Am I competitive for AEM ED? (Cornell)

<p>Chance</p>

<p>I go to one of the best schools in the country, ranked top 5 public school in state consistently.</p>

<p>Grades: freshman year I did pretty poorly. I only took 2 honors classes out of 5 "majors" ( core curriculum) I got 2 B+ and 3 A-.
Sophomore year I took all honors classes and 6 "majors" with 2 B+ and 3 A- and 1 A.
Junior year I took 7 majors, all honors and 1 AP. At my school, honors curriculum is based off of AP classes, and they are weighted the same. I will likely have 3-4 A 2-3 A- and maybe a B+.
Senior year I will take AP Calc AB, AP physics, AP stat, AP psych, AP Econ, honors English, advanced (not honors) year 5 Spanish.
I have taken 3 business courses and gotten A in all.
Overall, I will have about a 3.7 UW, with my weighted GPA in the top 10% of my class.
My school does not rank.</p>

<p>Test scores: SAT 2300 single sitting. 800 R 700 M 800 W. I will be retaking for at least (hopefully) 750 M. [took it today, and I expect nothing better than a 770, nothing worse than a 700]
SAT II: 770 USH, 800 math II, taking bio in October.
PSAT: 219 (NMS commended for now)</p>

<p>Essays/recs: I have begun writing both for Cornell and the Commonapp. Both focus on personal issues in my life that I am not willing to share with CC, and how they have shaped my interest in business and science. Recs will be from English and Bio teachers. Both write excellent recs. from what I have heard.</p>

<p>ECs/awards: NHS (member, only offered senior year @ my school). Class Vice-president (junior/senior year). VP of debate club (junior/senior year). President of investment club (junior/senior year). Sophomore year I created a charity 5k road race and shoe drive. I manage a charitable investment portfolio of stocks. Children of divorce mentor. State winner in nation-wide science competition. Consumer science (business) student of the year Junior year. (I have other, scattered, less relevant ECs that I will spare you from having to read about.) </p>

<p>So...chances at AEM ED? Any advice? thanks, it is much appreciated! I love the school!!!!</p>

<p>You have more than a chance. Those statistics are competitive with most top applicants to Cornell, let alone AEM applicants. The key thing is to distinguish yourself in writing.</p>

<p>Thank you so much! Do or did you go to cornell/dyson by any chance?</p>

<p>I am in Dyson right now. I wouldn’t worry too much about your numbers if I were you. I was able to get acceptance with lower test scores. Not that test scores are everything of course.</p>

<p>I understand. I am working hard on my essays now.
Are the Dyson kids somewhat isolated from the rest of Cornell? It seems like a unique program compared to the rest of the university. . .</p>

<p>It’s a unique program, but the students are still undergrads at Cornell. They’re just like everybody else on campus. I think you’ll understand if you ever spend time as a student at Cornell yourself.</p>

<p>OK, awesome, thanks for the info!</p>

<p>Does it look like applying ED would help or not really? I only ask because I don’t really have a hook and it looks like most people who get in ED are legacy or athletes</p>

<p>cornell does take a large amount that are legacy and athletes probably mostly ed - according to their class profile.
if you have no connection, my opinion is rd is much easier.
that is just my opinion.</p>

<p>Ok, thanks. But you can be deferred to RD from ED right?</p>

<p>i would not say RD is much easier. you can be deferred to RD from ED, but since Cornell takes 30-40% of its class during ED (i dont know the exact acceptance rate for ED) and dyson’s acceptance rate is around 12%, i would imagine the “acceptance rate” for RD is much lower.</p>

<p>bottom line is, if you love the school and know you want to attend, apply ED. if not, apply RD. don’t think about it in terms of which would be easier.</p>

<p>@hilarious: do you know the difference in acceptance rates?<br>
How common do you think it is that someone who gets rejected RD would have gotten in if they applied ED?</p>

<p>Shameless bump. All opinions valued!!!</p>

<p>i dont know the exact breakdown of acceptance rates because i dont know how many people apply for each round, but i do see the # of ppl who are admitted ED vs. RD. since RD pool is MUCH larger, it’s safe to say that RD is harder the more ppl are admitted ED considering the class size is pretty much set.</p>

<p>so to answer your question, im not an expert and can’t tell you for sure. i would say though, that ive seen some superb candidates rejected during RD (well yes same thing may happen for ED but im just speaking relatively)…</p>

<p>back to the bottom line – apply ED if you love the school! apply ED to another school if you love that school more.</p>

<p>OK thanks!<br>
I think I will be applying ED, but do you know of any other good business programs I would stand a decent chance at getting into?</p>

<p>(in case I don’t get in to Cornell, of course)</p>

<p>what are you interested in? i can speak to recruitment at the various schools if you tell me what you think you will be interested in pursuing. ive gotten a pretty good idea about how well schools do in recruitment from interviews/programs/internships ive gone through.</p>

<p>undergraduate programs also differ in quality depending on the specific business area youre interested in.</p>

<p>I am interested in investment banking. I have played with the idea of doing something like quant analysis or HFT, but I am much more interested in the social/managerial interactions of investment banking.</p>

<p>You have a good shot at AEM from what I can tell. In terms of other business programs you could apply to you have: NYU Stern, Berkeley Haas (you have to go there as a freshman as an arts and letters student and apply to Haas as a sophomore student), Michigan business, and maybe Wharton-Penn.
*** Georgetown -> In Ibanking circles, georgetown is picking up steam and at a lot of firms, more interns are selected from Georgetown than even Wharton. </p>

<p>I think if you applied to Stern, you would get in. Michigan would also be somewhat of a match. Wharton would be a reach for you, but it’s a reach for everyone.</p>

<p>Thanks! I have a chance thread in the what are my chances forum with most of the schools I am looking at currently</p>