Chance Me Engineering

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1510 (Not Sending)
ACT (breakdown): 34 C 36S 36M 34E 31R (First Try), 34 C 35S 35 M 34E 33R (Second Try)
SAT II: 780 Math II, 740 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Schools super weird, Weighted out of 100 is a 96.44, Unweighted would be around 92-93. I never got a B in any class.

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A, but definitely top 5% with a class size of 350ish

AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc BC (4), Physics C M(5), Gov (5), Chem (4), US (4), Comp Sci(4), Lit Spanish and World History (3, all took freshman year)

IB (place score in parenthesis): None

Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics E/M, AP Bio, AP Lang, AP Stats,Intro to Marine Science(College Course), Intro to Sociology(Syracuse University program)

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Mostly school and local awards. AP scholar award things but those probably don’t even matter. All of the Honor Societies at my school.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Taught the Math Enrichment Class at the local Elementary School (Math Olympiad sort of stuff for 4th and 5th graders)
Run my own non-profit with my father which runs food drives, blood drives, and Christmas Toy drives anually
Pit Orchestra(9-12), First Chair Trumpet in Concert Band and Pit Orchestra, and played for NYSSMA as a band and individually.
VP of Mu Alpha Theta
JV Volleyball(9-11), Couldn’t play senior year and half of junior year because of health problems.
Science Olympiad, One medals in 2-3 events every year since 9th grade

Job/Work Experience: Brief Stint in Hollister, didn’t even mention on my app
Volunteer/Community service:
Ran Presentations at a Senior Home about cultures around the world and local history.
Volunteering at the Local Library Reference Desk
People to People since 9th grade
Organizing Sporting Events for Seniors (Golf, Fishing, Chess:its a sport -_- , Badminton, Cricket)

Summer Activities: Most of the volunteering stuff was in the summer and Volleyball started first week of August so yah

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App : 8/10 , not the most insane thing, the people who read over it said it was good.
Cornell Supplement: 7/10, Might have talked too much about personal ambitions instead of my oozing love for Cornell like many other people. My essay was pretty dark and it really depends whether the reader relates to it or not.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 8/10, AP Chem teacher, I was the only sophomore in the class and she coached Science Olympiad. She liked me a lot, but we weren’t like “friends” like some other people are with their teachers.
Teacher Rec #2: 9/10 AP Physics Teacher for two years, Liked me a lot. We’re both quirky people and bonded well and he went to Harvard if that means anything.
Counselor Rec: 8/10 He’s literally the sweetest thing. I met with him many times and he really liked me. He calls all of the offices of the colleges and vouches for every student who he likes. The quality may have decreased though cause he’s a counselor with 50 other recs to write.
Additional Rec: None
Interview:None

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major and College: Biomedical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant):NJ
Country (if international applicant): 'Murica
School Type: Public, but super competitive
Ethnicity: South Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 100k ish
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
I don’t know that intricacies of what makes a first generation college student. My mom didn’t go to college and my dad went in another country so… No?

I know my GPA and stats aren’t amazing compared to most other people, but I also took the most difficult classes my school offer and all but 2 AP’s ( French and Japanese). Also, my school has amazing relations with Cornell for some reason. Around 6-7 people are admitted a year and 2-3 go. My EC’s and stuff aren’t that impressive and lacking in research which probably hurt me a lot. I talked a lot about wanting to help Seniors and the amount of death and sadness I’ve seen working with around them a lot.

Be super critical!

I’ll tell it straight. That puts you at 3.72 unweighted. For Cornell, it’s low. The ACT score is really good, which boosts you to an average chance. That’s 15%. Those are terrible odds, but it’s the same for everyone else. Good luck!

Just wondering, how’d you get 3.72?

Never mind, I see. You can’t just divide 25 because that means the only way you have a 4.0 is getting straight hundreds which I doubt anyone actually has. I know that before my school system made the switch anything in the 90s was an A and 80s B and so on. In that system, I would technically have a 4.0. I’m not saying I deserve a 4.0 or anything but the GPA system of the school messes things up to compare with others. I converted all of my grades using the 4.33 = 96-100 4.0 = 93-95 scale which some other schools in my district use, and I got 3.86 in that scale. I wish they would just standardize it to make it easier.