computer Science (Harvard Online Program on EDX)
5. Certificate for Introduction to Computer and Programming Using Python (MIT Online Program on EDX)
6. Completed City College courses in Fundamental of Computer Science in C++</p>

<p>Recommendation:
-High School Math Professor
-High School English Teacher
-High School Counselor
-City College Computer Science Professor</p>

<p>Thanks for helping me. Please be honest to tell me what you think.</p>

2

<p>ABstudent, really admire your drive to pursue CS, that’s great (I studied engineering undergrad before grad school). Having had experience on a committee, especially with respect to engineers, here’s my assessment: </p>

<p>Princeton: rejected, your grades are too low and extra-curricularly, you are not the best at one thing on a national level (even with your impressive CS stuff)</p>

<p>cornell: rejected, Cornell’s COE is numbers heavy since the engineering faculty are involved in selection. Your grades and test scores are below the median for Cornell engineering and close to the 25th percentile</p>

<p>Michigan: don’t apply EA, engineering applicants with a sub-4.0 weighted get deferred; my prediction is that you are waitlisted or rejected</p>

<p>NYU: good shot</p>

<p>Cmu: numbers are around 25th percentile for SCS but CMU has backdoor where you can apply to MCS math and simply declare a CS double major</p>

<p>Let me know if you want suggestions on other schools that I think should be on your list.</p>

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<p>@Strad199‌ Thanks for telling me that. I truly appreciate your honesty. </p>

4

<p>Hey, guys. I actually need more information. Can you be more active and tell me more?</p>

5

<p>@ABstudent Your GPA is rather weak while your ACT is near the 25% for these top schools. Where is your home state? You may have a much better chance for your in state flagship. For CS with your credential, I would suggest Purdue to you. It would be a high match while those on your list are all reaches.
I want to correct what @Strad199 said. UMich EA rarely reject applicants. If you are not accepted, you are most likely deferred. So there is no reason not to apply EA. Also, there is CS major in LSA which would be easier to admit. Nevertheless, it is still a reach for you unless you are in state.</p>

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<p>@billcsho‌ thanks for telling me that. :)) i live in California. I think i will have a higher chance because i am out of state.</p>

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<p>What about chance getting into UIUC? Any comments will help.</p>

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<p>Neither UMich nor UIUC would offer you higher chance because of oos. Indeed, the admission rates for oos are remarkably lower. Note that there are far more oos students applying to these top engineering schools than from their home state. Even UMich has around 40% oos students (which is much higher than UIUC), the estimated oos admission rate is only around 25% (near 50% for in state when the overall admission rate was around 33%). </p>

9

<p>Your stats are <em>way</em> below the line for all of these.
For example, if you had a 3.9 and a 34, CMU CS would still be a big reach for you.</p>

<p>You need to be looking at a very different class school.</p>

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<p>@soze‌ any recommended schools?
@billcsho‌ so do i have a better shot at private school?</p>

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<p>BU
Rochester
Syracuse
Northeastern
Case Western</p>

12

<p>I second the suggestion of Purdue by billcsho. UIUC and UMich I don’t think you have much chance, though it doesn’t hurt to try. Another school to try may be UWashington though that’s probably difficult too. Also UWisconsin. I don’t know how difficult to get in there. They all have pretty good CS departments.</p>

<p>One thing you need to keep in mind. At those large midwest public schools, if you are an average CS student there, you probably don’t get much support while the study/projects can be tough. So it may not be very enjoyable.</p>

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<p>@soze‌ @pastwise
Any suggestion on private universities for computer science, or computational finance? (I want to focus my computer science area more toward finance and economy area.) :)) </p>

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<p>For private schools, Case Western and Rochester as suggested by soze are quite reasonable. I think Case may be free to apply too.</p>

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<p>@soze‌ @pastwise‌ Do you think I stand any chance at USC?</p>

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<p>No, sorry I don’t.
Even all the schools I mentioned above will be somewhat reaches for you.</p>

<p>You need to realize (and sorry for being blunt) that you have some pretty mediocre stats and you keep mentioning some top-tier schools.</p>

<p>You really need to focus on finding some programs that accept >50% of their applicants. Any school that’s particulary selective will be tough for you.</p>

<p>The fact that you’re even asking about places like CMU and Princeton would indicate to me that you really need to spend some significant time doing research on the relative selectivity of some of these programs as you’re a bit disconnected from reality at this point.</p>

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<p>For private schools, there is no in state or oos. You simply need to look at their admission stat and admission rate to see how likely you may get in. If you are right around admission average, your chance may be slightly higher than the overall admission rate.</p>

18

<p>ABstudent, I can give you a much more candid response by email, feel free to contact me this weekend </p>

19

<p>agree with most of the above posts - correct me if I am wrong, but self-studying APs doesn’t count as an EC, right?</p>