<p>I'll be Applying to Cornell, College of Engineering, ED. Here are my Stats</p>
<p>SAT - Math:770, CR:560 (Hoping to raise it)</p>
<p>I do the IB program, and my subject choises are and my scores in it:</p>
<p>Math HL - 6 (A)
Chem HL - 7 (A+)
Physics HL - 6 (A)
Environmental Studies SL - 7 (A+)
English Lang and Lit SL - 5 (B)
German Ab initio SL - 5 (B+)</p>
<p>The letter grade translations were done by myself, but IB is considered much more difficult than the American system.</p>
<p>These subject choices are the most rigorous in the IB diploma.</p>
<p>I had a research internship at my field of interest and the supervisor will be writing me a recommendation letter.</p>
<p>I am doing a research myself and I will be sending in the abstract with the application.</p>
<p>I think all my recommendations will be good if not great. </p>
<p>Extracurriculars:</p>
<p>Chess club (Leader)
Founded the Earth Club in my previous School
Earth club (Leader)
Hockey Club
Peer tutoring (Leader)
Study Skills (Leader)</p>
<p>*Founded an NGO that campaigned for wildlife and environment conservation in India.
*Actively volunteered for 2 other NGOs and also received an award fro UNEP.
* Made a 15 min documentary about sea turtles; it also won some awards at LA film fest.
*After moving to Singapore, I continued volunteering for the National Parks Board.
*Was invited for an expedition with National Geographic Channel.
^ I'll be talking about these in my essays.
*I volunteer at the library and other social service places.</p>
<p>I like everything but the SAT scores. For the research, don’t send in anything more than the abstract as they are not going to read it. I too had my mentor write a letter rec, so that should be good. I would say that you are definitely in the running, although it’s still an ivy and thus a crapshoot. good luck</p>
<p>I am worried about the SAT part because it is restricting my possible university choices. I do well on my practice tests, but I panicked during the test and did not give my best.</p>
<p>if you improve your SAT reading score you would have a good chance but as of right now Cornell probably wouldn’t accept you as a 560 reading score is like in the bottom 20% of the people who are accepted.</p>
<p>It would be nice if more of you can most me chances and also comment about things other than my SAT scores. I know they are low, but does the rest of my application stand out?</p>
<p>@Bounty. You have to remember that when you talk about the ivies/equivalents, one little thing on your application can hinder your chances altogether. I understand your passion, I was in the same shoes as you not too long ago. I’ll reiterate-everything looks alright with your EC’s; it does for everyone applying to these schools, however. Does it stand out? The research is nice, but if you have no major competitions, than it won’t stand out, per se. The class rigor is just like everyone else’s. If you were to place in SIEMENS/INTEL, then you would stand out. This is not to say, however, that your application is lacking anywhere but the CR. You are in the running, and unless you have a major hook (which you don’t), then that is the best you could be for a school like Cornell. Very few people are “shoe-ins”, remember that.</p>
<p>Other than your CR SAT, you seem golden for all of these colleges (even though Cornell is a slight reach)! The research and NatGeo connections are awesome! Overall, you come off as a very interesting person.
Chance me back?</p>
<p>Sorry for the late reply, but in response to your ‘research internship’, unfortunately it does not stand out - especially in the Cornell applicant pool. At my school alone (prestigious IB school) there were ~25 or so students who had impressive research internships (me included) and 10 who had more minor research. All of us are applying to HYPS and other Ivys like Cornell. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I have no idea how the admissions office will interpret your package…so they may say you are perfect.</p>
<p>This is how I would analyze it for myself… and what I would need to fix up.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Grades: marginal (and maybe too low)
almost everyone applying to cornell is taking hard classes… and I see that you have some B’s – not just B+'s where you where on the fringe but B’s.
I don’t see any college classes.
I don’t see any “virtual High school” classes (to show you moved outside the borders of your physical High School.
I don’t see any Open Course ware (OCW) courses – MIT has some of these for free.
–this is the stuff that shows a passion for learning—</p></li>
<li><p>Standardized Tests (Too Low)
I also see low SATs… and 560 is low. (I’m expecting to be competing with people in the 700+ range)… and if they don’t have all A’s & high SATs then they have something amazing they can share… like being a great athlete or an accomplished musician.</p></li>
<li><p>Co-Curricular Activities (marginal)
you participated in some activities …
If something is amazing its hard to spot it… I think you will need to make it easy to spot to off set the Low SAT.
It looks like you didn’t do much sports… so if your not doing Sports after school then you should have more time for studying and I think that makes the B’s look a little worse.</p></li>
<li><p>Community Service (OK)
the startup looks like it helps people.</p></li>
<li><p>Special interests & Abilities (low)
I couldn’t spot anything that made you look really unique and special</p></li>
<li><p>Leadership (OK to marginal).
things like Captain of sports teams or President of student council or National Honor Society or anything…you show “leader” but its hard to tell if you are the one that pulled it all together or are just helping out.</p></li>
<li><p>College Essay (only you know if its any good)
in your case I think this is Huge and it should be perfect.</p></li>
<li><p>Recommendations (I’m sure they are great)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>… unless you really highlight that you are unique and can offset your grades and SATs…I’d say it looks tough.</p>
<p>your welcome.
I’m going through the same thing.</p>
<p>I’m starting to realize that everyone at the elite schools have good grades, is a member of the honor society and participates in science Olympiad and all the other “smart kid” events… now the trick is to show how we add something, that we’re bringing something to the university & it would be nice to have us there… otherwise I am just another smart kid applying and will be subject to GPA/SAT cut line.</p>
<p>I’ve been putting a lot of effort into my essay.</p>
