<p>Can somebody help give me a idea on what my chances would be to getting accepted into Cornell CALS ED? Here are my stats.</p>
<p>UW-GPA: 3.7
W-GPA: I don't really know since my school doesn't tell us, but I suspect it's probably in the 3.9 to 4.0 area.
ACT: 31
Region: From Iowa
Intended Major: Biological Sciences</p>
<p>EC's
Four years of track
In Student Council (may be a officer soon)
Historian of the Speech and Debate Team
In NHS
In National Forensics League for Speech and Debate
Won the local Silvercord Award for 400 hours of volunteer service at a hospitol, animal shelter, working as a TA for a Biology class, and I tutored students in the sciences.
Going to work at an internship at the end of senior year.
Also, this is not decided yet, but I may self-study for the AP Biology test for this year. How much would this increase my chances if I scored well on it?</p>
<p>I'm not sure if I remember this correctly, but I think I've read somewhere on Cornell's website that their acceptance rate for CALS was in the 60% range for the year of 2010 to 2011. It could've been for the year 2009 to 2010, but I'm not so sure on what year it was. Anyway, these are all the stats I could think of. I might be missing some, but this seems to be it. Plus, do you have to take Pre-Calculus in order to get in? I've heard that somewhere, but is it really required?</p>
whoever told you that was completely wrong, the overall acceptance rate for CALS this past year was ~21%… ED might be higher, but nowhere close to 60%, ED CALS I would guess would be 30% tops.</p>
<ol>
<li>Yes, you need at least pre-calc to get in, many will have done Calc BC as well. Also, just because I’m tired of you bumping this I’m going to tell you that Cornell would be a high reach, your GPA is really low, you have very few APs, it seems like you’re a senior who hasn’t taken pre-calc, and other than that award you don’t have very many hooks, I’m sorry if this sounds harsh, but I don’t know what else to tell you.</li>
</ol>
<p>premed4 is more pessimistic than I would be (though to be honest, neither of us really knows).</p>
<p>Honest assessment – your stats are probably in the average-minus range, but still in the range of accepted students for CALS. So, I’d say high-match/low reach. Given the low acceptance rate … It’s worth an application, but you should definitely have back-ups.</p>
<p>What isn’t coming through from your description is “why are you special”. Your ECs aren’t ‘bad’, but I don’t think they stand out. A killer essay would considerably help your chances.</p>