Hi! I’m a current junior at a very competitive high school. Cornell has been my dream school since forever (which probably isn’t exactly healthy for me, as I really don’t know how my prospects are). If any accepted Reds out there are willing to tell me how my application looks, I’d be really grateful!
(I plan to apply ED):
UW GPA: 3.8
Weighted GPA: 4.5
SAT: 2320: 760 Math, 800 Writing, 760 CR
SAT II: Math (740), Chem (750), Biology (800), Spanish (800)
Essays: Pretty good, I think. I would probably call them in the 95/100 range.
Extracurriculars: President of Spanish Club (also in National Spanish Honor Society), President of YCS Club, Area Representative for Interact, School Scheduling Committee, City Teen Advisory Board, Managin editor for school newspaper, Managing editor for school politics paper. I also did a heck ton of community service (115 hours freshman year because I was on Freshman Leadership Corps, and after that I was on the YCS and Interact board and went to all the events, so ~40 hrs/year. Then last summer I went to Asia for this international service trip, so that’s that.)
AP (prospective scores): Chem (4), Bio (4), US History (5), Spanish (5), Chinese (5), AP Psych (5) [junior year] ; AP Comp Sci, AP Lit, AP Econ, AP Physics, AP Calc [senior year classes]
Recc Letters (good estimates): Awesome from journalism teacher, good from Comp Sci teacher, good from Spanish teacher, okay from bio teacher
My main concern is that I’m not so good academic-wise. I’m probably only in the top 15%, maybe even 20% of the school (again, it’s SUPER competitive) and my grades last year were kind of mediocre (a couple of B’s every semester). My school doesn’t put the rankings on the transcript because it’s so hard to calculate (everyone always get’s A’s and everyone does really well). I’m also in the second math lane (there’s honors first and advanced second-- I’m in advanced).
I’m applying to the College of Arts and Sciences and plan to major in CS and English (lol), but that’s not definitive yet.
So, what are my chances? Should I work on more EC’s because my grades are lacking? Thanks!
EDIT: I forgot to add that I’m not applying for financial aid, as I’m extraordinarily fortunate enough that my family is pretty well-off and is willing to way the crazy tuitions.
