Chance DS for CS! [IL resident, 3.9 UW, 1540 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics: Asian Indian, US Citizen, Ilinois, Public HS

Intended Major(in order) : CS, CS +, CE

GPA : 3.9 UW

Course Work :

Math: Multivariable Calculus(DE), AP Calc BC, AP CS Principles, AP Java
Science: AP Physics C, AP Physics 1 & 2, AP Bio, Chemistry Honors, Bio Honors
Other APs: AP Psych, AP Macro, AP US History, AP World, AP Gov,

Test Scores :
SAT -1540. Superscore-1570
Mostly 5’s in all the AP exams except a couple.

ECS :
Eagle Scout, National Honor Society in Scouting(OA), NHS, Tri M Music Honor Society,App development, Harvard Computer Classes,Chess (State competitions through High school), BPA,Varsity Tennis, First Dan Blackbelt Taekwondo, Science Bowl, Recreational Music Vocal and Piano.

Volunteers to teach younger belts with his Taekwondo Master and serves the school as a Math Tutor.

Awards: Eagle Scout, Arrowmen ( NHS for Scouting), Black Belt in Karate, National Merit Commendable Scholar,AP Scholar (2022 exam cycle) & AP Scholar with Distinction (2023 exam cycle),

Essays and LOR: Good reccomendations from the teachers. Good essays.

Cost Constraints: flexible though Merit will be an added bonus.

Safety: UIC,Loyola, Depaul.
Target: UIUC,Purdue, Ohio State, UW Madison, Michigan Ann Arbor

High Reach: UT Austin, MIT, Cal Tech, Georgia Tech, Berkeley, Cornell, CMU, Stanford.

I know that we have a quite a few “High Reach” colleges but want to try and see. Highschool is not that competitive. No ranking in our school district. Great recommendations from the teachers. No research papers or paid internships which could be a negative one in his profile but there was absolutely no time due to Scouting and other ECs. We wanted him to be an Eagle before he loses a chance to become one.

He is my first child. Figuring things out for UG admissions as immigrants. Both of us went to Grad school here but UG admissions is a totally different ball game :slight_smile:

Have a great day !!

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Regarding Purdue, here is a link the the Purdue Data Digest: https://www.purdue.edu/datadigest/ . Look at the links for “Applications, Admits, and Matriculations,” and “New First-Time Beginner Profile”; I think that you would be competitive for admission there, although of course no guarantees.

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Thank you so much. Keeping our fingers crossed.

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Regarding Berkeley

The UCs do not look at test scores

OOS students can expect to pay $75K/yr with little to no merit

The UCs do not use the Common App. Their application is a very different format. It is not easy (nor advisable) to copy and paste info from the Common App onto the UC application.

Is it worth the time and effort for just one high reach, high $$ campus?

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I don’t like when people say flexible but merit would be a bonus - and then you apply to schools with no merit. Are you able and WILLING to pay $400K over four years? Otherwise, you need a budget and to remove schools that don’t offer merit assuming you don’t qualify for aid.

Your safeties are safe.

Your targets - I think only OSU and UW are.

The others are reaches.

As long as you are ok with the safeties and Ohio State, I think your list is fine - because you can only go to one.

If you want lower cost, you can head South like more than 1500 Illinoisans do - you’d be $20K a year all in at Alabama.

PS - given you have MIT, you might add RPI - and ask about the RPI Medal program.

Good luck.

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When I said “added bonus” it means that merit is nice to have.We won’t qualify for need based aid.

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Hmm. Thinking

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I know what you are saying - but you have to decide - if school is $380K - are you “comfortable” - because there are schools you can go for $80K.

That’s a tough statement.

I’m full pay but set a budget - because while I could have paid full, I wasn’t willing. My daughter got into a top LAC but it was $31K over the budget. They offered merit but she earned none. So it came off the list - no discussion.

When you make a statement like that - college is pricey. If you’re willing to pay and will not second guess, than it’s no issue.

But when you make a statement like that it gives me pause.

And that’s why I suggested a few others.

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Ok, sounds fair.

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I think your son’s profile is very impressive. I expect him to get into at least one high reach. I would think about another top private university rather than UT Austin. UT Austin is terrific, esepcially for CS, but with the way they are geared towards in-state students, I think the time and effort is better spent on another university. I hope you come back and update us with the results.

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Yes, we always like to hear “the rest of the story”!

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delete - was meant to PM response

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Xxx

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Collegevine is notoriously overly optimistic.

If the OP’s school uses Naviance that is a better source of info. If not, look at the common data sets for each school on the list.

For schools with an under 25% acceptance rate, we considered those all reaches no matter where my D fell in the stats. Similarly, we were very conservative with what we considered a safety - over 75/80% acceptance rate AND where her stats were over the 75th percentile.

Too many aren’t realistic with their safeties and targets, especially for competitive majors. Collegevine doesn’t help that situation ; )

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In my view (having helped a lot of CS applicants), CollegeVine’s chancing isn’t accurate for very high stats kids. It overestimates chances and even schools that are true reaches show up as targets. It’s also pretty useless for highly selective schools that look at many factors beyond stats.

I also have to disagree that women applicants have 3x better chances - this is simply not true at the highly sought after CS schools (both private and public), with the notable exception of CMU.

(ETA: cross posted with @momofboiler1)

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I would reclassify these as follows:

Safety: Ohio State
Target: Purdue, UW Madison
Reach: UIUC, UMich

If you’re looking for additional suggestions, let us know.

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Xxx

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