I know admissions at top 20s are pretty random but can you please tell me if my application looks competitive and if not what else I need to work on?
Objective: COE
SAT I (breakdown) NA
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
ACT (breakdown): 35( first try)
ACT superscore : NA
SAT II (subject, score): 800 Math II, 800 Physics, 770 Biology
Unweighted/Weighted GPA:3.85(3.7 Freshman, 3.8 Sophmore, 4.0 Junior) 1 AP Freshman, 3APs sophomore, 4APs junior
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):NA
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): Euro:5 Biology:5 Calc BC:5 Calc AB(subscore):5 APUSH:5 AP Macro:5 AP Micro:5 Ap physics C M:5 Ap Physics EM:5 Ap Stats:5
Senior Year Course Load: AP comp sci, Ap enviro, AP Chemistry
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): National Merit Finalist, National AP scholar
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Varsity Cross Country(9-12,Captain)
Varsity Track(9-12)
NHS(Officer, 11-12)
Stem Cell Research Intern at University of Minnesota(12)
Link Leader(12)
Job/Work Experience:Worked at Target
Volunteer/Community Service: Volunteering at Local hospital(3hrs/week), Local Chinese school(3hrs/week)
Summer Experience: Cornell Summer college(Intro to Computing Grade:A), Couple of STEM camps are various universities
It’s worth an application but you have a greater than 90% chance of getting declined. I second the advice of keeping some good match and safety schools.
Does everyone always have a 90% chance of getting denied? I have read some of your other posts and I’m getting the impression that you strongly believe that college admissions are a crapshoot regardless of GPA, ACT, ECs, and essays.
@Thomasato1234 You are correct. Cornell has an 8% admissions rate. When you have an admissions rate that low, you get lost in a sea of smart kids with perfect grades/scores and ALL of them have a “hook” of some sort. It’s not as bad as MIT, which has a 3-4% admissions rate. Either way, chances are going to be lousy, because a difference of 4% is statistically insignificant. It’s a margin of error. Dream big, put together a great application, but make sure you have some solid schools lined up because, you probably WILL get rejected
I thought Cornell was 14% admissions rate? Also what hooks do these people have? The only major hooks I can think of are legacy and URMs. And if you don’t mind me asking, are you a high school student, parent, or college student?
Your application will likely get a serious look based on stats, but no one here can chance you because we don’t know some critical pieces of your app…performance within context of your school, essays, and LoRs. Contrary to your OP, T20 acceptances are not ‘pretty random’.
Are you applying ED or RD? Hooks include recruited athletes, legacies, URMs and first gen. Many of the recruited athletes and legacies will apply ED. Being an ORM won’t help you.
Cornell is a reach for all applicants, but again, you should get a serious look. I second momofsenior’s advice to also apply to a number of target/match schools, and at least one affordable safety school.
Thanks for the feedback, I wasn’t really looking for a specific percent or anything on chances, more so I just wanted to have feedback on if my app is competitive. I will likely be applying ED to Cornell or Carnegie Mellon(legacy).
Based on the data from the high school in my town (~7 acceptances/year), you certainly appear academically qualified and represent something close to the average unhooked, accepted applicant. Also, Cornell provides acceptance statistics for males applying to the COE. The acceptance rate is quite a bit lower. Having said that, you appear like a competitive candidate on paper. Good luck.
The acceptance rate for males overall for Cornell COE is right around 7%. For early decision, it is probably a bit above that, but not substantially above 10% unless you are hooked (URM, legacy, female in COE, or recruited athlete).
Secondly, I don’t see AP English (either Lit or Lang, or both) in your list of classes?
