<p>Cornell does not consider freshman grades. You will get in ED.</p>
<p>triplenickel, your STAT is very similar to my S13’s. He also has a GPA around 3.6 as of now. He has only had one B+ in each of his freshmen year and sophomore year, and 2 B+ in junior year along with many A+. As a freshmen, his school only offered CollegePrep Spanish. He had A and A- respectively in both semesters but then as it is a CP Class, A is 3.7 and A- is 3.3 which is main reason to pull his GPA down. Art and PE were both considered CP classes and he got A-/B+ in both of them, his GPA got affected. He workes very hard and is involved in many EC activities. I get mixed messages when I hear from people that 3.6 is low GPA andcolleges looks at the GPA in the context of a school. My son is in the top 10%(almost in the middle of the range for top 10%) in class. Anyways, nothing can be done with his GPA at this point, except that making sure he is packaged well. I really hope he finds the school that fits him.
I wish you all the best in your college search.</p>
<p>@norcalguy,</p>
<p>I forgot to mention it in my other chance thread because I co-authored it with two professors. However, I thought it couldn’t hurt, so I added it here. The papers were published in tier-3 medical journals.</p>
<p>First - the GPA is far from terrible. The issue is the gap between GPA and standardized tests.</p>
<p>I may be bias because I have a son with GPA much lower than test scores, but I really do believe a 4.0 is not necessary to gain acceptance. Certainly a large help, but I believe it can be done without a 4.0 if you can showcase your whole package.</p>
<p>Most admission officers state they do view the GPA in terms of the high school. Our high school has +/- system. A neighboring high school has +/-, but drops it when correlating to the 4.0 system. So, my 3.6-3.7 kid would be >3.9 at the neighbor school. Then, as others are stating, some colleges disregard 9th grade. Difficult to standardize GPA.</p>
<p>If you truly have no financial issues in affording college and you find a college you love, applying ED will be a boost at many schools.</p>
<p>Most top 20 are a lottery anyway due to the percentage of applicants they accept.</p>
<p>Plan to apply to many schools if are truly focused on top 20. Apply to a safety (prefer rolling admissions) prior to ED application. This way you will have the essays completed and ready to go if the ED is denied or wait listed.</p>
<p>What about Harvey Mudd? It’s a great school, and it’s warm and sunny at Claremont :)</p>
<p>I think your GPA is OK for most highly selective colleges except a few. And your Calc in sophomore year will be respected by CALS. If you decide to apply to CALS, make sure to interview and demonstrate interest in the college.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input, guys. CALS looks good. I’m just afraid it might be a waste of an ED.</p>
<p>OP are you male or female? If male a lot of LAC would love to have you. They also have very good advising for pre med students.</p>
<p>Check: Vassar, Williams, Amherst, etc.</p>
<p>I am male. However, I’m not sure an LAC is right for me, because I’m not really that competent in the humanities, and from my understanding humanities are emphasized at LAC’s. Am I wrong?</p>
<p>That is not true. Schools like Swarthmore, Williams, Amherst, Harvey Mudd, Pomona, etc. have very good science departments. You can check their websites. They also have very good advising for grad school.</p>
<p>Oh, okay. I’ll have a look-see. Thanks!</p>
<p>Don’t discount the LACs. They are good for Bio, math and spanish majors.</p>
<p>So what do y’all think would be a good fit for me?</p>
<p>Bumpers are cool.</p>
<p>Bumpity bump</p>
<p>^ It’s hard to suggest a good fit without knowing what you’re after (size, location, etc.) You haven’t written too much about your preferences. So far, the discussion seems to be focused mostly on how selective a school you can expect to admit you (not the kind of school you’d like to attend.)</p>
<p>Cost apparently isn’t a concern. Does that mean your family can fairly easily afford as much as $55K-$60K/year?</p>
<p>Do you want to confine your choices to schools on the east coast? Northeast? Do you prefer urban locations, or would other settings be o.k.? Do you care about climate? Do you want a big D1 sports scene? Fraternities? Lots of school spirit and partying? An intense intellectual atmosphere? Would you prefer a school with an “open curriculum” or are you o.k. with course distribution requirements? </p>
<p>etc.</p>
<p>I want something that is academically very strong; literally nothing else matters to me. This is sort of secondary, but it would be nice if the school is of some repute, as that never hurts.</p>
<p>Listen, don’t worry. You will most likely get in. Its not like admissions throws out applications automatically because they didnt get x gpa or y sat score. You seem pretty intelligent and your app will reflect on it.</p>
<p>As an aside, the senior valedictorian of my school got into Cornell Ed. Her sat score is in the 2200s, takes less ap than me (I’m a junior), has good ecs(though nothing unordinary) yet she is in. In addition, the senior salutatorian is also accepted to reg decision Cornell. About same sats, 5 aps -bare minimum, sports and a little ecs.</p>
<p>What to get out of this anecdote: someone as smart as you will likely get in.</p>
<p>OP
You say nothing else matters except the academics, but you need to add some criteria in order to narrow your focus. There are many great schools that are not ranked in the top 10-20 of US News.</p>
<h1>50 or so LAC is Rhodes College in Memphis TN. It is a great LAC with strong science and nearby hospital for some great opportunities. Your stats would likely yield merit.</h1>
<p>Check out website, Princeton Review, Fiske Guide for a LAC, a public and large private. Once you really think about each type of school (LAC, public, large private), you will start to see patterns of what you like. Once the patterns form, have a financial talk with your parents. Run some Net Price Calculators.</p>
<p>Well, given the high tuition costs of OOS publics, anything other than my instate public is basically a no-go. The reason money is not a problem is that for most places I’m applying, I’m receiving quite a lot of finaid if I get in. This is a tad counter-intuitive, but my parent’s income is so low that financial aid is basically guaranteed for most of my colleges.</p>
<p>Very bad mentality on financial aid…What is your EFC on the Cornell NPC?</p>