<p>Did anyone receive their financial aid notifications yet, particularly international students? I’ve been dying to hear from them, but haven’t heard anything so far. </p>
<p>Decision: Accepted to CALS for Science of Earth Systems</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>]SAT I (breakdown): 2090 (650 CR; 670 M; 770 W)
[</em>] ACT: n/a
[<em>] SAT II: 1450 (720 Bio M; 730 Chem)
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): n/a
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 5%
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): n/a
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: A Level Geography, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Outstanding Cambridge Learner Award, Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (6A</em> and 2A grades) and Cambridge AS Levels (4 A grades). Royal Commonwealth Society Essay Competition Award, National Earth Sciences Olympiad winner. </p>
<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Debating (President of school debate council after being member for five years, represented school in several local tournaments, represented country through competitive selection in the World Schools Debating Championships)
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Editorial Intern and Contributor of a Business Magazine
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: Science tutor for students aged 10-14
[</em>] Summer Activities: Teaching assistant at a classical dance school
[<em>] Essays: I think these were my strongest parts - my SAT scores are at the bottom 25% of Cornell’s acceptance profiles.
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: I took them from my Grade 10 Geography Teacher and Grade 11 Biology teacher
[<em>] Counselor Rec: This was a great recommendation - my counselor has known me since 1999.
[</em>] Additional Rec: n/a
[<em>] Interview: n/a
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[<em>] Intended Major: Science of Earth Systems
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): n/a
[<em>] Country (if international applicant): Bangladesh
[</em>] School Type: private
[<em>] Ethnicity: South Asian
[</em>] Gender: female
[<em>] Income Bracket: USD 25,000-35,000.
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I’m not sure what this means?
[/ul]Reflection[list]
[<em>] Strengths: Essays, determination – My school is not offering Geography in A Levels and I am studying it on my own.
[</em>] What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: My passion for my major.
[<em>] Weaknesses: Definitely my weakness in Math.
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted: Class rank, recommendations.
[<em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Haven’t heard from any other universities yet.
[</em>] Your “Cornell” factor - the most unique thing in your application: My common app essay.</p>
<p>Pick one: Decision: Accepted to CALS for Applied Economics and Management</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 730 CR, 790 M, 680 W (2200)
[</em>] ACT: 34
[<em>] SAT II: 800 Math II, 780 Bio E, 730 World History
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (97 on 100 point scale)
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4 of 89
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology (5)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis):none
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP French, Calculus, Statistics, English… and regular physics
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): won the American Math Competition for my school in 10th grade, also was on the number 1 team in NY State for TSA TEAMS for my school size
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student government (student body VP), Class Officer (treasurer), Math Club (VP), Model UN, Musical Theater, Tennis
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: one summer working part time
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: every weekend for my church
[<em>] Summer Activities: took classes in comp sci and economics from local college
[</em>] Essays: fairly decent, did many revisions: talked about my EC leadership and what it meant to me
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: one glowing from French teacher, one solid from Calc Teacher
[</em>] Counselor Rec: decent
[<em>] Additional Rec: none
[</em>] Interview: none
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] applied for Financial Aid?: no
[</em>] Intended Major: applied economics and management ( AEM )
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): NY
[</em>] School Type: public
[<em>] Ethnicity: white
[</em>] Gender: male
[<em>] Income Bracket: pretty high, likely top 10% nationally but not sure
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): family member works there
[/ul]Reflection[list]
[<em>] Strengths: leadership and math scores
[</em>] What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: leadership and sensitivity, with a focus on responsibility
[<em>] Weaknesses: not the best scores, but decent over all
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I showed a ton of interest and my family connection may have played a role (not alumni, though)
[<em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: none
[</em>] Your “Cornell” factor - the most unique thing in your application: math competitions and widespread leadership</p>
<p>Thanks to those who applied. You are right that Cornell is a great college too. However, it is my fault for not encouraging my D to apply to her dream college. When we went to her counsellor, she would encourage her to apply to apply to all these other colleges like Lehigh, Vanderbilt etc.
All the other results are coming out and the kids who have much lesser stats than her have gotten into Harvard, Yale and Brown.
Right now my job is to ensure that she feels totally great about Cornell.</p>
<p>Dipali…The lower stat kids may be Athletes and URM’s…and stats are NOT the whole thing…the process is Holistic…
You can always transfer if she isn’t happy…Why did you do an ED school instead of EA?
Has she done an overnight? how many times have you visited? Has she sat in on a class? Has she met with current students? or were you just looking for a Brand Name school?
