Chance me for Cornell ED, UVA and Umich EA

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Applying to:

Early Decision: Cornell

Early Action: UVA and UMich

Demographics: white male from Nyc Metro area

Not applying for Financial aid

Major: History (very undersubscribed Major)

Gpa: 95.4 Unweighted. 98.9 weighted

Rank: School doesn’t rank but I would say definitely in top 12 out of a class of ~300

96.5 unweighted for Q1 of senior year

Sat: 1580 on first try. 800 on math and 780 on reading/writing.

Subject tests: 800 on World history and 770 on Chemistry

Aps: 5 on Calc BC, 5 On world history, 4 on Computer Science A

Course load(keep in mind my school is a mixed IB/Ap school): 3 APs, 5 IB HLs, 3 IB SLs, 2 college level courses done through Syracuse University Project Advance.

ECs: Founded non profit organization with several of my peers and coordinated town events with town council and local historian. Interned for a semester at the offices of my local state assemblyman and then was head intern managing team of 10+ interns for his congressional primary campaign. E-board member of my school’s model congress. Had 3 separate jobs throughout high school including being US certified soccer ref, cashier, and tutor. Interned for local town government over a summer. Top 7 varsity cross country and track runner all 4 years. Head altar server for my local parish and have been serving for 7+ years and have served mass for Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Volunteered as a peer tutor at my school(yes this is separate from paid tutoring) to help younger students in Italian and World History. Volunteered on local hunger task force all 4 years once a month. Entered STS Regeneron(awaiting results still) and sent my abstract as supplemental material to all three schools through the admissions portal.

Awards: Bronze medal at the national level for proficiency in the Italian Language. Honorable mention for best delegate at Princeton Model Congress. High honor roll all 4 years of HS and designated as Summa Cum Laude. National Merit Scholar commended.

Recs:

1: My world history teacher who taught my best class in high school. Had 100 entire year and taught class half the time. Describes me as “leader” and “exemplary”.

2: Science research and chemistry teacher who I have had since 10th grade. I had strong performance all 3 years I’ve had her and built a deep relationship. She was also my STS mentor and wrote a strong rec.(she is a Cornell alum and is very enthusiastic in writing recs for students who apply to Cornell and especially for those who ED)

Essays: both my common app and UVA/Cornell/Michigan supplemental essays are definitely strong and I received very positive feedback from my English teacher, science teacher writing rec(as previously mentioned), and family. I speak about how I learned about my love of history from both my father and from my experience interning in government. Throughout my experiences I have come to the conclusion that the best way to govern is to take a historical perspective and see what has worked in the past.( one can tell I have done a decent amount of research on the school from my supplementals)

Overall Narrative: History buff who wants to learn and study history from a governmental perspective(any admissions officer 100% knows I will major in history from my app).

Feel free to respond as to what you think my chances are at being admitted.

Thanks in advance to any responses and feedback!

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All are reaches, since you are OOS for both UMich and UVA, but I would say that you are competitive for all. So long as you have a good set of matches and a safety, all of which you would be happy to attend, I would say that you should go for it.

What is your GPA on a 4.0 scale (translate individual grades and then average)? A 95.4 could be anything from a 4.00 to a 3.84. That being said, if you are in the top 5% of the class, that makes you competitive almost anywhere.

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My gpa is a 4.0 UW and a 4.7 W

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I’ll comment on UMich.

As MWolf mentions, you’re very competitive, but I’ve seen 4.0/1,600 applicants get rejected after initial EA deferral. About 20% are accepted EA, so it’ll all come down to EC’s, LOR’s and essays. UMich is looking for something, but not sure what it is.

As I’m sure you know, you’re applying EA to LSA. Majors aren’t declared at UMich until 2nd semester sophomore year. Good luck!

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Any clue for Cornell?

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My oldest got into both UVA and Michigan with same stats 2 years ago. He was valedictorian as well which could have also influenced. Both for engineering OOS. This year applications are up, ED is a factor at UVA and schools are test optional so difficult to predict. Competitive for both but don’t think anyone is a shoe in for those regardless of stats. Good idea to have matches and safeties on your list.

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Won’t the fact that I am going for history help me a bit. It is one of the most undersubscribed majors.

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Not at UVA. The college of arts and sciences where the history department is located is probably the most competitive of all the schools. They consider school applied not major. Not sure about Michigan. Engineering at Michigan may be more competitive than whatever school you apply to for history. Many colleges don’t consider major. Too easy to switch.

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For Cornell, your essays have to be related to your course strength, ECs and the major you are applying.

Have 5s in AP Cal BC and AP Physics will suit you better in Engineering. If your Chemistry is good why don’t you apply Chemical Engineering?

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I am passionate about history and my essays spoke to that. I personally think that my essays are very strong and show how my life experiences and various internships have led to my love for history.

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Congratulations on your achievements so far.

At Cornell you only apply to a school, not a major. History is in the top 10 majors in CAS. https://as.cornell.edu/how-apply

As others have said, all of these schools are reaches. Cornell has received around 35% more ED apps than last year (9,000 vs 6,600 or so)…so a higher reach than ever before. UVA EA app numbers are up as well, not sure about U Mich.

Hopefully you have applied to a balanced list of schools including matches and at least one safety.

Good luck.

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I don’t know if History is a popular major at UMich, but History is sometimes/often a major that students take that eventually attend law school.

As I mentioned above, UMich admits by school, LSA in this case. You don’t declare majors until 2nd semester sophomore year.

