I live in Virginia. I’m thinking about applying to Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, and UVA but don’t know what other schools would be a great experience for me. Let’s assume I have no financial restrictions because my parents are generously paying for everything(with financial aid).
SAT1: 800M, 630CR, 680W(Will try to bring up CR).
SAT2: 800M2c, 760Chem.
Decent GPA at a very competive public school.
Interested Majors: Engineering, Information Systems. Business(Finance), or Economics
I would like Reach, Match, Safeties and schools that I may be interested in.
RESUME(You don’t have to read through all of this. Is there anything I should take out from this?)
<p>Any ECs? You go to TJ, right? </p>
<p>You could probably get into UVA...Carnegie Mellon and Cornell possibly.....if you put up the SAT, your chances would improve (not by a lot, but a good amount)</p>
<p>Cornell: reach
Carnegie Mellon: slight reach
UVA: match </p>
<p>Ummm...other schools....Have you thought about Olin?</p>
<p>SPECIAL AWARDS
National Congressional Award Bronze Medallist
AP Scholar with Distinction
AIA(Association of Indians in America) Award
Awarded a SEAP grant(stipend)
Presidents Award for Education Excellence
Research and Design Module CO2 Car Winner
Technology Service Achievement Award</p>
<p>WORK/VOLUNTEER/RESEARCH
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Mentorship(Physics related) Awarded a SEAP Position sponsored by ONR. Worked on project relating to hydrodynamics/fluid dynamics/turbulence. Equipment worked with included: 100 gallon water tank, infared imaging camera, digital particle imaging velocimetry, high-intensity lasers, and optical instruments. Strong possibility of co-authoring research paper that will be published in a refereed journal.
INOVA Hospital Volunteer Volunteered at the INOVA Fair Oaks Hospital for over 150 hours. Received special recognition from the director of the program for my hard work and dedication to assisting the hospital.
atarelief.org Setup informative website that helped people donate to the Asian Tsunami Relief Programs. The reported donations were over $800 through the usage of this site. Multiple local radio stations(Z104,BIG100.3) promoted this website.
Celebrate Fairfax! Volunteer Volunteered in the Science/Technology Booth of our County Fair. Helped kids create mini-motors using magnets, batteries, and basic physics concepts. Helped generate interest in the sciences and in technology.
Research Paper presented at Biology Symposium Presented a research paper on the effects of pH level on the health of planaria at a biology simulation.
Designed Flow Meter Worked with a group of students to construct a flow meter that was tested at the U.S. Naval Observatory.</p>
<p>CLUBS
Model United Nations Awarded Outstanding Delegate at the National Ivy League Model UN Conference(Hosted at UPENN). I represented the United States of America in the Economic and Financial Issues Committee. Awarded Honorable Mention Delegate at the National Model UN Conference at William and Mary. I have also won several awards in regional conferences(Best Delegate, Outstanding, Honorable). I was the Director of Technical Operations(Techical Czar) for the club, which is the largest club at our school. I was also a co-organizer for TECHMUN 2005, a regional conference hosted by our schools MUN club(500+ participants).
Future Business Leaders of America Awarded Varsity Letter. I was also the webmaster for the club.
Varsity Math Team Scored 99.5 on the American Math Competition 12(Top 5 percent).
Varsity Computer Team I competed in the USACO Bronze Division. I also entered programming challenges on TopCoder and placed well among other competitors, mostly college students.
Future Problem Solvers Invited to States to compete in the Individual Competition.
National Honor Society
Namaste Webmaster of the Indian Club at our school. Helped organize the Namaste sponsored TJ International Night, a programme filled with cultural events and foods.
CULTURE
Youtsav of NoVa Co-Founder Cofounder of a youth group promoting Indian culture in Northern Virginia. Initiatives included: fundraising concert for tsunami relief, co-sponsorship of annual cultural program, and charity events.
Host/MC of UTSAV Diwali 2003 Host of a large cultural event(500+ people).
