I feel like my application and position are relatively different from generic apps, so I’m finding it hard to place myself or see my chances.
My school’s a relatively unknown school in India w/ a CBSE (national) curriculum, I was in another curriculum (ICSE) which was a national one as well. There’s no support for AP/ACT/SAT/SAT subjects training, all courses train us for national exams, nothing else.
ACT: 30 (28 math, 28 science)
SAT 1400 (690 math)
AP Computer Science: 4/5
TOEFL: 113/120
GPA: Not calculated. Instead, we’re given raw grades:
9th: 86% (>90% class percentile) (ICSE curriculum)
10th: 95% (>90% national percentile) (ICSE curriculum)
11th: 80% (~75% class percentile) (CBSE curriculum)
Currently in senior year w/ 60% (~80% class percentile) (CBSE curriculum). Hope to reach 80% for mid terms.
My test scores are weak for Cornell, but I don’t know how my grades compare as there is no standard to convert/compare them with GPA scores.
Extracurriculars:
Published a science fiction novel internationally
Model UN - awards at international conferences, chaired at international conferences (Harvard MUN India)
Science project - increased efficiency of solar cells w/ external means - implemented with success in a solar energy farm, won silver in a national science fair
Web development Internship with a software startup
Completed CS50x online (Harvard’s undergrad CS course)
Head Editor for school blog
Made official websites for my school
Github page with numerous side programming projects (few simple games)
Collected ~1000 books, all donated to underprivileged children, ~100 hours community service with Indian boy scouts
I’m applying for a CS major to Cornell (and possibly other Ivies). I’m really not sure where I stand as my school, grade reporting system and position are relatively unorthodox. Any advice is appreciated.
The test scores are definitely low for Cornell and equivalent schools, especially the 28/690in math.
You also need two subject tests for Cornell.
You will be competing with international students with near perfect scores and stats and those standardized test scores are really going to hurt you. Retake them if you can!
Thank you for your inputs! I forgot to mention I will be writing Math II and Physics Subject SATs next month and am confident I will get at least 700 in both.
For the grade conversions, I’m hesitant to convert them to 4.0s and As as we are assigned our own letter grades (91-100 is A1, 81-90 is A2, 71-80 is B1, etc) for senior and junior year, but no letter grades for 9th and 10th. But if I use this system, I would be getting Cs and Ds in my junior and senior years, despite the course difficulty and my grades being high compared to my class/national average.
Also, it’s unfortunately too late to rewrite the ACT/SAT for Early Decision. I will try to rewrite them in time for regular.
Thank you again for your advice. Any other inputs/metrics on my chances would be greatly appreciated.
Hi @IreVia. The Ivies require a very high standard of academic excellence - both in your high school grades as well as the standardised tests (ACT/SAT). I know a bit about the Indian CBSE system and you can safely assume that you will be competing with other Indian students who have consistent 90%+ scores in all 4 of their high school years. Your 11th grade results seem low for Cornell and they will also likely ask your School to predict your 12th grade results. If that predicted grade is in the 70-80% range, it may pull you down.
If your school allows only a limited number of college applications, pls reconsider applying to the Ivies ( since you don’t have the time to re-take the SAT/ACT) and focus on the many other excellent options available.
If there is no limit on the number of applications you are allowed, and you remain very keen to apply to the Ivies, then it may probably be bettter to make an ED application because the RD round will be even more competitive.
Thank you for the feedback. Although my percentages are quite low, if it was graded on a curve I would be getting As, and I always rank in the top 5 of my class. The difficulty of my exams is also much greater than that of the board papers or curriculum (for example, the average score for math is ~35% for school exams, but 80% for finals), so my predicted score would be around 95%, like my 10th results. I hope that this doesn’t affect my chances as I could score 90%+ in other CBSE schools with easier school exams. However, I understand my ACT and SAT are quite weak.
And yes, I am applying to Ivies in ED and looking at safer options for regular. However, I was really hoping my ECs, LoCs and essays can make up for them and give me a chance at Ivies.
I suppose that if the colleges that you’re planning to apply to are familiar with your school and their grading pattern for internal examinations (via prior experience and admissions history) then that will assist. If not, then your high school year grades across 4 years may appear a bit inconsistent. Perhaps you can discuss this matter with your school counsellors. most colleges ask your school to certify - via the CommonApp - your overall class rank (top 10%, top 20% etc…) and maybe that can help you.
While I don’t think there are previous admissions to Ivies, I know two seniors who went to Duke and MIT respectively, the former whose marks were similar to mine. I will definitely speak to my councilor about this and see what was done in his case.
