<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I'm pretty new on here, but have been reading a few subtopics quite regularly. I was wondering if anyone here could estimate my chances of getting into either Stanford or Cornell.</p>
<p>I came to America in 9th grade without a big amount of English in my backpack and have been going to an International School since where I am doing the IB. My classes are pretty challenging, but I only have about a 3.6 unweighted (all 5/7s except for one 7/7). However, I have had a pretty nice upward trend in the last couple of years and a decent SAT score(2000). I play soccer avidly and I am pretty good at it, but my school is only a D3 institution. I also coach a U14 Field Hockey team as an extra-curricular and have won a few trophies with them. </p>
<p>What are my chances folks?
Thanks :)</p>
<p>I also speak German, French and Spanish additionally to English and had 4 years of Latin. My Junior year classes look like this:</p>
<p>HL French B - B+/A-
HL Geography - aiming for an A
HL Biology - B+
SL Spanish B - A-
SL Math - aiming for an A-
SL English - B+</p>
<p>Took the German SAT II and got an 800. Hoping to do the same thing for French, Bio and Math 2.</p>
<p>I have over 250 volunteer hours over the course of high school and will add some more during my senior year.</p>
<p>Well if you’re in IB you can only predict your scores as to you have just now taken your exams IF you’re a senior. If you’re a junior in IB, as I am, then you haven’t begun testing and won’t for another year. As to sports, only colleges are divided by divisions.</p>
<p>Both are high reaches. Your grades and scores are just too low. Apply to some matches and safeties.</p>
<p>From personal experience, which is only anecdotal, I’ve seen students get into one or the other but rarely both. I guess Cornell and Stanford have different profiles they look for maybe?</p>
<p>My D got into Stanford this year, not into Cornell, and my S got into Cornell 3 years ago but not into Stanford. They are very different kids and in hindsight I can see why they obtained the results they did. They both picked other colleges for reasons which are irrelevant here. But like I said, very anecdotal.</p>
<p>I think academic record and excellent SAT scores are necessary but not sufficient to get into these schools (or any top tier school). Too many candidates have perfect records and not all of them get in. That’s when EC’s, letters of recommendation, and essays get into the picture and become decisive.</p>
<p>So I’d say, take the SAT’s again, improve your score, then be perfectly honest and sincere in your essays. Strategies don’t work in the sense that you can’t make admissions people believe you are someone other than who you are. They’ve seen it all. And then the rest is quite a bit of luck. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I didn’t say that those were going to be my exam grades, the exam grades won’t even be on the application. Most IB schools grade their students on a scale of 1 to 7. Is it relevant at all that I came to the USA when I was 14? I thought it would give me at least some sort of benefit grade-wise.</p>