<p>If they like the rest of your application they will use the ACT score & disregard the SAT.</p>
<p>Thank you for those who stayed on topic! :)</p>
<p>If you love Cornell, apply ED. Show passion in your essays. Both of these items are REALLY important.</p>
<p>Your ACT is really, really good. Take SAT 2’s in math and science(s). Engineering requires 2 of those. My guess is that you will do well on those, based on your ACT score. </p>
<p>I believe grades and rigorous high school courses play a very large role for admissions. Work hard and do well on AP’s. It will be worth it!</p>
<p>My son looks similar to you. His W for the SAT 1 was abysmal, but he is an engineer! Thankfully, Cornell doesn’t use the W score…thankfully…</p>
<p>GO ED!!!</p>
<p>I love how people have absolutely no idea what they are talking about and don’t bother to read before they do. It’s quite hilarious really.
The admissions committee has about 5-10 minutes at max to look at every individual person. Do you really think that they are infallible and will undoubtedly find everything valuable about you in that span of time and that every acceptance and rejection has a page long reasoning? No, they don’t. Luck plays a significant role no matter how “qualified” you are - remember, ivies can fill their classes 3x over with qualified applicants if they want to. What allows an individual to get in? Luck. Same idea as to how a good amount of people get rejected to Cornell and get in HYP. Luck is heavy in admissions. </p>
<p>oh wait, @casa, you are urm. Is that why you feel threatened by my post? I’m telling you right now that isn’t the focus of my post and you are really being over sensitive to it. Nobody is saying it’s just because of ethnicity. We’re just saying it’s a hook and it’s honestly not a big deal.</p>
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<p>Have you ever read Rachel Toor’s “Admissions Confidential?” She was a Duke admissions officer for a few years and stated in the book that a considerable amount of admission decisions are made based on factors such as the time of day, the current mood the applications are being read, etc. That is partly why, as Colene said, decisions are partly based on luck.</p>
<p>If Cornell admitted Lilshaun because he/she was “deemed capable of succeeding at Cornell,” then Cornell would admit many times the number of spots available because the vast majority of applicants ARE capable of succeeding, as in the case of other ivy league and highly selective institutions. So obviously, there are other factors in play.</p>
<p>If anyone is going to deny affirmative action than you’re really just being ignorant. If you look at the students Cornell admits you’ll see that probably 90%+ are in the top 10% of their class and median SAT is probably like 1450/1600, which suggests that those factors ARE exactly what Cornell wants. However, you have to consider that a ton of applicants have those stats so you have to differentiate between those high stat kids with other factors such as ECs/etc. Thus you need high SATs and GPAs just to qualify UNLESS you are a URM/athlete/legacy in which case some/or even a lot leeway is given to you.</p>
<p>That’s not to say giving some of these candidates is a bad thing. Athletes add a lot to the Cornell community, and I suppose in a sense legacies instill a sense of tradition here. Even URMs who are given a break on something as arbitrary as skin color can add a lot IF they are perhaps from more disadvantaged backgrounds. Though I’ve seen some scenarios where URMs from very well-off backgrounds (millionaire parents, top prep schools, etc) are admitted with much lower stats and I find that very hard to justify, but again its not my call.</p>
<p>However, URMs if you are upset that people are questioning your admittance then prove them wrong. But ignorantly arguing that there is no affirmative action isn’t productive. Cornell and almost every school in the nation “stoops to that level”. But this is your chance to prove them wrong, though just know you’ll be doing that competing against some really fricken smart people with killer HS GPAs and SATs.</p>
<p>^this. god Lilshaun you are revolting. you haven’t referred to the school you’re planning to attend in the fall as ILR ONCE…you call it IRL (??). in a school which is known to accept students who feel passionate for its program, it’s a little disappointing that someone was admitted (and is matriculating) into a school he doesn’t know the name of. there was a person with a 2380, 3.8, far superior ECs (which fit the program well) who was wait listed. could you actually say that you were more qualified than he was? i mean, you were asked to attend a summer session to prepare you for school next year. OBVIOUSLY there were other factors at play which helped get you in. this isn’t even an argument against affirmative action. it’s against ignorance and ingratitude.</p>
<p>Yeah URM makes a huuuuge difference… I think it would be more fair to do it by income, not by race…</p>
<p>For other potential applicants, one thing to be aware of is Cornell require to see ALL scores. For schools within Cornell which require SAT II scores, they will also see your SAT I scores. For any students who like their ACT scores, they shouldn’t take SAT I because adcom will see the scores. There is no option to just send in SAT II scores.</p>
<p>For OP to be competitive for CoE, his SAT I math score should be as close to 800 as possible, and CR 660 to low 700. If he doesn’t have that, I would consider retaking SAT I rather than doing ACT again. If OP is a she, then it would be a hook for CoE. If he/she doesn’t FA, then ED would be the way to go.</p>
<p>To have the right stats get you a seat to play, and then it depends on your ECs, region, race, connection…AND finally luck.</p>
<p>“to have the right stats get you a seat to play”</p>
<p>well put oldfort. Sometimes I felt like the college admissions process was like playing The Price is Right. First I had to guess how much something was worth to even get a chance to play, then go through all these games and finally have some good darn luck spinning that wheel and moving on to the last round. If this was how college admissions worked my grandma would get into any school she wanted lol man she loves that show</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this will help at all, but better to put this out there in case it does:</p>
<p>Objective:</p>
<pre><code>SAT I (breakdown): 1950: 590 M, 700 CR, 660 W
ACT: 29: (27 M, 33 R, 33 WR, 24 S)
SAT II: 620 Math II, 630 Spanish w/o listening, 770 Bio, 770 Lit
Unweighted GPA : 95.01
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1 of 76
AP (place score in parenthesis): not offered at my school
Senior Year Course Load: Precalculus/Calculus, Work Experience, PE, Band, Chorus, Anatomy, University Lit, Regents Chem, Independent University Bio
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none
</code></pre>
<p>Subjective:</p>
<pre><code>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Gov’t (4 years, 2 as class officer, 1 as treasurer, 1 as president), babysitting (listed as paid work), Music (Vocal - section leader, treasurer, 2 time area-all state, 2 time area-all county), Music (Instrumental - section leader), Religious, Theater/Drama (2 time treasurer), Community Service, Soccer (2 years JV 2 years varsity), Volleyball (2 years JV)
Job/Work Experience: Babysitting?
