Art Student to Ivies and Stanford

Chance Me / Match Me
1

I’m a rising senior focused on visual arts but have recently discovered an interest in business and computer science. If you help me or have suggestions, I greatly appreciate it :slight_smile:

Colleges: Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Stanford, William & Mary, University of Virginia, Columbia

Academic:
SAT (new): 720/730 = 1450 (Convert to old = 2080)
Weighted GPA: 4.34
APs offered at school: 26

Sophomore -
Advanced Orchestra
AP Statistics
AP Drawing
AP World History
Chemistry HN
Chinese 3
English HN
PE Online

Junior -
AP 2D Design
AP Capstone
AP English Lan
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
Chinese 4
Human Anatomy
US History HN

Senior -
AP Lit Online
AP Physics 1
AP US Govt
AP Comp Sci A
Entrepreneurship (Dual Enrollment)
AP Research
AP Art History
Precalc Online

Awards:
Scholastic Art & Writing 2015: 3 Regional Gold Keys, National American Vision Medal
Columbia University Association 2015 1st Place Gold Circle Award: Digital Illustration
YoungArts 2016 Merit Award
Scholastic 2016: Regional ( 3 Silver Keys, 4 Gold Keys, American Vision ) National ( Gold Medal, Silver Medal )
USHCC Foundation BizFest Competition 2nd Place
Congressional Competition 2016 3rd Place
Herndon Tech Arts: Animation 1st Place; Digital Art 2nd Place

Personal Projects:
“Suppressed” Video Game >800 hours invested
-Greenlit on Steam
-Featured on: Game Jolt, Siliconera, IndieGames, Nivel Oculto, Baixaki, Heise online, ego.fm, FreeGamePlanet, Screenshot Daily, A Momentary Pause

"Dreamt" Animation Film
-2016 Phantascope Film Festival Finalist
-SLO International Film Festival
-All American High School Film Festival

Activities:
All State Band and Orchestra 2014 2015
Contribution to UCLA's iNeuro Project 2015
Medical Waste Presentation at Pulitzer Center 2015
Foreign Aid Presentation at Department of Education 2016
Visual Arts Governor’s School 2016
~90 hours as volunteer in Glen Echo Park Fine Arts Workshop
Glen Echo Solo Art Show 

I'm planning on putting an art supplement (when possible) - some art examples are at <a href="http://zephy0.deviantart.com/gallery/">http://zephy0.deviantart.com/gallery/</a>. I'm worried that my poor SAT score, lack of math, & work experience will diminish my application.
2

Bump.

3

in state for wm and uva?

4

Only having Precalc and Physics I for Com Sci will hurt you a lot. No matter how good your art is (which looks great!), it’s almost impossible for you to get in. Even at MIT, the lowest possible math course you can take is around AP Calc BC.

5

What about Washington & Lee?

6

@Flurite Yes :smiley:

@Byteman Hm yeah I was thinking the same. I initially wanted to go on an art-only career path so I avoided taking extraneous math courses. What kind of colleges should I be aiming for then?

@ClarinetDad16 Never considered before since it’s private (no in-state benefits). It seems interesting… do you think it’s a match?

7

Unsure that Byteman is correct in saying that “Only having Precalc and Physics I for Com Sci will hurt you a lot. . . Even at MIT, the lowest possible math course you can take is around AP Calc BC.”

But I will say that taking Precalc online is a major mistake if you want to be a CS major. I don’t think schools respect online classes and CS is math focused. That’s why the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) majors do CS. The math SAT score could offset it, however, because it shows you have aptitude for math. And you did take AP Stats. But you will be competing with STEM majors in your applications, and there just aren’t enough slots to go around if your application lacks solid math.

My son is a CS major who had a solid application and he was declined at many schools simply because CS is an incredibly competitive major. He took AP Calc AB at a college prep school and said that it prepared him well for Calc in college—he would have struggled a lot if he hadn’t taken it in high school.

You should consider gaining admission via your art background and portfolio. Usually for this major, the portfolio is most important and other stats are second priority to admissions. Then get a CS minor. If you want to change your major later to CS, then you can, depending on the school. Getting a BA in CS has much easier requirements than getting a BS in CS, so consider that if you change majors. Still, CS is a very challenging major anyway you slice it and it appears your strength is in art, not math.

USC and UCLA should be options for you.