Computer Science major - Interesting background for college admissions?

College Search & Lists
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<p>Hi guys, I’m a HS Senior, and I’m thinking of applying to universities for Computer Science. I’m interested in the programs at University of Berkeley and Washington in particular. I was wondering if my background would stand out to admission officers…</p>

<p>I’ve been an administrator for Wikimedia Foundation projects for about 4-5 years now, and I have been an editor on sites, particularly the English Wikipedia, Simple English Wikipedia, and English Wikiquote (both on articles and behind-the scenes), for about 6 years. However, I’ve been on and off the past few years due to high school. I’ve accumulated approximately 30,000 edits and contributions to the site, have had about a million people view my pages, and have utilized HTML ever since. Therefore, I’m hoping the intro classes in college won’t be too foreign to me at least… </p>

<p>I’ve realized only recently that I would love to major in CS, like two days ago. I feel like my background has prepared me most for it than anything else. I suck at Biology and I’m decent at Chemistry. These classes were the only classes where I got B’s in (1 B in Bio H freshmean year, 1 B in Chem H soph, 1 B in AP next year (1 on exam, I know)). However, I’ve received straight A’s in math up to this Quarter in Calc AB, and I always ask questions and want to make sure I know as much as possible. I’ve realized I like learning math; therefore, I can see myself majoring in computer science than any other field. I also attend a Medical Magnet Acadamy, but I don’t feel like I want to major in pre-med anymore because I’m not as motivated. Oh, and I’m very good at Writing, but I suck at Reading, but I plan to read much more now. I love memorizing vocab words, and I’ve memorized coding before, so I think I’ll be alright in that aspect of CS.</p>

<p>These are my other nicks:</p>

<p>UW: 3.84
W: 4.5
CR: 27/683 (top 5%)
SAT: 1820 (540 R, 600 M, 680 W)
ACT: 23 (yah… retook yesterday, hoping for 31 in E, 27 in M, and 24 in S.)
Taking Math 2 next week.
5 APs by end of senior year

  • 1 AP Chem
  • 4 AP Lang
  • will probably pass the rest</p>

<p>Wikipedia Volunteer Editor & Admin (6 years)
Key Club - Treasurer
Hep B - Vice President
Asian Rhythm - Secretary
Badminton - VP, President
NHS
HOSA
Orchestra 3 years
Numerous Piano Awards (been playing 6 years, I love it)
Volunteer Hours: ~150 h
Worked at a Medical Clinic: ~30 h</p>

<p>Getting Recs from my amazing English teacher and Geometry/Trig teacher. Should be good. The math one went to Berkeley. I was his student for two years and he’s our advisor for Badminton which I’m Pres of.</p>

<p>Essays focused on piano and Wikipedia experience.</p>

<p>–</p>

<p>In the future, I’d like a job where I deal with computers or programming, but in a way where I can directly help someone, which is why I was interested in medicine at first. </p>

<p>Anyway… I just wanted to know if I’m in good standing for a chance at a good college for computer science, and if college admissions will definitely take my Wikipedia experience into account. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance!!</p>

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<p>Your Wikipedia experience may or may not stand out. It may or may not have prepared you much for introductory CS classes in college. It depends on what the work entailed (what knowledge or skill it required, what new knowledge you picked up, the value of your contribution, and so forth). It’s up to you to get this across to the adcoms.</p>

<p>Generally, your GPA, class rank, and test scores are fundamental to college applications. Both your SAT-CR and SAT-M scores would be in the bottom 25% for Berkeley. Somebody in the Berkeley forum may have insight into whether your GPA, rank, and ECs will be enough to compensate.</p>

<p>By the way, there is no “University of Berkeley”. There is a “University of California, Berkeley” (often shortened to “UC Berkeley”, “Berkeley”, or “Cal”). Try to get details like this correct in your communications with colleges.</p>

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<p>Editing wikipedia isn’t exactly like computer science, and if you think HTML is what all coding is like, you may be in for a surprise. If you haven’t taken any CS courses, I would check out something like Codecademy online and try some of their intro courses.</p>

<p>I think wikipedia would be good for an essay, but I’m not sure it will have a huge impact from a particularly CS perspective.</p>