Chance Me For College But I am A Weak Candidate [DE resident, 3.6 GPA, top 10% rank, 1340 SAT, computer science]

Demographics

  • US Citizen
  • Delaware
  • Public School (Avg GPA: >3.5 & SAT: 944)
  • Household Income 200k+

Intended Major: Computer Science

GPA - I had family problems going on Freshman year and explained that in my app

  • Freshman: 3.2 UW & 3.4 W
  • Sophomore: 3.6 UW & 4.14 W
  • Junior: 3.86 UW & 4.57 W
  • Senior: 4.0 UW & 5.0 W

Cummaltive GPA: 3.6 UW & 4.28 W

Weighting System:

  • Honors - 0.5+
  • AP/Dual Enrollment - 1.0+
  • “A” 4.0
  • “A-” 3.7
  • “B+” 3.3
  • “B” 3.0

Class Rank: na/77 (I am top 10%)
Test Scores: 1340 (Prob gonna go test optional)

Freshman Yr -

  • Yearbook/Journalism 1 (A-)
  • Honors English 9 (B+)
  • Honors Algebra 2 (B)
  • Honors Biology (B-)
  • Greek Language 1 (B)
  • Honors Global Civics (B-)
  • Physical Education (A)
  • Intro to Media Arts (A)
  • Exploring Computer Science (C+)

Sophomore Yr -

  • Honors English 10 (A)
  • Honors Chemistry (A)
  • Greek Language 2 (B+)
  • AP Human Geography (A-)
  • Honors World History (B+)
  • Health Spring (A)
  • AP Computer Science Principles (B+)

Junior Yr -

  • Dual Enrollment Entrepreneurship (A)
  • AP Lang (A)
  • AP Pre - Calc (A)
  • Honors Physics (A-)
  • Honors Greek Language 3 (A)
  • AP Computer Science A (B+)
  • Human Growth & Development (A)

Senior Yr -

  • Dual Enrollment English 12 (A)
  • AP World (A)
  • AP Calc AB (A)
  • AP Gov & Pol (A)
  • AP African American (A)
  • AP Environmental Science (A)
  • Dual Enrollment US History (A)

Awards - They lowkey suck

  • Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award
  • 1st Place in Audio Podcasting (State Award for TSA)
  • 2nd Place in Digital Video Production (State Award for TSA)
  • 3rd Place in Chapter team (State Award for TSA)
  • Student Athlete (Maintain a GPA >3.75 while playing a varsity-level sport)

Extracurriculars

  1. Assitant Researcher at a local Uni on muscle segmentation and automated medical imaging tasks. Paper Published & was paid 3k.
  2. Research Intern studied neural responses to visual stimuli and improved brain models for experience.
  3. Vice-President of TSA Chapter led meetings; won awards; raised funds; helped peers.
  4. Co-Founder of my school science olympiad club placed high; organized and led meetings.
  5. Passion for project on sustainable energy sources. I presented in front of the YASS organization, which consisted of billionaires and state senators, and got an interview.
  6. I am a part of the workshop committee for the Youth Environmental Summit, where I am presenting my sustainable energy project.
  7. Part-time job at the YMCA as a camp counselor, soccer coach, and referee, supervising kids, teaching them how to read, and managing daily activities.
  8. Treasurer in Student council, organizing events, managing funds, and representing the student body
  9. Wrote/edited articles and designed graphics for School Newspaper
  10. I played varsity soccer in high school.

Personal Statement Essay: It’s about how I grew from an immature and depressed person freshman year to a happy and mature person. (8/10)

Rec Letters

  • Computer Science Teacher: I have been with her since freshman year in computer science, so she has seen me grow and mature. Additionally, I am a part of the TSA & Student Council, where I hold a leadership position and she is the advisor. (8/10)
  • Professor: I was the first student he had worked with in almost 10 years, and he was highly impressed with my capabilities. I have demonstrated my knowledge of coding and computers. (9/10)
  • Math Teacher: I had him for 2 years, and me and I bonded together really well and had a great time. He knows how much work I put in and highlighted that, but nothing extraordinary. (8/10)

Schools-

  1. Boston University
  2. Case Western Reserve University
  3. Northwestern University
  4. University of Delaware
  5. University of Florida
  6. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  7. University of Maryland
  8. University of Michigan
  9. University of Notre Dame
  10. University of Southern California
  11. University of Virginia
  12. Vanderbilt University
  13. Virginia Tech
  14. University of California, Berkeley
  15. University of California, Los Angeles
  16. University of California, Irvine
  17. University of California, San Diego

Please give me realistic outcomes. I have tried my hardest and had excellent college counseling throughout this process. I believe all my essays, rec letters, and ECs are up to par, but my GPA is just something they won’t be able to look past. I am scared that they won’t even consider the rest of my application based on the SAT and GPA threshold.

Where any of the schools test optional that you applied to? Unfortunately, CS is one of the toughest majors, so even if you are in the average range of acceptance to the school, it will be harder to get into CS.

You say you had excellent college counseling, yet I don’t see any targets or safties on your list. It’s very reachy. I think you have the best chance at UDel and VT TO.

Do you have cost constraints? If so, have you used the net price calculator on each college’s web site?

