<p>Hi, Im a junior right now in high school and I've been thinking on applying ED to Cornell once I'm a senior. However, I've been reading a lot about the legacy and sibling legacy as well as donations, and I was wondering if I could get an answer from a current Cornellian or one that knows a lot about the admissions process. The reason as to why I am asking is, my older brother graduated in 2009 from ILR and is probably going to attend the Law School. He has been very involved in his fraternity and knows the ILR admissions director really well and they talk regularly. My dad gives donations, nothing like the "1.6 million" as I read in a previous post. I'm looking to apply to CAS. So, I was wondering if anyone could give me some input! Thanks a lot!!</p>
<p>Sibling legacy doesn’t play as much importance as parent legacy but that’s great anyway. And because your dad makes donations, that’s another good thing.</p>
<p>Idk how to give you input since you haven’t really provided anything more specific maybe you can tell a bit more about your academic progress/stats?</p>
<p>Well, since I’ll be taking my SATs this year, I took my PSATs last year and got a 1890 but I’ve been taking a lot of practice tests and SAT prep that will help me get to about 2100-2200 (cross my fingers) lol. I’m taking one AP class this year because my school doesn’t allow a lot of juniors to take an AP yes it strange. Other than that I’ve taken honors classes all throughout sophomore year, and junior year will be the same. Freshman year I had a 3.89. Senior year I’m looking to take AP Bio, AP Lit, and AP Gov & Politics as well as taking an Anatomy course as its only allowed for seniors, possibly even AP Sociology I’ve done 200 + hours of community service and volunteer regularly at senior citizen homes and hospitals, as well as I work in a medical office. I’ve been on the varsity tennis team for 2 years and will be captain next year. Varsity letter winner for that. I’m also joining the Key Club this year, Science Club, running for Student Council hopefully president if not then vice president. Last but not least, I’ve been included in the United States Achievement Academy as well as the National Honor Society of High School Scholars. As of now my stats might show that if might be a slight reach however, this year and next year I’m going to try and improve them A LOT because Cornell is my dream school and I don’t want to go anywhere else. I’ve had my sights set on this school since I was in the 7th grade lol. Im going to work extremely hard so yeah, would with what I said about the sibling and donations help me in any way ? </p>
<p>THANKS! =)</p>
<p>Also, I did a summer program for science over the summer at Columbia for 3 weeks and am getting a really good reference and recommendation letter that I think I’m going to use. My teacher recommendations are going to be great too because I know them really well and am their favorite student lol.</p>
<p>Yeah what you said about siblings and donations with help you anyway. The recommendations are great too.</p>
<p>Try to aim for 2150+ and at least two SAT 2 tests. Cornell admissions officers said they don’t care about SAT’s so much so don’t overwork in that area. Most important would be your GPA for sure.</p>
<p>My mom went to Cornell and interviews so I’ve gotten a kind of sense of what kind of students get in over the years. Legacy in any form certainly helps…my mom has said that if all things are roughly equal between two students that they’ll choose the legacy over the other. But I’ve also seen a double legacy get rejected (great GPA, near perfect SATs) and a non-legacy (similar stats) get in applying for the same school, same major. So, obviously, there aren’t any guarantees.</p>
<p>…Cornell admissions officers DO care about SATs… I don’t know where/how you found that information, but it is certainly incorrect. The traditional “formula” that many people recognize is the:
GPA 50%
SAT 25%
EC/ESSAYS etc 25%</p>
<p>while those numbers are just a rough estimate, SATs are most certainly a critical part of the application, thus the OP should in fact shoot higher than in 1890… maybe at least a 2100… especially since a sibling isn’t a legacy at all… regardless of law school/undergrad or whatever… Legacies are parents and grandparents… sibling legacies may have a miniscule influence if any</p>
<p>No one said they don’t care about SAT’s. But it’s what they said int he information session, “not so much”</p>
<p>Information sessions just try to make you feel comfortable and free of worries… Sure they give good advice and information about the school, but whatever tour-guide or speaker told you that SATs were “not so important” may have been exaggerating significantly. If this statement were true, the middle 50% of SAT range would not be top tier. The majority of the class has over 700 in every section of the SAT I… Unless you’re a true legacy, than your SATS will be important…</p>
<p>Thanks a lot guys! Im definitely going to work really hard in order to not only get might stats up to par but also to get that SAT score. This is my dream school and I’ve been wanting to go to Cornell since I was like 12 lol. Hopefully ED will increase my chances. My twin is planning on applying ED also so we’ll see how that goes lol. Once again thanks !!!</p>
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<p>I nearly shat myself while reading that.</p>
<p>^Why is that so hard to believe? For all you know, he could’ve come across as a pompous d-bag in his essay or might’ve hinted at racist sympathies in his interview and gotten a big red flag. Intangibles count.</p>
<p>I don’t find it hard to believe at all. I nearly shat myself because I’m a double legacy with less than perfect SATs who would very much like to attend Cornell. I realize that they don’t accept based on legacy, but I was hoping it would be a positive. That’s all.</p>
<p>@Nullisecundus, it is a positive, it won’t help someone who otherwise would have had no shot (unless the legacy connection is someone rich or famous) but it certainly could help push a candidate who otherwise had a decent chance of getting in that last inch into accepted, but admissions are a weird thing, sometimes odd decisions are made like in the case mentioned above. There were probably other details that we are not aware of in that case.</p>
<p>Don’t let it worry you. I think it came down to extracurriculars (the other kid was involved in a lot of activities dealing with his major)…maybe the essay, who knows. I wouldn’t think to much on this particular case, each person’s experience with admissions is different…having legacy definitely helps but shouldn’t be relied on to get in. Completely agree with Prism123…admissions can be a weird thing.</p>