I’m a junior and super stressed out abt this. pls give me some advice. i didn’t even want to apply for cs but my parents pressured me into it… i only had this year to completely switch up my ECs and stuff and im honestly so scared for how it’s gonna go down
Demographics: Gender, race/ethnicity, state, type of school, and hooks (URM, first generation, legacy, athlete, etc.)
female
family income: 400k+, full pay not applying for any kind of aid
indian
new jersey resident (i’ve lived here for 14 years, waiting for EB2 greencard… should get it around next spring but that’s still too late for when i’m applying. i’ve heard that for some schools i’ll be considered domestic and then only international for financial purposes, but idk. is it worth contacting all the schools im applying to and asking what category id be in?)
somewhat large public, not super competitive
hooks: none.. woman in STEM ig??
Intended Major(s): comp sci… 2nd option probably data sci but i also have an interest in bio so maybe bioinformatics? I’m trying to fit into a niche where i focus on education and accessibility to CS, hopefully my ECs send that message
ACT/SAT/SAT II:
SAT: 1490 superscore 750 RW 740 M, def retaking
ACT: 34 composite, 36 R 35 E 33 S 30 M, gonna retake as well
UW/W GPA and Rank: 3.78/4.0 uw, 4.78/5.3 w (it’s impossible to even get over 5.0 at my school, so idk why they scale it like that)
school doesn’t rank, but def in the top 10% of my class, around 500 kids in my grade
Coursework: AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores, etc
going to have 15 APs by the time i graduate, and 15 honors classes (our school does CP, A, and H, with H being the hardest and weighted the same as AP)
sophomore year: APCSP (5) AP Lang (4)
junior year: APUSH, AP Lit, AP Bio, but APES and AP HUG self study
senior year: AP Econ (both macro and micro, it’s one course at my school, AP Physics C (both em and m, again one course), AP Stats, AP CSA, AP Calc BC
Awards: a little lackluster honestly
- STEM Racing US + Canada Nationals Qualifier, won Chair of Judges Recognition of Achievement, and NJ State Champions
- USABO Semifinalist (top 5% of Open Exam testers)
- Won a couple local hackathons here and there, also waiting on results from some essay comps, if I win any then that will go here instead
- PVSA Bronze (150+ Volunteer Hours), I was written about in the newspaper
- NHS, French NHS
Extracurriculars: Include leadership & summer activities
- Co-Founder of a 501c3 Nonprofit to bridge gaps in technology and computer literacy
- went to middle and elementary schools and did stem related workshops like teaching online safety and simple coding projects on scratch, etc.
- conducted computer literacy classes at senior homes, specifically bc my grandma in India always struggled with communicating with me bc she could never navigate her computer or phone
- started a girls who code chapter under the nonprofit and worked with a local coding school to provide an area to host meetings and classes
- Stanford Code in Place Section Leader
- One of the only high school section leaders in a pool of 1400 section leaders chosen from 2000+ applications
- Teaching groups of 12-15 students the basics of python and programming using Stanford’s Karel Bot
- Code Coach at Local Coding School
- Teach kids from ages 7-12 the basics of coding, starting with scratch programming
- Supervised game nights and birthday parties
- Programmed a note writing and feedback system so that parents could keep up with their child’s progress
- NJCCIC Summer Cybersecurity Intern
- Learned the basics of cybersecurity and how the NJ cell works
- Completed an individual capstone project where I analyzed local cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities in my community and how people can protect themselves
- Presented my work at an event hosted by the NJCCIC at their headquarters
- Project Manager of STEM Racing team
- Engineering competition team, managed the more technical parts of the project but also assisted with the visual parts like portfolio designs, social media, etc.
- Created a website and managed social media pages for our team with over 15k impressions in total
- Established us as a 501c7 team independent from our school, and fundraised over $5k to help us get to nationals
- Web Development Intern at Family Businesses
- Created and managed websites for both my aunt’s and my parents’ businesses with 100k+ revenue each
- Programmed a scheduling system for my parents, as they are into short term rentals and needed to easily manage their client’s dates as well as communicate it to the cleaning company
- SAT, CS, and Bio tutor at Schoolhouse.world
- Tutor small groups of high schoolers looking to improve in these subjects
- Created lesson plans for them and created a website with access to tons of SAT prep material that I gave to any cohorts I taught
- New Jersey Youth Chorus Coriste Member and New Jersey Youth Symphony Bass Clarinet Player
- Accepted to two state level ensembles and held key roles in both, section leader in chorus and primary swing player on Bass Clarinet
- Performed at many prestigious concert halls like Carnegie Hall and NJPAC
- Captain of School Academic Team
- Leader of a trivia-like competition club at my school
- Hosted practice sessions and took members to many different quiz bowls than in previous years
- Increased club size by 15 new members
- Volunteer at Local Community Garden and RWJ Children’s Hospital
- Got over 75+ hours from both places
- Was the lead volunteer at the garden and taught many new volunteers what they needed to know
- Set up events and project nights for the patients at the hospital
Essays/LORs/Other: Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.
So for my primary common app essay, I haven’t actually written any drafts but I have a couple of ideas. I think I’m most likely gonna write about how I’ve been the only woman in the room when pursuing some of my interests too many times, and how this led me start my nonprofit and open opportunities up for girls. I want to write about the idea that we shouldn’t have to always hear abt the “first woman” to do something in STEM, but instead hear about groups of women achieving great things, and how I want to help cultivate a world where that is the case.
For my LORs, they’re going to be decent but not out of this world I think. I’m going to ask my APUSH and my current Physics teachers, who both love me. My counselor I’m not super close with, but definitely have a better relationship with her than most kids do at my school with their counselors.
My schools in mind:
Likelies: Rutgers, Drexel, NJIT, Steven’s Institute of Tech, TCNJ, Temple, UCM, UCR, UCSC, Penn State
Target: CWRU, UCI, UCSB, UCD, FSU, UF, UMiami, Tulane, UMass Amherst, Purdue
Reaches: BARNARD (i’m EDing here. my absolute dream school), UIUC, Umich, USC, NYU, Georgia Tech, UMD, UCLA, UC Berkeley, BU or BC, Cornell, Columbia, Rice or Emory, Vanderbilt, Maybe Harvard and Stanford?
any advice on the school list and/or my application would be HUGELY appreciated. i didn’t expect this to be so long LOL
