Hi! Cornell is a major reach, but I was just curious as to my chances. I certainly don’t expect to get in but am just curious as to what you guys think.
Normal public HS in NJ
Major: Econ (CAS)
SAT: 1560 (790 EBRW, 770 M)
ACT: None
GPA: W 97.72 (Top 5% in class)
APs: Sophomore year - APUSH (4), Junior - APUSH, AP Lang (5), AP Bio (4), Senior - AP Gov, AP Euro, AP Lit, AP Calc AB
Most other classes have been honors
ECs:
Newspaper Club - Am the Editor in Chief of my school newspaper. Was News Section Editor as a junior
Guitar - I’ve been playing guitar most of my life. I’ve played shows across NJ and NYC with a performance group at my music school. Besides that I took lessons until my junior year. I had to quit because lessons costs were too high.
Class Council (9-12)
Key Club (9-12)
Progressive Action Club (10-12) - A social advocacy club. For example, we made efforts to change our school’s sex-ed curriculum to be more inclusive to other gender orientations.
Job at Restaurant - Was pulling 30 hrs/wk until they started cutting hours due to the recent COVID resurgence
Band - I record music in a band outside of school. Not necessarily an organized EC but I spend tons of time doing it. I’ve learned three additional instruments in the process.
Awards: Nothing major except some academic awards here and there
Essays: Essay was graded by multiple teachers, all liked it (92/100). I won’t rate it because I’m sure I’m biased. I think my supplemental essay is good. But… I’m not an AO.
Teachers Rec: Great rec from a former English teacher, as well as a good rec from my Newspaper Club advisor.
Other Info:
–Racial Make-up: White/Middle-Eastern
–Gender: Male
–Hooks: None
–Household Income: Upper-middle
Thanks for the help! It’s the biggest reach on my list so I’m not expecting much. But hey, you’ll never know unless you apply!
Congrats on all of these accomplishments! Your numbers check out for sure. I think your extracurricular activities are fairly standard and diverse with some great leadership positions in there. Here are some high level things I’m wondering about:
Your AP scores are a bit confusing. Did you take APUSH twice? How many AP classes are offered total in your school?
You mention that your major is Econ but I don’t really see how the classes you took and the activities you’ve done actually relate to that. Is there something I’m missing? How are you writing your Why Major essays?
Tell me more about your essays given that the competitive folks applying to Cornell are going to have similar numbers as you. How confident do you feel in your content? What’s your pitch?
Thanks for the context! Writing about economic policy is definitely interesting! I hope you engaged in some capacity on that experience in some of your supplements! Econ/math is a suitable combo for sure. The slight downside is that I don’t see much math in your profile outside of your AP Calc this year. Without SAT Subject test scores or an AP score, I would find it difficult to gauge your expertise in math when comparing yourself with the thousands of kids applying for math with extracurriculars or competitions in that setting, etc.
Your journey learning guitar is interesting and has the potential to be compelling, especially if you can appropriately weave in your interest in econ/math. Adaptability and resilience are definitely good traits to highlight and something colleges are interested in. My only note, I would caution with essays about music unless you’re looking to apply with a music major. This is something I see with students who write about music, sports, hobbies where it runs the risk of coming across lost in the crowd because they just lump these kinds of narratives together.