Seeking input on colleges, ECs, etc

Barefooter
Tue, 09 Oct 2018 18:40:59 +0000

I appreciate how CC community gives brutally honest feedback. DS is currently a high school Junior (HS class of 2020). we are doing preliminary planning/research for college application process next year.

Thank you so much in advance.

Questions:

1. DS's weakest area is ECs. Any suggestions or ideas on how DS can reasonably improve ECs in the next year?

2. Any input on list of target colleges included below is greatly appreciated.

3. Other feedback?

Student background:

ACT: C36 (E35/M36/R35/S36) Writing: 9
GPA: UW 3.96, W 4.56
AP Courses Sophomore: AP Computer Science A (5), AP Physics 1 (4)
AP Courses Junior (in progress): AP Junior English, AP Physics C, AP Calculus BC, AP US History, AP Spanish Language
AP Courses Senior (planned): AP Biology, AP Statistics, AP Microeconomics or AP Macroeconomics, AP US Government and Politics

Extracurriculars:

Plays guitar (HS Ensemble)

Civic Leadership Institute at Northwestern

JV Cross country (Junior and Senior years)

Badminton player

Peer tutoring at HS

Participant in clubs (no leadership positions): FBLA, MIT Launch, Kiva

Self-taught programming languages

Works part-time as a developer at a local tech startup

Amateur hip hop dancer

Awards:
None

Intended major: CS/STEM (Passionate about Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning)
Home State: Illinois
Household income: >$150K
Race: Asian Male
Affordability: In-state, Out-of-State, and Private

Potential colleges being considered/researched are listed below:

Reach:

MIT

Stanford

UC Berkeley

CMU

GA Tech

UIUC

Michigan

Match:

Purdue

U of Minnesota

Wisconsin Madison

Safety:

U of IL Chicago

UT Dallas

Illinois Institute of Technology

U of Minnesota Twin Cities