<p>@nwang229, the thing to understand is that there’s a quota for everything, and race is but one of the quotas (a big one, for sure). When I see your info, what stands out is that you are obviously planning to major in biology and then go to med school…just like 50% of all Asian-American applicants to Ivy League schools! So in hindsight, you’re competing against every other Asian-American applicant who wants to major in biology, go to med school, plays tennis, plays the violin, etc. Is my message to you clear? Is “be yourself” a good strategy for you? Think about it.</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted A&S CS Major</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2340 (800CR 760M 780W)
[</em>] ACT: none
[<em>] SAT II: Math II (800), Chinese (750), History (800), Chem (770), Physics (750)
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.94
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 30ish out of 210? rankings are based solely on GPA (no weighting exists) at my school…
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc BC (5), Stats (5), US History (4), Chem (4), Physics C-Mech (5)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): none
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Government, AP Biology, Honors English, Anatomy & Physiology, Graphic Design 2, Advanced Drawing and Painting (much lighter than the 4 APs last year…)
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NCWIT Award in Aspirations for Computing (National Runner-up, Regional Winner), National Merit Semi-Finalist, selected to NWSE, OMTA Piano Syllabus Level X and State Bach and Ensemble Festivals
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): FIRST Robotics (Program Manager 12th, Programming Captain 11th), Chinese culture club (President), smattering of other clubs I didn’t list on app
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: ASE intern
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Peer tutor, NHS
[<em>] Summer Activities: SIMUW
[</em>] Essays: Bleh 
Stupid procrastination
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Excellent, according to my counselor
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Good? Large school, but he knows me somewhat
[<em>] Additional Rec: none
[</em>] Interview: pretty good, we mostly talked about robotics and his experiences
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): Oregon
[</em>] Country (if international applicant): USA
[<em>] School Type: Public
[</em>] Ethnicity: Chinese
[<em>] Gender: Female
[</em>]Income Bracket: 70,000-100,000 I think
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none[/ul]
Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: Academics and robotics, EC depth, maybe doing Calc BC in 8th grade
[<em>] Weaknesses: Essays ugh, lack of EC breadth, essays, essays, uh…yeah
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted: ED isn’t crazy selective, (I humbly admit) my transcript is a beast, and all my important ECs have to do with math/computer science
[li] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I applied to UW?[/ul][/li]General Comments:
Hurray 
I was expecting to get rejected/deferred due to my crap essays and having a general lack of confidence but I guess everything else won out. Truthfully Cornell isn’t my dream school (I don’t really have one) but I’m still very excited to go! Hopefully their financial aid is ok :)</p>
<p>You people cannot deny there is a distinct disadvantage to being an Asian male applying to Cornell. Cornell has one of the lowest Asian demographic. When most of the people applying to engineering are Asian, there’s definitely less likely of a chance to get in.</p>
<p>Decision: Deferred</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2260 (760 R, 720 M, 780 W)
[</em>] ACT: 32 (12 essay)
[<em>] SAT II: 760 Math II
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.47 (weighted)
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 20
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Euro (5), Music (5), Calc AB (3)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Lang, AP Gov, AP Stats, Spanish V, Journalism
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Commended, Girls State, Most Valuable Judge (Debate)
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Debate (President), Newspaper (News Editor), Literary Mag (Co-founder), Regional Orchestra, a bunch of church stuff
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Paid law firm internship (1 month in summer), student writer at local newspaper
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Hospital volunteer, English tutor for Burmese refugees, Church Sunday School teacher, homeless shelter, Red Cross fundraiser coordinator
[<em>] Summer Activities: Governor’s School for the Arts, internship
[</em>] Essays: Common app was good, about tutoring a Burmese refugee who suffered from selective mutism and paralled her experiences with my life. A little long (600 words). Supplement was decent. A little dry, but to the point and explained how I want to study labor discrimination law (ILR)
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Probably weak, if not generic. (the two teachers I chose aren’t exactly the best writers)
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Good. I talk to her at least once a week.
