<p>Hey Cornellians.
I'm definitely going to apply ED to HumEc because I fell in love with it, and I would just like all of your opinions on it.
How it compares to other Cornell colleges, what it looks like to medical schools, even (brace yourself) its prestige <em>gasp</em> :O
Also, chance me!! (I'm a rising senior)
GPA: 96-ish out of 100, unweighted and school does not rank
SAT: 780 math, 720 critical reading, 800 writing, 2300 composite
ACT: 33 (should I send this along with the SAT?)
SAT IIs: 790 Biology E, 750 Spanish, 760 World History, 680 Chemistry, 640 Math I, taking Math II in November and not going to show chem and math i
I have taken the hardest courseload available to me at my competitive and strong public high school, taking honors where APs were not offered.
AP World History- soph year-5
AP US History- jr year-5
AP Calculus BC- jr year-2 (I sent a letter to AP Services to cancel it)
AP Biology- jr year-5
Senior Year Courseload:
AP Spanish
AP English
AP Physics
Calculus 3
AP Economics, emphasis on micro
Very few students in my school have taken as difficult of a courseload as I have, only the top 8 or so who are enrolled in my double-advanced mathematics classes have done so.
Extracurriculars:
Job at an endocrinology office, 25 hours a week in summer, during all school vacations
Volunteering at local hospital every summer for 40-50 hours per summer, this is my third year of doing so
Co-President of school Masterminds (similar to QuizBowl/Jeopardy) team, 3 years of being a valuable asset to the team
Will start Russian Club (since I am the son of Jewish refugees from Russia) as well as Future Doctors of America Club senior year
Played piano for 11 years
Speak Russian fluently, and by far the strongest foreign language student in my class, possibly the entire school
Honors/Awards:
Honorable Mention in Toshiba ExploraVision Contest
Spanish Department Award for Excellence at the College Level</p>
<p>Chance me for Cornell HumEc primary choice and CALS alternate choice?
I'm going pre-med (so original)
Possibly being the son of Russian Jewish refugees/speaking Russian fluently will help me?</p>
<p>Hey,
I'm got accepted to humec this year in the class of 2012. It's good to hear that you're interested in humec.
To me, the number game looks good. Just smash a 700+ on the math ii if you can.
HumEc is a fairly tiny college, and fit is important as it would be for engineering or ILR or CALS or Hotel. If you love the college, figure out how you will convey your fit for humec. You will have already given the college a sign of interest through your ED application; just make sure they know you 'fit' with their perspectives. Don't go through every webpage of humec and repackage the information with praise on your essays. I'd say, jot down what comes to your mind when you think humec, yourself, and your dream. Then do the research. Make connections with what's you and what's really in store for you. That way, you'll keep your individual, unique voice and sound learned, hitting all what fits between you and humec.</p>
<p>Check this out too:
<a href="http://www.human.cornell.edu/che/Academics/Admissions_services/Undergraduate/admissions_process/upload/Is_CHE_right_for_you2.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.human.cornell.edu/che/Academics/Admissions_services/Undergraduate/admissions_process/upload/Is_CHE_right_for_you2.pdf</a></p>
<p>Kimjoshy summed it up pretty well. Your essay is an excellent chance to convey your fit into HumEc, which I would say is at the top of their priority list. Another thing the admissions staff at HumEc (most likely the other colleges as well) love is when you come to visit. If you get the chance, come by and talk to the admissions counselors and go on a tour. Coming to the school shows them you're genuinely interested, but they understand that not everybody lives close enough to be able to.</p>
<p>Oh and don't make a sob story out of your essay. They're very smart people, and they just want to see what makes the college best for you and who you are (this is what the admissions staff told me). However, this doesn't mean you can't dip into what brought you into your current interest.</p>
<p>I have already done my human ecology essay and if you two want, I can send it to you personally when I get home tonight. I visited HumEc about 2 weeks ago, the information session was amazing: there were about 4 kids other than myself and the director of admissions himself asked each of us a lot of questions and had us describe ourselves and our interests (essentially an interview). And I think it went really well!
Where can I put this thread so that it garners more attention and gets more posts?</p>
<p>Oh, just a footnote to my original post with my stats, the 96 GPA is about a 4.0/4.0 unweighted</p>
<p>bump 10char... I really would appreciate some more opinions.
And just general Cornell talk!
Anything really, and thanks for your opinions, you two.</p>
<p>bump......
