US Citizen
California
Competitive High School
Female
South Asian (Indian)
Computer Science
3.9.2 Unweighted GPA
4.3 Weighted GPA
ACT/SAT Scores: Haven’t taken it yet
AP Comp Sci (5)
AP European History (4)
APUSH (5)
AP Calc AB (5)
AP Bio (4)
AP Lang (5)
AP Stats (5)
AP Environmental Science (5)
AP Gov (5)
Chem Honors
Algebra 2 Honors
Pre Calc Honors
English 11 Honors
Spanish 4 Honors
2 Gold Presidential Service Awards
2 Silver Presidential Service Awards
FIRST Robotics Team Awards (Regionals)
Extracurriculars
-Raised 10.1k through teaching young kids in coding. All proceeds were donated to a foundation in India that provides underprivileged students with STEM resources.(400 hours total)
-Member of Award winning FRC Team
-3 Summer Internships in Computer Science at Medium sized IT companies-(1 paid, 2 unpaid)
-NCL Treasurer of Class of 25 for my chapter.
-250+ Volunteering hours in total throughout High School (not including tutoring)
-Ethics in Tech Club Officer
-Varsity Golf Athlete for 3 Years
Essay: Not written yet
Letters Of Rec:
-3 letters of Recommendation from each manager at the summer computer science internships
-AP Comp Sci teacher
-Ethics in Tech Club Advisor
-Robotics Coach
Schools:
USC-EA (Dream School)
UMich
UIUC
UCLA
UCSB
UCB
NYU
UCSD
UC Irvine
UC Santa Cruz
UT Austin
Safety:
ASU
IU
SJSU
Since you listed you have not taken the SAT/ACT, you are a Junior this year? If so, then you will have to wait until end of Junior year to calculate your CSU/UC GPA’s.
Are you local to SJSU (Santa Clara County HS)?
Overall a competitive applicant but CS is one of the toughest admits for the majority of the schools.
You have an excellent resume but I will only comment on the UC’s and SJSU. UC Berkeley is the only UC that will invite a small percentage of applicants to submit LOR’s.
Your ACT/SAT scores will only be used to course placement at the UC’s and CSU’s so they will not be considered for admission or scholarship consideration.
For SJSU CS, to meet the impaction threshold you need at least a 4.3+ CSU capped weighted GPA. If local, you get a 0.25 GPA bump so that would make it a Match school. DS would be an easier admit with a much lower impaction threshold so a definite safety.
Below are the 2022-23 CS and Data Science admit rates that I have compiled.
2022-2023 CS admit rates if available
Campus
CS
UC Berkeley
2.3%-L&S High Demand Major EECS-4%.
UC Davis
No data but estimated <20% Selective Major
UC Irvine
16.8%Impacted Major
UCLA
3.8% Impacted Major
UC Merced
85%
UC Riverside
31% Impacted major
UC San Diego
No data but estimated <10% Capped Major
UC Santa Barbara
No data Historically 5-6% Impacted Major
UC Santa Cruz
56% Impacted Major
Cal Poly SLO
9% Impacted Major
San Jose State
31% Impacted Major
Data Science admit rates if available
Campus
Data Science
UC Berkeley
8.25%
UC Davis
No Data but approximately <20%.
UC Irvine
28.1%
UCLA
11% Does not admit by major but into College of L&S
UC Merced
New major No Data Available
UC Riverside
67%
UC San Diego
No data but approximately <10% Capped major
UC Santa Barbara
32% admit rate for College of L&S which does not admit by major
UC Santa Cruz
Major not available
San Jose State
No Data Available
You have a very good chance at many of the schools on your list but with holistic/comprehensive admission review, it is really difficult to make specific predictions. As long as you are happy to attend any of the schools on your list, then you should be fine.
San Jose State University should not be considered a safety for CS for most applicants. Recalculate your high school GPA as mentioned in post #2, and compare the weighted-capped version with 4.3 (last year’s threshold, may change year-to-year as the applicant pool changes). If you will graduate from a high school in Santa Clara County, you effectively get a +0.25 GPA bonus. See Freshmen Impaction Results | Admissions for last year’s thresholds and Impaction | Admissions for how the scores listed are calculated.
note: I am not a UC expert so this is general thoughts on selective schools (NYU, e.g).
You want a core subject teacher rec letter in there I think for schools that want 2 teacher recs. CS is an elective to an AO so I would add in an English/French/History or something. Colleges want to know you as a student in a classroom first and foremost not as an employee.
And that is a LOT of recs. Most schools don’t have time or energy to read that many and may even be annoyed by so many unless something unique about UCs wanting lots?
adding; your level coursework and rigor is excellent!
You don’t mention rank so I am guessing your school doesn’t report that? If they do report rank that will matter too.
With a 10% admit rate for 2023, noone has a “good” chance at an acceptance. You are a highly qualified applicant so your chances are better than most but it is a Reach school regardless. I also agree @L_NewEngland you need another core teacher recommendation.
Why is USC your dream? I would suggest going on a campus tour and adding the Viterbi tour afterwards. Keep your eyes open for the Explore USC 2024 date (usually in October) and attend if possible. Follow Viterbi Admissions on social media. They often have live virtual events. Attend them. All of these will enable you to learn specifics about the department which will help when you write your supplemental essays.
CS is in Viterbi School of Engineering. Once you are accepted into Viterbi, you are accepted into all majors. You can change without worrying about a major being restricted or closed. The likelihood of being accepted into Undeclared Engineering = Electrical Engineering = CS.