Chance me for Cornell?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi Everybody,</p>

<p>I'm currently a second semester Junior, and I want to apply to the following...</p>

<p>-Cornell (ED)
-Berkeley
-UCLA
-UCDavis
-UCSB
-UCSC
-UMich
-NYU
-Dartmouth
-Brown</p>

<p>As stats go....</p>

<p>Hooks:
soCA Resident
Upper Middle Class
Major Upward Trend
White/Caucasian (North African??)
First Generation
1 in 40 cousins to, hopefully, attend a University (or college)
Write Movie Scripts</p>

<p>Freshman Year: Ehh, I'm not even going to bother listing my courses/grades. In one sentence, 2.5 GPA, failed English I (made up, got an A). :-q </p>

<p>Sophomore Year: (Ineligible to take AP Courses due to grades; all normal courses)
-Biology:A
-American Sign Language I: A
-English II: A
-World History: A
-Sociology of American Popular Music <em>one semester</em>: A
-Geometry: A </p>

<p>Junior Year: (Whalla...)
-(AP) Chemistry Lab: B/A
-(AP) English Lang.: B/A
-(AP) US History: C/A
-(AP) Chemistry Lec: B/B
-(CP) Algebra II: B/A
-(CP) Theater I: A/A</p>

<p>Summer:
-(CC) American Sign Language II
-(CC) Math Analysis
-(CC) Economics
-(CC) Political Science I</p>

<p>W UC GPA: 3.8/4.04
10-11 GPA: 3.8/4.1
High School GPA: 3.4/3.57</p>

<p>SAT: 2310 (800, 800, 710)</p>

<p>SAT II:
US History: 800 (I know, makes virtually no sense. I relearned everything before taking the test).
Hebrew: 770
English Lit: 720</p>

<p>6 or 7 AP tests (idk if I should take Lit or not)</p>

<p>Senior Year (Ostensibly):
-(AP) Calculus ab
-(AP) Computer Science
-(AP) Physics C: Mechanics
-(AP) English Literature
-(AP) Statistics <em>may not do</em>
-(AP) Government/ Free Period
-(CP) Student Body (Commissioner of Academics)</p>

<p>-(CC) American Sign Language III</p>

<p>Extra Curricular...
I want to get into education; not teaching, but through politics. I want to work in the White House.</p>

<p>-Friendship Circle: (11)
-Announcer for Baseball Varsity Games: (11)
-FBLA (10)
-JSA Debate (11)
-President of Debate Team: (11)
-Commissioner of Education: (11)
-School Newspaper writer: (11)
-Math Tutor: (10)
-Treasurer Slam! Poetry Club (11)
-Secretary School's Chapter Friendship Circle: (11)
-Counselor in Training sleep away Jewish camp, Alonim: (11)
-Teen activist intern, remove the beat from the lyrics hip-hop: (11)
-Intern at two different MAJOR websites; I write <em>I'd rather not say, confidentiality</em>: (11)
-JV Football: (10)
-DJ Club (9, 10)
-BBYO <em>Major Pacific West Chapter Board</em>: (11)
-Magician <em>I preform</em>: (whole life, lol)
-Jewish Student Union <em>President Next Year</em>: (11)
-Relay for Life Team Captain: (11)
-Beginning Peer Counselor: (10)
-Advanced Peer Counselor <em>very selective. less than 10% make it): (11)
-Founded Jewish NonProfit (501c3)Organization *not going to put the name; confidentiality</em>: (11)
........and so on (I have one more summer before applying!)</p>

<p>Awards: </p>

<p>-Most Dubious Aleph (it's a BBYO thing... actually very prestigious, lolol)
-Son of the month (...my mom gave this to me. I'm one of 5, so it's fairly prestigious)
-Recognition of Speech (FBLA thing)
-AP Scholar with Distinction
-A few poetry competitions, nothing serious.</p>

<p>Applying as a Psychology and PoliSci Major, minor in English and Sociology.</p>

<p>Thank you so much! I know that it's a long post! :)</p>

2

<p>You have great ECs. I know exactly what BBYO is (also a Jew from SoCal) so I know thats a great leadership position and award. Also, great test scores. But your overall GPA is a little rough for some of your schools. I think your 10-11 GPA will be great for UCs. </p>

<p>Here’s what I think:<br>
Cornell (ED) - Super Reach. I think your GPA is too low.
Berkeley - Reach, but possible. It’s always a gamble b/c so many applicants.
UCLA - ^Same
UCDavis - Match
UCSB - Match
UCSC - Safety
UMich - Low reach/Match. They will love your SAT but, again, the GPA may change things. Apply EA for sure.
NYU - Low reach/Match
Dartmouth - Super reach
Brown - Super reach</p>

<p>Other schools to consider: </p>

<p>Low Matches/Matches =
George Washington University - especially b/c you want to do poli sci
Boston University - practically a safety
U Wisconsin
Lehigh
U Miami
Tulane
UT Austin - But its really hard to get in from OOS</p>

<p>Realistic Reaches =
USC
Emory
Barnard (if you’re a girl)
Tufts</p>

<p>Safeties =
Northeastern
U Washington, Seattle
SMU
Syracuse
American
Indiana </p>

<p>I think your list right now is lacking on matches (add 1-3), and you should add 1 more safety. You have lots of reaches, so if you are at all concerned about cost of apps (or the insane amount of time you will spend writing them) then cut some of those out. Or, add some more realistic reaches (pretty much a high match) like the ones I listed above.</p>