[<em>] Additional Rec: Got one from the law firm I work at, but was too generic so I didn’t submit.
[</em>] Interview: Decent. The interviewer’s son is in my math class haha, and apparently he thought “I had some good things to say” and “he hopes I get in”.
[/ul]Other
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): NJ
[</em>] Country (if international applicant): USA
[<em>] School Type: Public, extremely competitive. High Asian population
[</em>] Ethnicity: Asian (ugh)
[<em>] Gender: F
[</em>]Income Bracket: ~60,000
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Sibling legacy
Reflection
[li] Strengths: Extracurriculars, leadership[/li][</em>] Weaknesses: GPA. I got a C in physics junior year, mostly because I changed schools halfway through high school and my new school was a lot harder.
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Honestly I was having second thoughts about Cornell. Maybe it showed in my essays. I’m kind of relieved I get a chance to apply other places now
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Applied (so far): Tulane, UNC Chapel Hill, Boston College, Wash U at St. Louis
General Comments: Hoping for the best! Good luck to everyone else, and congrats to those who got in.</p>
<p>^ Uh… fail on the last part.
Congrats again to everyone who was accepted!</p>
<p>@nwang229</p>
<p>I hate it when Asian people blame affirmative action for their failures. </p>
<p>I’m Korean, and I was accepted with pretty low test scores. I got under a 2100, and all my subject tests were in the 600’s.</p>
<p>Xeroday & Hurray,</p>
<p>No doubt being an Asian male is more difficult to get into a top college. Even though Cornell has about 16% Asians, the COE has about 25% Asians. There are probably too many Asians applying to the COE. For Asian males, good numbers and some special things may be needed to get in. Hope that you will be successful for other applications. Just apply for a few more colleges. My S is fortunately accepted; otherwise, applications will be sent out to another 10 colleges.</p>
<p>ACCEPTED - CAS (also applied to alternate college - CoE)</p>
<p>SAT I (breakdown): n/a
ACT: 35 (35 English, 35 Math, 35 Reading, 36 Science, 8 Writing)
SAT II: Math II - 790, Physics 770
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.87
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 12/444
AP: Calc AB (5), Physics B (4)
IB: We have IB @ our school, but it’s more liberal arts oriented. It doesn’t offer any STEM courses at the higher level, so if that’s where your strengths are, you have to take AP courses, and those courses have become less available now that our school is offering the IB diploma program.</p>
<p>Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP Studio Art-2-D Design, AP Statistics, English Comp I and II DE, American Gov’t Honors, Economics Honors, Chemistry Honors, Gifted Externship Honors, Stagecraft I (submitted my first quarter report card along with my app).</p>
<p>Major Awards: JETS 3rd place regional comp, lots of outstanding achievement awards, pride awards, & academic letters @ the high school level, 3rd place largest juried art show in the county. The reason I worked so hard to bring a chapter of Mu Alpha Theta to our school is because we simply don’t have the opportunities for competitions that other districts have (same with our engineering society). </p>
<p>Extracurriculars: Mu Alpha Theta, (Co-Founder, V.P., and President); Engineering Society (President); Superintendent’s District Advisory Council (one of two students chosen to represent our school @ the district level); Peer-to-Peer Gifted Mentorship Program - district level (founder, administrator, mentor); Student Gov’t (senior & junior class secty.); Gifted Externship - teaching asst., math for college readiness; private art lessons; regional chorus member; high school literary magazine (art editor, member of founding group of officers); varsity swimming (3 years, county champs); National Honor Society. </p>
<p>Job/Work Experience: none - I’m 16, no one is interested in hiring someone my age.</p>
<p>Volunteer/Community service: Summer art counselor, SPCA summer volunteer, math tutor, church acolyte (stopped counting volunteer hours when I hit the 100 hour mark last year - in Florida you are required to accumulate 100 hours to receive in-state scholarship money).</p>
<p>Summer Activities: Swimming, volunteering, and one or two classes at our community college.</p>
<p>Essays: Common App essay detailed my grandmother’s influence on me, EC/work mini-essay covered the mentorship program I’m working on, supplemental essays talked about my love of math and focused on my desire to attend Cornell (more than anything in the world), join their chorus (I submitted a supplemental voice recording to the music department), and why I wanted to attend, specifically, the college of arts & sciences or engineering. I researched both schools in depth. It was very difficult to write about myself. I’m not used to doing that.</p>
<p>Teacher Recommendation: Excellent. I had both teachers for 3 years, so they really got to know me. My English teacher was also my gifted and humanities teacher, and I had the same math teacher for pre-calculus and calculus, and I’m now her assistant.