Admission readers at colleges with holistic review may wonder why a student applying as a computer science major has a record of computer science courses being the ones with the lowest grades.

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Well, the UCs are test blind and don’t include freshman year in their GPA calculations (OP, have you calculated your UC GPAs - there are three). However, the admit rate for CS for the UCs listed is very low, making them all reaches. But you never know.

Honestly, maybe Delaware and possibly Maryland. But I think the others are reaches. You should include a few more targets and safeties.

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I will only address the UC’s for CS. As noted they are test blind and do not consider Mid-year Senior grades in their admissions decision. The UC’s calculate their UC GPA’s for admission based on 10-11th grades only with for the UC a-g course requirements and as an OOS applicant only AP/IB or UC Transferable DE courses are weighted in the calculation.

Here is the calculator: GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub

Below is some statistical data so you can determine where you stand as an applicant.

Overall Campus OOS admit rates not major specific:
UC Berkeley: 7.8%
UCLA: 8.6%
UC San Diego: 31.8%

CS admit rates and UC GPA ranges:

Campus CS
UC Berkeley 1.9%/ UC Capped weighted GPA 4.20-4.30 Campus UC unweighted 3.89-4.00 Campus Weighted uncapped 4.31-4.65
UCLA 4.1% / Capped weighted GPA 4.25-4.32 Campus UC unweighted 3.90-4.00 CS Weighted Uncapped 4.66-4.92
UC San Diego Estimated 12% Selective Major /UC Capped weighted GPA 4.19-4.31 Campus UC Unweighted 3.84-4.00
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There are still schools that are accepting applications. This is a list of schools, some of whom have a 2/1 deadline, some that extend further into the spring. You have time to add on some schools that are affordable and where your scores and grades will give you a better shot.

Maybe Colorado State? $57k; although their deadline was Jan. 15th, their site says they will keep accepting applications on a rolling basis. Your GPA is roughly middle of the pack, and their 75th percentile SAT was 1280, so you’d be competitive there.

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You’ve not heard back from anywhere yet? Some of these have already given decisions.

944 - is that even possible? Aren’t all SATs on the 10 point scale?

Any budget concerns?

You are likely full pay but that doesn’t mean your family will be willing to pay in full.

You have a shot at Delaware - and that’s it - in my opinion.

Some of these are out already - so what were the decisions?

There are many fine schools you can still apply and get into - Alabama, UAH, Mississippi State, otehr SEC schools, and others as well…WVU and some directionals and many more.

Not sure the criteria you used but this list doesn’t seem to match your profile.

Best of luck.

Colorado State is test optional.
Others to consider:
University of Kentucky
UMass Lowell
University of Iowa (you can apply tonight and get a decision based on your RAI)

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Sorry, not Maryland. It’s a top 20 CS school (per USNWR rankings), and is therefore very competitive for CS. I know a student with much stronger stats who was rejected yesterday.

Which brings up a question - OP, are you a senior? Shouldn’t you have heard back from most of these schools already? Or are you applying RD?

Delaware - yes, that should work out

Also look into Drexel and NJIT.

Hopefully, you applied EA to all the schools that have it and have heard back from those by now. I agree with others that this is a very difficult list and you should finds some schools still accepting applications.

UD might be it (great school btw, my high stats oos daughter attended with good merit).

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University of Maryland releases their early action decisions today. If you didn’t reply early action, this school is an even bigger reach as they fill most of their entering freshman class in the early round.

Did you apply early action to Delaware? Those decisions were supposedly released yesterday.

Did you apply early decision anywhere it was offered…or are all of your applications regular decision.

I didn’t realize the difficulty of getting into UMD Comp Sci. I guess that’s why indicated possibly. But considering the other schools, that’d be the next possibility other than Delaware.

I don’t see OP getting into UMD any major. I think Va Tech more likely but not happening either unless potentially TO. .

OP will have time to add others if UDel doesn’t happen or they want more choice.

Good luck to them.

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Yes, unfortunately the SAT score is well below UMD’s 25th percentile (and that’s including all majors and both in state and out of state).

I hope OP is able to apply to colleges that are much more likely and still accepting applications. Tagging @AustenNut for guidance.

Oh there’s many. But we’d need to know I’m what OP was looking for - but schools like WVU, Alabama, UAH, Ms State, Arkansas, Kentucky, Murray State, W Carolina and really tons.

In your December thread, you shared this:

In this thread you indicated:

How did your SAT score drop? Even if you took the test and your score dropped, most colleges just consider your best result and/or will superscore (i.e. take your best score for each segment even if it was over multiple testing dates).

Additionally, you received a significant amount of advice on the prior thread, nearly all of which indicated that your lists were extremely reach heavy and that you needed to find some likelier admits. After seeing your initial attempt to revise your college list, I even gave you this advice:

Based on the list you shared today, you didn’t care for the advice. But as far as chancing you, I think U. of Delaware is a likely admit and that the other schools on your list are either a lower or low probability admit, depending on whether you’ve scored a 1450 on your SAT.

U. of Delaware is a great school that can provide you with a wonderful education. If you would be happy to attend there, that’s great. But before trying to research any other options that are still accepting applications, do you want any other options @Johnnytest3498 or would you not consider an option that’s not a “Top 20” as you said in your previous thread:

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