3

<p>Are you in a chapter?
I’m in Ema Shelcha, if you’ve heard of us. lolol.</p>

<p>I’ve heard of a few people who got into Cornell ED with a GPA a little higher than a 4.
I’m not actually expecting to get into Dartmouth or Brown, I just think that it’s worth the application fee, lol.</p>

<p>My awards are mostly jokes. Especially “Most Dubious.” I tend to mess up a lot. I’ll still include it in my app to add some personality to me, lol.</p>

<p>Thanks for the suggestions with other schools, especially with U Wisconsin and U Miami, I’m definitely gonna consider those. Tbh, I’ll probably end up at Davis; I just really want to land a spot at Cornell!</p>

4

<p>I don’t think you have a chance at Cornell. Even without your freshman year, you have way too many Bs (and Cs} on your transcript.</p>

<p>None of the hooks you listed are hooks except First Generation which won’t be enough to offset your GPA.</p>

<p>-Cornell (ED)-Out of reach
-Berkeley-Really high reach
-UCLA-Really high reach
-UCDavis-Low reach/High match
-UCSB-Match
-UCSC-Match
-UMich-Reach
-NYU-Match
-Dartmouth-Out of reach
-Brown-Out of reach</p>

<p>Nothing wrong with applying to these colleges if you really want to, but I strongly second shk in picking several more realistic schools that you like.</p>

5

<p>I have five B’s (one C) in my 10-11, and 22 A’s; will that really set me back? With my APUSH grade, it’s because I I transferred into a new school, and got an F in Summer work. It brought me down from an 89 to 79; hence, giving me a C. But, I think that I have more than proven myself with the 800? Same for English Lit, 94-84.</p>

6

<p>High test scores and low grades are a big red flag for colleges as they <em>can</em> signify someone who is smart but doesn’t apply her/himself to class work. Five B’s and a C, especially in the critical Junior year, can give your chances a big hit. You look like you’re unable to handle the tough courseload of all AP classes. If you have a stellar mid-year report senior year, it might change things a little bit. </p>

<p>You look like you’re in over your head and are unable to handle your course load. Are you really ready to take all those AP classes senior year, with college apps too? </p>

7

<p>When you have high test scores and low grades, you are not a standard student and it depends on how a particular school views that. Some want scores enough to overlook the grades so long as you aren’t below some cut off, some don’t. So you have to apply more broadly, is the way I look at it. My son is in a similar situation from early grades, great test scores, and straight As first semester of senior year. He applied to Cornell, and has lots of APs so to some extent it might depend on how they weigh that into his gpa. We don’t have results yet. He also applied to the UCs you applied to. I will probably forget, but if you pm me after this acceptance cycle (end of March) I will tell you how he did.</p>

8

<p>I don’t usually reply to chances, I just read them for light reading…but this sentence of yours caught my eye:
“I want to get into education; not teaching, but through politics. I want to work in the White House.”</p>

<p>Honestly, I don’t see Cornell as the right place for you attend at all. A school that is suburban or urban that would help you get an internship in your desired field would be a far better fit. I especially like shk901’s idea about George Washington University and American University because they are in DC. I would also add University of Maryland at College Park, which does have some out of state aid, as they told us when we visited. </p>

<p>The other theme I see in your extracurriculars is strength in speech and debate, not just being president of your school team but even announcing basketball games. Have you thought about debating in college?</p>

<p>Some schools do offer a public policy major or minor.</p>

9

<p>I’m looking into Public Policy. It seems pretty useful. I’ll definitely look into it with greater depth, Picapole. I’ll email you after this cycle, Collegevetting, I really want to know how he did with low grades and high test scores, so I’ll make sure to email you. ArmanthineD, it was mostly because of summer work. It cut me off a whole grade with two of my classes (APUSH, and English). And in a way, cut me off from in A in US, as my teacher would round an 89 to an A, but would not round a 79. I would have had a 3.5/4.0.</p>

<p>I’ll look at a broader set of schools. Many of the schools recommended for me are in the East Coast? Should I be looking for colleges in the East? With Cornell and some other choices of mine, I’m not bummed or anything; I’ll try again for Grad school.</p>

10

<p>@UCschoolsftw, that’s the spirit! What happened with the summer work? Schoolwork is schoolwork.</p>

11

<p>I wouldn’t actually include joke awards on your app…</p>

12

<p>Don’t listen to these guys. I am a current Cornell student with a very similar story as you in that my freshman year of high school I had several Cs and was struggling, but I got my grades up sophomore, junior, and senior year and ended high school as salutatorian. It is still very possible to get your act together the school year is not over and if you achieve the high end of your projected grades you are golden. Cornell is perhaps the most generous top tier school in that sense, they like to see an underdog succeed. You should visit the school and get in contact with someone in admissions. The more you talk to them the better your chances as long as you do it professionally and not in an annoying way. Best of luck and apply anyways because its great here. </p>

13

<p>AmaranthineD, my fear say of school was on the second week of school. I had two nights to do my summer work, along with self-learning a unit of AP Chem, read an additional novel for AP English, and study for a test for APUSH. I jumped in to the school year at the worst possible time. I’m right now at my third high school.</p>

<p>In hindsight, I should have emailed my school before eneolling. I didn’t know my teachers, though. Also, I didn’t know if I was actually going to my current high school. It was a 1/43rd shot. I thought I was staying at my old school, so I did my summer work for my previous school.</p>

<p>Funny that you say that, Cellucch. I’m probably going to end up as Salutorian. At my school, 4.1+ and over 22 semesters of H, AP, or CC courses makes you Salutorian. </p>

14

<p>Btw, I’m commenting from my twin’s account. He’s logged into my phone, for some reason.</p>