Dance I have danced with a group in several cultural events including Image-n-Nation. We were featured on a local area TV channel.</p>
<p>SPORTS
Soccer I played soccer continuously for 10 years. Freshman year, I continued to play on a travel soccer team in the ODSL Division 1 League. That year I received the Randy Rawls Sportsmanship Award. Our team received 2nd place in the league. Sophomore year, I played club soccer. I was captain, voted MVP of team, had most goals&assists, and helped lead my team to a first place season. I went on to score the winning goal at the all-star game.
Tae-kwon-do Gold Belt.
Crew 1st place in Novice 8 division at Occaquan Classic.</p>
<p>I don't see information systems too often on cc as a major; I can comment on CMU's program.</p>
<p>I think you'd get into IS and good chance for engineering. CMU-IS is ranked highly, #2 in usnews for undergrad and grad programs both (both behind MIT #1). My S just graduated with BS and MS in IS, also BS in computer science. Lots of IS undergrads do the masters too. The program is business/finance oriented as well as the technology of course. In general he said IS course is easier than straight CS.</p>
<p>Recruiting is crazy from these programs, at least it was this year, as we learned at the individual majors graduations last month. I'd guess 2/3 of his IS class including S are going to top NYC banks and consulting firms. The rest around the world. I don't think he could have asked for anything more.</p>
<p>Sorry for the unsolicited plug. Good luck.</p>
<p>ok, with those ECs, your chances just improved. I'm guessing you are an Indian, and as you know, it will be harder for you to get admission.</p>
<p>I say you should enter the ISEF and Siemen's WEstinghouse, but your Ecs are impressive otherwise. </p>
<p>Just get that SAT up (it is stupid, but I think colleges weight it too much) and you'll get in.</p>
<p>CMU is most likely a safety for you. NYU would be another good one (#2 in finance after Wharton). </p>
<p>Is your GPA around 3.9 W? You could give Caltech a shot. It would be a reach, but within the range of possibility.</p>
<p>UChicago and UMich would be good matches. </p>
<p>As far as other reaches go, you might also have a shot at Penn engineering or A&S (not Wharton though). Same goes for Dartmouth, Brown, and Duke. But without a GPA I can't say for sure.</p>
<p>See heres the tricky thing. I go to Thomas Jefferson HS for Sci. and Tech. so I don't think my GPA looks the same as for another school. I'm on an upward trend with 3.5,3.6, 4.0.</p>
<p>And my SATs aren't great either so I kinda threw out the IVYs(cept Cornell).</p>
<p>SAT1: 800M, 630CR, 680W(Study over summer to bring up CR/W to 700 each hopefully if not more.)
SAT2: 800M2c, 760Chem</p>
<p>I go (well actually, went) to TJ too which is why I asked for the GPA. :)</p>
<p>Hmm, so what is that, around a 3.7? UW or W? Weighted would actually be more help.</p>
<p>I think about 3.72 W for Early Decision.. I have the upward trend and difficult classes but at same time that could hurt me.</p>
<p>I will have 34 classes when high school is over with 9 Registered AP classes, 2 Post-AP classes(4 semester), and 3 Unregistered AP self studies.. I think my ECs are strong, but maybe not strong enough to assist my lower GPA. Maybe if I get Intel/Siemens Semi-finalist? I'm pretty sure I can get into CMU's IS program which is the school I'm interested in if I go to CMU. This year, I know one kid for sure who had a 3.70 get into Cornell, but I'm sure he had something going for him. I won't be dissapointed if I go to CMU, but I'd like to play the college admissions game to the best of my abilities. I just had trouble adjusting to TJ and I know I'll do very well wherever I go thanks to my newly found confidence and motivation.</p>
<p>Should I try for Cornell ED1, and then CMU ED2, or just forget about Cornell. I'm thinking about applying EA to Michigan, Chicago, and Maryland as well. Any tips? Maybe ED to Northwestern?</p>
<p>Thanks btw for your help. What school are you attending?</p>
<p>The upward trend is good, but keep in mind it's not as much of a saving grace as some like to think it is. I had an upward trend too, but mine went 3.7-3.9-4.2, so I had a 3.95 ED. And even that ended up hurting me. </p>
