<p>I posted this in the Cornell forum but didn't get lots of replies, so I was hoping I'd get more here:</p>
<p>I'm really excited about Cornell, but I'm not sure how much of a chance I have. It is an Ivy, so I'm not getting my hopes up that much.</p>
<p>I'm thinking about getting into art history and business/economics, and maybe some Japanese language studies. How are these departments? Also, is the alumni network good?</p>
<p>Asian senior, competitive international school and foreign passport</p>
<p>3.71 UW Cumulative GPA</p>
<p>SAT I's
CW - 670
M - 650
W - 610</p>
<p>(SAT's were horrible, retaking in November)</p>
<p>SATII's
USHistory - 690
Bio E - 660</p>
<p>APUSH - 5
AP Bio - 5
AP Lang - 5
AP Psych - 5</p>
<p>This year I'm taking: AP Lit, AP Econ, AP Calc, AP Euro</p>
<p>Love community service; done four years of community service in local Chinese schools, Habitat for Humanity club officer, gone on a Habitat building trip in Philippines, Cerecare (taking care of kids with cerebral palsy) and visiting orphanage homes every week. Also in NHS and Prom Committee.</p>
<p>What I'm really worried about is my GPA, which went from a 3.8 for the first three semesters --> 3.7 --> 3.6 --> 3.5 for my most recent semester, when I had some issues due to a parent death. Is this trend bad? Well I mean, yes it's bad, but will it hurt my application a lot?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>