How do I look for Cornell?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>I will be RD to Cornell in Fall of 09. Cornell U. seems to be a school that suits me as a person, not just academically or because of its name. In fact, I recall that when I attended a session that presented Cornell, Columbia, U. Chicago, Rice, and Brown, I didn't even realize that Cornell was an Ivy and yet I still liked it more than all the other schools.</p>

<p>I ask that you critique my application and see if its good. Please don't shy away from criticism if something in my application is lacking. Any suggestions will always be welcomed. Thanks!</p>

<p>SAT I: 2320 CR: 800 M: 790 W: 730
I’m going to retake just to improve the writing.
• SAT II: Chemistry: 790 Math II: 790 U.S. History: 750
• GPA: UW: 4.0 W: 4.39
• Rank: 1 of 400ish
• AP (place score in parenthesis): Chemistry (5), U.S. History (4 or 5)
Scores aren’t out yet so I can only speculate.
• Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Bio, AP Calc BC, AP Psychology, AP U.S. Government, Introduction to Hebrew Scriptures, Honors Spanish IV, Economics</p>

<p>In addition to those, I am taking AP Chinese outside school (self-study) and physics from a university during the school year since my school does not offer AP Physics. The reason for my few junior year APs is that my school doesn’t offer that many for juniors--albeit I am taking more APs than my peers. How bad will that hurt me as an applicant?</p>

<p>I have no major awards unless you consider PSAT Commended which I might omit since it won’t help me that much.</p>

<p>Minor awards include:
Tennessee Math Teachers’ Assessment (state math exam): Placed 8th in freshman year for geometry, second in the Rhodes University testing center for Pre-calculus (11th), and 9th in the region for Pre-calculus exam.
Top scorer in the American Chemical Society Competitive Examination (Top 20, they don’t give exact rank unless you’re in the top 3).</p>

<p>Knowledge Bowl team was the semifinalist in sophomore year in a competitive knowledge bowl tournament aired on the local news channel and in the Top 8 in junior year. Also we placed 2, 3, and 4 in several local school competitions. Should I omit these competition names in my application?</p>

<p>2nd place in school chess tournament (omit?)
• Extracurriculars: </p>

<p>National Honor Society (President), Knowledge Bowl (Captain), Piano for 11 years (sadly never tried any contests, but I am the church pianist for junior and senior year), Bridge Builders (a leadership program that involves bridging culture and economic differences), Volunteer for Special Olympics Bowling, Youth Leadership program graduate, lots of church activities (pianist, founder of an accountability group program, regular volunteering, etc).</p>

<p>In addition to these, I plan to co-found and co-lead a club that will distribute food to either the local food bank or the hope house.</p>

<p>I plan to omit things like Beta club and etc. I hope to craft an extracurricular list that seems to show things I’m passionate about— music, faith activities, and volunteering—while not sounding like a disorganized laundry list that muddles my interests.</p>

<p>• Job/Work Experience: Pianist for church (spend about four hours ever week, excluding the several hours I practice)
• Volunteer/Community service: Library (100+ hours), Prepare and serve food for a poor area every city with my church, Special Olympics Bowling
• Summer Activities: Governor School (sciences), Bridge Builder activities, NHS volunteering
• Essays: Still thinking. Will the admissions office frown upon my essay if I incorporate themes such as faith into my essay?
• State: TN
• School Type: large public
• Ethnicity: Chinese -_-
• Gender: male</p>

<p>Schools I will also apply to: Yale (EA), Dartmouth, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Duke, UT Knoxville, Rice,
and University of Virginia.</p>

<p>I think my weaknesses are relatively weak extracurriculars (or at least without national/state rankings), no major awards, and being Chinese. Strengths? Decent leadership maybe? I need to stand out somehow.</p>

<p>Thank you for taking the time in critiquing this. Your comments are warmly welcomed.</p>

<p>BTW: I'm visiting the campus in July. I'm excited. I hear the campus is beautiful.</p>

2

<p>Yale (EA)- 30%
Dartmouth- 45%
Princeton- 30%
Harvard- 25%
Stanford- 30%
Vanderbilt- In
Duke- 50%
UT Knoxville- In w/ money
Rice- 60%
University of Virginia- In
Cornell- 55%</p>

3

<p>i think you have a good shot, but your reasoning for retaking the sat is kinda stupid</p>

4

<p>I was actually surprised at my SAT score because I thought that Writing would be much higher and CR much lower. I think I can raise it a lot to at least superscore a 2350+. </p>

<p>Are there any suggestions on how to make myself a more appealing candidate to Cornell and the other schools? I know my ECs are somewhat lacking. Are there any suggestions on how to counteract this weakness or on how to do some impressive extracurriculars?</p>

5

<p>You don’t need to retake the SATs. Frankly, it’ll be a waste of time. Getting a higher score would be meaningless. You seem like a good enough student. Read a book with some good essays in it before you start writing your own.</p>

<p>Edit: I would personally avoid writing about religion. I do remember that there was this one successful essay where the girl wrote about her parent’s belief in feng shui, but it was less about the belief but more about her becoming accepting of the differences between her and her parents.</p>

6

<p>The raise in SAT score is just to make me look more appealing as a candidate to HYPS. I know SAT is not the sole factor but it helps. I’m pretty sure Cornell looks mainly at Math and CR. so I’m not really sweating about my SAT score for Cornell.</p>

7

<p>most schools don’t consider SAT writing at all/not as heavily weighted as math or writing…and you have a 1590/1600 on the important parts. don’t bother.</p>

8

<p>

By that, you mean it helps you feel better. I highly doubt it will make a difference.</p>

9

<p>“In addition to these, I plan to co-found and co-lead a club that will distribute food to either the local food bank or the hope house.”</p>

<p>is this just to pump up your resume? you are doing it so late in the game.</p>

10

<p>I think you have an extremely good shot. Schools like Duke, Dartmouth, and Cornell simply don’t pass over valedictorians with 1590 SATs. 1400 SATs, yes. But not 1590 SATs.</p>

<p>What do you want to study? Chemistry? Make sure that you write an essay demonstrating your strong interest in Cornell and how you believe you will benefit from the school’s offerings.</p>

<p>Don’t worry about your SAT score.</p>

<p>Harvard, Yale, and Princeton? It’s anybody’s guess.</p>

<p>I hope you enjoy your trip to Ithaca!</p>

11

<p>After rethinking: </p>

<p>Yale (EA)- 35%
Dartmouth- 60%
Princeton- 35%
Harvard- 30%
Stanford- 35%
Vanderbilt- In
Duke- 65%
UT Knoxville- In w/ money
Rice- 75%
University of Virginia- In
Cornell- 70%</p>

12

<p>The SAT thing is really just to appeal to the HYPS although I am reconsidering retaking it. </p>

<p>Out of curiousity slipper1234, what made you rethink about the percentages?</p>

<p>Thanks to all who posted!</p>

13

<p>I think retaking the SAT’s would be crazy and pointless. You got a near perfect score on the parts that matter, and the writing is still high as hell. It would be a waste of time and money. Spend both of those on something more worthwhile. If you got like a 2050 I could understand it, but a 1590/2320??</p>

14

<p>AP- I realized you had a 1590 M+V, which helps.</p>