Chances for Cornell vs. Stanford?!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Heyy! So I'm a half-portuguese, half-mozambican student living in Portugal, and I'm a little torn between applying ED to Cornell or EA to Stanford, because I know Cornell gives financial aid more easily and I really can't afford either of these schools without aid ... :/ So Stanford is my dream college, but I think if I apply Early Action i'm afraid I wont get in, while if I apply ED to Cornell I think I might have a better chance...</p>

<p>Here is my stats:
- I play volleyball in the national federation (3 years)
- I've done some volunteering for the Red Cross
- I am at the top 5%-10% of my class
- won Honor Awards at my school in 10th and 11th grade for my GPA. However, my GPA is of 3.6, which is really good in Portugal because it corresponds to 18/20 here and you can rarely get a much higher GPA than 18 or 18.5 at demanding high schools like mine, but i know that for the US its low!
- We don't get to choose subjects, only areas, so i took the hardest school area, Science and Technology, which includes these subjects:
Math A - 18/20
Physics and Chemistry A - 18/20
Biology and Geology - 19/20
Phylosophy - 19/20</p>

<p>Also, in Portugal sophomore year is the hardest and busiest one and last year it was impossible for me to take the SAT last year so i'm going to have to take it this week for the only timeand hopefully get the SAT results back in time for me to send all my application materials before the Early deadlines... Plus, i would have to send in my Subject SAT results late because, for the same reason, i can only take them in November!</p>

<p>Do you think I might have a chance in EA in Stanford, or should i stick to cornell? :/ Please help me, I have no one who can advise me here because no one i know is familiar with american colleges and the application process, so i'm doing it on my own and am getting a little clueless... </p>

<p>Thanks in advance for any help! :)</p>

2

<p>Apply early to whichever school you’d rather go to. Just because you apply early to one school does not mean you can’t apply to other schools either, and Stanford isn’t binding IIRC so I see no problems doing SCEA there.</p>

3

<p>But applying early doesn’t give me a better chance at getting in? If I apply early to Stanford and don’t get in, I will have to apply regular to Cornell, and I’m afraid i won’t have a chance by then… or is it almost the same?</p>

4

<p>It’s debatable whether the chances are better for EA/ED or not, because while the acceptance rate appears to be higher for EA/ED, the early applicant pool is much stronger than the regular applicant pool and the early acceptance statistics include all athletes too. Then there is also the chance that you could get deferred to regular decision anyways, so the bottom line is – apply early to whichever school you would rather go to.</p>

5

<p>Ohh okay… THANK YOU, you helped me soo much! :D</p>