Chance me at CAS ED please!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>Hello, I'm a senior at a VERY competitive public high school in Washington State.
My school sends many students to top schools such as Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Columbia, Duke,
Dartmouth, Caltech, Chicago, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, etc. each year.
I'm going to apply for CAS Early Decision under Asian Studies major... though actually planning on
majoring in International Relations which is under the Government major at Cornell CAS.</p>

<p>Academics/Test Scores</p>

<p>GPA: 3.865 cumulative
Top 15% of the class......... ugh .. shows improvement from Soph ~ Junior year though.
I used to live in Toronto, Canada for 3 years before I transferred to my current school
as a Sophomore and my Canadian school had NO Honors/AP/Advanced classes.
SAT: 750 CR 800 MATH 720 WR 2270 TOTAL
SAT II's: 740 US History 750 Japanese Language 6XX World History haha didn't study for this...
and I'm taking Math 2 and Korean (just for fun) in November..</p>

<p>Honors/AP Classes</p>

<p>Honors Sophomore English<br>
Honors Pre-Calculus
Honors Symphonic Orchestra (11, 12)
AP English Language - 4
AP US History - 4
AP World History - 5
AP Japanese Language - 5
AP Calculus AB - 5
Taking AP English Literature, AP US Government, AP Environmental Science,
Advanced Calculus, Japanese 6, and Honors Orchestra as a Senior
(Will the fact that I didn't take any other AP Sciences courses such as
Chemistry and Biology hurt me? I'm TERRIBLE in any math/science areas.
I've just taken all the AP classes that matches my interest/academic goals though.)</p>

<p>Honors/Awards </p>

<p>Academic Honor Roll - 9, 10, 11
Most Inspirational Volunteer Award from Hospice of Peel, Canada - 9, 10
Eastside Regional Solo and Ensemble Music Festival - both 11
- Certification of Commendation: Small String Ensemble<br>
- Certification of Commendation: Violin<br>
Certification of Japanese Language Proficiency Level 2 - 11
Washington State Japanese Speech Contest 3rd Place - 11
All-USA National Japanese Speech Contest Top 15 Finalist - 11
All-US Korean-American Yi Sun Shin Essay Contest Honor Roll - 11<br>
High School Community Service Award - 11
High School Orchestra Most Improved Musician of the Year - 11
Best Teaching Assistant of the Year, Korean School - 11</p>

<p>Activities/Leadership Positions
City Youth Orchestra: Second Violin Principal Chair & First Violin - 10, 11, 12
High School Orchestra - 10, 11, 12
High School Band - 9 (Canada; it didn't have an orchestra class haha)
Japanese Language Peer Tutor at School - 11, 12
Link Crew - 12
Key Club, Debate Club - 10, 11, 12
Bridge Across Border (Culture Club thing) Secretary, President - 10, 11, 12
Harry Potter Fansite Korean-English News Translator - 9, 10</p>

<p>Work/Volunteer Experiences
Hospice of Peel Volunteer - 9, 10
Library Volunteer - 10, 11
Korean School Teaching Assistant - 10, 11, 12
Youth Court Juror Volunteer - 11, 12 (Just got created 1 year ago)
Northwest Asian Weekly Internship - 11, 12
House of Sharing—the home for the living comfort women from WWII—Volunteer - Summer 2007
Korean Consulate General Seattle Internship - Summer 2008</p>

<p>Others</p>

<p>Teachers' Recommendation Letters - Excellent!
Counselor's - Don't know yet.
Essays - still working on them and hope they're amazing.</p>

<p>I know that my low class rank will significantly affect the admissions decision negatively,
and being a Korean-American will be a con, and being a Korean and playing violin and
speaking Japanese fluently won't help much either. (I'm a citizen of the USA by the way.)
However, I firmly believe in what I want to pursue in college, and after going through
many researches and readings, I figured that Cornell University is the perfect match for me.
Thank you for reading my thread, and please chance me for CAS ED! </p>

