<p>I plan on applying to SCS, CIT (Computer Engineering), and Tepper regular decision this year. Below are my stats, please chance me =)</p>
<p>Objective:</p>
<ul>
<li>SAT I (breakdown): CR: 700, Math: 800, Writing: 800 (2300 Composite)</li>
<li>ACT: N/A</li>
<li>SAT II: Taking Math II and Physics in December, hoping for an 800 on Math II and 750+ on Physics</li>
<li>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.61 (Magnet IB Program with an extremely rigorous schedule, 3.5 is about the average GPA for a magnet student at my school, upward trend: 3.79 Junior year)</li>
<li>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A</li>
<li>AP (place score in parenthesis): 11th Grade: Literature (5), BC Calculus (5); 10th Grade: Computer Science A (5), US History (4); 9th Grade: US Government & Pol (3)</li>
<li>IB (place score in parenthesis): 11th Grade: Computer Science SL (6) Spanish SL (5)</li>
<li>Senior Year Course Load: IB Chemistry SL, IB Physics HL, IB English HL, IB Theory of Knowledge, Multivariable Calculus/Differential Equations, IB History HL, IB Math HL</li>
<li>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Robotics Team - 4th place in national competition, 1st and 2nd place in two other regional competitions</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Country (if international applicant): USA</li>
<li>School Type: Public</li>
<li>Ethnicity: Asian </li>
<li>Gender: Male</li>
<li>Income Bracket: ~180K</li>
<li>Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM - Cambodian (Is there a place to mention this in my app?)</li>
</ul>
<p>Hello everyone, I looked back a few pages and didn’t see a single person applying to CFA. Is it not as competitive as the other colleges? Or is it just an unpopular choice for people around here? Any insights would be helpful! I’ll post my info just in case, but I doubt people will reply, haha.</p>
<ul>
<li>Applying to: CFA; Design (1st choice), Fine arts (2nd choice)</li>
<li>Regular decision</li>
<li>GPA: 3.875 unweighted (I don’t think my school uses a weighted system)</li>
<li>Rank: 21/365 (top 10%)</li>
<li>SAT I: 640 CR, 800 M, 710 W (2150 composite)</li>
<li>SAT II: N/A (Not required for CFA)</li>
<li>ACT: N/A</li>
<li>AP: Biology (5), World History (4), Calculus AB (5), US History (4), Psychology (5)</li>
<li>AP in progress: Physics B, Calculus BC, Computer Science A, English Literature</li>
</ul>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Literary arts magazine club (10th)
Lead graphic designer for school’s literary arts magazine club (11th)
Key Club (9th-11th)
Interact club (12th)
Mu Alpha Theta (math club) (9th-12th)</p>
<p>Awards:
AP Scholar with distinction
1st place in junior duck stamp art contest for Washington state (2008, 2009, 2010)
1st place in Washington apple holiday card illustration contest
Took part in Washington Mathematics league and helped school place 2nd in state</p>
<p>Other info:
Portfolio: Great
Teacher recommendation: Good
Essay: Good
Interview: None
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
School: Public</p>
<p>The things going against me: I received a C in an honors chemistry class in my junior year in first semester, and a B in the same class in second semester. (Other than that, I’m a straight A student.) Also I don’t think my extracurriculars are too strong; my volunteer activity is minimal and I have no summer experiences/work experience.</p>
<p>Shiba, the reason so few CFA applicants post is because the majority of your chances with CFA lie in how competitive your portfolio/audition is. Grades are somewhat important for CFA but they’re far from the primary factor. Unless your portfolio’s online and one of us posters happens to be a well-renowned art critic (which I don’t think any of us are…) it’s nearly impossible to give you a semi-accurate chance of admission.</p>
<p>You said that your portfolio is ‘great.’ Since this is the bulk of Design/FA admissions, you should theoretically be good to go if that’s the case. Your on-campus portfolio review will also be exceedingly important, so prepare accordingly.</p>
<p>Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Hispanic
School: Competitive College Prep School
GPA: 3.96/4.00
Rank: Top 10%
ACT: 34
SAT2: MathII-720; Literature-660 (woops)
Course Load: Very Rigorous</p>
<p>ECs
Global Justice Coalition [President] {4}
Youth Board of Large Service Organization [President] {4}
Community Service Club [Vice-President] {4}
School Newspaper [Managing Editor] {2}
Varsity Swimming {4}
Club Swimming {4}
Club Water Polo {4}
Teen Advisory Board for Public Library System {1}
Academic Advisory Council {1}
Work as a lifeguard/swim instructor {4}</p>
<p>@fathom: You’re an excellent fit for ECE, CS, and Tepper. Essays to complement the numbers will make you a very strong applicant.</p>
<p>@idontjoke: Excellent fit regardless of URM status. Not to judge you by a test, but the MathII is a bit low. If math isn’t your thing, CMU probably won’t be a good fit academically.</p>
<p>Hi, everyone!
