My son is at Bama - in engineering. 34 ACT - that’s a 1520-50 according to the conversion chart. Top 6 in his class of 400+. 4.6 weighted, 3.98 UW. He’s getting his a$$ kicked. It’s just to point out what you are saying - and this is at a school that isn’t ranked although they’re actually pulling in tons of NE kids and many Ivy accepted kids (as they buy them in). You are correct!!
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D20 is at one of the schools mentioned by the OP. She was well within the top 10% of her HS class, upper 1400’s for SAT with a top 1% EBRW score, 5s on all APs. She is getting her a$$ kicked by Ivy “rejects”. It has been really rough for her, and she was among/over the 75th percentile in stats for her incoming class. She is hoping she can turn herself around with some in-person classes and interaction with her professors this year, but the struggle is real.
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SUNY Albany has a nice School of Public Affairs and Policy and being the state capital has lots of potential opportunities. Albany isn’t a grand city, but it has the benefit of being a reasonable train ride from NYC, close to some absolutely beautiful rural areas of New York, Mass, Vermont, etc., not far from Montreal or Boston.
Maybe SUNY Buffalo. I had a friend in my Doctoral program who went there as an UG and loved it.
I’ll second looking at University of Delaware.
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I think parents dreaming of a legacy admit have confusion over what elements the Admissions Officers use to make an initial screen.
Are legacy ED applicants screened first over GPA/rigor of curriculum& test scores? Or are essays, LOR , extra curriculars used?
@tsbna44 and others seem very certain that GPA/rigor& tests would first be used to screen an ED applicant.
I think if OP can get clarity on how legacies are considered in Cornell’s ED process, it will be easier for them ( and others dreaming of a legacy admit) to move on to match and target colleges.
My first impression was this student would be great match for Jesuit colleges like Loyola Maryland. Or Marist, like another CCer suggested, or others like Manhattan or even Catholic, Providence, that emphasize service.
NROTC seems like a great match with his athletics and leadership interests. But better chance if he targets colleges where his GPA and rigor put him at top of applicant pool.
Quinnipiac is another great suggestion, but doesn’t have NROTC.
Part of the issue is that you recommended religious schools and we know that the OP went to Catholic HS and let his faith club. So Loyola and Marist make sense.
But I got the sense based on the geographic limitations and desire for diversity that they didn’t want religious.
Perhaps the OP can clarify….several things…because there are several unclear statements. If privacy is a concern they can certainly PM someone they might trust.
I tried to stay away from religious schools. I had though of Marist but it’s catholic.
Then we can help even more.
Thank you. You and others also suggested SUNY Albany and similar.
How about Hofstra or Stony Brook for community service opportunities and diversity.
https://hofstra.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/osle
Hofstra is a great one but she said not Long Island. This is the issue…they’ve closed too many doors.
I don’t believe that is the case now. It started as a religious college but is not any longer.
“ Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, was founded in 1946 by the Catholic order of Marist Brothers and established an independent board of trustees in 1969–an action taken by most religious colleges in New York in the late 1960s to ensure state and federal aid. Recently, college officials have claimed the college is no longer Catholic, and its promotional materials and website claim it is an “independent, liberal arts college.”
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Per this oft-referenced article, legacies undergo the same initial academic review (transcript, test scores) as everyone else, legacy status isn’t looked at until later.
If most Cornell legacies are accepted ED and around 2,000 apply every year, that means the legacy acceptance rate is 25%, give or take. Even if we assume that Cornell has not only a ceiling but also a floor on the number of legacies they’ll accept each year, it is difficult to imagine this transcript would be close to the top quarter of the pool.
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Lots of insights. Thank you for posting.
I wonder now about ILR instead of CALS,
since ILR admissions chair says essays and fit very important. Could this student be a top 25% ED applicant for ILR?
ILR has about a thousand frosh, whereas AS has about 4,000. CALS has about 3,000.
AS says “ * Rigorous high school curriculum and an outstanding record of academic achievement” are needed.
ILR does not.
https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/programs/undergraduate-degree-program/undergraduate-admissions/online-ilr-information-session
And compared with AS or CALS , ILR does not specify “outstanding record of academic achievement”
Instead, ILR seeks “ * Leaders and problem solvers who are drawn to or excel in social science, writing, business, and law courses. Students with relevant extracurricular, work, life and/or service experience, and who demonstrate a strong interest in the core topics studied within the ILR School.”
*** I made an error above. The enrollments I cited above are for all students. I was looking at page 2 of
https://admissions.cornell.edu/sites/admissions.cornell.edu/files/ClassProfile%202023b.pdf
The student lacks GPA. HS little rigor although the OP said offerings are limited. We don’t know his rank but I don’t see him even being in the range of ILR, Hotel, CALS or anywhere else at Cornell. Ithaca College is possible, not probable. But Cornell. Nope. Someone earlier mentioned Rochester. Nope.
