Feedback on Colleges to Apply

College Search & Lists
1

2021 HS Grad / Looking for advice

Major / Degree interests:

  • Ideally a dual or joint major in Computer Science and Economics w/ sufficient concentration in Data Science. Have future interest in both business and political analytics and law

Looking for advise on college applications – plan to apply @ most Ivy League, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, CalTech, UCLA, Michigan, U Chicago, Northwestern, CMU, UIUC (CS).

Please share your thoughts on the above list. Am I overlooking other good colleges? Should I add some safety schools? Any suggestions?

Academic Stats

PLTW Engineering Program in school (1 elective for all 4 years).
End of Jr. Year Weighted GPA – 4.44. Also 2 dual enrollment physics classes at local universities (A+/A).

Class Rank – 1 / 1450
National AP Scholar – 9 (Calc B/C, Stat, AP US History, AP World History, Micro Econ, Macro Econ, Chem, Phys, AP Comp Sci)
Sr. Year Classes – 4 AP, 1 Dual Enrollment / College, PLTW Engg. 4th year capstone program
ACT – 35 (in 9th grade – part of talent search). PSAT – 1480 / 1520 (SAT – 1500 in 7th grade)
ACT / SAT cancellation affected Spring / Summer 2020 registrations. Registered to take SAT – late Aug 2020 (if held)

Extracurriculars –

Model UN (student leader / board member) – multiple participation at MUNUC (and many other state level conferences)
Physics Club (AAPT Phys Bowl) - President / Student leader
Chemistry Olympiad - President / student leader
Quiz Bowl - School Captain / top performer (multiple participation @ local Universities)
National Honor Society
Many hours of community service (tutoring @ elementary school, Food bank at ministry, Red Cross Blood Drive
Worked w/ local physicians and community leaders to support an impoverished community on information related to COVID 19 Pandemic response

Recommendations -
4 teachers agreed to provide recommendations (3 teachers in areas of study I am interested in and 4th teacher is also involved as faculty advisor for one of my clubs). Also can provide supplementary recommendation from voluntary work

Other info - Asian/Indian; Not expecting financial aid

2

only if you want to make sure that you go to school next year. My son’s school had the top academic student get rejected from UIUC (OOS) this year for CS. This is a school that is sending students to almost your entire list. That student did get into CMU but he was nervous when RD decisions were coming out. You have a strong resume but a > 0% chance of getting rejected from that entire list.

3

Your entire list is composed of reach schools. You need matches and safeties.

Why all the Ivies? They are not all strong in CS.

If you like MIT/Cal Tech, add schools like RPI for a match. For CS, Purdue is also very strong, as is UMD.

What is your home state?

4

For Computer Science, consider the University of Washington at Seattle.

5

@momofsenior1 Many thanks for your question around choice of all Ivy leagues even if they are not all strong in CS. I am interested in both economics and computer science. Ideally a joint major (MIT, Yale and UIUC offers it) or dual major. That’s one of the reason I am choosing to apply to schools which have strong academics overall, and super strong in either computer science or economics. I recognize that course load would be rigorous for such dual degree in some of the colleges. Great suggestions on additional schools to consider. Also as I research a bit more I will likely narrow down the colleges that I apply to a bit more.

@publisher many thanks for your suggestion.

@eyeore123 many thanks for your feedback. I plan to also apply to one of the public universities in my state, and I consider that as safety. I will likely consider 1 additional,one.