I am applying for Tepper RD.
Country of Origin:China(but I studies in Singapore)
Gender:Female
SAT: 2060 (780M 610CR 670W)
SATII: MathII 800 Chem 800
Rank: Top 25%
GPA:unknown
AP: None
Extra Curricular:
First Aid Unit/Kung Fu/MUN/Math Olympiad/Scholar Committee/Innovation and Enterprise Club</p>
<ul>
<li>SAT I (breakdown): CR: 800, Math: 770, Writing: 800 </li>
<li>ACT: 35 (36 English 34 Math 34 Reading 35 Science)</li>
<li>SAT II: Physics:800 Math II: 760 US History: 800</li>
<li>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (grades really based on percentage, unweighted ~98-99/100</li>
<li>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/320 (Mid-sized public school)</li>
<li>AP (place score in parenthesis): USH: 5 PhysicsB: 5 Psychology:5</li>
<li>IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A</li>
<li>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist</li>
</ul>
<p>Subjective:</p>
<ul>
<li>Extracurriculars: Varsity Cross-Country (9-12) Varsity Indoor Track (10-12) Varsity Outdoor Track (9-12) Wind Ensemble (9-10) Jazz Band (9-10) NHS (11-12) SciOly (10-12 Senior Captain)</li>
<li>Job/Work Experience: 4+ years as a dishwasher </li>
<li>Volunteer/Community service: Tutoring, Various Library Children’s Programs, Coach at a summer track clinic for elementary school kids</li>
<li>Summer Activities: Volunteering, Work, Training</li>
<li>Essays: Average to Good</li>
<li>Teacher Recommendation: Good (Physics & History best in both classes)</li>
<li>Counselor Rec: This is kind of iffy, I have a new counselor this year but I gave her a resume so I can only hope :/</li>
<li>Additional Rec: N/A</li>
<li>Interview: N/A</li>
</ul>
<p>Other</p>
<ul>
<li>Country (if international applicant): USA</li>
<li>School Type: Average Public School in Upstate New York</li>
<li>Ethnicity: Caucasian </li>
<li>Gender: Male</li>
<li>Income Bracket: ~60K</li>
<li>Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Neither of my parents went to 4 year college</li>
</ul>
<p>[li]ACT 31, English 29, Math 33, Reading 30, Science 30</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Sat II 690 Chem, 730 Math </p>[/li]
<p>[li] Unweighted GPA is 3.65, Weighted is 4.0 has an upward curve [/li]starting from freshman year</p>
<p>[li] Rank: 11/355</p>[/li]
<p>[li] AP: 5’s on World and US, 4’s on Chemistry and English Lit</p>[/li]
<p>[li] Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP Spanish, AP English Language, Physics</p>[/li]
<p>[li] EC’s: Cross Country 4 years, varsity soph-senior year, captain junior and senior year, all conference soph and senior year, state qualifier soph year, and ran every day summer practices summer going into junior and senior year.</p>[/li]
<p>Track 4 years, varsity soph-senior year, captain junior and senior year, and all conference soph year. Plan to do both in college
NHS member</p>
<p>[li] Income: 120k</p>[/li]
<p>[li] Community Service: Around 100 hours</p>[/li]
<p>Applying to ECE RD</p>
<p>Shiba…if you are still watching the thread…@Kate is right about why you see so few postings here for CFA. You can get better feedback on the fine arts forum and there is a thread for posting portfolio links. If the portfolio is what CFA is looking for, your stats are fine for CMU–admissions wants to be sure that you can handle the work in the classes outside of CFA. At a visit, CFA admissions literally said “don’t worry if you get a C in something like calculus…” we want to see you challenged academically but not necessarily good at everything …portfolio counts for over 50% of the admission criteria. For the musical theatre students, they say they just check to see if they graduate from high school and gpa and test scores are basically irrelevant compared to the audition.</p>
<p>I don’t chance.
The most critical piece here is going to be mid-year grades in AP Calculus and AP Physics. That’s where they will zero in on your ap.
For ECE 3.65 is low as are the science scores-- in particular Chem AP and SATII scores.</p>
<p>XC (sent you a PM too)
I’m sorry for your loss and may your mom’s memory be a blessing to you and your family always.</p>
<p>I cannot speculate how any adcom is going to weight the gpa and the circumstances. </p>
<p>There’s lots written all over CC about how applications might present tragic events in one’s life. These of course include death of a close family member, surviving great personal illness -cancer, car accidents, witness to living with domestic violence-- all deeply sad life events for anyone, but certainly for a young person it’s a deeper sadness. Not to compare the suffering of one person to another-- each person’s pain at a loss is unique, but adcoms do learn of these in the applicant’s folders.
As I hope your GC has suggested, the general accepted rule of applications is not to present such tragedy as an “excuse” but to do one or both of the following:
Have the GC and other references write about how you surmounted a great personal loss in your life. People who know you well will undoubtedly write about this-- and perhaps you’ve already had the conversation with your GC.
