Deferred from ILR, RD chances?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>Title says it all. The decision letter said that ILR would reconsider me along with all their RD applicants.
I'm just really hoping I'll get in RD, since ILR would give me everything I could want in an education. </p>

<p>Stats:
GPA: 3.69 unweighted, 4.89 weighted. My school doesn't rank.</p>

<p>SAT I (taken 3 times): 800 R, 690 M, 770 W</p>

<p>SAT II: 750 Literature, 750 US History, 630 Math II</p>

<p>APs: 5 on the AP US History Exam. </p>

<p>Courses:
- Grade 12: Taking Calc 1 - Level 1, and Physics - H (no AP in my school for this), AP Lang and Comp, AP Statistics, AP French, and AP US Gov & Pol.
Not sure which AP exams I'll be taking, but definitely taking Lang Comp and Gov in May.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Grade 11: Chem-H, English 3-H, AP US History, Trig - Level 1, French 4-H, Financial Planning (semester) - Level 2 (required), Business and Consumer Law (semester) - Level 2 (required)</p></li>
<li><p>Grade 10: Bio- H, English 2-H, US History 1 - H, Geometry - Level 1, Algebra 2 - Level 1, French 3 - Level 1</p></li>
<li><p>Grade 9: Physical Science - Level 1, English 1 - H, World History - H, Algebra 1 - Level 1, French 2 - Level 1, Visual Art - Level 2 (required elective)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Extracurricular Activites: (I don't have much since my family moved around a lot)
*Odessey of the Mind - team member, qualified for regional competitions, grade 11
*St. Peter's Hospital - volunteer, ~2 years, 3 hours almost every weekend since soph yr
*Woodbrook Elementary Latchkey - through Key Club, 3 hours every week, grades 10-now
*Kumon Math and Reading center - tutoring job, summer of grade 10 to now, 3.5 hrs/week
*National Honor Society member
*French Honor Society and Social Studies Honor Society member - both clubs canceled this yr due to school budget cuts
*The Hawkeye (school newspaper) - Business associate, grades 10 and 11</p>

<p>My grades so far this year are not great due to family issues I was dealing with for the majority of the first marking prd. I got a C in Calc and Bs in everything else except gym and AP Gov... How badly will that hurt my chances for RD? Also, Cornell has said that I can admit supplemental info. Can I submit more letters of rec (from the hospital I volunteer in and my boss)? And can I do it now even though it's after Jan 1?
And what will my options be with an ILR degree, if I end up not going to law school after?</p>

<p>Thanks and Happy new year to everyone who replies.</p>

2

<p>bumppppppp</p>

3

<p>Your ECs, although they are pretty solid, are a bit lacking especially in regards to the specificity of ILR. You do have a good amount of work/volunteer experience, though, which is a plus. GPA is fine, but is a bit on the low side; test grades are also good except for math, which I assume you are not focusing on.</p>

<p>Seeing as though you’ve been deferred though…your senior year grades so far don’t seem like they are going to help you much although you could try and send them an explanation. If you are planning on sending additional recs, you should do so asap, though I’m not sure if they will accept them. Can’t hurt to try though.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>The difficulty with ILR is that they really, really want someone who fits into the major neatly, and to be entirely frank, your courseload this year has not done that. I mean, from what little I understand of ILR, they want people who have done work related to the subject area. </p>

<p>A letter of Rec from the hospital would not, IMO, be too much help to your application, since again it is not really relevant work to ILR. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic that you’re helping out your community, etc. etc. etc., but ILR is very, very insistent that you need to “fit” into the major. Another possible point of contention they might have had is that all they would have seen were your first quarter grades, so hopefully, provided you have pulled those up, when you write your deferral letter back to them updating them of things, you can point out and explain what all happened. Also, another major factor is what you make of your work; there are definitely ways to tweak your activities list to stress it’s closeness to ILR stuff, like talking about Worker’s Comp at the hospital, something to that effect. At Cornell, the prevailing idea seems to be “fit”, and the more you can sell yourself to them as “fitting”, the more likely your acceptance becomes.</p>

<p>After ILR, you can easily go into Law, but should you not desire to do so, you can do a dual-degree MBA at Cornell with a fifth year in ILR and get that as well as your BA. Obviously, ILR is not solely for future law school candidates, but it is an abstract area which attracts that type of thinking. </p>

<p>But, I would definitely send them an explanation and try to reassure them that you’re a great fit for Cornell ILR, the best of luck to you!</p>