Hi, so I go to a very competitive/highly ranked private school in New York (known for grade deflation) and while my school doesn’t give out GPAs, I have probabaly a solid B average freshman/sophomore year and an A- average junior year. I expect to mantain the A- through 1st semester senior year.
My ACT score is a 34 and I have a 730 on the math 2 sat 2 and a 710 on the US history sat 2 and a 5 on the APUSH exam.
My ECs are strong, I do 3 community service things outside of school, captain of debate team for 2 years, head of the arts journal at my school, I’m a peer leader, a tour guide, and I do photography and am in the process of getting a scientific paper I worked on in a lab over the summer published.
What are my chances of getting into Cornell (if I apply ED), Tulane EA, then if all else fails, Emory and USC RD?
That’s a very nice ACT score and a good upward trend in your GPA. I would develop your leadership role in your ECs. I am familiar with only Tulane. Tulane is very big on interest in research as an undergraduate. I would posit how you might take whatever research you’ve done a step further in one of Tulane’s science departments. What courses night you take? With which professors? If you can make it interdisciplinary, all the better. Tulane President Mike Fitts is very interested in breaking down the silos across academic disciplines, and if he could have a poster child for this endeavor he would be thrilled. Also discuss your (sincere) interest in community service as an undergraduate, which is something else in the DNA of the school – actually required for graduation. Best of luck to you!
I have D1 at Cornell and D2 is looking at all of those schools too. Our experience with Cornell is this: ED helps but so does “fit”. What school are you applying to? Are you a legacy? All of the students we know are either legacies or had a strong fit with their intended school (I.e., started and ran their own catering business - Hotel School, demonstrated life-long entomology passion - Agriculture school, young entrepreneur - AEM in Arts & Sciences, etc.) Or, they are athletes…