Counselor Rec: Excellent. She has known me all four years.</p>
<p>Additional Rec: none
Interview: none
Other
State (if domestic applicant): Florida
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Large and considered the go-to school for the college bound in our district.
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Income Bracket: I should qualify for a lot of financial aid.
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none</p>
<p>Strengths: I don’t know, but probably my EC’s? I’ve heard that being strong in math and art is kind of unusual.
Weaknesses: I thought I may have been involved in too much, but everything I got involved in I felt very passionately about, so it was hard to say no.</p>
<p>Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think that my desire to attend Cornell and that I’d work very hard to contribute to the school and community came through in my essays - at least I hope it did. They have some incredible outreach programs at Cornell!
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: n/a
General Comments: When I found out that I was accepted, I cried for 15 minutes straight. I really didn’t think I’d be accepted.</p>
<p>Decision: DEFERRED ILR</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2100 (720 M, 670 CR, 710 W)
ACT: N/A
SAT II: USH 750, Math Level 1 670
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 96/100 Weighted
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): English Lang (5), USH (4), World (4), Physics B (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc AB, AP Micro, AP Macro, AP Environmental, AP US GOV, College Accounting, SUPA (Syracuse University) English, SUPA (Syracuse University) Spanish
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar w/ Honor, DECA: 1st in states, 4th at National, Spanish Honor Society</p>
<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Model UN (President), DECA (Vice President), National Honor Society, Political Internship which included campaigning, round-table discussions, etc., SKYWARN (National Weather Service) and a few others
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered weekly at religious school (200 + hours)
Summer Activities: see internship
Essays: Pretty good overall
Teacher Recommendation: Both were probably very good
Counselor Rec: Generic, I would imagine
Additional Rec:
Interview: Went well, I thought</p>
<p>Other
State (if domestic applicant): NY
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public, sends many grads to Ivy-League Schools
Ethnicity: White
Gender: M
Income Bracket: Rather not say
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None</p>
<p>Reflection
Strengths: Focused EC’S, essays, courseload
Weaknesses: GPA for sure, and probably test scores
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: GPA just not high enough, a few too many B+'s
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Nowhere yet…
General Comments:
I’ll probably apply ED 2 to another school, so it looks like my ride with Cornell is over…</p>
<p>accepted into architecture!</p>
<p>[ size=+2][ color=green][ b]Decision: Accepted CAS**[/color][/size]</p>
<p>[ b]Objective:[list]
[ *] SAT I (breakdown): CR 650 MATH 760 WR 710
[ *] ACT: /
[ *] SAT II: MATH 2 720 CHEM 770
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): About 3.8+, weighted 4.19
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): /
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis): CHEM 5, CALC BC 5, ENG LIT 3
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[ *] Senior Year Course Load: linear algebra(finished AP Calculus BC last yr), english, ap stats, ap art, french, honors physics
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):sociology
[ /list][ b]Subjective:[list]
[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): so so
[ *] Job/Work Experience:
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: a lot!
[ *] Summer Activities:a lot! really meaningful!
