Asian American Race to get into a Top CS Program

Applying to College
1

Hello all,
I am currently a Junior at an average high school which is quite suburban, but the school has great materials if you have a drive to get something done.
This being said, I have been trying my hardest to make myself competitive for top CS programs as an Asian American (10x harder)
I have some hiccups here and there, WHICH I AM MOST WORRIED ABOUT (C in one chemistry class, A few Bs in maybe english, spanish, or history) but I have always received high A’s in math with a very challenging course load, and am still around top 5% of my class. I have also scored an 800 on the SAT Math section, with a 1490 overall (will retake)
I am working my tail off this year with 5 aps (including Physics C and Calc BC) and I have been taking math and CS APs since Freshman Year. Overall my UW GPA is around 3.8

ECs:
-Trained a group of students freshman year in preparation for making a computer science club freshman year. With a lot of leadership, advertising, and convincing, I was able to attract around 30 members for this thriving club (I am founder and president). We go to a lot of competitions, and we have always placed top 3 at each one (Lockheed Martin’s CodeQuest and District Wide competitions) We aren’t doing anything crazy like Olympiad’s, but it is fair to say I have established a culture of CS at a once dry school (in terms of CS) and can hopefully write a compelling essay about our many accomplishments
This i believe is the biggest aspect of my application as it actually has had a huge impact at our school and is admired and encouraged by all my teachers and principles, we are considered one of the most successful student run clubs at our school and have only been around for a couple of years

-Starting striker for one of the top travel soccer teams in my competitive state. Compete for state title every year. Would play school but the coach doesn’t allow me to miss as much as I would have to, to run the CS club (all years of HS)

-Have served as a member of Student Government since Freshman year (positions are interchangeable, so president isn’t really a thing in our government) The elections for these are pretty cut throat, and around 20 people run each year for 5 positions (I received the most votes for this year)

-Have a lot of volunteer hours and have raised over $1000 for an organization for back home on Youth Learning

-Doing research with a professor at a community college and am in the process of being second author on an established research paper which may be presented at a world conference (how valuable is this?)

-Received an A on an intro C++ course over the summer at a local college

-Published multiple font page articles in the school newspaper (include one about my club and one about the organization from back home in which many teachers reached out and donated money for)

-Involved in recruiting a new Supervisor for my district (advocating STEM) and have close ties with the head of the math department of our school (writes articles about us in the newspaper for the comp sci club… could probably get a decent letter of rec)

Apologize for all the stuff, better to provide more info than not enough!

2

Some schools I have been looking into:
(Please tell me what my chances are looking like and maybe some suggestions to apply elsewhere, I am from the EAST COAST)

  • UCLA
  • NYU
  • Penn
  • USC
  • UMich
  • Lehigh CSB
  • UVA
  • UT Austin
  • Cornell
3

There are a lot of universities in the US that are very good at computer science. Computer science is also an area where “prestige” doesn’t matter much, and going to a very good school will get you to the same place as going to a very tippy top school. I think that your C would not help you for MIT or Stanford, but either would be a stretch even if you had straight A’s and there is no need to go to either. As an example, to the limited extent that I work at all (I am mostly retired) I work with software engineers from MIT, UMass Amherst, UNH, IIT, and many other schools. No one cares where you went to school as long as you know what you are doing.

Personally it looks to me that you are solidly on track to go to a very good university with a very good CS program.

What state are you in? Does your state flagship have a good computer science program? What can you afford?

4

I’m from Pennsylvania, and it probably doesn’t hurt to mention that I have an older brother that goes to UPenn (I have been an assistant biochemistry researcher with him over the summer at a prestigious lab, forgot to mention that)

Our state flagship for CS is definitely Carnegie Mellon, but I have kissed that CS program goodbye because I have not been programming since the age of 3.

What do you constitute as a “very good” school? I too thought through this because I believe networking is one of my strong points (I’m social but I don’t like to study hours on end) so going to a pretty decent top 25 would be sufficient?

5

“so going to a pretty decent top 25 would be sufficient?”

Sufficient, yes definitely. Probably not necessary.

I would say that UMass Amherst would be fine – we hire lots of graduates from there. There are many other good choices. Unfortunately I am not familiar with schools in Pennsylvania, but I expect there are others on CC who are.

6

What is your opinion on Tufts, BC, and other Massachusetts schools? I’m willing to pay a decent amount of money (40k tuition) if it means a great college experience with lots of connections

7

Just apply to programs that don’t care about your race, or ones where Asians are underrepresented. You have good enough stats for admission to all but a few ultra-selective colleges. Maybe add Purdue and Georgia Tech to your list.

8

$40,000 tuition, or $40,000 total? Have you run the net price calculators on the various colleges’ web sites to see whether they will be affordable?

UCLA and UT Austin are admission reaches for out-of-state CS majors, and financial super-reaches for significant scholarships if you are not able to pay list price.

