<p>SAT I (breakdown): 1540 (800M, 740CR) (One sitting)
ACT: 36 composite, 11 writing
SAT II: 780's in Math II and Physics
GPA(out of 4.0): 3.44ish UW, 3.49ish W (cringe), but with a very strong upward trend (+.1-.15 from Junior and first tri of Sr. year, when I started taking hard classes. Have gotten about a 3.8 since then, or a 4.21 W this year so far). Didn't preform well Fr. and So. years, struggled with depression among other things, including sucking. It's known as one of the hardest schools (if not the hardest) in the state, so GPA's are generally lower, but the average GPA for kids from my school who were accepted ar Cornell is 4.01, which is scary. Mine is definitely my biggest weakness.
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): My school doesn't publish rank (thx god)
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 on Physics B. My school doesn't offer any APs for Fr. and So. years, so physics was the only one available up to this point.
Senior Year Course Load: AB Calc, AP Chem, AP Fiz6 C, Honors History+English, Photography portfolio (like AP art at my school, need to face a jury to be accepted), independent study on birds, plus a senior service project that was featured in school newsletter that involves me making two 50ish page bird guides, one for a nearby park and one for a summer camp.</p>
<p>Intended Major: Environmental Science and Sustainability (CALS)
State: Colorado
School Type: Independent
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Legacy status: Yes, 3rd generation applicant, both father and grandfather went to Cornell.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars: Ok, here's the kicker. I'll try to make this brief. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is the epicenter of the birdfolk world (look it up). I'm a birder. Cornell hosts this thing called the Young Birders Event, which is known in the birding community as being nearly impossible to get into (they take 16 out of ~100 applicants, and those 100 applicants are already of a pretty selective group). I was accepted to the event. The YBE is basically a recruiting tool for Cornell, and its purpose is to bring in 16 of the best/most promising young birders from around the world (India, Guatemala etc. represented) and convince them to come to Cornell, because the lab is a big deal for the school and they want to prevent people from drifting into other fields. They gave me a bunch of cool stuff, and excellent connections to the school. As far as actual E.C.s go, I teach beginner, intermediate, and advanced bird identification classes (for adults) and lead bird trips/walks in my area, which are quite popular. I've been working on a project in a nearby park over the last few years that is quite complicated, but involves a series of wildlife observation boxes built, set up, and maintained by myself in the park. I also spent many hours submitting data from the park's spring and fall migratory bird counts dating back to '96 (I also lead sections of these counts), and operate an eBird (a major website for bird things, they do great stuff. You may be interested in looking it up, but I'm not talking about it here. It's also operated by the Cornell Lab of O, and is really one of their biggest and most important projects) account that collects and maintains years worth of data. I am (supposedly) one of the best young birders in the country and am entirely self taught/motivated. There are a ton of other bird things I do too, but I've covered the most important ones. I have also played Center Field for our school's Varsity Baseball team for the last two years, and JV before that. I don't really have much outside of that, but my counselor says that's fine since my focus is so specific and interesting, and college people often say they like the kinds of people who only fill out one or two ECs on the Common App when it's unique. My school doesn't have any clubs that fit in with any of my interests (which, believe it or not, aren't just birding), and they have no debate team. It would be pointless for me to fake interest in other areas, and nobody would join the birdwatching club if I started it. Most importantly, I won my fantasy football league the last 3 years in a row (not playing this year, b/c college). Plus, I was the top 6th grader in the state Geography Bee, which is possibly my greatest achievement .</p>
<p>Volunteer/Work Experience: Over 1000 hours spent working (I was technically a volunteer, but I was doing what is normally a paid job for free) at a not-for-profit camp over the summer.</p>
<p>Essays: Supplement (why I'm applying to my chosen major) talks about Lab of O, how there's nothing like it, how the ESS major fits in exactly with my skills blah blah blah, but I think it is pretty much exactly what they're looking for. Haven't done the other yet, yikes.</p>
<p>Teacher Recommendation: Good I think, one is from a chem teacher who's said that I'm the best chem student in my grade/class by a significant margin and who also likes me and one from an English teacher who witnessed me turn it on Junior year and change a lot, because he had me So. year too. He is very complementary of my character and gets me.</p>
<p>Counselor Rec: Good, my counselor is really experienced and is talking about how I'm sort of opposite the normal student, b/c I do better in much harder classes, and how I was much more capable than anyone (including myself) thought, and then they realized that after the 36 and let me take harder classes where I proved myself and more, or something. It is good though.</p>
<p>Additional Recs:
1: One from one of my dad's graduate friends who had buildings named after him and stuff because he's loaded, and he writes one or two recs a year that are supposed to help a lot. I know it's cheap, but don't h8 the player, h8 the game.
2: The Lab of Ornithology said they wanted to write a letter for me which, apparently "isn't exactly like an athletic protection, though it isn't exactly unlike one either." The president of the lab (John Fitzpatrick) and some other big shots would be writing this letter.</p>
<p>Strengths: Test scores+upward trend show that I have lots of potential and am on the way up. I have a very good "story" and "texture," as my college counselor calls it. All the links to Cornell, especially the bird ones, mean that I have very concrete reasons for applying there and am dedicated to my chosen field of study. Plus they love their birders.</p>
<p>Weaknesses: GPA</p>
<p>Your "Big Red" factor - the most unique thing in your application: Burds</p>