<p>Thank you again :]</p>

2

<p>Sounds impressive. Is GPA weighted? Why are you applying as an Asian Studies major? Why do you think Cornell is a perfect match? Why do you mention 3 wonderful things about you as being "cons"??</p>

3

<p>Nope, my GPA is unweighted and my school never tells us weighted GPA's... which kinda sucks. I am applying as an Asian Studies major because I do intend on majoring in East Asian Studies, as well as Government/International Relations; also I think my Awards and EC's match Asian Studies more? I believe Cornell is a perfect match for me not only because of its broad-range of academics and diverse population but also because of its strong Korean alumni (in case I might go to work in Korea), and I love its foreign language department, especially that Cornell's East Asian Program is good. I also like Cornell because of its proximity to my uncle's house in New Jersey so that I can stay there during summer or winter holidays instead of flying back to Seattle, and I don't like either big cities or small schools. So I've figured Cornell is a perfect match for me... with numerous other reasons.</p>

<p>I mentioned those three things about me as being "cons" because well generally, many Koreans are good at Japanese so I thought that winning some awards in Japanese Speech Contests might not be that impressive.. Hmm but my essay is going to be about my experiences with the Japanese people and relations between Korea and Japan which then matches my EC's and awards lol. Oh, and a lot of Asians play violin/piano/flute/cello, etc. so me playing violin isn't really a unique thing; being an Asian-American doesn't make me an URM... well it's not really "cons" but I just mean I'm not in an advantaged position...?
Thank you for your reply!</p>

4

<p>You are in an advantaged position already! So to me those "cons" are just icing on the cake! But I do understand what you mean... If your school sends students to so many top schools, you must have a good guidance dept. What do they think re: your chances? I'm not familiar w/Cornell's ED admit stats.
Have you been to Cornell? It does sound like a very good match for you!</p>

5

<p>Cornell CAS could be a reach...I wonder if you can present to Cornell about your leadership skills from E.Cs. Colleges don't like a long list of ECs, rather, they're looking for focused E.Cs with commitment and leadership demonstration. Although your SAT scores are very strong, your class rank may be on the lower end for accepted students. But, you will have a shot as long as your write very strong essays and are able to sell your ECs well to the admissions committee. And, applying ED should give you a comfortable boost. GL.</p>

6

<p>patlees88/ Yeah.... I lack leadership positions, which sucks too... For EC's I'm gonna have them divided into two specific groups: Orchestra and Asian stuff.. which makes my interest clearer. Thank you!</p>

<p>tmi/I have never been to Cornell but a lot to New York/New Jersey areas. I wanna visit there soon..</p>

7

<p>Thank you! I have never been to Cornell but a lot to New York/New Jersey areas. I wanna visit there soon..</p>

8

<p>Out of curiosity, does your high school have any sort of relationship with Cornell? Do the guidance counselors know the Cornell adcoms? Have you had any past interaction with Cornell, be it at a college fair or anything like that?</p>

<p>Generally speaking you are the type of student that Cornell likes to admit ED. Your strong interests in East Asia are a huge boost to your application.</p>

<p>Also note that you can't major in International Relations. You can "minor" in it, though.</p>

9

<p>Good tips, Cayuga!</p>

10

<p>CayugaRed2005// Yeah, I know that IR program is under the Government major for Concentration, so I might double major in Government and East Asian Studies if I go to Cornell. I'm not sure about my high school's relationship with Cornell... I know one (or more) senior was admitted there through Regular Decision last year, but she just decided to go to University of Washington (in-state). Also, apparently there is no one at my school applying for Cornell ED.. which is probably a good thing for me? Many people are doing Stanford EA/Yale EA/MIT EA etc.... xD
My school's been having many college representatives from other schools such as Columbia, Duke, WUSTL, etc., but not from Cornell. When I checked Cornell's website and read its section about "Cornell Near You," no one was arranged to come to Seattle area and I was pretty disappointed =/ Should I e-mail or call them and tell that I'd like to meet someone from Cornell? I really really wanna attend Cornell University! Thank you for your reply.</p>