Cornell Engineering ED - What are my chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

I would like to study computer science at Cornell Engineering.

Race: White (caucasian)
Gender: Male
SAT: 1490 (hopefully I can superscore to 1520-1530)

GPA: 3.8/4.0

  • One class in particular (Chinese) brought down my GPA considerably while my other classes have been all A’s

School Curriculum: International Bacculerate (HL Physics, HL Comp Sci, HL History)
School Location: NYC

EC’s:

  • Designed a patent-pending prosthetic hand that has been featured on Fox News, BBC, ABC, and Bold TV
  • 4-month data science internship at a marketing company
  • 1-month CS research position at the University of Western Australia
  • 1-month data science internship at a Chinese metal factory
  • President/Founder of the Robotics Club
  • President of Debate Team
  • Lead organizer of a high school hackathon
  • Varsity Cross Country

Awards:

  • Came first place in 3 hackathons
  • Honor roll all 3 years
  • A school grant for the development of my prosthetic hand project
  • A grant from an investment fund for the development of my prosthetic hand project
  • 1st place in a school-wide history research paper competition

Concerns:
I did not score well enough on my subject tests to submit them. I am not sure if my EC’s (or perhaps the IB curriculum) make up for this discrepancy

2

Your SAT score is low for Cornell and the college of engineering still considers SAT subject tests. They were required until very recently and I think the combo of a sub 1500 SAT score and no subject tests is going to be a tough sell.

3

I’m clearly no expert, but I live in the Cornell region so its the dream school of many of my friends. I would promote the prosthetic you designed as according to my engineering teacher, students from my school have gotten off the waitlist with projects less interesting than yours. Engineering schools place heavy weight on projects done in high school. Additionally, your other ECs are pretty unique so I think you’ve got a decent shot, especially if you can get the test scores up.