[ *] Essays: i wrote about art… i think it is very strong, thats what my counselor said
[ *] Teacher Recommendation:really strong
[ *] Counselor Rec:strong
[ ] Additional Rec:
[ ] Interview: pretty about…last bout 40 minutes long…
[ /list][ b]Other
[ *] State (if domestic applicant): ohio
[ *] Country (if international applicant):im international applicant
[ *] School Type: private
[ *] Ethnicity:asian
[ *] Gender:female
[ ]Income Bracket:
[ ] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
[ b]Reflection
[ *] Strengths:
[ *] Weaknesses:
[ ] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
[ ] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
[ b]General Comments: </p>
<p>ACCEPTED TO ILR!</p>
<p>sorry everyone, basically just copying my chances thread here. </p>
<p>Weighted gpa: 108.22
Rank: 2/112
APs: World History, Biology, US History, English Lang, Statistics
Senior APs: English Lit, US Gov, Physics B, Calculus AB
other senior courses: college french, essay writing for college
*AP Scholar with Distinction</p>
<p>Scores:
ACT - 35 (one sitting)
English 35
Mathematics 34
Reading 34
Science 35
(Writing with essay 32)
Sat II Us History- 740</p>
<p>Fun fact: spent semester abroad (spring of sophomore year) in Israel - israeli history as well as hebrew level 2 will appear on my transcript</p>
<p>Other Awards/distinctions:
Nordstrom scholarship finalist
national merit commended
All-county art show- 9
Excellence in high tech art -9
Excellence in criminal and civil law -9
Achievement in French -9
Achievement in Pre-AP world history -9
Excellence in english H - 9
Achievement in french 3H -10
**award policy changed in 11th grade.
Excellence in math -11 (one student per grade. I was in pre calc H and ap stat)
Excellence in english - 11 (one student per grade. I was in ap lang)
Achievement in us history - 11 (one student per grade. I was in ap us)</p>
<p>Comm service:
Hospital volunteer 9 10 11 12 worked for speech pathologist
Volunteer for The Museum of Mathematics 9 10 11 12 worked events such as World Science Festival
Volunteer w/ local chabad (senior visits, etc.)
Worked w/ special needs camp while in Israel
Worked w/ food rescue org while in Israel</p>
<p>EC:
Jewish teen club w/ local chabad 9 10(treasurer) 11(vp) 12(pres)
Bbyo (also jewish youth) 9 10 11 12 (israel advocacy committee)
Jv/v volleyball 9 10(JVcapt) 11 12(Vcapt)
Interact 9 10 11 12 (festival charity booth committee head 10 11)
Mock trial 11 12
Student council 12 (treasurer)
Peer leadership program w/ jewish womens foundation
National, french, and sci honor society
Jv basketball (captain 9 and 10)</p>
<p>Work:
Camp counselor summer 2011 (volleyball coach, volleyball club leader, GREEN team recycling committee)</p>
<p>misc. info:
white
New York
female
no hooks
teacher and counselor recs were definitely heartfelt. they were from great people</p>
<p>There is good reason why Cornell does not fill the entire engineering school with Asians. Asian students may have the stats for engineering but it is clear that some of the creativity is lacking as a result of the long hours so many Asian students are accustomed to working. According to my sons this was evident at Cornell and at MIT. I do not mean to be offensive because I respect the work ethic of Asian students but there is a problem in admissions regarding Asian students because most look very similar on paper.</p>
<p>Well, all top engineering programs have a lot of Asians: CalTech 42% (race blind admission), MIT about 25%, Cornell COE 25%, CMU about 25%, University of CA system has a lot Asian engineering students too. Asian students have not just good numbers. They have a very high proportion of winers in many top competitions too. The 2011 Siemens competition is just an example: [Siemens</a> Competition 2011](<a href=“http://inr.synapticdigital.com/Siemens/Competition2011/]Siemens”>http://inr.synapticdigital.com/Siemens/Competition2011/)
The diversity really hurts Asian students among the top national universities. They have to work harder to get in. My kids grow up at a “white” environment, so they do not work the way a lot of Asian students do. I think that there are a lot of good colleges in the U.S., and one does not necessarily chase the few top national universities. Many top LAC give the Asian students an equal or better chance.</p>
<p>has anyone seen this? it’s pretty interesting. [Some</a> Asians’ college strategy: Don’t check ‘Asian’ - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/asians-college-strategy-dont-check-asian-174442977.html]Some”>http://news.yahoo.com/asians-college-strategy-dont-check-asian-174442977.html) </p>
<p>After seeing this: “A study by Princeton sociologist Thomas Espenshade examined applicants to top colleges from 1997, when the maximum SAT score was 1600 (today it’s 2400). Espenshade found that Asian-Americans needed a 1550 SAT to have an equal chance of getting into an elite college as white students with a 1410 or black students with an 1100.” </p>
<p>i used to think i had an adequate sat score, and that the asian thing was fake, but after seeing this i felt like i had a miserable score. of course, it was too late for me to take the sat i again for ahigher score. :(</p>
<p>In general…. White students are slackers than Asian in college.
