I am an international student (Korean), currently a junior, rising senior at this rigorous boarding school. Most of my classes were honors or APs. My unweighted GPA is 3.75 and weighted is 4.13 with a 1470 (super scored, 1450 not-superscored) SAT. I know they are not the best, however, my major that I will be applying is Art. My dream school is Cornell. I have tons of extra curricular related to art and I am confident of finishing up my art portfolio with the best quality. I can communicate with people without any hardship so that can help me with the interview. Will I have chances of getting into Cornell if I ED?
As with many schools, I don’t believe Cornell will heavily stress your academics, specifically your SAT, as you are applying as an art major. What you should really focus on is your GPA, your extracurriculars, and your portfolio, which seem to be pretty strong. With that said, it’s still Cornell, so regardless of who you are, it’s not easy. But a strong list of extracurriculars, which you have, an even better portfolio, which you also have, and a good personal essay/I review will definitely give you a good shot at getting admitted. Good luck!!
Interview**
You seem as if you understand the situation already - Cornell will be a reach, but for a field like art, a truly impressive portfolio combined with strong essays, EC’s, and recommendations could make it worth a try. But you’ll need less-reachy options on your list too. A lot depends on your budget. Most schools are need-sensitive for international students even if they are not for US applicants, so your financial resources will have a huge impact on your application strategy. Will you be applying for need-based financial aid?
@nickthekid thank you so much!
@aquapt I will not be applying for any type of financial aid.
P.S. Applying to Cornell as an art major does not exempt you from their academic expectations - they will not overlook weak academics they way some specialty art schools might. But they will consider other strengths as well, if your academic stats are within range. And they will look at your grades in the context of your school and its rigor. Offhand it seems likely that your academic stats are probably good enough for the other aspects of your application to get a close look. But the other side of that coin is that international admissions are more competitive, so any “chance” estimators based on domestic stats will be over-optimistic. Don’t rule Cornell out, but don’t fixate on one “dream school” either - there are many fabulous schools and programs that could be a fit for you.
(Also, interviews for Cornell and most elite schools are primarily informational and rarely have an impact on admissions decisions one way or the other. It’s better to have one than not, but don’t think of it as something with a lot of weight.)
And (now seeing your response) being full pay will put you in a strong position at many excellent US colleges and universities that rely on full-pay international students to subsidize their domestic financial aid budget. Cornell is no longer need-blind for international applicants, but as a full-pay applicant that will work to your advantage. https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2016/02/24/cornell-changes-to-need-aware-policy/
If you want people to suggest additional programs to apply to, talk more about which attributes of Cornell make you want to go there. Is it mainly reputation? Or geography? The specific art program? Size? Campus “vibe”…?
Do you have any interest in specialty art schools like RISD and SCAD, or do you specifically want to major in art at a rigorous academic college/university? What kind of art specifically interests you, and what are you hoping to do with it career-wise?
@aquapt Cornell has been my dream school because of its campus, location (near city but has an isolated campus), and the “vibes.” I do not want to go to specialty art schools because I believe that being exposed to different people and being able to have different opportunities of learning will improve not only my art skills but also who I am. I was thinking of applying to RISD because I would be able to take co-classes with Brown but besides RISD, i am not planning on applying to other art schools. Other schools that I would love to go are CMU, USC, Wash U st. Louis, etc. Career wise, I am still not sure of what I’d want to do since I want to do so many different things such as an artist, industrial designer, curator etc. which is also another reason of wanting to go to traditional universities so that I will be able to learn variety of things and figure out what I would want to do.
No. Cornell will give you 0 break for applying to Art- and note that a portfolio is not even required for admission… Your application has to be up to scratch overall. They are clear about this:
Cornell’s acceptance rate is ~10%. Only 10% of those are international students. Your SAT is at the low end for Cornell to start with. So, go ahead and apply. Just make sure that you have other options.
Based on your interest in finding a top-notch art department within a balanced academic environment, I’d recommend you look into schools such as Vassar, Williams, Skidmore, Hamilton, Kenyon, Connecticut College, Wheaton (MA) and, if female, Scripps. As with Cornell, a few of these colleges would be reaches for most students, however.