Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>I'm confused as to whether I should apply EDII to NYU Stern. I really want to go there, but I don't want to bind myself in case I get into a better school. I'm applying to Cornell and UVA, and USC-Marshall <--- top 4 choices. And some other schools that I'm not worried about.</p>

<p>What are my chances for Cornell (1st choice Government, 2nd choice Economics)? Should I apply RD to Stern and hope that I get into Cornell, or just screw it and apply EDII to Stern? Do I have a good chance of getting into Stern without EDing?</p>

<p>I'm an Asian Indian female living in Delaware that goes to a not super competitive public high school, but my current class is unusually good, with a whole bunch of people getting accepted into Ivies already.</p>

<p>Stats:
GPA unweighted: 88.5/100 (3.5ish? and with 10 APs total)
Rank: 25.5% out of about 400 students (rank is unweighted)
SAT: 2210
M: 760
CR: 750
W: 700</p>

<p>Subject Tests:
Math II: 720
World History - Still waiting</p>

<p>ECs:
- Technology Student Association (member since 7th grade and have held 3 chapter-level leadership positions and 1 state officer position; recieved 20+ top 3 awards at state level and one 1st place and a 2nd place at nationals)
- Academic Bowl (not very good, but have been participating since freshman year)
- Math League (member since 7th grade, been to state invitationals every year and have won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place at regionals in 3 different years)
- Junior Achievement (our club starts a company and there's a competition at the end of the year to see which school had the best company. participated for 2 years, since that's how long JA has been available at our school)
- Science Olympiad (freshman, junior, and senior year)
- Tennis (freshman and sophomore year)
- IUSD Youth Committee (Indian US Society of Delaware; member since 8th grade, Secretary in junior year, President in senior year)
- Be Educated (raise money to help build libraries in poor areas of India, Pakistan, and Nepal; can get an excellent recommendation from member of board of directors; Home - Donate now - Donate now - Donate now - Donate</a> now - <a href="http://www.beeducated.org/htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.beeducated.org/htm</a>)
- volunteered in finance department of local hospital this summer (74 hours)</p>

<p>Hobbies:
- very passionate about dance (bollywood and kpop; minimal formal training but i perform for cultural charity events and cultural shows) there aren't any places for learning indian and hip hop dance where i live, so i teach myself. wrote my commonapp essay on how dance uncovered my passion for culture and how international business would allow me to pursue everything i want in life blahblah</p>

<p>I didn't list my AP scores on my app because some of them are bad and the other ones are average, so I didn't want to send some and not others. Better just not to send them at all.</p>

<p>Oh yeah and my senior schedule is:
AP Biology
Chinese 2
AP Spanish
AP Physics
AP Literature
AP Statistics</p>

2

<p>just got accepted ED so these are just my two cents and take them with a grain of salt…</p>

<p>your EC’s look fantastic! And your SAT score is right on par with Cornell, however your GPA/class rank seems a little weak for Cornell. Maybe with a strong 1st semester report you can show that you really do succeed in higher level courses.</p>

<p>It really is about the essays though, make them stellar and show that you truly “fit” up in ithaca!</p>

<p>good luck!</p>

3

<p>Sat and course rigor are excellent, but your gpa is weak. I say Cornell is a mid reach for you</p>

4

<p>For CAS at Cornell, you don’t apply to a major. BTW, good picks on Econ and Govt as I completed that double major. </p>

<p>As for chances, your GPA/class rank are really bad for top schools. Maybe your specific class is strong, but admissions likely won’t recognize that. Your GPA/class rank don’t put you out of the running by any means, but for them not to be a big liability, you’d probably have to be at one of those ultra-competitive small private schools. Especially since historically your school hasn’t been strong, Cornell will really see your GPA as a big disadvantage. </p>

<p>If your AP scores aren’t high as well (even if they aren’t reported), I personally always thought that was the best indicator of future collegiate success (moreso than GPA or SAT or ECs, at least for most people and I think the data back me up on the importance of GPA/AP scores), so that might be cause to pause for reflection since you really want to attend a school that gives you the best chance to achieve your potential, and if you feel overmatched, that might not happen. Then again, it depends what you define as “poor.” If you were getting 3’s or lower, I really hope it’s because you just didn’t study, otherwise you truly will have a hard time at any top school (assuming you have decent study habits for other tests).</p>

<p>So for Cornell, I’m saying your chances are 25%. Your SAT scores and ECs definitely give you a realistic shot.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the replying :)</p>

<p>Can anyone help me with whether or not I should apply to Stern ED2 instead of regular? I really want to go to Cornell, but if there’s very little chance of me getting in, I don’t want to ruin my chances for Stern too. On the other hand, if I can get into Stern regular decision then I definitely want to try for Cornell too!</p>

<p>mikey: Yea my low score on the APs from junior year was because I slacked off on studying. And my low GPA is mostly from not turning in homework T___T I’m sure I won’t be too overmatched by going to a good school, especially since I’m really starting to crack down on my work habits now.</p>

6

<p>replies* sorry</p>

7

<p>i have to say Cornell is a reach school for you- they excessively care about your GPA, which is pretty weak. You should be at least top 10%, according to my counselor and those who have been accepted. They barely look at SAT (the official website says so), and I can tell because some people who had exceptionally high SAT scores got rejected.</p>

8

<p>yeah^ i had a super high gpa, but a pretty sad sat score but was still accepted.</p>

9

<p>Apply EDII to Stern. Your chances like everyone else mentioned are less for Cornell cuz of that 25% class rank.
Cornell generally accepts recruited athletes which such class rank.</p>

10

<p>Since the class ranking is unweighted, I’d guess it’s largely irrelevant. Rigor of course schedule matters to Cornell – no? Hopefully guidance counselor would have clarified what that number represents. . .</p>

11

<p>i’ve taken 10 APs, as well as two languages - chinese and spanish <–could that account for the gpa?</p>

12

<p>yea ill prolly just do ed2 to stern</p>

<p>thanks for the help though! :)</p>

13

<p>Is unweighted ranking really irrelevant? I would really like to know because our school does unweighted ranking, and while I take 6 AP classes and am ranked around 30 out of 550 people, there are people who take one or two and are way ahead of me. Thanks!</p>