<p>A 3.7 W will definitely be hard to overcome at places like Cornell. But, take heart, someone with a 3.7 and decent ECs was accepted RD this year. So give it a shot, but try not to get your hopes up too high. That acceptance was much more a random exception than the norm.</p>
<p>Intel will definitely help, but it's no guarantee. One of my friends was one of TJ's Intel Semis with over a 4.0 GPA and was rejected from JHU. Kind of scary.</p>
<p>Ok, let's see...with this information, I'd cross off the Ivies and the Ivy-equivalents, aside from Cornell. If you like it, you could also try Columbia. Their admissions are really random, and they took someone with your GPA this year. Another long shot, but it may be worth a try.</p>
<p>Chicago, CMU, UVA, and NYU are good matches. You've got a shot at UMich too. </p>
<p>I'm not as familiar with the academic strengths of these schools, but maybe look into places like Emory, Case Western, Notre Dame, and Tufts.</p>
<p>Ah, you just edited. I'm going to put this in a new post since it seems you're checking faster than I'm replying. :p</p>
<p>Hmm, if you really like Cornell, I say give it a shot ED. You have a good chance at Michigan and Chicago EA, and you should be able to get into Maryland RD. Northwestern, however, will be very, very tough. If I'm being brutally honest, I don't think you have much of a shot.</p>
<p>And I'm going to Duke. Sorry for not answering the first time. :)</p>
<p>Ehh no problem. I like brutally honest and I'm not hurt when people tell my chances are low. That's why I'm on this site to begin with: to figure out info to maximize my chances at getting a good education that will help me get on track for a great career. Sounds like a good plan and once again I appreciate your help.</p>
<p>Happy to help. And don't worry too much about your chances being low somewhere, especially when deciding where to apply ED. If you really love the school, block out the nay-sayers and go for it. I applied to an application-burner ED (and unfortunately, got burned) but everything worked out in the end. :) </p>
<p>But of course, I know plenty of people for whom things didn't work out, and they're now resentfully going to UVA. So brace yourself for that sort of thing too. As long as you have a balanced list of matches and safeties (honestly, throw on as many reaches as you want) you will be fine.</p>
<p>Yeah. I'm hoping that one or two admission officers at my reaches will go for my non-black-and-white application. How do you think I should twist my essay? I was thinking about focusing it to my summer research project at NRL, although original ideas would be appreciated. Btw, i don't want to hold you up, so maybe I'll pm you later.</p>
<p>No, it's ok, I'm pretty bored right now. :p</p>
<p>The essay is always very hard to give advice on. Two general rules of thumb are:</p>
<p>1) The topic should be of great significance to you
2) Your essay should reveal a lot about yourself that you would not find anywhere else on the application. Colleges know you're smart. What else do you have to offer?</p>
<p>I especially stress #2. You will probably have space on your application to go into some detail about what your NRL project encompassed. If you still make it the topic of your essay, take care to make sure it focuses on you and the intangibles that make you unique, rather than how great your project was. The essay is where colleges try to look beyond your stats and get a feel for what kind of person you are. </p>
<p>What English class are you taking next year?</p>
<p>I'm in Globalization but thinking about switching into Stegall's AP English Lit w/ Creative Writing Emphasis.</p>
<p>For the purposes of college admissions, I'd recommend Mrs. Stegall's class (which is AP English Lang, btw). You spend a good chunk of the first quarter workshopping at least two college essays. Mrs. Stegall has been doing this for years, and she knows the name of the game right down to school's individual quirks (e.g. MIT likes academically-oriented essays). If you take her class, you can at least be confident that no school will reject you because of a weak essay.</p>
<p>Grade-wise, it's also pretty easy. Do the work and you'll get an A.</p>
<p>I had some friends who were in Globalization, but they switch the teachers around every year so I can't say much on it.</p>
<p>aside from the other schools mentioned, i would reccomend...</p>
<p>reaches: u penn, u chicago, berkeley, northwestern, duke
matches: nyu, usc, u michigan-ann arbor
safety: anything that ranks below these</p>