Chances w/ June SAT's...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>Yikes this is super long…if you just want to skim it any comments would still be awesome. Sorry… (and thanks in advance!)</p>

<p>A couple questions I have:
-How much will my upward trend of grades help?
-How much will my writing score hurt me?
-What can I do to improve my application the most? (yes, I know my grades will hurt, but there’s nothing I can do about that now)</p>

<p>-Caucasian, California Resident
-Junior
-Prospective Major: Economics</p>

<p>Grades: </p>

<p>California Public School. Top 10% CA school, so good but nothing too great.</p>

<p>9th – 11th: 3.6 UW, 3.96 W (ranked 90/733)
10th – 11th: 3.72 UW, 4.25 W (ranked 35/733)</p>

<p>Academic Classes by semester (only 4 academics jr. year…finished 4 yrs Chinese)
9th:
A / A / B / B / B / B
A / A / A / B / B / C</p>

<p>10th:
A / A / A / B / B
A / A / A / B / B</p>

<p>11th:
A / A / A / B
A / A / A / A</p>

<p>SAT I:
-Math: 800
-Reading: 740
-Writing: 660 (680 in March)
-Total: 2200 (2220 w/ combined scores)</p>

<p>SAT IIs:
-Math IIC: 720 (retaking Oct.)
-US Hist: 700 (not retaking)</p>

<p>-1 soph. AP, 3 jr. AP's, 5 sr. AP's + 1 sr. CC class
-5 on Euro already
-Est. Scores: Comp 4/5, Calc AB 4/5, USHist 5</p>

<p>Major ECs:</p>

<p>Work Experience:
-Worked at McDonald's for almost a yr (will be 1 1/2 yrs when I apply...should be a manager by then); 12-16 hrs/wk during school; 25 hrs/wk summer</p>

<p>Business / Fundraising / Community Service:
-Started a small business at school (profited $200 w/ $350 initial investment)
-Ran almost single-handedly a school Bowl-A-Thon fundraiser...raised $1,000 for the school & $450 for orphanages in China…largest class fundraiser in school’s 4 yr. history; will be repeated annually
-Running large-scale (hopefully) charity golf tournament this fall
-Started a program to help non-native speakers w/ English at McDonald's...help w/ reading & writing
-Started a program w/ family friend to send boxes of clothing, toys, etc to orphanages in China (our family adopted). Also serve as asst teacher in teaching Chinese 4 hrs every other week...I also have taken 4 yrs of Chinese (& am Caucasian)</p>

<p>Other Interests / Activities / Etc.:
-Writing a historical fiction/mystery novel (15,000 words so far...still have the summer)
-Boy Scouts (almost Eagle)
-JV CC (9/10/11); JV Track (9/10)
-Weekly religious school 9/10
-Fantasy Baseball (8 yrs): sounds like a joke but it is heavily statistically based...national competition (ranked as high as 3rd nationally out of 6,000)
-Ran statistical projections for Varsity CC (predicted 1/2 of Varsity runners in our league's final times w/in 15 seconds 3 months in advance)
-NHS
-Freshman Mentoring Program
-Finalist in ROP Business & Management Awards Program</p>

<p>Sorry that was awfully long…thanks for your help!</p>

2

<p>I think you have a solid shot..def go for it</p>

3

<p>Upward grade trends are always good. You're average isn't crappy or anything for starters anyway.</p>

<p>Newspaper reports say colleges aren't looking very heavily at writing scores the first few years so they can see how accurate an indicator of student performance they are. also, 680 isn't a bad score.</p>

<p>As a whole your app. is pretty much done. You can't change much, right? You have essays, recommendadations, and presentation left, and thats about all. Try and give your application focus. I'd say either pick between the charity/chinese/orphanage area or the statistics/economics/fantasy baseball. Perhaps your "most rewarding activity" short answer could be about the charity stuff, and you could write your main essay (and allude to it--and maybe the charity stuff, too--a little in the short academic interest essays) on the stat projection/econ. Writing about fantasy baseball could actually prove to be a really unique and interesting essay. Gutsy, but I think since your success was researched based it's a very solid subject. </p>

<p>Uniqueness greatly increases your chances as an applicant, as any strong applicant can have a 3.6+ GPA, 21-2300 board scores, and a plethora of ECs.</p>

<p>Make your application focused--show you have a passion. Focus and uniqueness...yeah, definitely apply. ED would boost your chances if you visit campus and decide you love it (which i should say you will ;)). good luck.</p>