<p>Hello, I was hoping that some Cornell students at CC can help me out a bit here.
I'm an asian male applying to COE, to make thing worse I'm an international applicant (Canada).
My scores are excellent so far:
ACT- 35 (first time)
SAT 2- 800 (math), 800 (chem)
GPA- 4.0 uw
Rank- 1/200ish
Also, I'm in the IB Diploma program</p>
<p>Now, I'm afraid that my ecs wouldn't stand out in the pool of thousands of other excellent applicants. I go to a relatively small school in the suburbs and I didn't even know about Competitions like the AMC, SciOly, AIME, etc.</p>
<p>So these are my ecs:
Student government 2 years
Varsity sports 4 years- volleyball (student coach), basketball, etc (few regional awards)
Extensive tutoring in math, science, french (200~ hours)
MUN 2 years
Quiz Bowl club (co-founder)
Guitar for 3 years, but no awards....
Community service (over 200 hours)
-camp counsellor (180 hours) she is sending a letter of recommendation</p>
<p>My recs should be good I'm almost done the essays, but they seems rather generic to me.. idk</p>
<p>I was originally planning on going to top Canadian schools, but I saw an opportunity in the states and decided to apply there too..</p>
<p>I tried really hard this year trying to complete all the tests, do u think I have a chance of getting in?</p>
<p>Do I need science related ecs to get in? T_T and finally how do u guys think I can improve my chances. As for the ECs should I list all of them and in what manner. </p>
<p>Oh yea, I also went to 2 math camps at a local university (invited) and I won Waterloo contests in our school (i think i scored around 120 top 25%+ in canada) in grade 9 before our school got rid of it. should I include any of this info.</p>
<p>cornell is very much a fit school. make sure ur essays are not generic ESPECIALLY UR SUPPLEMENT. in mine i had 4 paragraphs about me and 1 about the school i applied too. they know about their school, tell them about ur passion for engineering. starting with a story may help. and going a little over the word limit is okay. (my essay was 564/500)</p>
<p>I think your ecs look fine. Sure, a lot of mine had to do with my intended major, but the ec I spent the most time in had nothing to do with it. I managed to find ways to connect the two and show strong dedication and all of that. By no means is marching band an outstanding accomplishment or activity, it was my dedication to it that I think made a big difference in my application.</p>
<p>As for applying, FIT IS HUGE and I would try to put a lot of emphasis on it. Also make sure you sneak in ways you will contribute to Cornell as well in your essay. Avoid cliches like the plague, if it sounds like just anybody could’ve written it, then don’t include it.</p>
<p>All of your scores and stats and stuff look fine so focus on showing Cornell who you are apart from the grades. Hope that’s helpful!</p>
<p>I think your extracurriculars are more than fine, even if they maybe aren’t outstanding. I don’t know the difference for international students, but I got in engineering ED with far less… (similar academic stats). </p>
<p>I think if you can stand out through your essays, you should get in (you never know, though).</p>
