Chance me! please?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>Hey!
I'm a Junior at a pretty selective high school. We have a heavy emphasis on the sciences (especially bio). I love Cornell and it's definitely my top choice. I plan on applying ED to CALS Food Science. </p>

<p>State: NJ
School Type: Public magnet
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Hooks: honestly I don't think I have any. My parents are Russian immigrants and English is my second language (even though I was born in the US)...but that's about it.</p>

<p>SAT: Math 740, CR 770, Writing 710 Total: 2220 (should I retake?)
SAT II: Haven't taken them yet, but they'll be Bio M, Math II, and Chem
GPA (UW, out of 100): currently a 97.98...I had a 98.03 at the end of last year. Gonna try to get my GPA back over a 98
Weighted GPA: school doesn't give out weighted GPAs
Rank: school doesn't rank. </p>

<p>I'm an IB diploma candidate.
Courses - Bio HL, Chem HL, English HL, Spanish SL, Math SL, World History SL</p>

<p>By the end of Senior year, I'll have taken 12-13 science courses (4 years of bio, 4 years of research, 3 years of chem, 1 year of physics, 1 year of a bio elective).</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
- National Honor Society (officer/leadership position: director of the peer tutoring program)
- National Spanish Honor Society
- FFA (since soph year - helped to revive the club, have an officer position)
- Yearbook (since freshman year. officer/leadership position: Junior Business Manager this year, Senior Business Manager next year)
- JSA (since freshman year)
- Key Club (since freshman year)
- Guitar (since freshman year. just something I do for fun)
- > 300 service hours by the end of senior year
- Science fairs: have competed in one every year since the 8th grade. Last year I made it to FFA's national level science fair (Indianapolis).
- JHU CTY - this summer will be my fifth (and final) year. Residential program where you choose one course and in 3 weeks you cover about 1 yr of high school material/1 semester of college material (7 hours a day/5 days a week)</p>

<p>Recommendations: One from a research/bio teacher (11th and I'll probably have her again in 12th). She loves me so it should be good. The other recommendation I'm not sure yet, might ask my math teacher (who is also the yearbook advisor).
Unfortunately, my closest relationships are with my bio teachers, and I know I really shouldn't have 2 science teachers write my recommendations (need variety and such)</p>

<p>Sorry this is super long! Thanks so much if you actually read this far :)
Any advice? Should I work on test scores/extracurrics/etc?</p>

2

<p>Looks really good as long as you write good essay/good recs and your standing in your class is good (even though they don’t rank they know how you do relative to your peers, general-wise)</p>

3

<p>Thanks!
I’d say I’m in the top 10% of my class (at least 7th out of 74 students, could be even higher). We try not to compare ourselves to each other so I can’t really give a definite number.</p>

<p>I know one rec should be really good, but I’m not so sure about the other one. The other teacher likes me, but I’m afraid that isn’t enough. She’s seen me in class and in a leadership position, so I guess that’s something.
Should I focus on trying to get my current teachers to write me recommendations (instead of frosh or soph teachers) ?
I heard colleges prefer Junior year teachers, but is that something that’s super important?</p>

4

<p>have you taken any classes for college credit through cty?</p>

5

<p>Excellent do not retake SAT. Your ECs aren’t that special, but hey. Get a job/internship this summer, write amazingly creative essays, and you’re set. If you’re applying ED, I’d say your chances are nothing short of amazing.</p>

6

<p>Taking it again wouldn’t hurt if you are certain you can improve your math scores, since cornell superscores. Your choice, but I don’t think CALS would require that much from you so i think your scores are already good to go.<br>
I don’t think internships help that much. Colleges know that if you only do it junior year-senior year, it’s pretty obvious you are doing it just for the sake of appealing to colleges. Do something you want to do or learn over the summer, CTY is still a great choice.</p>

7

<p>I don’t know if CTY courses count as college credit. I know some definitely count as high school credit, but I’ve never really looked into it. Honestly, I just go to CTY because I enjoy the program, not because I want to get ahead/get credits/look impressive.
I’m looking to get a job as a tutor, but if I do it’s only going to be something like 3 hrs/week.
I forgot to add this before, but this summer I’m going to spend a week repairing homes in the West Virginia. With CTY and volunteering, I know I won’t have time for a summer internship. </p>

<p>The thing with the SAT is that I know I’m able to get 800 CR, but my math can really fluctuate between 710-750 ish. I want to focus on my SAT IIs (I want to finish them all by the end of Junior year), but I might end up studying some more and retaking the SAT reasoning test in May.</p>

8

<p>Certainly retake SAT and ACT as well and try to get a 34 on ACT.</p>

<p>Focus on your Essays. Tie your academic, professional and life goals into your essays and support that with what you did in ECs.</p>

<p>You are competitive like most others. Few with yoru credentials get in and most dont (Penn, Cornell, Harvard, Brown etc). Well-knit and seamless essays can get you in.</p>

<p>You progressed well doing what you need to do over 4 years. Now, dont take the one-offs (Test scores and essays) lightly.</p>

9

<p>^ i really do think she’s in good standing for CALS ed but i agree</p>