Chances at Cornell (New to CC, Please help?)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>I am a white male, a Rising senior at a competitive high school in Baltimore County, Maryland.
I take the hardest courses my school offers, and I want to apply ED to the College of Arts and Sciences to major in Economics, and Minor in Mathematics.</p>

<p>-GPA: 3.60/4.00 unweighted, weighted is much higher due to the quality of classes I took.</p>

<p>-Upward Trend: Freshman and Sophomore Year I received a 3.36, but Junior year I excelled in all of my tough classes, and received a 4.0. (Straight A's).</p>

<p>-Ranking: 24/465 (Literally one place away from the top 5%)</p>

<p>-Classes:
-Pre High School - I took Algebra 2 and Geometry, in a year ahead program
-9th grade: GT English, Government, Bio, Honors Spanish 3, Band, Trig and Standard Gym.[All the Highest Possible except Bio could have been AP... oh well.]
-10th grade: AP World, GT Chem, Band, English, Honors Spanish, College Algebra and Standard Gym.[Again the highest possible except Chem, but because I didn't take AP Bio, I couldn't due to gym being paired with Chem]
-11th grade: AP English, US History, Spanish 5 and AB Calc, GT Physics, Engineering and Band.
-Taking Senior Year - AP Physics C, Economics (Macro and Micro), English Lit, Calc BC, European History and GT Band</p>

<p>-AP's: 5's on World (10th Grade), English, Calc AB and US History. (11th Grade)[At our school, AP Spanish 5 is an AP weighted class but you don't take the exam till senior year]</p>

<p>-ACT: 35 [36 Math, 35 Science, 34 Reading and English, 32 Composite Writing]</p>

<p>-SAT IIs: US History - 780, Math II - 750, Physics - 690. (11th grade)</p>

<p>-SAT's (Not Submitting unless I get much higher when I retake in October)
730 Crit Reading, 700 Math. (660 Writing but Cornell doesn't look at it, 10 on essay)</p>

<p>ECs:
-Junior Varsity Indoor Track (9-10), JV Cross Country and Outdoor (10)</p>

<p>-Varsity Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track (11-12) [Captain in 12th Grade]</p>

<p>-Trumpet (9-12) [DHS Lions Roar Marching Band 9-10, Wind Ensemble 10-12 , BCPS All-Honors Band 9-12, County/State Solo & Ensemble Festival 9-12, Private Lessons 9-12]</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Boy Scouts of America(9-12) [Patrol Leader, Life Scout, PASS Award, Life Scout, and I am very very close to my EAGLE SCOUT]</p></li>
<li><p>Younglife/Capernum (9-12) [Attend Club,Campaigners and Capernum, the first two are the more "social" Younglife and the bible study respectively, and the last one is a youth group for teens with special needs, Attended Summer Camp 9,10 and 12, Work Crew staff on Winter Weekend 2010]</p></li>
<li><p>Class of 2013’s Historian (10-12) [SGO, I set up Class functions and dances, go toweekly meetings, etc]</p></li>
<li><p>Physics Olympics (11) [During Junior year, you can volunteer to be a part of the Physics Olympics team, and we preformed at our local competition, placing 1st in one of 5 events, and placing 5th overall]</p></li>
<li><p>Member of Model United Nations (9-12) [I Prepared for and attended the annual YMCA MUN Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania in 9,11 and 12th, in 10th grade I had a last minute personal emergency and I could not go to the actual conference]</p></li>
<li><p>National Honor Society (11-12)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Future EC's
- I plan on joining Math Club and Mu Alpha Theta (Our Math National Honor Society) next year. (I don't think you can join until senior year, I'm not trying to pad my resume, I promise).
- I am going to try to get a Econ/Finance related internship with the help of my friend's dad, who is a Financial Planner. </p>

<p>Work Experience</p>

<p>-Stock at Cohens Clothiers (11-12) [My local, preppy, family owned clothing store, I work Stock, Re-tag Merchandise, Process Incoming Freight Shipments, Inventory, Cleaning, etc].</p>

<p>-My local pool (Summer after 9th) [Lifeguard/Snack Bar Attendant]</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community Work
-Younglife Work Crew (Winter 10)</p>

<ul>
<li>Race for the Cure (10-12)[I Ran in the local 5K race and raised approximately 100$ for the fund each year]</li>
</ul>

<p>-Peer Tutoring (11-12) [I tutor students struggling in Honors/GT Chemistry, Geometry and Physics before and after school, 4 times a week]</p>

<p>Awards/Honors
-Trumpet Honors(All County Honors Band (2009-2011), Solo and Ensemble Festival (2009-2011)</p>

<p>-Boy Scout Honors/AwardsThe PASS Award, Life Scout (Soon to be Eagle), 19 Merit Badges</p>

<p>-Academic Honors/AwardsHonor Roll (2009-2011) Scholar Athlete (2010-2012)</p>

<p>-National Honor Society (2012)</p>

<p>Common App Essay: I'm still deciding between a couple of choices, but my strongest so far is about my favorite album of all time, how I grew up with it and how it shows my transformation from awkward bookworm to a more social, yet just as intellectual senior.[Kinda hard to explain without giving too much away, it will be very polished and my English teacher loved the idea, she's been helping kids with essays for years].</p>

