chance me for top 20 CS schools

Chance Me / Match Me
1

I’ll be applying next year,

Hooks:
Male, half african/eastern-european, very low-income household. Major: Comp Sci, Eng, or Math.

GPA: Unweighted 4.0 (Will maintain), weighted is much higher (not sure on numbers yet)
SAT: 1590, 800 Math, 790 English, Physics 800 ,ACT: 36, (Both tests are first attempt)
Rank: 1 (Would be shocked if not, top 1% lol)
AP classes:
All 5’s prediction
Calc BC, AP Physics 1, AP Computer Science P, Physics 2, Chemistry, US History, World History, US Gov,

Senior Course: AP Lit, Stat, Macro, Micro, Biology, Comp, Also will be doing Linear Algebra/Calc 3 nearby at my local college (Been self-studying textbooks and even working ahead into differential equations/abstract algebra & have a solid understanding of proofs).

Extras:
State 400m finalist, 200m finalist (5th) track & field
State Teenage Physique competitor (Fitness modelling)
Math Tutoring kids with disability (since freshman year)
Math Olympiad (Silver)
Mu Alpha Theta (Honors society)
Internship at google for 4 weeks (focus on machine learning application) (Have impressive projects on gitHub & kaggle)
Developed an anime app that generated ~20,000 downloads soph year
100 hours community service at local hospital

Personal Rec:
All excellent rec letter, very close with math teachers & coaches at school

Extra Hooks:
Good at interviews/public speaking/extremely sociable

Chance me for: Stanford, MIT, UC Berkeley, CMU, Princeton, UCLA, CMU, UT Austin, GaTech, Cornell, Duke, UPenn, Northwestern,

Safeties: Haven’t really contemplated any tbh, but would love some suggestions

Probs all reaches but you know how it is,

thanks!

2

You seem perfect to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were accepted to all of them.

3

These schools are reaches for all students but yes, you are a competitive applicant and should apply to some of them.

What is your home state? Apply to your state flagship.

I would add some schools where you will be an auto admit with a full ride. Alabama would fit that bill.

For slightly less competitive schools but with great programs in your areas of interest, look at UMB, Purdue, RPI.

4

State of residency?

The private schools on your list are generally reach to high reach for everyone (especially for CS).
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2095312-generic-chance-answer-for-super-selective-colleges-p1.html

For the out-of-state public universities, you need to aim for the full ride merit scholarships (high reach) rather than just admission (which could still be reach or high reach for CS), because they are otherwise unlikely to give sufficient financial aid to an out-of-state student from a low income family.

5

Largest out-of-state automatic scholarship at Alabama is value of full tuition plus first year of housing (i.e. significantly less than a full ride).
https://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php

6

GG you win.

7

Yeah, I figured everything would be high reach. I’ll be applying for merit scholarships & hopefully get accepted into a couple. Thanks!

Gobears2023, your app is the one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen, congrats on stanford!

8

@imadade

Thanks! HMU if you need any more help or if you have any questions about the college admissions process.

9

You’re competitive for all the schools listed. Add more match and safeties for peace of mind.

10

If you’re low income, almost none of these schools will be affordable. Stanford and MIT might provide the best options at giving need-based aid, but that’s far from guaranteed. You stand a good shot at a scholarship from GA Tech. If you’re low income and you’re planning to study CS, then your best option would be to follow the money. Prestige is pretty much meaningless with computers and technology, so the best value for the money is going to be a scholarship. Compare offers and decide the best one.

11

Regarding the above comment, if someone is low-income, they will get needs-based aid at schools that offer it. I suppose you know that already, though.

Also, are you a recruited athlete? Have you looked into it? If a school is interested in you, it can make admission a guarantee.

Also, also, make sure your app has a good narrative. You list a lot of things, and it is hard to tell who you are or what makes you tick.

But, yeah–your app looks very solid. If you didn’t get into a top school I’d be pretty surprised.

12

The admissions process is random, so no one can say for sure, but reading your profile, you will definitely get into at least into one of your reach schools, but you won’t know which one that is know.

13

However, out-of-state public schools typically do not give need-based FA (as opposed to merit scholarships that some offer). Of course, earning the school’s high-end merit scholarship (that a student from a low income family needs to afford the school) is considerably more difficult than gaining admission.

14

URM/low income/SES factors + high GPA/standardized test scores-nothing is set but you should punch a ticket for several Top-20 schools.

Depending on your home state, Cal might not be an option. 65,000 a year if you’re OOS/

You will definitely get significant financial/merit aid from Top-20 schools once accepted.

15

After doing some research, it definately seems like an uphill battle. Those merit scholarships typically have the best of the best apply, so I can see how it’d be unlikely in comparison to normal admissions. Thanks for the advice everyone !

16

Very impressive portfolio. As long as you work with someone, whether that be an english teacher or a former college applicant, to work on essays and present yourself and your application in the best possible manner, you will get in at least one reach school, likely more, that you want to go to.

Side Note: No AP CSA at your school, huh? Not a major detriment to your app if so, I’m just curious why you wouldn’t have that.