But White students are very creative than Asian students if we call lazy slackers = creativity.</p>
<p>ah! i really believe in equality so this conversation is really hitting home. listen, cornell is still 15% asian and i really don’t think they are making it harder for asian students to get accepted. this is coming from a white, jewish kid from a very college-oriented area of new york which is (unfortunately) probably one of the most common profiles for college applicants. everyone here should know it’s not always about your sat score or gpa, because EVERYONE has those and a few points here and there don’t say as much as we think. remember, it’s affirmative action we’re talking about here. they aren’t doing this to let in as many white kids as possible! sorry to anyone who didn’t get in last night. i really wish you guys the best of luck through the rest of this ridiculous process.</p>
<p>ps - does anyone know if they mail our financial aid packages with the acceptance letters? and how soon we’ll get those?</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone who got in! I hope to see you on campus next year.</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted CALS</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): M: 690 CR: 690 W: 670
[</em>] ACT: 31
[<em>] SAT II: Biology (E): 710, Math II: 650
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95, Weighted: 4.88
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology (5), US History (4), English Language (4), Spanish Language (3), European History (3)
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended Scholar
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Taekwondo Instructor
[</em>] Essays: Honest, passionate</p>
<p>[/ul]</p>
<p>Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): California
[</em>] School Type: Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: Half-white, half-asian (Italian and Korean)
[</em>] Gender: F
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): My grandfather briefly attended Cornell for one year (I’m not sure if this counts as legacy; he did not receive a degree)[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Essays, GPA, I went to the Galapagos Islands to do scientific research
[</em>] Weaknesses: SAT, AP scores [/ul]</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2160 (800 M, 670 CR, 690 WR)
ACT: N/A
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Chemistry 800 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): N/A
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/35
AP (place score in parenthesis): N/A
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):Sri Lankan Mathematical Olympiad - High Distinction
Australian National Chemistry Quiz - High Distinction
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Represented Sri Lanka at the World Youth Scrabble Tournament 2007 and 2009
School Scrabble Team Grade 6-13. All Island Champion. All Island Teams Champions
Student Chairman of the College Scrabble Club 2010-2011
College Senior Scrabble Team Captain 2010-2011, Team Member 2004-2011
Member of College Rugby Football Team U-16, U-18 2007-2009
Scouting:
Member of 42nd Colombo Scout Troop 2003-2011
8th Troop Instructor
6th Troop Leader, Wallabies Patrol Leader
United Students’ Circle – Assistant Secretary and Senior Committee member. Was in the organizing committee for the first ever Inter-School Acapella Competition</p>
<p>Volunteer/Community service:
Represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Pacific Children’s Convention 2008,2003 as a Peace Ambassador and Junior Ambassador.
Was the President of the ‘Bridge’ Club an Alumnus of the Asian Pacific Children’s Convention.
Organized Community Service Projects for the underprivileged. ~200 hours of community service
Essays: Okay…
Teacher Recommendation: Excellent
Counselor Rec: Excellent
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: N/A
Other
State (if domestic applicant): -
Country (if international applicant): Sri Lanka
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: South Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: IDK
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): 1st Gen. College, URM
Reflection
Strengths: SAT II’s(triple 800s), recs, ECs
Weaknesses: SAT I,
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Background and Initiative
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
General Comments: Can’t wait to start. :D</p>