<p>I'm applying to Cornell this fall.</p>
<p>My school (public) is very competitive and even though I take the hardest courses I can sign up for my GPA is very low..compared to everyone applying to Cornell..based on what I see here on CC. Although CC represents people from the high end of the spectrum, Cornell is still an Ivy and I know I'll need stellar stats and EC's for admission.</p>
<p>My GPA is 3.8 Weighted and 3.5 unweighted. My SAT is around 2300, with subject tests all over 700.. Passed all AP's with 4 or 5. I don't want my low-gpa-but-high-test-score situation to make the adcoms think that I am a "smart but lazy" student. I only get a few hours of sleep during school days and in some of my classes there are only about 5 people who get A's.</p>
<p>I guess my question is more for someone who knows a little about Cornell's admission policy:
Will Cornell look at my high school profile (sent by our GC) and consider that we are a competitive/difficult school?</p>
<p>I know a lot of people who, in all honesty don't put that much effort into school work and still end up with straight A's because their school has ridiculous grade inflation. Even though it's important to do well in our own environment, I still don't think that's fair.</p>
<p>if your school is well known to cornell it should be okay. what is your ranking? and if a lot of people get in to cornell from your high school in previous years, thats a good thing.</p>
<p>We don’t rank at our school.
We do send a handful of students to top schools each year, and Cornell is one of them.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that adcoms are divided into geographical regions, so they can focus on the schools in one specific region. So are they familiar with just the elite/famous private schools in the area? or do they know a lot about public schools like mine?</p>
<p>it depends, if your public school is that good, of course they’ll notice. since your school sends plenty to top schools, your “low” gpa shouldn’t be that bad. though you will still be competing against others from your school applying to cornell =</p>
<p>i got into cornell with a 92.5/100 from public school</p>
<p>I might be able to pull my GPA up slightly after the first semester of my 12th grade year. But I wonder if they’ll have time to look at that for ED, since Cornell is my first choice…</p>
<p>About what would your GPA be on a 4-point scale? 92.5 seems pretty good to me, on a normal 100 point scale it’s still in the A range…</p>
<p>we dont do 4.0 scales so im not sure. id assume it to be around a 3.7</p>
<p>If you go to a highly respected school (Thomas Jefferson, Stuyvesant, etc), admissions officers are probably going to understand that you’re not just being completely lazy. The question is really how you compare to the rest of the students in your class. If you’re roughly in the top ten percent of your class (even without a ranking, could you guess?) you’re pretty much golden. </p>
<p>In any case, I would instead focus more on your essays and extracurricular activities at this point. Beyond a certain point numbers don’t matter as much as what kind of person you are, what your intellectual passions are, etc. And if it makes you feel any better, I got in with very similar numbers, but from a crap school in the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>tchaikovskypiano–do you mind telling me very briefly…which part of your app do you think was the most influential? I’m hoping you are not a legacy or have an amazing hook… Oh and i know schools like thomas jefferson are well known and respected. But i go to a public school. And correct me if i’m wrong but my understanding is that private schools tend to be more widely known and respected for their academics…</p>
<p>Well, I mentioned Thomas Jefferson and Stuyvesant because they are very highly respected public schools. You may be right that private schools tend to be more well-known, but I was just saying that admissions officers probably know about a lot of very good public schools as well. </p>
<p>As for my application: I am not a legacy, and I did not have any real hooks. I believe my extracurricular involvement (county orchestra, research, math and science competitions, literary magazine) and essay were the strongest parts of my application. I made an effort to show that I was a good fit for the College of Engineering. I also applied early decision, with financial aid.</p>
<p>It depends on the school. Mine is one of the top public schools in the state, and we are known for massive grade deflation. For instance, our vale this year had a 3.78 UW, average UW gpa for Harvard is 3.75, Yale is 3.71, Cornell is 3.49, CMU is 3.36. Top 10% cuts off at like 3.4 for us, yet we send tons of kids to Ivies, etc every year. So they really look at it in context.</p>