ED: Penn, Cornell, or nowhere

<p>I just returned from visiting a few colleges in the Northeast (Carnegie, Penn, H, Y, and Cornell). I am having a hard time deciding if I still want to ED to Penn or ED to Cornell instead. I don't even know if I should ED. Penn has a strong psychology program which is very appealing right now. But Cornell's surroundings are very nice and the people and classes sound good as well. I'm just not sure if RDing will give me a good chance for either school. Just to give you a brief glimpse of who I am, here are some stats</p>

<p>GPA: 4.3ish weighted 3.9ish unweighted. easily in the top 10%.
SAT: 2080 (Composite) Math 740, CR 690, Writing 650
ACT: 34
SAT II: Math IIC 770, taking Bio and Chinese in the fall.
APs: Psych 5, Comp Sci A 5</p>

<p>Next Year's classes:
AP Calc BC
Ap Phys
AP Chem
AP Bio
AP Eng
random electives</p>

<p>ECs:
Debate (Variety of awards), Teen Crises Helpline volunteer, founder/prez of school breakdancing club, VP of local Youth Organization of Chinese Americans, Working Part-time all year round at Kumon Math and Reading, NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, Beta Chi Pi, Tennis, Robotics, and some other stuff.</p>

<p>Lastly, my grades have been improving drastically year after year and I am interested in psychology.</p>

<p>Thanks again guys, I truly appreciate it. And throw in some humor too, I'd love a good laugh.</p>

<p>looks pretty good. I would suggest go for the school you like or has a better psychology program. The Ecs are bit generic but a good variety. Btw, I think it's better to take something other than Chinese for your SAT II, well I am a chinese, and from what I heard from others is that it's not regarded as highly as others such as CHem or Physics cuz almost every chinese will get 800. Hopes this helps ^____________^</p>

<p>Just the fact that you can't decide where to apply ED means that you shouldn't be applying ED anywhere. ED is not just so you can increase chances. It is used for students who have a die hard interest in the school. Don't go looking around and saying "Which one should I apply ED to?" because your undermining the whole theory behind it. Apply ED because you are 5000% sure you couldn't go anywhere else. Don't haphazardly say "I guess I'll apply ED here because I'll get in." You'll end up being dissappointed for four long years.</p>

<p>In theory, I would agree with halopeno; however, in practice, admissions has gotten to the point where some strategy needs to be applied. If you could truly be happy at either Cornell or Penn, then I would say pick one and apply ED. If you get in, then you've got what you want and will be happy and otherwise can still apply to the other. This, to me, is definitely a case of one in the hand is better than two in the bush. You can more easily be rejected applying to both RD and then it won't matter which of the two you liked better.</p>

<p>You could shadow a student or spend a night at each. Apply ED to where you'd be the most comfortable, since both are obviously great schools so you shouldn't worry too much about other things besides your experience with them. </p>

<p>I think Chinese has a super high curve (or low...whichever means that it is the easiest SAT 2). </p>

<p>Make sure to send in that ACT score with ur SATs, because I'm pretty sure it converts to a better score than ur SATs.</p>

<p>Best of luck! (sorry for the lack of humor lol)</p>

<p>ED pool for ED pool, I think you'd have a better chance at Cornell.</p>