<p>I’m looking at CMU, Stanford and MIT for Early Decision. Which one is the most impactful on my chances? I’m also looking at WU seattle, Cornell, Berkeley, UIUC.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.9 UW, 4.1 W
Class rank: school doesn’t rank</p>
<p>SAT is 2010 but that is 2 years old, retaking soon.</p>
<p>SAT math II: 800 Bio-e: 750</p>
<p>APs:
CompSci: 5
US History: 4</p>
<p>Lang: 5
Bio: 4
Calc BC: 5
AB subscore: 5</p>
<p>Senior Schedule:
Dance Perf and Prod
AP Physics C
AP Econ
AP Stats
Calculus 3 - Dual credit
Intro to Linux - Dual credit
AP Lit
AP Euro</p>
<p>Activities:
Dance Club- VP
Go Club - Founder and President
Speech and Debate
Supercomputing Challenge - archivist
Summer intern at Los Alamos National Lab</p>
<p>Honors:
3rd place in Policy Debate at the Top of the World Tournament - state level
AP Scholar with distinction - national i guess</p>
<p>Glowing LOR from AP comp sci teacher and a nice one from my AP lang teacher</p>
<p>I assume you are majoring in Computer Science based on your school choices. Applying ED to CMU would probably help the most, considering they have such a low yield, but I don’t think CMU has an ED period anymore.</p>
<p>Applying early to Stanford and MIT doesn’t really help chances, as is shown by the statistics they give.</p>
<p>I would recommend applying during the Priority Filing period for UIUC so you have priority into the honors program if you end up going there.</p>
<p>If I were you, I wouldn’t apply anywhere that has binding admission because in this case, it probably won’t help you get in anyways.</p>
<p>Good luck! I’m only applying to UIUC and my state school for CS, though I considered applying to CMU, Stanford, and MIT as well!</p>
<p>@Gcollom See that’s the thing though—applying ED probably won’t up your chances for these schools; it just restricts your choices. I honestly wouldn’t mind the binding either, though. These are all awesome schools.</p>
<p>OP you look like an amazing student but I will tell you that the students I’ve known who were admitted to Standford, MIT, and . . .well rejected from CMU… . .were ALL Amazing! So while you can dream and desire you’re probably well-advised to look at some alternative/backup plans too. </p>
<p>As for the public universities, I’d encourage you to think long and hard before jumping in there. With your stats you could probably gain acceptance and merit aid to a number of excellent private universities - which would give you more service and personalized attention than you’ll ever get from a public U. So I would encourage you to rethink UW, UIUC, and Berkeley, … and then just consider location and weather at Cornell. </p>
<p>Don’t ED unless you are absolutely, positively sure about where you want to go. You may be leaving money on the table and overlooking a school that would be absolutely perfect for you. </p>
<p>Thanks. I do have a safety school, I just don’t need chances for it haha. I hadn’t really considered pub v private before and I know Berkeley can be mean to out of state. I’m from New Mexico.</p>
<p>Stop looking at prestige and look for the school that fits you. Those schools are SOOOOO different…you’re applying ED for the wrong reason and WILL end up regretting it. </p>