Chance me for Cornell ED! I'd really appreciate blunt advice from my fellow CC members

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
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for College of Arts and Sciences

SAT I (breakdown): 1490 (did not send)
ACT (breakdown): 34C (35W, 35S, 32R, 35 M)
SAT II:710 BioM, 750 Math II
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95
Weighted GPA (Out of 5.0): 4.63
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 17/409
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calculus AB (5), Government (5), Human Geography (5), Chemistry (4), Biology (4), English Language (4), European History (4)
Senior Year Course Load: Honors Biotech, AP Statistics, AP US History (ughh), AP Literature (double ugh), AP Physics 1
Major Awards: NMSQT Commended Scholar, Honor Roll, NHS

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Tutoring Club President + also lead mentor (4 years)
Medical Sciences Club Founder and President (3 years)
Science Olympiad (Competing 3 years)
Head Newspaper Editor (3 years)
Varsity Tennis (3 years)
Link Crew Leader (welcoming freshmen to our high school, pretty competitive for our school)

Job/Work Experience: Hostess for one year
Volunteer/Community service: 80+ hours at camp for children with mental and/or physical disabilities
50+ hours at hospital ED volunteer

Essays:
Common App: Wrote about my role model and car accident- ultimately talk about how it molded me into being more career-ambitious. (10/10) <—I think hahaha
Supplemental: Discussed my interest in neuro-oncology and how I’ll achieve it at CAS (9/10)

Teacher Recommendation:
AP Chemistry teacher, my fave teacher! so 10/10
AP Calculus teacher, not too close but we definitely clicked! 8/10
Counselor Rec:
Loved me, she’s awesome (10/10)
Interview:
Alumni INFORMAL interview happening today… doesn’t matter that much tbh

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Biological Sciences, Concentration in molecular bio and genetics
State (if domestic applicant): PA
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 40-50k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation college.

DANG this took a while to type. Please tell me your honest opinions… please lol.

It’d be really nice to have your honest opinions. The MORE blunt, the BETTER :slight_smile: This’ll help me know what I need to improve on for applying to other colleges!

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Please, anyone?

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I think your weaknesses are stat wise as you have a lower tier SAT/AP scores. Although your GPA is very high, I can’t really comment on it as I don’t know how that compares in your school. Otherwise you have good essays, teacher recs, and ECs. I think you have a decent chance of getting in, however there will be a lot of applicant with potentially better stats/awards/achievements.

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@JonTargareyan Thank you so much for your response! Out of curiosity, I have to ask though. Would they care about my SAT score if I got a 34 on the ACT? Also, I don’t send my AP scores until my AP Exams in May (I THINK) so I don’t think it has a huge impact… yet. Again, I really do appreciate your response!

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Forgot to add but I am a leader for my church’s Student Leadership Team for the youth group.

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Cornell alumna here. You’re first gen with great stats and GPA and ECs. I think you will do very well.

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I don’t agree with @JonTargaryen at all. You don’t have low stats. 34 is great for ACT and not sure why he said lower tier SAT/AP scores. You are not sending SAT and your AP scores are fine. I am assuming you self reported the AP scores on the Common Ap. I agree with @preppedparent!

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oh i didnt see the ACT score ya ur fine

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You were supposed to report your SAT score if you sent in your sat subject tests. Cornell doesn’t do score choice.

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@ImNotARobot I am not sure that is entirely clear. YES, you must send in all SAT tests if you submit the SAT (same for ACT)…but when I read the Cornell website about the subject tests, it has a separate line about specific requirements for the SAT subject tests for each undergraduate school.

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ACT percentiles dropped and SAT percentiles increased so a 33 is now the 98th percentile while a 1470-1480+ is the 99th percentile. A 34 is still the 99th percentile so your SAT score is comparable to your ACT score. They are relatively close. I think prepscholar converts a 1490 to a 34 as well. But I understand that a 34 looks better than a 1490. You’re in good shape regardless.

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@LvMyKids2 @imnotarobot So sorry! I basically made this post a few months ago and have since then changed a few things. I 100% made sure to send all of my scores in. Sorry for the confusion, I should’ve changed that in my post. Also, thanks for your input!