Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Small Private School
Female, Asian
Current junior
Cost Constraints / Budget
None
Intended Major(s)
CS, CS + Stats
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores (Since I’m currently still a junior, I put in pretty accurate estimations for final GPA + SAT scores)
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.9~4.0
Weighted HS GPA: School doesn’t have one
Class Rank: None
ACT/SAT Scores: 1530+ (Estimated)
List your HS coursework
(Most of these are classes I’m currently taking or will take senior year)
English: AP Lit, AP Lang
Math: AP BC Calc, AP Stat, AP Precalc (5), Multivariable Calc
Science: AP Physics Mech, AP E&M, AP Chem
History and social studies: APUSH, AP Gov (Both), AP Art History
Other academic courses: AP Econ, APCSA (5), APCSP(5), Independent Study with Teacher about AI
Awards
FBLA state + regionals winner x2, National merit semifinalist (predicted due to high PSAT score), School Team CS Contest state winner
Extracurriculars
Co-Leader of FBLA (3 years), President of CS Club (3 years), VP of Asian Union (2 years, predicted to become President senior year), Co-Founder of Girls Who Code (3 years), designed ML website currently in use by biggest club in school, summer job at small local coding ”academy” (10th grade)
Essays/LORs/Other
LOR1- 9/10 - CS Advisor
LOR2- 7/10 Physics Teacher
Also looking for recc’s on what I can do to strengthen my current application! Searching for some summer programs that will be good for my college app.
I’ve got an idea of some colleges I want to apply to but I would love to be matched as well. I truly don’t mind location or school spirit, just looking for colleges that will secure a stable job in CS in the future! List is not organized in reach, target, safeties as it’s definitely still variable to change, but it’s pretty evident which are which.
I think one thing that drags my app down is that I took Calc BC in my junior year, while most of my peers took it their sophomore year.
Students who apply to schools such as those you have selected for CS also may like Rice.
Harvey Mudd is excellent for CS, and may represent a slightly less challenging admit than the geographically similar Caltech.
As another purely undergraduate-focused college, look into Hamilton, which will offer “best in class technologies and resources” in CS on completion of its new CS building.
Within the Midwest, consider Carleton for its excellent CS and mathematics programs.
I can’t chance you but agree this list is comprised of all reaches. It’s ok to apply to some reaches of course, but you should add some targets and highly likelies.
Beyond applying to EA at UIUC, be sure to apply EA to any school that offers that round of admission.
You are going to need at least one affordable highly likely/safety school…have you identified that school yet? What state do you live in? Do you have budget constraints/do you qualify for any need based aid? Make sure to run the net price calculators at all the schools on your list to get cost estimates if you do have budget constraints, here’s northwestern’s: https://npc.collegeboard.org/app/northwestern
Expect the public schools on your list (UIUC, UMich, Purdue, Berkeley) to cost full price.
But you don’t have to do any of these. Spend time doing what you like to do…maybe tutoring (paid or volunteer) or a job appeal to you more. I encourage you to get some volunteer work in, whether it’s related to CS or not (maybe there’s already some in the activities you listed.)
Other schools you might look at RPI (gender imbalanced), and since you have UIUC and Michigan, Ohio State, UMN, and Wisconsin. Or for strength in both areas UMD.
Of course you need to deliver on the SAT. Estimates are nice but do need to see a reality.
You need the most important school - an assured safety. You have none.
Be mindful of the EA deadlines! Schools like Purdue fill the bulk of their class in EA so waiting for RD makes it much more difficult.
I agree that this is a reachy list for CS but keep up the good work with your grades, course rigor, and study for the SAT. If you can hit that 1530+, you will be competitive.
I’d also recommend finding more likely schools to add to your list an also thinking about what you’d really like in a school. Your list of schools have very different cultures and focuses.
If you like the big state schools, look into tsbna44’s recommendation above.
If you like privates like CMU, I’d also second RPI.
Privates like Northwestern that are easier admits - Lehigh, Case Western…
And be sure to have a true safety school just in case as CS is a very competitive major.
Thank you all so much for the helpful resources and tips (will definitely be looking into more safeties + targets)!! I estimated my SAT based on my college board practice tests, where I had a range of [1560-1600] on all of them, and just took off points because I heard they were easier than the real ones!