How the College Admission Process Should Be Changed for Prospective CS Majors
I have a friend that is one of the smartest people I’ve met in the computer science field. Whenever I team up with him at Hackathons, we almost always win something but more importantly, we always make something way out of my skill level. He’s been programming since 6th grade and has multiple projects on his GitHub. He’s also able to answer many of my questions, even the most arbitrary and specific ones. If that alone doesn’t impress you, he also got a 36 on his ACT and became a National Merit Finalist.
Yet, how does a competitive student with strong passion and interest for computer science like him get rejected from a top 5 CS school, yet multiple people from our school without ANY CS (or very few) extracurricular activities get in as a CS major?
Let’s analyze the variables.
First, we can take extracurriculars off the chart. Not only does my friend have an extensive background in computer science, shown through his independent projects, but he’s also been running the coding club and started an annual Hackathon at our school. He’s even shown to be quite diverse by doing marching band for four years and works as a TaeKwonDo instructor. While this might not be at the “curing cancer” or “gold medalist at Olympics/Olympiads” level, this is certainly more impressive than a lot of high school students (including me). Also, we can clearly rule out standardized testing, since a 36 on the ACT is a perfect score.
There’s GPA and essays left (well technically, there are other factors that I will get to later).
My friend’s GPA isn’t necessarily the greatest. It’s definitely still a competitive GPA (>3 .5), but by no means is it impressive among our peers. He prioritized CS over some of his classes, and he said there were a couple classes that he didn’t try as hard in because it didn’t interest him. While I don’t necessarily agree with that mindset, I don’t entirely blame him since it’s not like he put that time towards video games (I’m assuming). Apparently, he even asked that top 5 CS school why he was rejected, and they responded by saying that even though his background in CS is impressive, his academic scores aren’t up to their standards. What? Let me hear that again. His 36 ACT and middle 50% GPA isn’t good enough for them? Because his GPA is a couple decimals below the students with a 4.0, he’s not able to go? Till this day, I still don’t understand.
Then there’s essays. Probably one of the more important parts of the application (I’m assuming, I’m just a high school senior). I can’t say how good his writing is because I haven’t actually read any of his essays. He does have a couple of blogs on this site, but they’re more instructional so I can’t base his writing ability off of those. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that they’re decent: not spectacular but nowhere near god awful. Since the only essay prompt is the “Why this major” essay (not even the personal essay on CommonApp), I’d like to think he has a lot to say about CS. If his essay turns out to be atrocious, then in my opinion, he should have at least gotten deferred so that the admission committee has more time to discuss whether he is a good fit for the school.
There are other parts of the application process that I’m excluding, such as letter of recommendations, financial status, affirmative action etc. But instead of diving into the nitty gritty of what the admission committee could have been thinking when rejecting my friend, here’s what should be done in the future.
The Change
CS has been growing more popular than ever, so it’s natural for many students to pick this if they don’t know what to major in. However, those students shouldn’t be viewed equally compared to the students who are passionate about this field of study. While some students have a greater GPA or standardized test scores, they’re most likely going in for the money if they have absolutely no interest in CS outside of classes. Is that the type of student a college wants at their school?
In fact, CS is probably one of the easiest majors to show demonstrated interest. Anyone with a computer can easily start working on projects outside of school. This is much easier than starting up your own business for future business majors or working as a lab intern for prospective science majors. If students can’t take some time to start learning a subject on their own, why should they be admitted to a school on that subject? It just doesn’t make sense to me.
What colleges need is an option for students to submit links. I’m honestly surprised this hasn’t become more popular yet within colleges. Some schools allow applicants to submit a portfolio, which tends to focus more on art/music. Other schools allow applicants to submit additional supplemental material. Yet, I can’t find any option to send my own portfolio. Being able to submit a link (or multiple links) allows applicants to share what they’re proud of. Whether it’s their long list of repositories on GitHub, a cool website they made at a Hackathon, or even just a blog on Medium, this option exposes and differentiates the applicants who are just doing it for the money compared to those who are truly passionate.
This option will also help students who might not have any CS activities outside of school. Not everyone will be able to run a coding club or a Hackathon, and many students are busy with other activities that they enjoy, such as math team, debate, sports etc.
This option needs to be integrated to many top schools as soon as possible since CS is only getting more popular and I don’t think that will stop anytime soon.
Interviews should have a little more emphasis. Colleges always tell people that interviews are optional and that they have no weight in the decision process, but I believe that there are many programmers that are able to eloquently speak their ideas and beliefs in person that essays won’t allow them to. Hearing the passion from applicants’ words while they talk about their recent projects or struggles should be significantly more valuable than some numbers on a transcript. Colleges should look for applicants who can nonstop talk about their hobbies, not the fake applicants whose goals are to get into a Top20 school and make a lot of money.
I bet my friend would have had a lot more success with schools had he gotten the option to interviews. While he is one hell of a genius, he is not like one of those cocky, snobby assholes who think they know it all. In fact, he’s actually very humble and willing to help you without making you feel inferior. That in itself is a very impressive trait. He’s definitely one of a kind, and his lack of interviews prevented him from showing his personality that couldn’t be conveyed on paper.
If interviews aren’t an option, there should be a specific essay for CS majors. The prompts that we usually have to write are “Why X school?”, “Why X major?”, “Explain activities”, “Explain how/what changed you”, and the CommonApp essays. Similar to how some schools offer engineer majors a question about how they would change the world, schools should offer questions for CS majors such as, “What are you currently working on?”, “How can you change the world with technology?”, “How would you do X differently?”. This allows students to talk about their ideas and demonstrate interest in CS without having to worry about whether it fits the typical prompts or not.
My friend is still smart enough to get into a great school for computer science, and I’m sure that he will stand out to many of his peers and professors once he’s there. In fact, I’m almost jealous of him because he’ll be the big fish in a little pond. Hopefully, you don’t get offended to anything I say, I’m merely just a teenager salty over his college decisions. I’ve had this rant build up since the start of college application season, and it feels great to finally let it all out. I really hope some college admission officer reads this and improves their application process. It’s only a matter of time before college acceptance rates approach <1%.