9

I had a discussion on this forum a while ago about good colleges that don’t discriminate against Asians. Check it out:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2024189-colleges-where-asians-dont-pay-a-penalty-p1.html

I think most universities on the east coast has an Asian quota, while universities on the west coast don’t. If you want top CS schools, look at the UCs, UWashington, Caltech, etc. At least your Asian race won’t put you in a disadvantage.

BTW, I’m surprised that you have UCLA on your list but not UC Berkeley and UC San Diego. From my researches, UCB has the best CS program. UCLA, UCSD, and UCSB are similar and half a step behind UCB.

10

UMich has 15% Asian. UC have even more. It is pretty much the case at most top schools. Your GPA would be more an issue than your race though. However, it will be viewed in the context of your school. Being in the top 5% of your class suggests a tough grading curve at your school and may rescue your GPA. SAT 1490 would be among average applicants to these top schools and they have low admission rates.

11

I was considering UCB but it would probably be as hard to get in from PA as Carnegie is. I have listed schools I believe I would have a chance at with a little bit of luck, good essays, and decent recs

12

One of the reasons I put university of Southern California on my list is because they offer lots of money to national merits, I have not received news as to if I have placed yet, but 1460+ on the PSAT is well within my reach, so if I were to become a finalist, I would try very hard to get money from USC and put it within financial range

13

U of Maryland - College Park? Son’s friend is a sophomore CS major and enjoying it, though very challenging.

14

Your list is good, I’d look at Purdue, Maryland as others have mentioned, their OOS cost is less than other public universities and Illinois. You need a safety as well - maybe PSU or Pitt? Also state flagship typically means the most prestigious in-state public school, not private, so guessing that’s PSU here. Also you need to figure out if you want to do CS in an Arts and Science college or EECS in the engineering college (more difficult to get admission). Good luck!

15

Just an FYI, CMU isn’t a state flagship. In fact it isn’t even a public university.

16

You could look at Canadian universities. Race is not considered in admissions. UBC, Waterloo, and University of Toronto are ranked in the top 30 in the world for computer science. Cost of attendance is about $40K USD. Waterloo has an excellent co-op program that places many students in Silicon Valley.

17

@ad28lt21rb Look man I’m in a similar situation as well and I’m an Asian male with very similar ec’s and high sats but a low gpa. Mine is actually a little worse than yours at a 3.78. I even got a c in AP physics this semester. I too prefer math and computer science to mechanics and chemistry. However, I truly believe that exceptional ec’s (no awards necessary) and sufficient signs of academic prowess can overshadow a c. It may have some impact but probably not too much as long as it’s not a consistent pattern. Look, I’m pretty much getting bashed on these forums and being called a “c student” and being told to look at “average universities” simply because of one c. 80% of your grades are still A’s. A Harvard admissions officer once told me that they simply check your stats to see if you’re prepared to do the work and if so you move onto the next round and they evaluate your ec’s, recs, and essays to differentiate among candidates and everyone who makes it to the second round is on the same playing field. One hiccup will not get you automatically rejected. You will find that people on these forums will bash you and try to stir you away from ivies in favor of less prestigious schools. They’re cranky old people who have nothing better to do with their lives. I doubt many of them even got into an ivy and are trying to spread their pain.

Also, being Asian might impact you a bit for the tippy top of schools but they’re getting sued for this. I have huge respect for the uc’s and caltech for not considering race.

If you would like a collaborator from California, feel free to PM me. :slight_smile:

18

I am a parent in CA, and I can tell you it’s very, very hard to get into a Comp Sci programs at UCLA, Berkeley or even UCSD. It’s because there are too many qualified Asian American students applying to these schools. Seriously consider Honors Colleges at some top schools as back-ups.

19

Similar institutions often compete in the same athletic conference. If you are interested in CMU, you might also want to look at Case Western and U. of Rochester as backups. They are high-quality schools where admissions is not as cut-throat as CMU.

20

@websensation uc’s don’t use race in admissions. It’s actually illegal. How else can you explain 50%+ Asian populations at these campuses? I’ve lived next to ucsd for almost 10 years and find urm’s pretty rare. But I think being oos will hurt more.

Also, do you know what exactly the acceptance rates are for ucsd/ucla comp sci and cse and maybe ee as a backup? I couldn’t find these for direct freshman admits, only for undeclared admitted students. I know they take undeclared and that it’s very hard to transfer in even with a 4.0 gpa. How hard is it to get a similar major to computer science if you get undeclared? I hear they have something called math and computer science but I’m unsure. Also, what are the selection criteria for freshman applicants to these programs? They don’t use the points system anymore so it’s harder to predict my chances. But I doubt it’s as unpredictable as the ivies. My uw gpa is a bit on the low side and includes a c but my sat scores and ec’s are fine.

But I will say that the 36% acceptance rate at ucsd probably makes it pretty easy to get into for anyone who’s willing to do undeclared.