10char.</p>
<p>You have a very good chance. There is no need to send in your ACT scores as your SATs are very strong. Being Russian may be an advantage if you list your ethnicity as Russian rather than Caucasian.</p>
<p>ChandlerBing: Your stats look great. You may not however, hide away your SAT II scores. Transcript will contain ALL of your scores.</p>
<p>Awesome!! Yeah on the common app I put Caucasian and then I checked other and put son of Russian Jewish refugees.
And will the two shoddy SAT II scores overshadow the three good ones?
brown man: I agree with you, my ACT is weaker than my SAT (weird, eh?). I'm not going to retake the SAT because I think it's pointless by now... does it look sketchy to only take the SAT once?
shifu: That's unfortunate :/
bump</p>
<p>Don't retake the SAT. Plenty of people only take it once, so it doesn't look sketchy. A 2300 is really good as it is. </p>
<p>Out of curiosity, why are you taking more SAT II's when you have 3 with scores of 750+? I thought they only ask for 2 SAT II's? All you have to do is report 2 on the common app.</p>
<p>Okay, that's what I thought. I'm quite satisfied with a 2300, now I just have to focus on filling out applications and summer assignments (aghh).</p>
<p>Great question Brown man, Human Ecology requires a Mathematics SAT II as well as one of your choice, and since my Math I score was pretty horrendous I figured I would take Math II and get something better on it right before I apply ED to HumEc. However, since i just took calc bc last year, I've forgotten some precalc. And precalc is basically Math II.... so I'd better get studying!</p>
<p>For the common application, you should record down all of your SAT IIs.</p>
<p>I have 800/800/800/800/490 (in US history - I didn't even take any courses in history). I am going to write all of them down, since admission officers will see my transcript anyway. I am afraid that they will deem me "dishonest" and just reject me.</p>
<p>Remember, "honesty is something that all colleges champion upon."</p>
<ul>
<li>Harvard Crimson (from "50 Successful Application Essays")</li>
</ul>
<p>Looking at your stats, I think you have excellent shot at Human Eco.</p>
<p>That's really good news shifu.
I have another question, will it hurt my chances at Human Ecology if i apply to CALS as my alternate choice ED?
Which college at Cornell are you attending?
I'm so excited to apply :)</p>
<p>^^ I wouldn't report a 490. You are not being dishonest if you withhold that information, and no admissions officers will deem you dishonest and reject you. On the other hand, seeing a 490 would definitely raise a bunch of questions in the admissions' officer's mind. </p>
<p>You are being dishonest however, if you report your 490 as an 800 (and this would get you in trouble).</p>
<p>I would recommend that you all read the book A is for Admissions by Dartmouth admissions officer Michelle Hernandez. It's a pretty insightful book in terms of what goes on in the admissions office.</p>
<p>^So you're saying that I should just report my highest two subject tests? Will the admission officers see my SAT transcript eventually?</p>
<p>I am applying to CALS, probably Biological Science or Agriculture. (not heading to med)</p>
<p>Brown man, what's really funny is that I just finished reading A is for Admissions (for about the tenth time) by Hernandez and I found it an extremely enlightening book. I did the Academic Index Calculator on collegeconfidential that draws from the book and got a 228 (or an academic 8, almost 9) but I'm not sure how much I can trust that.</p>
<p>Yes, withholding a 490 is not a big deal if you got all those 800s. What is a big deal is if you say you've held 4 internships at various law firms throughout your high school career and then admissions finds out you, in fact, sat on your ass at home and did nothing.</p>
<p>I seriously love that book haha.
But in my book, Cornell>Dartmouth :P</p>
<p>Shifu, report all the required scores plus any outstanding scores you were able to get (750+). Do not report the 490. According to the book A is for Admission (written by a Dartmouth admissions officer), during the initial rounds of admission, they can see your whole SAT score report but when they are making their decision, they can only see your highest scores and the ones you choose to report, and they decide whether or not to admit you based off of what they see here.</p>
<p>I think the academic index provides a means to tell you how qualified you are academically, but admissions are more than that. Schools value personality, ECs, recommendations, etc.</p>
<p>For the record I was a 228 as well, and I managed to get into Cornell engineering.</p>
<p>Yeah that's what I'm going to do, I'm not going to report my Math I or Chemistry scores, since they're substandard.</p>
<p>Of course, but I guess it seems to be fairly legit. </p>
<p>I couldn't input a rank or anything (since my school doesn't rank or weight anything) so it probably wasn't totally accurate.</p>
<p>bump 10char
god, these threads die fast!</p>