Chances for Cornell w/ very weak ECs

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a Canadian high school student, and the only American school I plan on applying to is Cornell (for Engineering Physics, as it is supposed to have an amazing program). If I don't go to Cornell, it's probably UBC engineering physics or UofT engineering science for me. Academically, I'm extremely strong, but I have very few extra curriculars, so I'm not sure what to think. As a Canadian, I'm not too familiar with how American admissions work. So, here are my stats:</p>

<p>4.00 GPA unweighted
4.?? GPA weighted. I'm not sure if my school's honours courses are the same as American ones. I'm taking 2 honours courses right now (with As) and I'll be taking Calculus AP next semester. Calculus will be my only AP course, but I will be taking the Physics AP exam.</p>

<p>2380 SAT first try
800 CR
800 Math
780 Writing (80/80, 8 essay)</p>

<p>Top of my class (roughly 400 people) with 98% average last year.
100% physics 12, 99% math 11, 99% chem 11, stuff like that.
I predict 98-99% average this year (for the first semester, I had 95% english, 100% bio, 100% math)</p>

<p>I haven't taken the SAT subject tests yet, but I am fairly confident I will get 800 in math II and reasonably confident I will get 800 in physics.</p>

<p>The only awards or honours I have are the scholarship cup (for being top of my class) and the subject awards for every grade 12 course I've taken so far.</p>

<p>My only real EC is Jazz band, which I have been in since grade 7, playing trumpet. In my spare time, I have taught myself a large amount of computer science, to the point where I am now reading grad school textbooks with little difficulty. I will be writing my essay about an engineering idea on a topic related to computer science, so I think this will be a chance for that aspect of me to show. I also attended a rather high level computer science conference, which I don't want to name for fear of completely identifying myself (as I stood out quite a bit).</p>

<p>Any insight you guys could offer would be greatly appreciated. I realize that my lack of ECs will hurt me, but I am not willing to fake doing something I'm not interested in for the sake of university admissions. I'm just wondering if my academic strength will make up for it.</p>

2

<p>Since you have such a wondering academic score, do you have attended any subject contest in order to improve your chance?</p>

3

<p>I'm not sure if I'm understanding you correctly. Are you talking about things like math contests? I wrote the Canadian Math Open a while ago. I think I did well, but not amazingly. I will be writing the Canadian Computing Competition, but that will be too late to show up on applications. I wrote it in grade 9 and did pretty well (for a grade nine), but again, not anything amazing.</p>

4

<p>Also, if you don't think I would be a good fit for Cornell, could you suggest a school which would want a student like me that also offers financial aid to international students? Berkeley seems like it would be a good place for someone like me, but unfortunately, I can't get financial aid there.</p>

5

<p>i would say it is a low reach. ECs aren't as highly regarded as academics, however, someone with weak ecs is usually not chosen over the person with the same qualifications but strong ECs. good luck! <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/602724-chances-i-chance-back.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/602724-chances-i-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>do some volunteering, there's no way a top university will accept you if you show no community involvement or social conscience.... colleges are looking for all-around students and possible leaders</p>

7

<p>It's probably too late to start volunteering for the application. It's due in a month, and they aren't going to be convinced that I'm socially conscience if I have less than a month of volunteer work. If they don't accept me, I'm fine with that. I'll stay in Canada. I'm not going to pretend I'm something I'm not just for university applications.</p>