<p>Short Essay for Common App - Relate Running and thinking, as most of my deepest thoughts occur on a run in the woods near my hometown</p>

<p>Cornell Supplement - Explain how I have always been good at math, my Calc teacher inspired me to do more then just breeze through math like I have always done, but instead actually understand and love the math, and with economics, I have always been fascinated with the inner workings of wall street and finance, and after having a conversation with my best friends dad [A financial planner], I decided on economics as my course of action.[This one is not as polished, but I am spending lots of time on it]</p>

<p>Letters of Rec - I am getting one from my Calc teacher as well as my APUSH teacher, they both like me a huge amount and have said they have nothing but positive things to say about me</p>

<p>-My guidance counselor letter will be strong as well, we have met several times to talk college, and have "bonded" over discussions over Boy Scouts, the college admittance process and To Kill a Mockingbird. (We are both Boyscouts/Eagles, and love TKM).</p>

<p>Miscellaneous</p>

<ul>
<li><p>I am currently talking with the Cornell XC/T&F Coach, and I have a (very slim) chance of being recruited.</p></li>
<li><p>Finally, with interviews, A Cornell alum lives on the street adjacent to mine who does interviews, we were introduced recently to each other by a mutual friend, and it seems very likely that I will have a stellar interview. (I have been known to be very polite and good with impressing adults).</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Please be honest, do I have a chance for Cornell? And if not, do you have any other tips to help me get in? I visited in Early June and I fell IN LOVE with the school, and I hope to show that in my essays/everything.Go Big Red!!!</p>

2

<p>You don’t have to retake the SAT, a 35 ACT is excellent enough. I would say you have a great chance anywhere.</p>

3

<p>You have the whole package…it will come down to your essays & letters of rec. Applying ED should give you a very good chance.</p>

4

<p>I agree with csdad… You look great and if Cornell is your top choice, I’d definitely apply ED. Focus on your essays!</p>

5

<p>I’d say you have a fair shot at ED. More of a reach in RD because your grades and ecs don’t really set you apart but your score is fair…</p>

<p>Remember, Quality >> Quantity when it comes to ECs.</p>

6

<p>You have a good shot :)</p>

7

<p>Thank you so much guys!!!
Just another quick question, (I might make a new post about this but whatever).</p>

<p>What are my chances at Dyson AEM?
AEM is what originally drew me to Cornell, but after hearing how hard it is for incoming freshman to get into the program, it turned me off, so now I’m focusing on CAS Econ&Math.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!! :)</p>

8

<p>It’s not really noticeably harder… It’s just that spots are taken by hooked students. I’d say you have similar chances for AEM. It’s just that you have to think about whether or not you want to actually work hard and learn in college.</p>

9

<p>Thank you! Any other opinions?</p>

10

<p>By numbers, what holds you back the most is your GPA. The rest is just random luck if you get accepted or not.</p>

11

<p>…top 5% class rank makes up for GPA, especially if high school has a good ranking.</p>

12

<p>While it is true that rank may compensate for GPA, fact is that admissions will inevitably look at the absolute number, even if it will establish some form of bias. Also, assuming that if OP is top 24, I’m assuming among ranks 1-23 also have people applying to Cornell just based off a chance and that will end up hurting the OP because he is of a lower rank just from a numbers stand point.</p>

13

<p>He’s not in the top 5%?! Uh oh. Absolutely no chance. You have to be in the top 5% to get into an Ivy. </p>

<p>Lol seriously, he’s close enough. Obviously Cornell’s a reach for everyone. OP, my advice is to do an arts supplement on trumpet. Even if you have no intention of playing at all at Cornell an arts supplement can help immensely.</p>

14

<p>@Lagging, that’s a great idea!! I haven’t thought about that.
With Cornell, our school has a great habit of having one kid who applies ED evey year and getting in, and to the best of my knowledge, I’m the top kid in our school applying ED to Cornell. (Everyone else wants Columbia, Princeton or Harvard).</p>

<p>I’m only 24 because of my own stupidity, but I honestly believe my upward trend and such counters it enough that I’m not wasting my time. And It still depends, my school sometimes re-does class rank after 1st quarter, and also I have another class I’m doing over summer that may bump me up just enough to squeak in the top 5%. </p>

<p>Also, I know essays are incredibly important, and I feel like I would have an edge because I’m the only kid from my school that’s visited, and I can put into words “Why Cornell?”.</p>

15

<p>Bump ?</p>

16

<p>Nobody else? Thanks anyways y’all!</p>

17

<p>I did apply ED, with essays I put a ridiculous amount of time into. (They were looked over by a pulitzer prize finalist, 2 english teachers that have been looking over college essays for 15+ years, and a few Cornell/Ivy level students who gave me advice of what to include). Anyone else have an opinion on if I’ll get in come dec. 8th?</p>

18

<p>Buuuuuump?</p>