Cornell bound?

<p>Hi, i am a junior going to a top high school in California. I am interested in knowing my chances at going to Cornell as an engineering major.</p>

<p>GPA UW: 3.60</p>

<p>SAt I: 2250
SAT II: 800 MathIIc, 770 Physics, 770 US</p>

<p>I have taken the hardest course load offferd at my school that inlcudes 5 APs this year and 6 next year.</p>

<p>AP Calc: 5
AP US: 5
AP Psych: 5
AP Eng: 3
AP Chem: 3</p>

<p>EC:
Track (9-10)
Cross Country (10-12)
Soccer (9-10)
Treasurer of Lions club
Treasurer of FBLA
4 years MUN
President/Founder of Ace Program (low cost tutoring program) that is sponsored by city
NHS
1st place in Community Science Fair
Soccer Coach and certified referee
Community Service is around 300 hours</p>

<p>Hope for many comments.
Thanks!</p>

<p>Good chance. Actually a rather impressive profile. And very concisely presented; much appreciated.</p>

<p>What is your SATI breakdown? And are you a guy or girl?</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply. I'm a guy and my SAT I breakdown is 800 math, 720 writing, and 730 critical reading</p>

<p>ok the 800 math is great news, and the other scores are rather good as well.</p>

<p>Being a guy won't help you, but it won't hurt you the same way having no arms would hurt someone applying for a piano performance major. It's a boost to be a girl is what I was getting at, but no worries.</p>

<p>I still say you have a good chance.</p>

<p>Do you think that applying for ED would boost my chances?</p>

<p>Absolutely, it will for any competitive applicant. Make sure you visit and that you like the campus first though. Chances are that people will be happy most places, but if you have a need for a nonexistant campus in the traditional sense, with 100 nightclubs a short busride away, or something crazy like that, cornell wouldn't be for you if you see what i'm saying (I'm describing NYU lol) </p>

<p>Cornell's campus is sometimes described as "a city of it's own." 12000+ people within 2-4 years of your age depending on your year...thats a pretty sweet deal if you ask me. And, the primary industry in the area is "education" so you know the whole area sort of caters to the college student in terms of the types of businesses and things with student discounts etc. For example (I was just looking at this yesterday) a college season pass to greek peak is like 130 bucks, when a daily lift ticket is $48.</p>

<p>Thanks for your info!</p>

<p>3.6 seems a bit low. Everything else looks fantastic, especially if you do ED. I like how you said "Cornell Bound" in reference to the acceptance package. Shows you know a bit about it! We're always happy to help out <em>quality</em> Chances Threads.</p>

<p>3.6 unweighted for some high schools may be low, but depending on how competitive his high school is, maybe a 3.6 is actually quite good. Since it is engineering they will put primary emphasis on his science and match classes, so if that gpa is around 3.9+, and his social sciences are 3.3+, that isn't too bad at all for engineering</p>

<p>To me everything looks pretty solid, and assuming you have good ec's and essays you have a pretty good chance, my only hesitation with your chances is that I don't see any EC's that show interest/passion/whatever with engineering/math/science. The Engineering college has plenty of applicants that are exceptional in math and science, but the ones that get in are the ones that are exceptional and show that they go a step beyond. I'm not saying you have to win a national award or any award for that matter, just show a little more interest, maybe a math club, robotics team, engineering design project, just something.</p>

<p>However, I think that if you apply ED, that lack of EC's relating to engineering will be compensated by your enthusiasm to attend Cornell. That is the only potential weakness I see. Good luck.</p>

<p>just a little worried about that GPA, it may be a little low, defiinitely apply ED if you really want in</p>

<p>Thank you all! I can honestly say that i really want to attend Cornell and i am seriously think it to be my first (only?) choice. I would also like to note that despite writing engineering as my major preference, I am torn between business and engineering has my choice. Is Cornell also good for business?</p>

<p>don't major undergrad in business, you won't end up knowing anything. Major in something you want to learn, and then go to a business school. No major has any advantage over another for getting into business school. You just have to have some basic econ classes, etc.</p>

<p>If only "virtually perfect" applicants got into cornell, there wouldn't be many students there. On CC we have a tendancy to look for weaknesses, and if you're not weak in any area we say you have a "good chance" or something crazy like that haha. Basically having only one weakness in your app is putting you in a good spot; and people have not said it's a problem, it's just not "above average" like everything else. Your GPA is a bit low to be great, but not low enough to be weak.</p>

<p>sparticus, I usually agree with your comments, but I do believe an undergraduate business degree can be very valuable. There are so many people in this world that are very intellectual but do not have a clue how to manage their money, ascertain tax implications, etc. If you are unsure about what you want to do in life, I think business is a great choice as a major, especially the AEM program, which is very practical.</p>

<p>AEM is also a lot harder to get into so its not practical for this person(you really cant have any 'weaknesses'). Cornell has weird schools and business is still under Agricultural Sciences. It used to be a program for farmers, and I think you still have to take a couple of agriculture classes. It's a great program, but fairly new(new structure) so if you want business school apply elsewhere. </p>