Either write about the event briefly in the “other situations we should know about” spot and/or write about the experience (and that is not meant to cheapen or lessen the true sense of loss of a parent at a young age) and how it changed your life, how you dealt with the pain, perhaps how you became the support person for another family member, etc…it’s a very very very difficult essay to write. I cannot begin to imagine how to do so nor if you even want to do so.
I guess what I’m trying to say-- is decide how you want to alert the adcoms either indirectly or directly-- but it’s better to let them make the conclusion – “the gpa would have been higher if …” rather than you saying that yourself.</p>
<p>Best of luck – let us know how ED comes out for you! Sometimes there’s a CIT admit decision with a ECE reject-- which is fine too-- just means you take the courses and apply once you’re here for ECE.</p>
<p>SAT1: 2240 Math/Reading/Writing 800/680/760
SAT2: 800/780/760/710 Math2/Chemistry/Physics/World History
AP Tests: 5 5 4 4 Russian/Chemistry/US/World
(The Prototype Russian test before anybody goes crazy)
Senior Courseload
AP Physics C, AP US Government, AP BC Calculus, Honors English</p>
<p>Weighted GPA : 98.55 Which is decent for my school but it does not rank. Many people have over 100 but very few people broke 2200 SAT score. Also, a really steep upward trend in terms of GPA.</p>
<p>Have swum and played tennis for 8 years. (Varsity tennis for 1 year)
A lot of volunteer hours at a nursing home
Summer Volunteer work in a medical center in Israel
Participate in a math club on weekends for the past 7 years
Active member of a few other clubs including one leadership position
Founded several websites, some which generated profit
Some work experience, including tutoring and being a waiter.</p>
<p>SAT1: 2130 Math/Reading/Writing 750/630/750
SAT2: 790/700/800 Math2/Chemistry/Korean
AP Tests: 5 AP AB Calc.
Senior Courseload
IB Math HL, IB Bio HL, AP Econ, AP Gov, AP 12 Eng, Honors Band</p>
<p>Weighted GPA : 4.0
Unweighted GPA : 3.88</p>
<p>Ethnicity: Korean Male
Alabama resident</p>
<p>over 400 hours of community service. No science/math related awards.
My EC is mostly music-related.------------------------------
Marching band section leader,
honors band 1st clarinet for 4 years.
All-state band
troy honor band
etc.</p>
<p>My essay is about how music had influenced me and given me a clear vision during the dark/ harsh times.</p>
<p>I am applying to SCS and I’d appreciate an estimate.</p>
<p>-I am an Asian male in Northern Virginia
-SAT 1: 1990 (580 CR, 690 W, 720 M)
-SAT 2 (Math I): 720
-SAT 2 (Physics): Pending
-AP Tests: World History (4), US History (4), Chemistry (4), English Language and Composition (3), Physics (Pending), Calculus BC (Pending)
-I have one college credit because I am dual-enrolled in an English 102 class.
-Everything else is an Honors class (with the exception of my Government class this year)</p>
<p>-Weighted GPA: 4.2
-Unweighted GPA: 3.8</p>
<p>-Honor roll for as long as I can remember
-Currently holding an internship at NOAA
-First degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, and a participant for 5 years
-Member of the National Honor Society and the Math Honor Society for two years each
-Gold medal in the National Latin Exam</p>
<p>-I have taught myself everything I know about CS.
–I am an extremely experienced reverse engineer. I have written interrupt handlers and done a lot of work with program execution manipulation on Windows. Along the way, I picked up the x86 Assembly programming language.
–I taught myself the C & C++ programming languages when I was 13 years old. According to the University of Virginia’s CS curriculum, I’m somewhere near the 300 level now.
–I have a decent amount of experience with computational mathematics. I love solving Project Euler problems and designing algorithms to solve boring work.</p>
<p>@myeviltacos: If you have a portfolio of programs or work you’ve completed, that would greatly increase your chances. Your numbers are not quite high enough to be a match for SCS. Many of your peer applicants will claim to “know” languages like C++, but if you have a link to somewhere you’ve applied it that an SCS adcom can check out it will make all the difference. “knowing” a language and applying it are two completely different things.</p>
<p>Gold in National Latin Exam - I was also a gold winner in my time. So you have Latin at your school? Why no AP Latin?</p>
<p>Hi, and thanks for your suggestions. I’m still working on the portfolio (I decided to just create a website full of my work), but I don’t understand what exactly I should do with it. It’s too late to modify the contents of my Common Application, so should I send it to the admissions department via mail/email?</p>
<p>Regarding the AP Latin thing: Our school’s Latin department is unstable, to say the least. We have had around eight Latin teachers quit over the past three years, and because of a lack of funding, AP Latin isn’t offered consistently.</p>