<p>Yes sparticus, grades before anything else - but for the specific programs like ILR / AEM / Hotel School - don't they want people that are leaders and more driven than those that apply to CAS. Afterall, when you apply to CAS you can go in undecided, but at the ones I listed above, they want people who are already driven in the field. Thats the point I'm making. But, you are probably right since you are a Cornellian.</p>
<p>no i think SATs before everything else, as indicated by the duke admissions process. SATs are a uniform measure of academic quality of students because they all took the same test. An A in History at school A and school B could be very different, but a 1480 SAT from Student in LA and Student in Brooklyn are equal. Why are 4.0 students with 1200 SATs going to GW but 3.5 students with 1500s going to Brown? (rhetorical question)</p>
<p>you are right though for specialized programs. You can't get into a specialized program like hotel without proving that you love hospitality. You are very very correct on that point. I was talking about general applications, like to cornell's LAC (CAS).</p>
<p>Yeah, I'm applying to AEM and I emphasized my passion for business - my ACT score falls within their range, but isn't competitive. My GPA is avg (3.6)...so hopefully my EC's and passion is what gives me that extra edge is what I'm saying.</p>
<p>How can it fall within the range but not be competitive? haha not competitive for the best, perhaps.....</p>
<p>Well its a 28 and when I checked their 25%-75% range overall it falls within the 25% section. However, for College of Life and Agriculture Sciences, their range is 26-31 so I fall close to 50%. I wouldn't consider myself competitive unless I was above the 50% mark ATLEAST. So right now, Cornell is close to out-of-reach for me, but I'm going for it anyway because I have nothing to lose but $60.</p>