Chance Me: MA resident, 91.3 GPA, TO, top 33% rank for computer science at BU, BC, WPI

Chance Me / Match Me
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Applying for these schools: Boston University (ED2), Worcester Polytechnic Institute(EA2), Boston College (RD), Clark University (RD), and Umass Amherst (RD)

Profile: White Male, who lives in Massachusetts and studies in a vocational high school. I took Robotics & Automation for my shop in the school. I am also a senior

Intended Major: Computer Science

GPA: 91.3 UW & 101 W

SAT: Test optional

Class rank - 97/295

Took only 4 APs and 6 honors ( AP Calc AB, AP Physics, AP Computer Science A and AP Lit)

----Extracurriculars:

3 years of varsity tennis - did nothing crazy but competed in state-level competitions for the school. We were pretty high-ranked

1 year of Soccer - Played in the JV soccer team and was captain for the JV2 team

Chess club - Co-founder of the club. Nothing too crazy, I just helped the founder with the foundation/management and the growth. Also taught others how to play chess as well

Peer tutor - Took part of helping the freshmen on their first day of school (Toured and answered questions) and toured parents and students during the school’s open house

Volunteer club - Did 40+ hours at a food pantry

SkillsUSA competition - SkillsUSA is a competition for students doing industry-like classes at their school. I took the Mechatronics state competition for the school and won a silver medal from the exam

Dunkin Donuts - A crew member for Dunkin Donuts in Boston

Student Council - Member of the student council for 2 years. I didn’t have a crazy role but I mainly took part in fundraiser committees and helped with the funding.

Robotics Project - I designed a new automated bell for the school building using Siemens PLC and added/programmed a touchscreen tablet by using an HMI. The bell used to be manual (had to be turned on by staff members) but I made it automated. (I won two school-level awards because of this)

Awards:

National Honor Society ( 11th and 12th )

As mentioned above, I won these two awards I received at my high school. The reason was that I was able to build a new working automated bell for the school building.

The silver award I won from the SkillsUSA exam, it’s pretty much state-level. ( I already said it in Extracurricular activities)

–note:

I should probably also note that one of my recommendation letter for BU is from a faculty staff there.

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Was this recommender someone who taught one of you courses?

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What type of track record does your school have with kids in your range and college ?

That will be more telling but based on what info you provided, maybe WPI.

But I’d expand the list.

Add a U Maine type which I believe matches MA tuition. Some SUNYs do too.

I’d check with the counselors but you likely need to grow your list.

Good luck.

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No, we literally just met and we just talked about computer-science related topics. I took care of his house while he was away. After that he told me that he could write me a letter for the university. It’s nothing really crazy special, it’s just what I did for him and what he knows what I did at school.

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That’s not a letter worth much.

Make sure you meet the LOR requirements of each school.

BU is as simple as this - and he’s not a teacher:

Teacher Evaluation

Please ask a teacher to submit the Teacher Evaluation form found on the Common Application.

BC says this:

Teacher Evaluations - You are required to submit two teacher evaluations as part of your application to Boston College. We recommend that these evaluations are written by teachers who have taught you in one of the five main academic subject areas (English, Social Studies, Science, Math, or Foreign Language).

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This is for BU. I already have two recommendation letters from teachers for the application and they allow one more, looking on the common app. This is just an extra letter.

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OK - just making sure you knew.

I don’t think the letter will do zero.

As noted above, I’m thinking you need to expand your list. It looks like you want to stay local so a Maine, URI, UNH, Wentworth types would be good add ons.

Your rank, GPA, and lack of rigor make you unlikely for those you listed but I wish you the best of luck.

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WPI love project based work, so make sure to highlight your bell project, especially how it met a specific/human need.

Truly, your stats are not what those on the page are used to because you are coming from a vocational school. I’m assuming your course load between APs and CS work looked a lot different than the majority of students at your school and I’m wondering if guidance stresses that when sending out their school profile. I do know that the STEM students in our local vocational school (also in MA) did pretty well in college admissions.

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This will be considered a supplemental recommendation and some colleges don’t even allow those.

Most colleges want two academic references…folks who have had you in their classes and can talk to your progress as a student. A character reference from someone who barely knows you will carry very little, if any, weight.

But you have those academic references.

I think a few schools on your list are reaches.

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On the BU common app it says

Recommender types accepted by this college:

Arts Teacher
Clergy
Coach
College Access Counselor
Employer
Family Member
Peer
Other

I guess the “other” is saying that I am allowed to have this kind of letter? i have 1 academic letter and one letter based on my vocational shop. One extra letter from a staff member there looking at my academic and vocational achievement shouldn’t hurt right?

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What school is your safety? I do not think that it is BU, BC, or U.Mass Amherst.

Do all of the schools on your list match your budget? Do you know what your budget is?

I might be tempted to add another safety. Perhaps either U.Maine or U.Mass Lowell.

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I’m using this app College Vine, I don’t know if it’s accurate but it says Umass Amherst is my safety and WPI is my target. I think WPI is my safety because someone in my school with a similar profile got into it from ED and I’m going to do EA2 for it but I’m not 100% sure/confident. I will be adding more safeties like Wentworth and Umass Lowell. BU and BC are 100% my reaches.

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I don’t think UMass is a safety for computer science.

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U.Mass is very good for CS, and I think that your chances of admissions are good. You might very well end up there and do very well. However, I do not think that it is a safety.

Yeah! Good plan.

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Then you’re on good shape.

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Ok, thanks guys!
I’ll post my results here in the future, if possible, for future use

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If the app does not take into account the major applied for, it will be inaccurate for many colleges.

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according to the site, it does calculate with your intended major. I switched my indented to undecided and the percentage of getting in (For BU, BC, and Umass Amherst) went up. But I’m still taking this with a grain of salt

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I’d looking at stats per common data set and not College Vine. And TO usually doesn’t help.

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Common data set admission information does not show variation in selectivity by major.