Talk to your parents and/or guidance counselor. There are thousands of colleges from which to choose.
“Any recommendations for lower reach schools” Post #20 is your best advice – the GCs will have a wealth of info about previous students with similar profiles. They can make a good list of affordable suggestions. Good luck
Really, without your stats, it’s hard for anyone here to suggest any lower reach schools. The rigor at Cornell is just that: rigorous. If your school offers honors and AP classes and you don’t take any, then it’s going to be hard for an adcom to admit you. Not just at Cornell, but any other high reach school. Typically these types of classes in high school have a bigger work load, go at a faster pace while at the same time going deeper into the subject. If you can’t handle it, you won’t be able to handle it at Cornell. You should work with your parents and GC to get a good list going for YOU.
I’m gonna try and take honor history next year
What do you mean by “try to take”? Do you need to be recommended to take it, or are you still deciding what to do?
I think you might understand it better if we back up a bit. Most highly competitive schools look not only at GPA, but also how you counsellor rates your classload. If your school had no AP or honors, they would mark “most rigorous”. Your school profile would tell Cornell it does not offer those courses. In that case, the fact that you had not taken would likely be deemed irrellevant.
As these are offered at your school, your counsellor will check a less rigorous classload. This will likely be held against you.
As for the “how will you handle Cornell if you cant handle Honors” responses, these folks are looking out for YOU, not Cornell. It is not enough in the real world to “do your best, oh well.”. You do your best, but there are usually people who can do better. We all know people better/smarter…And out in the grown up world you are heading into, there is no medal for doing your best…we do know how hard those classes may be for you, which is why no one wants to see you “fail” those hard classes where you can’t just transfer out. It would be a huge blow to your confidence, a waste of money, and a mark on your college transcript…this why I say, it is for your own good, not to be mean.
What state do you live in, and what is your unweighted GPa and SAT or ACT. That will help to point you to schools.
Of course you have a chance. I have 2 kids in 2 different Ivy’s. Neither child took any honors or AP classes. They both had strong extracurriculars and are doing great at Yale and Cornell. Do your best and apply to numerous schools
including several backups just in case.
Thank you
Lepin88,
Yes they did. Their schools offered both AP and honors classes! My children were more interested in volunteer work than getting a C or worse in an AP class in high school taught by an idiopath who was more interested in failing children!!!. My children were not legacies, but there numerous hours of volunteer work helped them get into the Ivy’s. My daughter is dyslexic, make sure you get tested for disabilities ASAP/ Sometimes testing is free. This will give you a good base line if there is a disability, which are extremely common. I know this as I am a doctor involved with epigenetics. Also, teachers play favorites and the college entrance committees understand that. Just tolerate, graduate, and do your best. By the way, Cornell is a very difficult school because numerous professors make it hard. %50 can be an A at this college. Yale is much more understanding and the grading is fair, unlike some of Cornell! Do not let anyone tell you you cant do this or that…ever!By the way, I joined CC today just because of the unfair hits you were getting by people who are not doctors, like me, and do not know everything they think they do.
Get disability tested as they are very prevalent in our society, statistically around %50, including me.
Have fun, don’t let anyone get you down! Stay positive
Yay, Lepin88, you finally got the answer you wanted!
So the AP teacher was unfair, Cornell profs are unfair…hmmmm…
I have a writing disability so I can’t write papers as well as other kids but I get a’s on some of them
“I am a doctor involved with epigenetics”
What does it mean
Epigenetics is the science of how external factors can modify DNA. Not mutations, but chemical changes that turn genes on or off (in contrast to how a mutation actually changes the code itself). It’s a very hot area of research right now. The vast majority of epigenetics work is research rather than therapeutic work, so maybe CALSDAD is saying he is a PhD studying epigenetics? There are some data out there linking learning disabilities with epigenetic changes in DNA.
@CALSDAD 50% of the population is “disabled”???, now who am I to argue with a doctor but…big difference between a “weakness” and a “disability”.
I think the goal is not to just get admitted to a top school, but the ability to graduate from it is even more important. Other posters have already mentioned that if the OP cannot handle honors level HS classes, how do you expect OP to handle top school’s classes?
@CALSDAD I’m going to have to agree to disagree however. Your children may have done amazing things or somethin but their case is very rare then. My high school had 120 people apply to cornell every year, some of which had done amazing work, some with low stats, etc and only 11/120 people got in. And those 11/120 all had high stats, ap classes, and had that “big red factor”. This is also applicable to so many schools (depending on if the school offers honors and ap coures)
There’s a thing called being positive but there’s also a thing called being realisitc. He may have a chance but a very low one to get into cornell. Even cornell admissions officers emphasize that before yu need to get in, you need to prove you can handle the coursework. Unless he has some sort of redeeming factor or coincidence, it doesn’t seem likely. It also depends on the program and etc. Plus, as stated before, if he can’t handle his high school’s highest coursework, how will he even handle cornell, which iseeven harder?
And using the term doctor bares no relevancy to knowing how admissions work. “Unfair hits” does not equal realistic chancing
It is equally important, in fact more important, to point out that nobody who posts here is an admissions officer, so that even if a poster holds a doctorate, s/he is simply expressing his/her own opinion, and will be no more accurate in chancing than anybody else.
What are you saying are you defending me or no