More of a Question than Chance

<p>I'm a bit curious as to what you guys think of my resume. It's really heavily focused on one subject.</p>

<p>3.87 UW GPA; 4.41 W GPA
Rank: 6/402</p>

<p>SAT I: 1990 -_-
SAT II: Biology 730, Math II 710</p>

<p>Classes worth noting:
Freshman Year: Honors Geometry and English
Sophomore Year: AP World History
Junior Year: AP Calc AB, AP English Language, AP US History, AP Biology, and AP Spanish
Senior Year: AP Calc BC, AP English Literature, AP Psychology, AP Physics, and AP Government</p>

<p>Extra Curricular:
National Honors Society
Youth Symphony Program
Youth Symphony String Quartet
All-State Symphony Orchestra
High School Orchestra String Quartet
Private Violin Lessons
Private Piano Lessons
Teaching private lessons on violin
Teaching private lessons on piano
Martial Arts (Taekwondo)
Tennis
Volunteered at a hospital, a homeless shelter, and my church as a guitarist (Sums up to a little over 200 hours)</p>

<p>Awards:
AP Scholar
1st Place in state-wide string competition
I don't know if this considered an award non-musically speaking, but I was the concertmaster of the Youth Symphony and the All State Symphony.</p>

<p>If you guys would like me to be more descriptive about something just let me know.</p>

<p>So...yeah I mean it doesn't look like a lot in text but my life was dedicated to music since I had thought for the longest time I was going to be a professional musician. Simply put things changed around sophomore/junior year, I am no longer pursuing music as my professional career, and now I'm really trying to pursue academic-related stuff (which is why I took on more AP classes junior year). I am applying to Cornell, but do you guys think I even have a chance with the so many areas lacking? I realize that it's quite a reach, but I guess I'm curious as to whether you guys think it's even worth it.</p>

<p>Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. :)</p>

<p>What is the breakdown of your SAT I score?</p>

<p>Cr: 620, m: 730, w: 640</p>

<p>CR score is below the 25th percentile which will hurt you…I’d suggest that you try taking the ACT where the composite score is what is important.</p>

<p>First of all – you may be starting from a false assumption.</p>

<p>I don’t think that an extreme dedication to music will hurt you, and it may help tremendously. One of the things that colleges look for is dedication and passion for an activity over many years. Depth is much more important than breadth.</p>

<p>And it’s not as though you let your academics slide. 6 out of 402 (top 2%) is not too shabby.</p>

<p>Overall – even without improvement, it’s worth an application. You have one relative weak point in an otherwise strong application – if you don’t get in, you probably know why, but it’s worth a shot.</p>

<p>However – as cs dad points out, the SAT CR is somewhat low for Cornell. If you could improve it, or take the SAT, you would improve your chances. As it</p>

<p>SAT is weak, but everything else is really strong, so I say you have about an average chance, but if you can get your SAT up to 1400+ and CR to 700+, then you would have more of an edge in admissions</p>

<p>SAT isn’t great, but your focus on music may really help your application stand out.</p>

<p>thanks for the responses guys. yeah i definitely made a mistake by disregarding the SAT…but that’s not going to happen again. hopefully this time i’m more prepared!</p>

<p>zephry15 and framed, i guess i got the wrong impression based off of many of the chance me threads i have seen? i was assuming that the diversity of activities made you look well-rounded. regardless thanks a bunch! it really REALLY makes me feel a lot better. :)</p>

<p>Alb --</p>

<p>It’s the ‘breadth vs depth’ debate. I believe that most top schools prefer depth. </p>

<p>In your case, there’s music, Tae Kwan Do,Tennis and Volunteering, the other three aren’t insignificant by any standard.</p>