Will I get into any of my reach schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

[this is a repost with small changes]

Hi everyone,

I would like to know if I have a realistic chance of getting into any of my reach schools!

About me:
I currently live in a very competitive school district in Northern Virginia.

Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese)
Gender: Male
Hooks: 1st Generation College Student (parents did not attend college and immigrated; from China, however my older sister attended an ivy league for her undergrad and is currently an MBA candidate at a T5 school)

Unweighted GPA: 3.92
class rank: 10 out of 417

SAT: 1570

AP’s taken: AP Compsci (5), AP WH (5), AP Lang (5), AP Micro (5), AP Macro (5), AP Psych (5), AP Physics: M (4), AP Calc BC (4)

Grades: A’s in all courses except AP Econ and AP Lang, which were B+s

SAT Math II: 790
SAT Physics: 710 (retaking, ~760 projected)

Current senior year schedule
Multivariable Calculus
AP Chemistry
AP Biology
Computer Science Research
AP Literature
AP US and Comparative Government

ECs:
Debate team - policy captain (3rd year).

  • 3x best speaker awards, 1x third place speaker award, 3rd place regionals, went to states, quarterfinalist/2nd place prelims at a national tournament, 1st place at a local tournament
    I also placed in the top half at the National Debate Tournament last year

Robotics team - sponsorship officer (3rd year), mechanical engineer (4th year)

Competitive Programming Team member

Hackathon planning committee member - volunteered extensively over the year to plan the first hackathon in the county over 200 students attended). Continuing this year.

Science National Honor Society/Mu Alpha Theta/NHS/Computer Science Honor Society

Last year conducted a research project focused on building a sign-language translator using CNNs (~89% accuracy rate on test data containing letters in sign). Current research project is about creating a simulation that optimizes vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication between autonomous vehicles.

STEM Awards:
I won an award at an innovation challenge sponsored by my school and a local company (design challenge had to do with improving scoliosis brace design)

I also won an award in leadership at an engineering summer academy at the University of Michigan (created a small, autonomous robot that traversed everyday traffic scenarios)

I was accepted into the VA Summer Residential Governor’s School for Math, Science, and Technology but did not attend. Instead, I spent my summer at a large company (not-for-profit, supports several US government agencies) as a cyber intern conducting machine learning research regarding insider threat detection within networks.

Auditioned and got into both the All-county orchestra and the Regional Orchestra as a Violist.

I was also a LEGO EV3 robotics instructor for kids during the summer after 9th and 10th grade.

My list is focused on schools with top CS/engineering programs. I am most likely applying as a CS major at these schools. Any chances?

Reach:
Cornell (ED)
UC Berkeley (L&S) and UCLA (I know the financial aid is virtually nonexistent out of state)
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Michigan
Georgia Tech
Northwestern
University of Chicago
University of Pennsylvania (secondary legacy)
Rice University

Target:
University of Virginia
Virginia Tech
William and Mary

Safety:
George Mason

2

Is Cornell the Ivy your sister went to? If so, that well help in ED.

3

They are considered “reach” schools because you have a much lower chance of being accepted than of being rejected. So, while you are decently competitive for all of your reaches, far more competitive kids are rejected than are accepted. You are more likely than not to be rejected from every one of your reaches.

However, if you can afford to apply to all of them, go for it. I’m pretty sure that, if you are accepted to any of them, you’ll do really well.

One piece of advice - drop U Chicago if you are looking to major in CS/engineering. I would also say to drop UPenn for the same reach. I’m not sure that secondary legacy status is much a boost, especially RD.

4

@tdy123 She went to UPenn. I was thinking of applying to Cornell ED due to their strong CS program

5

@MWolf Thanks for the advice! I will take your advice regarding school choice into consideration

6

You have your sister’s experience.

Your school has all of the college counseling resources (including Naviance), and you know the people who got into those programs from your school over the last couple of years- and you know how you stand in context.

You are mathy enough to understand that if 10% are accepted, 90% are rejected.

Your post indicates that you are smart enough to know that you have ticked all the boxes and are therefore a competitive applicant. As are the majority of the other people applying to those programs.

As far as I can tell, you aren’t asking a question: you are asking for affirmation and reassurance. Once your essays are written, you are done. Send in your apps, and go find something to distract yourself until mid-December.