<p>I'm a rising junior and am looking for some feedback on how to improve my transcript and ECs. I'm definitely interested in Cornell - both of my parents went there and I love the school. I'm looking into fields in art and science, perhaps industrial design, animation, architecture, etc. </p>
<p>Freshman: 4.3 GPA weighted, 'A's in every class
Honors Spanish II
Honors Biology
Honors US history
Honors Algebra II
Honors English 9
Intro to Art, Band
-Highest Honor Roll
-Marching Band
-Fourth year of Odyssey of the Mind - 1st place at regional tournament, 1st place at SponFun Day
-Math Award
-Science Award
-Job as Warehouse Operator
-Artwork published in our local professional Ballet Theatre's program
-Girl Scouts
-Stage crew for Thespian Society and Musical </p>
<p>Sophomore year: 4.3 GPA weighted
Honors Chemistry: 98
Honors English 10: 94
Honors Trig: 88
AP european history: 93
doubled up on art classes to take AP art next year, band
- marching band
-Fifth year in Odyssey of the Mind, placed 3rd at regional competition and 3rd at SponFun Day
-Job as warehouse operator
-Girl Scouts
-Head of running crew for Thespian society
-stage crew for musical
-cultural diversity club member</p>
<p>Tentative junior year schedule:
AP biology
AP english
AP calc BC
AP art
Honors US history II
band</p>
<p>Can you give me any feedback on my strengths and weaknesses?
Phew, that was long! Thank you for reading!!</p>
<p>You will need to keep your grades up when you take higher level courses. You may want to win some state or higher level competitions too for ECs. Besides that it looks pretty good. You will need to do well on standardized testing. Good luck!</p>
<p>if you keep your grades up, write good essays, and do well on the SAT, you have a good chance of getting, especially since both your parents went there.</p>
<p>Looks like you have the grades & “rigor” of course work. Now take the SAT’s ASAP & you’ll have a much better chance of determining if you’ll meet basic requirements.</p>
<p>I’ve only taken Honors/AP classes, I can keep up my grades in the honors classes no problem, although its more difficult in the AP Euro (It’s the only one open to sophs at my school.) </p>
<p>I’m more worried about the AP test itself because our teacher is known for not teaching the material and getting distracted, but I’ve started an informal study group. How helpful are review books? </p>
<p>I completely forgot to mention standardized tests! In the PSSAs (state assessment) back in middle school I was always in the 95th percentile and up and I got a 1980 on the PSAT. </p>
<p>It seems like the SAT determines all. Looks like a trip to the bookstore for a review book is in order Has anybody enrolled in these SAT prep courses? Are they helpful? </p>
<p>Thank you again for reading my ridiculously long post :)</p>
<p>I never found prep courses helpful. Best thing to do is just practice. From a complete lack of studying -> after studying a year i saw a 300 point increase.</p>
<p>A 4.3 GPA with a rigorous schedule is competitive at Cornell (and any other school in the United States).</p>
<p>SAT Prep courses – tough question. </p>
<p>To be honest, if you get the books and apply yourself, you can probably get 90% of what you’d get from a prep course. What the Prep Course provides is discipline (you have a class every week, which serves as an impetus to prepare) and someone who can analyze your weaknesses and help you target your studies. A good course will help you go into the test feeling confident, which may be its biggest value.</p>
<p>FWIW, both my D’s took a course (we did not opt for private tutoring). Each took the SATs then the ACT (with very little additional studying). Each felt well prepared, and were happy with the scores – they did not retake the tests. Overall, we felt it was worth it, and were in agreement that it was unlikely that there would be any significant improvement. That’s the confidence factor I’m talking about.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, zephyr. I picked up a few review books at a church yard sale and will study with those. I don’t think a prep course would be worth the money. :P</p>
In the PSSAs (state assessment) back in middle school I was always in the 95th percentile and up and I got a 1980 on the PSAT. </p>