Chance me for Cornell Please

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>Latino and White Male (URM) who goes to preparatory boarding school in PA.</p>

<p>I live in MD</p>

<p>Major in Physics or Econ</p>

<p>Applying to Cornell CAS, UMDCP, JHU, Upenn CAS, Lehigh, not sure where else. </p>

<p>SAT: 1410/2040
Math 740
Crit 670
Writing 630</p>

<p>Want to get it up to at least 2100</p>

<p>School does not rank, but in top 15% for sure.</p>

<p>Grades:
Freshman year: Sucked
English 10: 87
History 10:86
Spanish 20: 89
Geometry H: 90
Biology: 92</p>

<p>Sophomore year: better
English 20: 90
Spanish 3 H: 81 terrible
Algebra 2 H:91
Chemistry H: 96
Buddhism (History): 92</p>

<p>Junior year: best so far
AP English language: 92, 3
US History: 90
AP MACRO/MICRO ECON: 98, 5/4
Precalc H: 94
Physics H: 94
Directed Study Automotive Physics: 90</p>

<p>Senior Year classes: AP Physics (mechanics), AP BC Calc, AP English Lit, AP Comparative Gov and Politics, Astronomy.</p>

<p>ECs:
4 years Baseball
4 years Football
2 years Basketball
worked at basketball summer camp 2 years</p>

<p>Internship (most likely) at the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC for senior summer</p>

<p>Freshman summer I went to the Cambridge College Program (CCP) in the UK.</p>

<p>Sophomore summer went to the Harvard Secondary school program (SSP), I took psychology and astro-biology. I got two B's.</p>

<p>Will apply ED to Cornell, in addition I will fill out a recruiting form for Sprint Football. I have received letters for football from numerous D3 programs (including Amherst college). D1 Sprint cannot recruit. Players must come to them.</p>

<p>Thanks very much.</p>

<p>I will change back.</p>

2

<p>I will chance** back</p>

<p>and in addition for EC’s I am going to be a Prefect this year, which is basically like a residential assistant.</p>

3

<p>Your SATs are good as they are. (but more is always better)
Your grades – as you point out, Freshman year is a bit low, but you show a nice upward trend.
ECs look fine – more than fine actually.
URM will help.</p>

<p>So, I would say above average – without taking into account Sprint Football.</p>

<p>I don’t know how Cornell treats Sprint Football for admissions preference, but assuming that they do consider it important, and that you’re good enough to play – Your chances could rise to as high as sure thing. Sorry I have no clue how to handle this.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for answering zephyr. </p>

<p>Like you said, that you aren’t sure about the sprint football thing, I pretty much have no clue on how Cornell or other schools that offer it (Penn, Army, Navy, etc.) weigh it. I did not even know that it existed until a few days ago. Apparently it is just like normal football, but it has a weight limit of 172 pounds.</p>

<p>What can I do to improve my chances, and does anybody know how to calculate GPA from a percentage system?</p>

5

<p>I think you have a decent chance, but you will need to try and get that CR score up and do two SAT II’s (required for admission to CAS) before you send in your application. Since you’re applying ED, you’ll have to do the SAT in October and both SAT II’s in November before sending the scores in.</p>

<p>As for sprint football, I will say that it is a significant sport on campus. I knew a guy who was on the team, but I’m not sure if that played a heavy factor in his admission (not saying he was a mediocre student by any means). Now of course, athletic recruitment always helps with admission chances, especially in ED if I’m not mistaken.</p>

6

<p>The best way to do a GPA conversion is to ask your school what method you should use.</p>

<p>Failing this – here are a couple of methods to estimate your GPA on a 4.0 scale.</p>

<p>Unweighted. Method 1.</p>

<p>Take your grade and divide by 25. (the method overestimates lower grades, but is pretty good when most grades are in the 80s and 90s).</p>

<p>Unweighted Method 2.</p>

<p>97-100 = 4.3
94-96 = 4.0
91-93 = 3.7
87-90 = 3.3
84-86 = 3.0
81-83 = 2.7
77-80 = 2.4 (etc.)</p>

