Chance a junior for Human Ecology!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>I'm a junior, and may want to apply to the College of Human Ecology next year. I want to major in Human Development, with a concentration in Behavioral Nueroscience.</p>

<p>Stats:
-Race: White
-Gender: Female
-High School-Public (very affluent, but barely sends any kids to Ivies)</p>

<p>Academic:
-SAT: 790 CR, 620 M, 620 W (first try, no studying. will retake for 2100)
-SATII-Haven't taken. Will take Chem, Math I and US History
-GPA-94.5 UW/99 W
-Rank-1st Decile</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Athletic:
-Track&Field(Pole Vaulting, on track to get scholarship, got injured)-9,10
-Tennis-JV 9,10/V 11,12 (Captain, will prob make 1st team all league/county)
-Black Belt Tae Kwon Do-8,9,10,11,12
Academic:
-Debate Team-JV 9/V-10,11,12 (Captain)
-Chinese Club(Treasurer)-11, 12
-Chinese Poetry Speaking Competition-11
-School Lit Mag-published 9,10,11-magazine won award 9th
-Barnard Pre-College Program-10,11
Volunteer
-Assistent teacher Hebrew-2 years/2 hrs/wk
-Hebrew Tutor-for children with special needs-4 years 3 hrs/wk
-Volunteer trip-worked in New Orleans Head Start/Rebuilt house in 9th Ward
-Native American reservation coat drive-organized and participated in
Work:
-Camp Counselor-10,11,12-counselor for children with behavioral/emotional problems.
-Instructor-Tae Kwon Do-10,11,12</p>

<p>Courses:
Hardest Courseload available:
-4 AP's by senior year
-6 years of foreign language (Chinese+Spanish)</p>

<p>Other:
-Diffiucult sophomore year-severe anorexia, was not in school much 1/3 of year. This may be looked on negatively by colleges.</p>

<p>Do I have a decent chance for HumEc, is it a match, high match, or reach? </p>

<p>Also, could I minor in something at a different college, like Asian language studies, or do you only take classes within your college?</p>

2

<p>“Other:
-Diffiucult sophomore year-severe anorexia, was not in school much 1/3 of year. This may be looked on negatively by colleges.”</p>

<p>…yes this may be problematic. I wouldn’t volunteer this info if possible (shouldn’t show up on a transcript) so essays & letters of reccomendation would be the only places it could show up & you have control over the essays.</p>

3

<p>Yea, it won’t show up on transcript, but my guidance counselor was going to write a note to explain the drop in GPA from freshman to sophomore(98-91). Other than that, what are my chances like?</p>

4

<p>I think other than that your application is strong! I wouldn’t have her write an explaination. My D is diagnosed with OCD. We were advised by some “cornell parents” to not mention it in her application. They reported that the college has a “risk management” person who reviews applicants with any history of emotional or physical difficulties. I don’t think drawing attention to this favors you.</p>

5

<p>How competitive is Human Ecology? More or less than CAS or COE?</p>

6

<p>Less than CAS, females admit rates are pretty good for COE; here are some stats you may find helpfull. I can’t find same stats for this years freshman. </p>

<p><a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000003.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000003.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000176.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000176.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000177.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000177.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000151.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000151.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000152.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000152.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000154.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000154.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>Hmm, the only problem is, math is one of my weakest subjects, so I don’t think I would be a competitive applicant for COE. However, science is my best subject, so how would that balance out in admissions?</p>

8

<p>Not well. IMO. (however I am not an admissions officer).</p>

9

<p>bump. </p>

<p>Also, I forgot to include that I’m going to getting a sytematic review I did published in a medical journal for a study of sleep and behavior in children with researchers at a pretigious medical school in NYC. Would that stregnthen my app a bit?</p>

10

<p>well, i think your gpa is pretty good (you’re canadian right? i use the 4.0 scale) cornell really likes high gpas.</p>

<p>yeah, i think you should retake the sat. the median sat for cornell is probably over 2100 now. but i’ve heard that human ecology is the easiest college to get into. idk. oh yeah, remember that cornell cares mostly about math+CR, so work on those the most.</p>

<p>i think your ECs are fine!</p>

<p>so 4 APs total in grades 9, 10, and 11? i think that’s ok. i had 6 APs though. what were your AP scores? are they mostly 4/5s?</p>

<p>i’ve heard that sat 2s aren’t required next year, but yeah, i’ve heard that they can be beneficial. i gave cornell all my sat 2 scores despite the fact that CALS doesn’t require any. i think you should aim for 750+ on the sat 2s, and get at least a 700 to have a chance</p>

