Chance Me Please!? (UC Berkeley, Yale, Stanford, Duke, etc.)

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Stanford
UC Berkeley
Yale
Duke
University of Denver
University of Wisconsin Madison
University of Nebraska Lincoln
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Iowa State University</p>

<p>State: South Dakota
Parents: Divorced (both attended 4 years of local college)
House Income: Around $33,000
Siblings: 2 (1 in local college)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 (Unweighted, school doesn’t offer weighted)
Highest GPA in Class: Somewhere around 3.97
Class Rank: Top 5%</p>

<p>Classes:
Math - 5 years
English - 4 years + College English
Science - 4 years
Social Studies - 3 years
Foreign Language - 2 years
Arts - 3 years
Health/PE - 1 year
Computer Courses - 2 years (Every class offered)
Engineering - 2 years (college credit given each semester)</p>

<p>I’m sure I missed some but you get the point. I wont have any AP classes when I graduate but will have about 12 to 14 college credits. </p>

<p>Tests:
-ACT: 30 (Only took once)
-Math: 31
-Science: 31
-Reading: 28
-English: 28
-Writing: 8
-SAT Math 2 Subject test in October (using Barron’s to prepare and aiming for a 780)</p>

<p>Activities:
Football - 4 years varsity
Wrestling - 4 years varsity, team captain, state placer
Power Lifting - 2 years varsity and state placer
National Honor’s Society - 2 years (maximum allowed) and President
Student Government - 2 years (President both)
Church Youth group</p>

<p>Work:
2 years for the city
1.5 years for a local restaurant
1 year for grocery store
2 years programming intern for iPhone game company (Unpaid)</p>

<p>Volunteering: Around 350 hours recorded</p>

<p>Intended Major: Computer Science</p>

<p>Other Details (Where do I put these on my application?):
When I was a freshmen I was placed in the hospital from Christmas to the start of my sophomore year. This affected my GPA slightly. It was also doing my homework on the computer that inspired me to learn programming and want to be a CS major.</p>

<p>Though the combined efforts of myself and a past colleague, I am working on starting a mobile banking business. We plan to officially launch our application, which I am programming, around December (which means after most early decision deadlines) and have already began establishing a customer base. </p>

<p>The people I have worked for/with are pretty influential in their field and area (San Francisco Bay Area). I plan to have one of them write me my letter if reference.</p>

<p>Also please note that the only 2 AP classes offered at my high school were English and History. I choose College English over AP because it is supposed to be more rigorous and I choose Engineering Digital Electronics (college credit given) over AP History scheduling wise. Should I drop my engineering course and take 2 AP courses online instead?</p>

<p>Please chance me for these schools. If there’s any info I missed, just let me know. Also please suggest things to help strengthen my application by November 1st (early admission).</p>

<p>Thanks guys!</p>

2

<p>Was also captain of the VEX Robotics Competition team.</p>

3

<p>Also I have certificates for excelling in computer programming courses and one from a local college for attending a week long business camp which I received college credit for.</p>

4

<p>I will graduate with around 12 college credits.</p>

5

<p>Those volunteer hours aren’t that impressive, but otherwise I think everything checks out Ok</p>

6

<p>Stanford - high reach
UC Berkeley - reach (unless you’re out of state, then it’s a high reach)
Yale - high reach
Duke - reach/high reach
University of Denver - low match
University of Wisconsin Madison - low match
University of Nebraska Lincoln - safety
University of Minnesota Twin Cities - low match
Iowa State University - safety</p>

7

<p>What can I do to strengthen my chances!?!??</p>

8

<p>Take the SAT maybe? At this point, all you can really do write stellar essays, get really good recs and hope for the best. Any extra EC’s or anything will be considered resume padding</p>

9

<p>Should I give up my Engineering course (2 college credits) and take a couple AP classes online instead?</p>

10

<p>I think you’ll be admitted for sure to Berkeley. You have a great gpa/class rank. Your ACT is not optimal, but with your income level you will be given a lot of allowance.</p>

11

<p>I am Caucasian and I was hoping to apply early admission to Stanford, UC Berkeley and Yale. If I get accepted to any of them I won’t apply to the others. Also do you think it would make more sense to take the SAT in October, or take the Math I and Math II subject tests instead? I’m confident that I can score well on either. Math is my strongest subject and I’m prepping with Barron’s, but the SAT as a whole is more well rounded. I’m not sure how the ACT score translates into SAT scores but I’m pretty sure I’d do better on the SAT just because of the way it is structured. The whole reason I took the ACT instead is because most local schools around here ask for the ACT and not the SAT.</p>