Ross BBA and CoE are more difficult admits at UMich, but LSA isn’t that easy either. It’s the biggest school at UMich with the most applicants.

Unfortunately, the prior year EA threads are filled with high stat applicants who were deferred, some eventually accepted, some rejected.

Do you know the acceptance and yield rates from your HS? Michigan seems to like plucking kids from our local public here in CA.

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I know that there has been an increase in applicants. However, it is widely believed that many if not most of those are people who are less qualified and think that they can take advantage of the test optionality/blindness of the various schools at Cornell.

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I would be careful about making that assumption.

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Besides @mwfan1921 who knows a great deal about a whole lotta schools, @momofboiler1 and @srparent15 are parents who have Cornell-specific knowledge, from what I remember. Maybe they can comment here too, if they’re around and do “chance me” threads.

UMich doesn’t publicly release EA numbers, but in the past, UMich accepts roughly 7,000-8,000 students from a population of about 40,000 EA applicants. But it’s a strange year, of course.

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Re UVA it’s a total crapshoot for anyone OOS and a huge advantage if you’re a legacy. Last year they had ED so depending how they’re ED shakes out this year, who knows what that will mean for EA. As far as majors and such there I can’t otherwise comment.

U-Michigan - our high school sends about 30 kids a year to UM. However for EA they tend to defer a lot of kids and then accept most during the second batch. Your scores and grades are great, however, from everyone I know on the East coast that tends to be a negative for UM because they tend to think if you have that high of a score/grades then you’re not serious about them because you prefer other schools. Our valedictorian my daughters year didn’t get in and he was a double legacy. He applied to Engineering though and one issue he didn’t have enough Science which probably hurt. If you do not get into Cornell and wind up getting deferred to UM make sure you send an interested letter, even if they tell you not to. They also tend to take people off their waitlist way into the summer the past few years as they have been under-accepting the last few years for whatever reason. This year they have also bombed Covid and sent freshmen home early and are not opening dorms last I heard in the fall so parents are up in arms. Not a good look for a major university with the money to have done a better job. UM alumni however is second to none. Both my girls got into UM Engineering and if not for getting into their top choices, would have both been Wolverines so it is a great second choice or third choice.

Cornell - phenomenal job with Covid which probably attributed to some of the increase in applications, as well as the 4 schools that were test blind and finally the schools that are part of the NY “public” schools that receive in state tuition. That said, there are also probably a lot of lower qualified candidates because every college counselor this year seemed to have the same advice - go ED to a reach and applications will be way down. So far apps at reaches are not down at all!

If you’re applying to CAS with that high score and submitted you are in great shape. I think you’re actually probably in better shape than those who didn’t submit. I read earlier today that only 27% sent in scores. Not that it will hurt someone who didn’t send a score, but I think that only helps someone who did. As far as your LORs how were you able to see them? It’s not really proper to have the writer show the person the recs so did you at least waive your right to see them? If you didn’t, then that will hurt you. If you waived them and they showed you on their own then that’s a different story. But waiving your right either way the schools you apply to are aware of and you always want to waive your right so that the most honest letters are written. My understanding at Cornell is it doesn’t matter about a major being less popular since you don’t affiliate until after sophomore year and many change majors. You will have the same Breadth requirements as every other CAS major regardless. Your stats and ECs look great. If you’re a legacy that will give you a big bump. If other kids from your school are applying and are legacies with comparable rigor and grades that may hurt you. That’s the one advantage in a year like this that they have going over you. The key is if Cornell generally takes a lot of kids from your school then they are familiar with the rigor and if your 4.0 is a true 4.0 or inflated 4.0 but based on your scores they seem to be consistent with a rigorous curriculum. I’m not familiar with IB programs so I can’t comment on that.

At the end of the day, this is a year like none other so who really knows. They’re need blind so being a full pay student doesn’t even help. It will at UM though.

Sounds like you’re very strong for the typical Cornell candidate, the question is just what else is out there. I don’t think anyone is a shoe in this year. Btw, the common app essay doesn’t have to have anything to do with History. The supplemental is where you would want to show that off. None of my kids wrote their common app about what they were interested in pursuing. My Cornell daughter’s essay had a them that only the reader would pull out by reading it. The place for that was in supplements and it was very evident by all the ECs they were in.

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The two teachers who wrote my recs STRONGLY liked me as a student and offered to speak to me(against rules most likely since i waived right to see) about what they wrote and asked me for input. As this account is anonymous i feel ok speaking to my situation. Also to clarify, i did not write my common essay about history but instead about how seeing things from other perspectives is incredibly important in life and referenced relevant examples from pop culture as well as my life and how I have come to the realization that that being able to see things from other people’s shoes is arguably one of the most important skills that one could have in life.

Also my 4.0 was not inflated, my school is huge on cracking down against grade inflation and doesn’t do things like extra credit or makeups.
If that changes your opinions on my chances then feel free to give additional feedback.

I know of two other people from my school who applied ED to cornell, both with significantly worse stats and ECs than me. One of them is a legacy but is far enough below me that it wouldnt make up for it.

Also for reference my school usually sends roughly 3-5 people per year to cornell, who have an average sat of a 1430 and UW gpa of 3.9.

If this gives you a better picture then feel free to give additional feedback

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Quick questions…

What’s the highest level math you’ve taken beyond calc and have you taken AP Bio/IB Bio? Just asking to figure out AI score.

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My academic Index is a 235 if that helps. I have had it calculated before

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Also Yes I take a full sleight of 5 IB HL classes including italian, biology, english, history, and economics this year. I did AP calc BC last year and got a 5