<p>and bring the sat to over 2100 lol =)</p>

11

<p>I’ll def retake the SATs. That was with not much practice, I’ve been doing a TON of SAT work. I’m hoping for around a 2120. </p>

<p>But my school only allows APs junior/senior year, and since I’m a junior now, I didnt get any scores back. Also, my school places a limit on APs at 2 a year. I’m American though.</p>

<p>I know HumEc is one of th easier colleges to get into, I know I have no chace at a more diificut one like CAS</p>

12

<p>just remember that the testing conditions might not be as good when you take the real thing. like, you might have a really mean proctor or be unable to see the clock (that happened to me; bring a watch), so be prepared to score lower. like, i got over a 2300 on a practice sat but i only got a 2260 on the real thing after 3 tries…</p>

<p>i think cornell really doesn’t look at your writing score, so just remember that. i’m sure if you got like an 800 in writing though it can only help you, for they will see all your subscores</p>

<p>oh, i see. at my school, it’s pretty hard to take APs freshman year, and there’s really only 2 main ones to take sophomore year, but junior and senior year there’s like unlimited. i don’t think my school actually specifically says that you can’t take APs a certain year though, so i guess i had the advantage there. i think you’ll be ok as far as APs go. i think cornell likes it when a student takes the hardest classes possible for their school, which it looks like you’re doing. there’s a section on the commonapp where you can list ap scores, so just be aware of that. i actually sent mine to them, just so they wouldn’t suspect that i made them up. </p>

<p>haha, i was pretty realistic when i applied to college too. my mom wanted me to apply to like stanford, but i said that’d just be wasting my ED.</p>

13

<p>Thanks, thats a good point. I’m only trying to go up around 100 points in two tries, so I’m pretty optimistic. I’m also hoping for a better curve, the October one was pretty brutal!</p>

<p>I’m trying to get my math up, working with a math teacher at my school every day on SAT work, and I’m hoping for maybe a 680? Trying to be realistic here.</p>

<p>I’m taking by far the hardest courseload at my school, I skipped a year of science, and really fought for the AP’s I’m taking (they’re really strict with them-only usually 20 kids in a class, and they only offer maybe 4 or 5 AP’s).</p>

<p>I’m trying to strengthen my app by going more into HumEc focused EC’s, like publishing in a top medical journal with researchers, and interning at a child-mother psychology research center in NY.</p>

14

<p>I haven’t heard of any applicant having difficulty getting into the school of Hum Ec.</p>

15

<p>“I haven’t heard of any applicant having difficulty getting into the school of Hum Ec.”</p>

<p>…well since their admission rate is around 30%…70% of the applicants had some difficulty…</p>

16

<p>@csdad: quoted for truth?</p>

<p>@hannah: you sound like you really care and want to get into cornell =) i honestly didn’t even like consider cornell as an option until senior year–basically a few months ago. my only suggestion is to take prac test after prac test and diagnose yourself. a math teacher can’t hurt either </p>

<p>i like that your school limits class sizes. here at my school, you’ll see classes of 50 students, with the average being over 40. as you can see, we don’t have limits on class sizes really. but we have a limit as to how small a class can be; i think a class has to have at least 30 students here or so</p>

<p>going into those ECs can only help. for me, i worked at like a chem lab the summer before senior year. that was like my only science related EC. basically, i didn’t think about college really until very recently. i wasn’t one of those people who planned out their whole high school years and everything</p>

<p>when i was a junior i was only just starting to think about college. i definitely didn’t have a particular college in mind, although living in california naturally made me look towards the UCs, specifically berkeley.</p>

<p>you’re way ahead of me a year ago!</p>

17

<p>@wuchu: thanks for the advice. my school is not the greatest, and it doesnt send many kids to ivy leagues (maybe 1 every 3-4 years, usually a recruited athlete). Most of my school goes to our state school, so I really have no idea how I stand in relation to others.</p>

<p>So how much of a reach is HumEc, with say, a 2100 SAT?</p>

18

<p>My D got in with a 2040. Your scores will not keep you out…but your letters of rec., essays, & EC’s have to get you in!</p>

19

<p>yeah, i agree with csdad. find teachers that you really like to write your recs. mine were so awesome. when i told them i got into cornell, they were so happy for me. my counselor even gave me a hug =) and oh yeah, cornell loves people who have an idea as to what they’re going to study in college (which you do). like, the essays you have to write for cornell are specialized by college (CALS/HE, CAS, etc).</p>

<p>a 2100 should make you competitive, i think. the fact that your school isn’t tippy top (neither is mine, btw) shouldn’t hurt you i don’t think. i think cornell understands the fact that not all high schools offer the same amount</p>

20

<p>Bumping this up. Got a 2300 on the SAT’s-1500 M+CR</p>