Hi
So, I have legacy and such at Cornell and I’d say I have a pretty decent chance at getting in there, as long as I ED. But, Penn has been my top choice for years and I would love to go there.
Here’s the issue:
If I ED Cornell and get in, then I’ll always be stuck wondering if I could have gone to Penn. But if I ED Penn and don’t get in, I’ll probably lose my chance at going to Cornell because RD is less committed and it looks bad when legacies RD.
I’d probably apply to Dyson school (3% acceptance rate last year) at Cornell and Wharton (9% acceptance rate last year) at Penn and I’m hoping for a job in risk analysis or merchant banking after college.
WHAT SHOULD I DO PLEASE HELP ME!!!
Statistically speaking admissions chances are better at Cornell than Penn in general. I feel you should make your decision based on your stats. Are you a really competitive applicant or do you really need the legacy status to have a decent chance at an ivy? Penn gives a bigger advantage to ED applicants than Cornell. it accepts 55% of the total class ED, while Cornell accepts 40% of the class ED.
Btw the the Wharton acceptance rate is not 9%, that is the overall Penn acceptance rate. The overall Cornell acceptance rate is 14%.
@Penn95, that 14% is an old number - the overall Cornell acceptance rate was 12.5% last year. Comparing ED acceptance rates, Penn’s last year was at 22% while Cornell’s was 25.6%. Those don’t take into account the individual schools within the university, so it’s hard to directly compare Dyson ED to Wharton ED.
My daughter struggled with this situation last year regarding Cornell vs. Northwestern. In the end, she chose to ED at Cornell, where she was a legacy. You should talk to your guidance counselor to get their input - my daughter’s counselor was very helpful to her in making her decision, as he had all of the stats for the students in her school and how they placed. I was afraid that my daughter would have regrets, especially since her best friend is now a freshman at Northwestern, but once she got the good news from Cornell, she hasn’t looked back at all.
A few observations:
It is true that on average, the bar for Penn is slightly higher than the bar for Cornell. However, there is a significant positive correlation in outcomes, so a lot of applicants like you would get the same answer from both schools.
Also, Penn generally tends to weigh GPA a bit, and test scores a bit less, than the other Ivies. If your GPA is nearly perfect, that might improve your odds for Penn. If it is a little on the low side, that might suggest better odds at Cornell.
Legacy applying ED is reputed to give a decent bump at Cornell, but be aware that, even with this “bump”, admission to Dyson is by no means guaranteed.
I was actually worried when my daughter applied to CAS as legacy. I thought if she got rejected she might feel even worse than otherwise, because she was “supposed to” get in, and even after giving her this [alleged] “bump” they still rejected her. Fortunately she got in. Kids of most of the alums I know got in. But they were all fully qualified, and none of them were trying for Dyson.
I’ve only seen your particular case going the other way. Friend’s kid spurned applyng ED to Wharton despite legacy because preferred Cornell. Today a happy and thriving Cornell graduate. His college experience, and ultimate career placement, could not possibly have been better at Wharton. But that’s him. He fit perfectly at Cornell, and made absolutely the most of it there.
I guess it depends on how much you prefer Wharton, and how realistic your chances for unhooked ED admission there really are.
Ok so first of all, you should not ED to a school that’s your second choice, which takes Cornell off the table. So I’d ED Penn.
That being said, I’m not a big fan of ED as it limits choice - if you’re a strong enough applicant that you could get into one of these schools ED, consider RD to both and EA or SCEA somewhere else comparable.
Since you have a clear favorite (Penn), I think you should apply ED there, and save the RD app for Cornell.
Life is full of imperfect outcomes, but don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get into Penn or Cornell – if you put your best foot forward at your most desired destination, you will have given it an honest effort. And that should provide some consolation.
Make sure you have some matches and at least one safety to apply to (and maybe more reaches, too, if they fit you well…) to make sure you end up with an (some) acceptable offer(s) of admission.
Curious how things worked out for you. My daughter had a similar dilemna (although she is legacy at both places)