Volunteer/Community service: unknown amount, but I had it
Summer Activities: summer school (voluntary), community service
Essays: Apparently very good
Teacher Recommendation: Didn’t see them
Counselor Rec: unsure if one was submitted, but if it was hopefully good
</code></pre>
<p>Other[list]: State (if domestic applicant): NY Country (if international applicant): USA School Type: Rural public Ethnicity: 50% white, 50% pacific islander Gender: F Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Valedictorian, URM probably, first gen on dad’s side, low income (if that’s a hook)</p>
<p>I got accepted with close to a full ride and a likey letter.</p>
<p>There is no sure method of gauging college admissions…it is a highly random and very flawed system. That being said, retake your SAT and aim for a 2100+ since your scores will be seen</p>
<p>@hannied95</p>
<p>You got a full ride (close) because your family makes very little. Not on merit.</p>
<p>And I’m guessing you got accepted to one of the contract colleges and not CAS or CoE?</p>
<p>To the original poster, your ACT is strong enough to put you in the middle 50% of accepted students. The admissions committee will consider your stronger scores which in your case is your ACT score. Many students perform much better on one test versus the other. They don’t care which test but you should send the sat scores too.</p>
<p>It’s great that you visited. Now channel what you loved about Cornell into your essay for the college to which you will apply, which I think is engineering. Since you are a female, you will have a bit of a leg up in that college as it tends to be 70% male, so if you are a competitive female applicant, you should have a good chance and are an underrepresented minority of sorts in that college.</p>
<p>But you will still need great essays, strong grades and some luck. Good luck!</p>
<p>Acceptance rates for females for the COE are highest of any of Cornell’s colleges.</p>
<p>URM status actually does help…A LOT. They compare your test scores with others from your ethnicity. If you’re Hispanic, they compare your scores with other Hispanics. If you’re black/African-American (I use both terms because some people get offended by either one so I don’t know which one to use) they compare your scores with other blacks/African-Americans. If you’re Caucasian (like me) or Asian and you’re of low income or some other disadvantageous background, you’re at a huge disadvantage when it comes to test scores because they compare yours with others of your ethnicity who generally are endowed with more resources than the average Joe. </p>
<p>That being said, I think LilShaun is just being a bit puffed up. Yes, your ECs may have helped you, but MOST applicants have amazing extracurricular activities, and much more of them as well. That’s really not what sets you apart (compared to your essays). I’m a Caucasian female (low income as well) in an inner-city school (in other words, not rich and both my school and I don’t have endless resources like SAT prep classes, tutors, etc) and I have a composite SAT score of 1960 (Writing was my best score with 710, but unfortunately most colleges don’t look at it) and an ACT score of 29 (best subscore was Reading with a 34; Science dragged my score down). I managed to do this with no preparation whatsoever since I can’t afford prep books and tutors, and the prep available online isn’t that extensive. Also I have an extensive list of extracurricular activities/volunteer work and I’m a pianist who’s won competitive awards. One of my teacher recommendations was done by a Cornell alum. Not the best looking app around, but it was definitely the best I could manage. </p>
<p>And guess what? I got waitlisted from ILR. Am I upset? You bet, but at least I didn’t get rejected, so for that I’m eternally grateful. And I won’t make assumptions as to what about my application deemed me unworthy of an acceptance, because it could have been anything. You have every right to be proud of getting in, but don’t ignore the fact that your minority status helped you get in, even if it helped only a little. I’ve just been reading the Class of 2016 decisions thread and there are people with FAR better credentials than you or I who have been rejected. So at least be humbled knowing that the committee chose you over those other talented students. </p>
<p>I think I’ve done well enough incorporating the off-tangent with the original topic.</p>
<p>Those of you calling for AA based on socioeconomic status really don’t understand the point of AA. The point of AA as it exists today is to increase the proportion of URM’s in college. Period. It is NOT to reward people for overcoming adversity or whatever. A rich black applicant will always be taken over a poor Asian applicant with the same profile. We have enough Asians. We don’t have enough blacks.</p>
<p>To given an example: in my med school graduating class, for whatever reason, we have really really few URM’s. It was a statistical anomaly my year. For some reason, the yield among URM’s was low that year. Despite the fact my graduating class had the highest entering college GPA and MCAT score and ended up with the highest medical licensing board scores in our school’s history, our recruiting class was largely regarded as a failure because we looked really un-diverse. The med school made a special effort to recruit URM’s and in the following year’s class, the % of African Americans quadrupled. Yes, quadrupled. It was a borderline crisis for our graduating class to have so few African Americans because it simply did not look very good. For the sake of political correctness, the adcom went overboard the next year in terms of evening things out. So, sometimes we do accept URM’s for the sake of accepting URM’s so we can brag about having 13% African Americans or whatever.</p>
<p>Okay wow I was going to hold back on this but that is pretty ironic…</p>