<p>I am with sparticus on this. Business school(minus the top 3) are not worth it at all. If you're thinking MBA later, a fact that might change ur mind: for the top 10 MBA programs over 50% of attendees had a sciences/engineering undergrad major. For Kellogg's MBA program, 44% are engineering/sciences, while only 22% are business undergrad. <a href="http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/admissions/apply/entering.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/admissions/apply/entering.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I suggest that if you go to Cornell, major in engineering and take business classes as electives. I'm not saying the classes are useless but if you specialize in higher business principles in undergrad, its pointless because you won't actually get to apply them for a while and by then ull have an MBA(unless ur an entrepenuar). So the best strategy if you're thinking about consulting/ibanking/managing tech companies .. i suggest getting an engineering undergrad taking business classes as electives(for possible minor/2nd major). Really, after intro classes, you won't really apply those in real world situations until a few years down the road. Lastly, if you're thinking ibanking(as so many ppl these days do), don't worry. They love engineers and they actually have a 3-month training program before you start your two/three year analyst internship after graduation(they don't give u permanant position until after that.. if u qualify). In this training program they'll teach you more than you will need to know about what to do on job.. they teach u equities..etc.. think of it as an intro to i-banking class.</p>

<p>Getting an engineering undergrad before getting an MBA is what most of the poeple i talked to told me. I was wondering how much longer and how much more work it is to get both an engineering and a business undergrad? I know they are completely different areas.</p>

<p>sorry sports if I came off as saying undergrad business majors are worthless. I'm just saying they'll reduce the amount of intellectual infomation you learn in the traditional sense of attending college. Granted you'll learn a plethora of useful skills, but the classic collegiate goal of producing "well rounded young men" is sort of reduced/ignored.</p>

<p>If you have a brain and motivation good enough to get you a spot at Cornell, it just makes more sense, to me, at least, to study something intellectual, better yourself as a person, and then spend a couple years after college at a business school which you'd have to do anyway, right guys? Like majoring undergrad isn't in leiu of going to business school, is it?</p>

<p>I'll try to address some of the previous posters comments/questions. I hope you find it helpful. </p>

<p>Sparticus: As an AEM student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences you will receive a well rounded education. I’ll quote from the AEM site here, “AEM's two Business specializations—Business and Food Industry Management—provide a flexible curriculum that is grounded in the liberal arts, yet focused on the practical, real world of business”. In fact, you can take up to 55 credits in the endowed colleges to "round off" your education. Cornell is committed to giving students enrolled in all 7 undergraduate colleges a well rounded education. </p>

<p>Sparticus: With a degree from an accredited undergraduate business program, many people chose not to go the MBA route. Most of the upper level MBA programs require a minimum of 2-3 years experience before they will look at your application. By that time, a lot of people are well entrenched in their careers and don't want to take time out (and not earn the salary they have gotten used to) to go back to school, especially if they are in lucrative careers. Night school is a hardship for many. </p>

<p>Confidential & Laker: An engineering degree followed by an MBA is a great career path. You are correct, that you don't need an undergraduate business degree to get an MBA. Conversely, many people find that they don't need an MBA with an accredited undergraduate business degree from a respected institution such as Cornell. As you mentioned, you can also get a job in banking, etc. with an undergraduate degree in Engineering. </p>

<p>Confidential: The Department of Applied Economics and Management offers one undergraduate major – Applied Economics and Management. I’ll quote from the website, “Within this major are 6 specializations, which fall into 3 general areas: Business, Agribusiness, and Applied Economics. You are right about CALS mission as the NYS Land Grant College major, and some of the specialties involve agriculture. However, students who choose "Business" are not required to take any agriculture courses. </p>

<p>Good luck to all of the class of 09. It will be the best 4 years of your lives!</p>

<p>Tahoe: Good post... just thought I'd clarify a couple things. When u say many ppl choose not to go MBA route after undergrad business, I don't think it tells the whole story. Sure undergrad buz at top schools get into ibanking etc. But, ibanking is not a career unless you have MBA. Many ibankers are bumped off after 2-3 years. The purpose of an MBA is in many cases to get higher up positions in companies. The curriculum at the undergrad buz level holds minimal practical use(minus top 5-10) and that is why many top schools(Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke) do not offer business undergrad. If it was a better choice, why wouldn't these top schools offer it?</p>

<p>I don't believe that most business majors are major managers and play important roles in companies. If it's true I refuse to believe it. Many of my college friends tell me that the business students have the easiest courseloads and that business is considered a 'soft major'(minus Wharton again). I would find it very hard to believe if you told me that business undergrads expect to become managers and such at companies. I think on the contrary, many of them get entry level positions and don't climb very high up the corporate ladder.</p>

<p>If undergrad buz students were so successful, wouldn't you think competition to these majors would increase? I mean, aren't great opportunities the ones that are flocked by great students? </p>

<h2>Really, I don't know how good Cornell's undergrad B-school is, since its been redesigned recently. I know that its sought after because only 2 IVYs offer undergrad business. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't more engineers go into ibanking than AEM students(engineers that are interested that is)?</h2>

<p>Edit: Look at some Fortune 500 companies and tell me how many CEOs/executive officers only have undergrad business degrees(without MBA). And while you're at it, tell me how many got engineering/science degrees before getting MBA. Thanks.</p>