I’m planning to apply for Cornell’s early decisions, which would be around this time next year, and I’d like some opinions/advice of bettering my chances of getting in? I’m very interested in perusing architecture, and Cornell’s 5 year undergrad program is consistently ranked at the top, and includes a year studying abroad in Rome. I also do know that Cornell has one of the highest acceptance rates of all the Ivies, but is still extremely selective. During Spring Break last year, I traveled to the East Coast to tour prospective colleges, and Cornell was by far my absolute favorite.
Aside from Cornell, I’m also planning to apply to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, UC Berkely, and MIT. Do I have a remote chance for any of these colleges?
Current full-IB junior in high school, 4.0 UW GPS, 4.375 W
Rank 7 out of 804 students in my grade (top 1%)
Strong in humanities and arts, weaker in math. My school district isn’t exactly competitive; will that hurt my chances? In particular, my highschool is the only one in the district offering IB courses, and at a very limited amount. Freshmen were only allowed to take 1 AP course, which sets me back quite a bit.
Projected SAT score to be at around 1500 (the practice tests I took on Khan Academy had me at around 730 for math and 770 in English. I am planning to retake it at December when I have Winter Break to devote my time to studying). I’ll also be taking the PSAT soon (I got a 1450 last year without studying, I should be able to score higher this time around). I’m planning to retake my SAT math subject test (I bombed my last one and canceled my score)
Took AP Bio (got a 4 on exam), AP World Hist (got a 5), AP English Lang (got a 5), AP Human Geo (got a 5) in freshman/sophomore year.
Currently taking IB HL Vis Art, IB HL English, IB HL History of Americas, IB HL Physics, IB SL Spanish, Calc BC (hopefully, HL math senior year but this is the class I’m struggling in the most). Since most of my classes are HL, I’ll be taking them next year as well.
During the summer between sophomore/junior year, I applied and was accepted to the Stanford Summer pre collegiate summer arts institute, which included a class devoted to architecture. I spent 3 weeks at Stanford learning basic skills and techniques, and completed a design of a pavilion, which I had to present to my classmates and professors.
This summer, I’m planning to apply to Cornell’s summer architecture program (only accepts incoming seniors, and only around 12 spots), but I’m feeling very unsure of my prospects of getting in.
I’m an inactive member of CSF (California Scholarship Federation), but I should be able to revert my status to active by Senior year. I also applied to NHS, and I’m pretty certain I got in, as rejection letters were passed out a week ago and I didn’t receive one (yet).
I’m also very worried about my lack of extracurriculars. I’m president of the school book club, and have 100+ hours of volunteer service hours at my local library shelving books. I’ve been a member of the city’s local teen council, and served as both Chair and Co-Chair (we organize teen events that’s free for the public, host fundraisers, and food drives). Aside from that, I really don’t have anything else. I don’t play any sports or instruments, but I do draw a lot in my free time.
I’m Asian, which will probably hurt my prospects?? I’m not exactly a good student, but I’m passionate about subjects I have interest in.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my rambles! :’)