Hello.
I am a rising senior and am thinking of applying to Dyson for ED. I would really appreciate it if you could let me know what my chances are! And any other suggestions or tips.
Overall grades from freshman - junior:
Current weighted GPA: 4.30
Current unweighted: 3.91
No ranking at school
Classes I will be taking In the fall:
AP economics
AP English
AP stats (I took AP Calc AB junior year)
AP psychology
AP biology (possibly)
Newspaper
Editor-in-chief newspaper period
Leadership
AP/honors classes taken so far:
Honors English
Honors Chem
Spanish 4
Pre calc
AP European history
AP US history
AP Calc AB
AP Chem
AP music theory
Testing:
ACT - 34 in one sitting
35-Math
35-Writing
33- Reading (35 reading from other test was highest)
32- Science
Sat subject test:
800- Korean
770- math II c
Will take USH in fall
Sports (years are including this upcoming year):
Varsity cross country 3 yrs
Varsity swim 4 yrs (district champs past 3 years) (possibly Captian senior yr)
Activities/Experiences:
NHS Vice President (JR yr) - hopefully president senior year
ASB (all student body) clubs and committees director
Newspaper 3 yrs
Editor-and-chief senior year
President and founder of operation smile club since sophomore year (3 years) - helping raise awareness and money for kids in developing countries with cleft palate (part of a bigger organization)
City Youth Action Council - helping teens and members of community with improvements, fundraising, events,etc
Full time paid summer internship at the Bonneville Power Administration for Project Management (Jr yr summer).
UN homeless mission trip at Wash DC
Laker crew leader junior and senior year - being a mentor for freshman students
Awards:
Piano level 10 Syllabus certification
PSAT national merit commended (so far)
Spanish national honor society
Awards at the NW scholastic press olympics
NHS VP
Thanks so much!
Hi redwaffle312,
I was in a pretty similar spot this time last year. I ended up applying to dyson ED because I at the time I thought it’d be better to scrape an acceptance to cornell early than to use up my early app on Harvard/Wharton/etc. and get rejected. Ended up getting deferred and accepted in the RD round (yeah my account username says rejected, but I did end up getting in). You should be able to see my complete stats in the comment I made on the Cornell 2020 Early Decision thread, but I will give you the gist of it here. I struck gold with standardized testing and got a 2400 SAT in one sitting and a 35 ACT (I had already signed up for the ACT before I got my SAT back, I don’t think I reported the 35.) 3.98 unweighted GPA at an elite high school in New England (we’ve consistently been ranked in the Top 15 on US News & World’s national best high schools list). I had solid recs and heartfelt essays; I was able to read my recs earlier this month (school policy is we can only ask to read recs once all decisions are in) and they were just phenomenal. I invested dozens of hours into crafting my essays last summer as well. Anyway from what I understand, dyson proportionally has the highest amount of athletes and legacies at cornell, the types of applicants that schools generally prioritize during the ED round. If you are a URM then I’d definitely apply ED, many schools focus heavily on securing URM enrollment during the ED round. I’m Asian-American and I think that hurt a lot. Also be careful with the ED commitment-- it’s binding. To be honest I was devastated when I got deferred (I remember thinking to myself that if I couldn’t get into dyson ED with stats this much higher than their averages, I wouldn’t be able to get into any other elite school), but looking back it’s good that I was deferred. During the RD round I got accepted to UChicago (attending this fall!), Wharton, and Dyson, plus a bunch of other matches and safeties. Bottom line is I wouldn’t recommend applying to dyson ED unless you’re an athlete, legacy, or urm. I’m definitely not saying you don’t have a chance at dyson ED, but since it’s likely that they will defer you to the regular pool anyway, you may as well use your early app on a school with high admission rates for the early pool. Harvard, Yale, Princeton have 15-20% acceptance rates for their early pool versus ~3.5% for regular; I still wish I had applied to Harvard early as it was my #1, but what can ya do ¯_(ツ)_/¯ )
Anyways hope my advice helps-- no matter what happens, you WILL go to a great school. Your 34 ACT puts you at or near the 75th percentile for most schools out there, shoot for the skies!! Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions about college apps, want me to look over any essays, or if you have questions about UChicago (fabulous school!! Although I am a bit biased 
)
Hi,
Thank you SO much!! I will definitely think it through more and let PM you! And yes, Uchicago is a wonderful school. I’m looking to apply there too!
Thanks again:)