Korean male, AIME qualifier, saturated CS track. Realistic shot at T10?
Demographics:
- Korean male
- Bay Area, CA
- competitive magnet school
- full pay
- no hooks
Intended Major: Mathematics + Computer Science
Academics:
- GPA: 3.98 UW / 4.5 W
- Rank: top 5% (exact rank withheld, school doesn't rank)
- SAT: 1570
- Coursework: 11 APs by senior year (Calc BC, Physics C, CS Principles, CS A, Comp Sci all 5s)
- Math competition: AIME qualifier junior year, USAMO honorable mention
ECs:
- Math competition team captain, coached freshman team on number theory
- CS research project on algorithm optimization, paper draft stage
- Tutoring middle schoolers in algebra and geometry, 6 hours/week
- Debate team, varsity speaker, made nationals sophomore year
- Started a math blog about competition problem solutions, ~200 monthly readers
Awards:
- AIME qualifier
- USAMO honorable mention
- AMC 12 perfect score (2 times)
- National debate finalist
Schools:
Reach:
- MIT
- Stanford
- Caltech
- CMU SCS
Match:
- Berkeley EECS
- CMU Math
- Cornell CS
- Carnegie Mellon Tepper (backup)
Safety:
- UCLA
- UC San Diego
Honestly. Bay Area CS is insanely saturated. My school probably sends 30-40 kids to T20 schools every year. I'm not doing anything that screams 'pick me' compared to everyone else here. Research and competition math are my strongest angles but I know that's table stakes at places like MIT. Am I reaching too hard or is this realistic.
#chanceme#12th-grade#applications#academics
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your research + aime hm is actually solid but the whole school list screams "i'm scared of not getting in" and you're gonna regret not taking a real swing at something.