I’m sure the young man is wonderful. He’s accomplished a lot.
But unless he is being recruited for a sport or is part of admission scandal, there’s not a top 50 school he is going to get into (ok, outside shot at Illinois). I looked at each. But there’s tons of great schools he will get into.
Anyway, the OP has disappeared. At this point I’m hopeful they respond with some feedback k or we are just spinning wheels.
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Here is the preliminary stat for BU class of 2025 https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/bu-class-of-2025-begins-to-take-shape/. The average GPA and submitted test scores are quite a hurdle. I personal know a BU alumni and faculty, have kid with similar stat as your child was rejected from CGS(college of general study) I wish you luck and hope your child will get into the right school.
John
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There are plenty of private schools that do not easily give kids As. It really isn’t a hook. My son is at a public high school where the dead bottom of the class is not applying to four year colleges. Elite private schools normally have 100% of its students attending 4-year schools.
It is truly apples to oranges! So, unless a person is a private school parent, one cannot give advice on GPAs here.
I don’t think my son’s school is easier or he has learned less in a public school, at all. But, it is MUCH easier for a very bright student to be at the top of his class in a public school, vs a private school. So…here is where it is irrelevant.
My son’s GPA is not only higher than all his friends who stayed in private school but he was able to take classes at community college so he is far ahead of them in math.
Elite private schools are excellent. I would never knock them. Private school kids tend to go to college as better writers and speakers. And, they tend to love learning. My kid recently told me that he received far more personalized attention to his writing in private school than he does in public school. Private school kids are constantly giving presentations, too.
Meanwhile, all my son’s friends,public and private, are in the 1250-1500+ SAT range even though his public school friends all have much higher unweighted GPAs than his private school friends.it is apples to oranges.
For my kid, he is in the right high school, which is all that matters.
I wholeheartedly disagree about not getting tutoring for the SATs. Top tutors know the little thinking tricks that are needed to get a perfect score. The only time scores do not drastically improve is if either there is an underlying issue (mild undiagnosed learning difference or major gaps in knowledge) OR the tutor isn’t all that great.
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Who said not to get a tutor ? I said raising 10% like the OP suggested is unlikely. She stated that an 1170 to 1350 is realistic. It’s not tutor or otherwise.
You say the only time scores do not dramatically improve are and give two examples. Define dramatically ? A tutor can help with tips as you say but they don’t always lead to a score increase as you are inferring they do.
Not sure who your comment was referred to. I think it’s unrealistic to take an 1170 and make it a 1350. Possible. Yes. Realistic. No.
And even if they do, Cornell, BU and the others are still out.
The OP, if they ever come back, needs a full application plan. If that includes Cornell there’s no issue. But it also needs to include schools that can actually happen.
Whatever. Stay in your small world. I have seen scores jump and I also know of a local elite private school where an Ivy considers a 3.2 gpa a competitive applicant.
Meanwhile, we are applying to private universities and colleges. Our college counselor has made it clear that my kids high but imperfect gpa will be scrutinized next to private school applicants. He NEEDS to apply to schools where his imperfect unweighted gpa is above the average.
But, my kid has a hook….which is the real reason he opted for his public school—it was to get better at his hook
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3.2 from Philips, Philips Exeter, Milton academies alike will get a shot however the top prep school in my area where my kids go will not with 3.2. There are 4 out of 90s students going to Cornell this year and they are all near UW 4.0, near perfect SAT/ACT, maybe 1-2 legacies.
John
Every private school is treated differently. The private colleges know the reputations of the private schools.I am telling people what is happening locally, here.I live in SF. Yes, there is one school where what amounts to a B+ is or was (dating into sometime this past decade) considered a competitive gpa.
I also know another private school where the top often student doesn’t even have an A- gpa (3.75).
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You are not the OP. Why are you getting so upset? We all have opinions. The first thing I said was I did not say not to get a tutor.
I said there is no assurance a tutor will bring a huge leap and even if the OP got the score they wanted that they wouldn’t sniff Cornell.
I also said if they have the bandwidth time wise they should apply. But to ensure they have a robust list ftom which to apply overall that includes targets and safeties.
Seems logical to me. Maybe not to you.
You disagree and you are welcome to your opinion. No reason to be hostile.
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Because people are giving false information and being headstrong. I am in both worlds but the people here, are coming in with very strong public school advice for a child who is a legacy and attends private school.
The op belongs in the school’s college counseling office, not here.
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Very true and each universities also evaluate courses from each school, private or public, differently. Not all As are equal and that is what we learned from college tours 2 years ago. Colleges and universities will assign grades based on high school ranking, stat and rigors/progression throughout 4 years were the common themes during the tours.
John
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