Chance a slightly disappointing and stressed asian for Cornell ED 2026

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Trying to make my Asian parents proud(haha…)
Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: (NY)
  • Type of high school (public high school, competitive, sends about 10-15 students to T20s, also sends quite a few more to schools like UC Berkeley, UMich, Carnegie Mellon, etc.):
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity : Asian, Indian male
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): None :frowning:

Intended Major(s)
Data Science, Computer Science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.9
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.44
  • Class Rank: ~top 5%
  • ACT/SAT Scores:
    SAT: 1580

Coursework(took almost all APs + Honors, I only missed AP World History and AP Lit)
(AP Chemistry(5), AP Physics C:Mech(pending), AP Physics C: E+M(pending), AP Calculus BC(pending), AP Lang+Comp(pending), AP Stats(pending))
Taking Multivariable Calculus, AP Econ(Micro+Macro), AP Comp Sci, AP Gov, AP Bio, in Senior year
Awards

  1. Quiz Bowl National Qualification
  2. International award for a startup/organization competition(not as prestigious, but did win money + is legitimate competition)
  3. 2x Trivia Team State Champion/Runner-up award
  4. National Data Science Competition Award for being in a top (redacted) percentile
  5. Should be National Merit Commended, since my score is above the previous year’s cutoff by a good number, I have a pretty big scholarship/award still pending prior to the ED deadline that can replace it, although I may not win. Also studied for an Olympiad, missed the cutoff by one point.)

Extracurriculars
(Will not go too far to avoid being doxxed. Also, the years in parentheses are for how many years of participation, not leadership)

  1. Quiz Bowl Team(Co-Founder, Captain, 11-12) - Led team to Nationals in our first year(did not compete because of COVID restrictions), organized 12+ hour long weekly practices, featured in school + regional newspapers for our growth and accomplishments, also in the process of building our website from scratch, also writing some essays about it
  2. International CS-related non-profit(Founder, Lead Organizer, 11-12) - Relatively new, decently big impact, we actually do have a bunch of cool accomplishments(not a fluff activity), applying for 501c3, writing essays about it(favorite activity!)
  3. Trivia Club/team(Captain, 9-12) - Won the award mentioned above
  4. Outside of School Speech/Debate Club(VP, 9-12), organized some decently sized speech and debate events, designed an app that allows my debate club to organize+function better in the future
  5. JV/Varsity Sport(JV Captain, 9-12) - self explanatory
  6. Political org/club in my school (Board member, 10-12)- organized some pretty cool events, led a coding team to design our website, increased membership
  7. Data Science related research internship at a state university - I’m probably going to put it higher on my list
  8. Internship at a small CS company - also probably going to put it higher on my list
  9. A Coaching + Mentoring program for my sport - coached + mentored younger students through my sport(listed above), raised money to a local government-sponsored non-profit, had a personal letter written to me by the non-profit
  10. 50+ hours of volunteering at a hospital

Essays/LORs/Other
I am in no position to rate my own essays, and I only have some drafts written down right now. Does anyone have any suggestions for essays on the common app? My recommendation letters from my counselor and teachers are strong, since I have connections to them through my extracurriculars. I’ve also built a great bond with them as well, and I expect to have some good recs. I also have family connection with Cornell(although it is unfortunately not a legacy connection), and I have wanted to attend Cornell for quite a while now.

Cost Constraints / Budget
Will apply for financial aid, but decently well-off

Schools
Cornell (ED), Columbia, Duke, Northwestern, UPenn, Carnegie Mellon, Umich, a NY state school, University of Pittsburgh, Washu, Vanderbilt, UCLA, UC Berkeley,

Still looking for some more schools, praying that I’m not delusional

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I don’t see what’s disappointing about that record!

Have you decided which college within Cornell you plan to apply to?

The School of Engineering has the CS and Information Science, Systems and Technology majors. This would probably be the toughest admit.

Arts & Sciences has CS and Info Science. Here, you don’t have to apply to a specific major, but they’ll want to know what your interests are.

And CALS has Info Science as well. Unlike A&S, CALS does admit by major. For an in-state student, this would be the best financial value, and the acceptance rate is slightly higher than A&S, although applying to the more competitive majors within CALS may cancel that difference out.

You’ll want to drill down on the ways these programs differ before deciding. Overall, the spread in admit rate is only a couple of percentage points - not sure whether that bears out in ED as well. (Maybe experts on the school can give you a more detailed analysis of how your choice would affect your odds, and how your particular qualifications might fit better at one school vs. the others.)

Overall you seem like a very well-qualified applicant; the thing is that Cornell and your other reach schools turn down plenty of well-qualified applicants, so having match and safety schools that you genuinely like will be the best way to mitigate your stress and assure yourself that you will do great no matter what happens. Which you will!

Since you’re looking at west coast publics… the UW-Seattle Informatics school is stellar. (UW CS is a brutal admit for OOS; Informatics is very competitive but not as bad as CS.) UC Irvine is also strong in Informatics and may be worth a look since you’re already planning to do the UC app.

Emory QSS is a top-notch program, particularly if you’re interested in the intersection of data science with social sciences and humanities. If this type of program appeals, there are similar excellent programs at Penn State, Indiana U, and Denison University.

The URochester Goergen Institute for Data Science has both a BA and BS and could be well worth a look as a rigorous and intellectual match school.

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You are delusional if you think you are slightly disappointing. All you kids today…the pressure is nuts. You have a record 99% can only dream of.

What worries me is you say you are well off but will apply for aid ? Are your parents willing to spend $320k on your undergraduate education ? Will it entail loans.

First run the ner price calculator for Cornell. Assuming you are full pay then you need to have that discussion with your folks. If they say heck no, especially if you plan grad school, you can wipe out your list except Pitt, Wash U and Vandy. The last two have merit but they are not easy to get.

I think @aquapt gave you fantastic guidance.

Here is a list of top analytics programs. I’m sure you can find others.

Rochester has aid,

Lots of great schools on this list like Case Western that would love to have you. Purdue is also reasonably priced. UW Seattle as mentioned, and W&L has a minor and you might qualify for their full ride Johnson Scholarship.

You can go free or near free at lots of schools, both public and private. Good luck.

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UW Seattle is an awesome CS school but its OOS admit rate is ridiculously low. Here is a website showing just how competitive it is: High School Students | Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering

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That’s why I suggested Informatics at UDub, not CS.
The Information School Website says this in their FAQ section:
Q: How many students are admitted through direct admission?
A: For Autumn 2020, we received 151 applications; 55 were admitted and 36 accepted the offer of admission.
Presumably the students referred to had all been accepted to the university already… and it’s tougher for OOS students… but this is still less grim than the OOS CS stats.

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As a NY state resident, you have a higher chance of acceptance by applying to CALS. The only issue is that CALS does not have a CS/DS major. The closet would be Information Science, followed by Biometry/statistics.

If you were however applying to CAS or Engineering ED, then your chances are a lot lower. Reason is that there are lots of other desi students like you who are applying. You have strong scores and grades. But in the ED round, they usually scoop up the valedictorians and other attractive candidates who fill a particular need. Also full pay will help

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The informaation re: Cornell from aquapt is very good. I would only add that if you do decide to apply to College of Engineering, you may want to take a look at Operations Research and Engineering as a major.

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