<p>The methods produce pretty close results – in your case, it comes to about a 3.5 or 3.6 for three years (unweighted) or 3.6 or 3.7 for just Soph and Jr. Years (again unweighted). </p>

<p>Weighted Avg – Schools use vastly different weighting methods, so it’s hard to say with any accuracy. For simplicity, add 1 point to every grade for any Honors or AP course.</p>

<p>This would give you about a 4.1 for three years (weighted) and a 4.3 or 4.4 for Soph and Jr. Years (weighted).</p>

<p>As I say, these are rules of thumb and could be off by a tenth of a point in either direction – so check with your school. But hopefully, this helps.</p>

7

<p>What is good in terms of a weighted and unweighted GPA?</p>

<p>Thanks again Zephyr</p>

<p>And yea the first time I took the SAT I got 560 in CR the second time I got 670 both times w/o any studying. If I study for it I could get it up at least another 30 points.</p>

8

<p>In addition I pulled a brainfart Zephyr. I just looked at my transcript that my school sent me and it told me how to calculate my gpa. lol</p>

<p>It has a grading scale at the bottom of the page. It reads:</p>

<p>100-90=A=4.0
89-80=B=3.9-3.0
79-70=C=29-2.0
69-60=D=1.9-1.0
<60=F=<1.0</p>

<p>In addition in the transcript, it is stated that AP classes get +5 and that Honors classes get +3 in percentage points.</p>

<p>The grades that I stated in my previous post have the weighting in them already and are the means for each class for the year. We use trimesters, so three grades for year-long classes. All were year-long except Buddhism and Automotive-Physics. In my sophomore year they require 2 term-long art classes, I have omitted them. I got a 90 and a 91. I will not use them in the calculation.</p>

<p>UW Gpa I will remove my school’s weighting. SO,</p>

<p>UW all three years=88.9= 3.89 GPA
UW w/o 9th grade= 89.3= 3.93 GPA</p>

<p>W all three years= 90.75= 4.075 WGPA
W w/o 9th grade= 91.8= 4.18 WGPA</p>

<p>I think I did this right.</p>

<p>Zephyr, like you said, schools use different weighting methods. Your way of calculating GPA gave me a higher weighted GPA, but a lower UW GPA.</p>

9

<p>I also plan to take Math II and physics. </p>

<p>I am studying hard for these and I will get at least mid to high 700’s according to the practice tests.</p>

<p>I took math I and chemistry in my sophomore year and I got 670 and 650 respectively. I will not be sending in those scores with score choice if cornell has it.</p>

10

<p>I might be mistaken about this, but I think you’ll have to send in all scores anyway. Cornell doesn’t participate in Score Choice, but that may not apply to SAT II scores. I’d call admissions to find out if I were you.</p>

<p>[Cornell</a> Rejects SAT Score Choice Option | The Cornell Daily Sun](<a href=“http://cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2009/01/20/cornell-rejects-sat-score-choice-option]Cornell”>Cornell Rejects SAT Score Choice Option | The Cornell Daily Sun)</p>

11

<p>will do islander</p>

12

<p>will cornell or any other school take into account that my first sat CR score was abysmal or will they just superscore it when I send it in since many schools don’t use score choice?</p>

13

<p>Cornell does superscore the SAT.</p>

14

<p>thank the lord the first time I took it I got 560/740/570<br>
the second time My math went down to 720 and CR went up 110 points.</p>

15

<p>Once you reach a certain threshold, it is your personal statement that matters.</p>

16

<p>Your GPA and standardized tests are on the low end, but if you can secure a spot on the football team that’s a definite in. I’d push for that, that’s where the money lies for you.</p>

17

<p>I know my GPA is a little low, but that is mostly because of Freshman year (I hope lol). And on the Cornell webpage, there average 50 percentile sat was 1410 out of 1600 and that is what I have. Out of 2400 my SAT is low, but I thought the writing section doesn’t matter for Cornell.</p>

<p>Thanks for the answers</p>