chance my son

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>Would you be so kind as to chance my son. My son wants to be an Engineer. We visited Cornell a few weeks ago and this is definitely one of his dream schools. He is going to apply Early decision to the School of Engineering. He is a senior in a very good Public High school in the Hudson Valley in New York. The school body is approximately 365 students and he is ranked in the 20's. His extra curricula’s and after school activities are as good as most of the students I've been reading on these various posts. Far better than me in the stone age.</p>

<p>He has taken 7 Honors courses and 3 AP's in his academic career.</p>

<p>AP Chemistry he scored a "5"</p>

<p>AP Physics B he scored a "5"</p>

<p>AP English Language he scored a "4"</p>

<p>His senior year he will be taking AP Biology, AP Calculus, and AP Literature</p>

<p>On the SAT Subject tests he scored:</p>

<p>Chemistry 790</p>

<p>Physics 770</p>

<p>Math 1 740</p>

<p>He took the SAT's once in 9th, once in 10th, and once in 11th grade.</p>

<p>His score in 11th grade was:</p>

<p>Math 730</p>

<p>Critical Reading 660</p>

<p>Writing 650</p>

<p>As much as I would like him to take the test once more he says he doesn't want to take it again. Who can blame him? These kids really work hard I just hope this doesn't hurt him in trying to get in the better schools.</p>

<p>His Unweighted GPA IS 93.96 and his Weighted GPA is 98.17 I do not know how this computes on a 4.0 scale.</p>

<p>Advice and encouragement would be great!</p>

2

<p>I think it is a reach for Engineering. </p>

<p>Compare these
<a href=“http://www.dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000001.pdf[/url]”>http://www.dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000001.pdf&lt;/a&gt; (Engineering stats tend to be in the upper range)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/1254046-official-cornell-class-2016-ed-results-thread-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/1254046-official-cornell-class-2016-ed-results-thread-4.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If ECs are Engineering/Science specific, that may help. It also depends on how many kids are in the school are applying to Cornell. If the school sends a huge number to cornell every year, then that may help.</p>

3

<p>He should definitely retake it if his CR/M (Cornell doesn’t look at writing) improves considerably from a 1390 to a high 1400-1500+. </p>

<p>Right now, looks like has a bit below average chance.</p>

4

<p>Here are more specific stats for COE:</p>

<p><a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000176.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000176.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>…as you can see he is a bit below average. Male admit to COE is one of the toughest at Cornell.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for your honesty. His extra cur. were FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America),
Science Club and Robotics Club and competition. There were other EC’s but not science oriented.</p>

6

<p>Maybe one child a year is accepted to Cornell from our high school. Would 50 points really make that much of a difference from 1390 to 1440 to 1450?</p>

7

<p>I am surprised why he took SAT in 9 and 10. Anyway, given Cornell is his top choice, he must try to do whatever it takes to bring up the CR scores. Of course no guarantees even after that. Not sure of the rigor of classes, but people from our HS who got into cornell had 9-10 APs (at the end of senior year), 2200+ SAT, close to 800 in subject tests. He should have taken Math 2. I think you should ask him to also look at RPI, WPI, and other colleges in NY/NJ area. Had a nephew at Rutgers and Cornell. Fast forward 5+ years. Both have wonderful jobs. Doesn’t really matter what college, but what and how you do, once you get there…</p>

8

<p>Not wanting to discourage you further, but I wanted to confirm CSDad’s comment that male admit to engineering is very challenging. 15.9% of males and 35.3% of females were admitted to Engineering for the class who entered fall of 2011. Also, his Math & CR scores fall at the 25th percentile for those who enrolled in the Engineering school, fall 2011.</p>

<p>I am sorry that I cannot offer encouragement but my advice would be to retake the SAT.</p>

9

<p>Either the Math I score should be an 800 or the Math 2 score should be a 750 plus.</p>

10

<p>You probably are correct in your assessment. He will have taken 6 AP’s at the end of his senior year and 9 Honors classes. The 740 in Math 1 was not what he expected but 790 & 5 in Chemistry and 770 & 5 in Physics were great. He really likes both RPI & WPI. We also went to Case Western and liked that alot. He also likes Lafayette and Bucknell on previous visits. Do you have any suggestions on these other schools?</p>

<p>Thanks for your consideration!</p>

11

<p>He did better than me, and i’m applying to cornell. Good luck</p>

12

<p>I would suggest that he should not spend more time practicing for tests if it means he’ll have less time for writing the essays. I don’t know but I comparing my essays with a few friends here, I felt mine were a bit on the unusual side. I can help review if you’d like. </p>

<p>I had lower scores on both SAT I (720/640 M/CR) and SAT IIs. I also had a hook that worked for me (first gen college) but I was an international student from Canada. I had a lower GPA and lower class rank. My EC’s were a good fit for engineering. I also applied ED</p>

<p>Hooray engineers :D</p>

13

<p>Thank you for your consideration! I will certainly mention this to my son.</p>

14

<p>Your son’s scores (both CR and M) are somewhat below average for Cornell Engineering which is problematic.</p>

<p>This being said, both are within the 25%-75% corridor for students, so it’s worth applying.</p>

<p>I’d say that Cornell makes a perfect ‘reach’ school, meaning, it could happen if you get lucky. I’d recommend applying.</p>