<p>Like some of the others in this forum, I have a question about why I got rejected to Cornell. I know I'm being a little silly and this is probably out of bitterness but I thought I was qualified enough to at least get waitlisted at Cornell. Could someone tell me what reasons could have made me a weak candidate? I know I don't have the greatest Sat scores but they are within Cornell's range and I applied to CALS which only "recommends" sat subject tests so it shouldn't have been a make or break part of my application. I would really appreciate everyone's help. Thanks.</p>
<p>SAT: 660 CR 720 M 730 W
SAT subject: 660 lit, 690 m1, 630 m2 (disaster, i know)
ACT: 31, 34 math, 33 english
Essays: Comm App was amazing, supplement was above average
EC: several
Major: communications
Ethnicity: Asian (India)
Work: Merce Cunningham Dance Company, musician at one of their performances- The LA Times rated it as one of the top ten best classical performances of 2008- I'm 99% sure I was the only applicant with this qualification (shouldn't this have made them think twice?)<br>
No interview, no legacy
Rank: 15/400
GPA: probably 3.8
Teacher recs: quite good
Counselor rec: good</p>
<p>You were probably rejected because Cornell had many other applicants just like you who also happened to exhibit a better affinity for the Communication department. The Ag School is a lot about ‘fit’ and if you don’t exhibit it, they may be wondering if you are trying to use them as a backdoor.</p>
<p>Otherwise, life is largely unfair. The good news is that the school you attend matters a lot less then the amount of effort you put into your pursuits. The even better news is that Cornell likes transfer students.</p>
<p>ok start with a 20% admissions rate. So for every 10 applicants they can only accept two people.</p>
<p>Maybe three are just relatively academically unqualified, so they’re out.</p>
<p>So that leaves 7. For 2 places.</p>
<p>Of those 7 they will evaluate, relatively:
how do they stack up, academically
the extent demonstrated interests, experiences, abilities align with what’s offered;
-“what’s in it for us?” What they will offer to the life of the university community? Likely to work on the newspaper? Participate in intramurals? Or, more likely to just sit there, consume courses, and add nothing.
Anything particularly interesting, different, unique about the applicant, relative to the others?
“Hooks”; athlete, legacy, underrepresented group, etc.
the degree to which it’s evident that they actually want to be there.</p>
<p>So they will evaluate all these, and other factors I’m sure, on a relative basis and accept only two of these seven. </p>
<p>Thereby rejecting 5 people who are all academically qualified.</p>
<p>Just making up these numbers, but that’s the general idea.</p>
<p>Maybe other Indian girls had better stats than you? Asians SATs are generally higher than other race. Each school only want X% of Asians. I think it is even harder for girls. Girls in HS are generally more organized and prepared, relatively they have better stats than boys. I think boys made a pack to slack off and have more fun in HS (every school wants 50% boys). Girls just never caught on to the game. Maybe Asians should do the same - stop trying to get 2400, every school still wants x% of Asians, just look at URMs.</p>
<p>My daughter was waitlisted at Cornell 2 years ago with 4.1 unweighted GPA, 790 M 680 R, over 750 for all SAT IIs and 5s for 7 APs, a pre-professional ballet dancer with many leadership positions, Asian. She applied to CAS.</p>
<p>My above post on my D’s stat is merely to say it is random, and we didn’t understand either. We could only guess. The only thing I could come up with was maybe because she was Asian and a girl. That is why I hate to do chance thread.</p>
<p>My D1 had 2310 + 3 800s on SATIIs, ,NMS, AP National Scholar + several college courses while in HS, solid extracurrics in music + math, and was nevertheless rejected at several colleges that on paper she might have presumed admission.</p>
<p>I assumed that it was because these places did not have many slots, they went through the process per post #7 and thought other candidates fit better for them, relatively, in crafting their community, and/or seemed more like a closer match. Only wanted so many people with those particular types of interests.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your replies. I realize now I should have applied to CAS, but I’m planning on a becoming an art director and since many colleges don’t offer advertising as a major, I had to pick communications and unfortunately it was a major offered in CALS. I guess one of the reasons I’m confused is because of my acceptance to Tepper (although I suppose Cornell is harder to get into… just a little), and I guess my regret stems from their amazing financial aid this year (CMU’s is not that great). I should have done more research before applying. Oh well, maybe next year as a transfer…</p>