If she is that unhappy… appeal your decision and move on to RD…
Cornell is a GREAT school and she should be HONORED to have been accepted there…I know all the kids and parents on this thread are Thrilled…
It is your daughters responsibility to plan HER future…maybe she should go and spend time there…and then She will realize how blessed she is to have been accepted…</p>
<p>Cornell wasn’t my older daughter’s dream school. It was her back up school because she thought her stats “qualified” her for higher ranking schools. Cornell wait listed her because they didn’t think she would matriculated. Long story short, she fell in love with Cornell during orientation and never looked back. She said they were best 4 years of her life. She graduated 2 years ago, got her dream job and was just ranked #1 analyst on her team (a bit of bragging).</p>
<p>My younger daughter was the Sal for her class, with many other excellent credentials. Both her school GC and our private college counselor to apply to Yale or Princeton. She compared Cornell with all of those schools (on a spreadsheet) and decided to ED Cornell. She said Cornell had everything she wanted in a college. I had the best course offering with 7 different colleges, great college town and good social life (her older sister’s experience). She just finished her first semester at Cornell. She is very happy over all. We are thrilled that she made dean’s list.</p>
<p>Allow your daughter some time to get over, “could have, should have.” If she is still in the “I wish…” mode after few weeks then I would give her a stupid smack in the head. She is lucky to be admitted to Cornell. Her education at Cornell will serve her well in life.</p>
<p>Sorry, but I highly doubt that. I have almost never seen a truly qualified applicant to Cornell get rejected/waitlisted due to Tuft’s Syndrome. The guys who have won national/international awards with the best stats you could possibly imagine always get accepted. That’s of course assuming they actually put together a decent application and didn’t turn in like a 1 word essay. Even if Cornell manages to get only 1 out of every 10 applicants like these, they think it’s worth it. </p>
<p>It might differ by college, but I really don’t see A&S or Engi rejecting overqualified applicants. If you look at the Ivy results threads every year, you would be VERY hard pressed to find a person who got accepted to HYP not get accepted to Cornell.</p>
<p>My kid’s GCs have conference calls with many top tier adcoms before decisions were made. They went over each applicant from her high school. My kid’s GC knew which school my kid was going to be admitted before we knew. We had pretty good idea why she was rejected/accepted by most of schools on her list.</p>
<p>Hello Dipali,
I read with interest your earlier post in this string about your conflicted feelings surrounding the colleges your daughter applied to or, more accurately, the colleges she didnt apply to.
My take .for the sake of context, my daughter just finished her 1st semester at Cornell, so the college search from last year is still very fresh in my memory. Her stats were very comparable to your daughter (I saw where you posted her stats in another string) my daughter had the same AP scores, virtually the same GPA, slightly higher SATs. Her first (and second, for that matter) choice was a small, very selective Liberal Arts college. Since her stats placed her comfortably above the 75% percentile as per previous Common Data Set info, she thought that she had a good chance of acceptance. Long story short no dice. Deferred in ED.
As it turned out, she was rejected and Wait Listed in RD at Amherst and Williams respectively. Disappointment ensued. Especially when she read acceptance posts from other students with lower aggregate scores on those CC strings. The rest of her applications were a mixed bag of acceptances and waitlists (really, Tufts?). As many times as we hear it from others, be they parents or professionals, that admissions to such colleges are ultimately a crap-shoot, its tough to internalize it when it comes to your own loved one.
My D accepted Cornells offer of admission and am happy to say that she has had a remarkably positive experience. The academics are extremely challenging, as one would suspect, but she made the Deans List. She has made friends, joined the APO service fraternity and made a very nice transition to the next phase of her life.
I strongly suspect that your daughter will do the same. Second guessing the college application process is a natural thing for a parent to do, but Cornell has laid those feelings to rest in our case. Theres no reason to think that your experience will be different.</p>
<p>As a Freshman majoring in honors chemistry at Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences. I just wanted to say congratulations to all of you that were accepted. Cornell is a great school that provides fantastic opportunities to all of its students. For all that were deferred or rejected, I know what you’re going through. I went through the same thing last year and I just wanted you to know that its not the end of the world. I didn’t get accepted to my first choice, but after doing lots of research and actually spending this first semester, I can honestly say I would not have been happier if I went to any other college. I know that may seem a little counterintuitive to my point, but what I’m trying to get at is that you will end up where you are meant to be. So don’t be discouraged by this one obstacle. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to behold, and when it comes down to it, college is what you make of it. The college isn’t going to shape you into the person you’re destined to be; you will guide your own experiences and learn a lot more about yourself than you may be able to conceive at the moment. Trust me from my own experiences. Anyways, I just wanted to put my two cents in. Good luck to you all as you finish your senior years and continue with the application process!!</p>
<p>Actually, the valedictorian of my school from last year got rejected from Cornell but accepted to Harvard. No hooks at all. But yeah, I would agree that it is rare</p>
<p>Sorry Im late. Ive been pretty lazy Decision: Accepted CoE</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): CR 620 M 780 WR 730 (2130)
[</em>] ACT: None taken
[<em>] SAT II: M2 760 Phys 730
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/84 (Salutatorian)
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): A-levels instead
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): Nah
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: A-levels!
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nope just National Olympiads Medals
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Pretty condensed: Trumpet Player, Tutor, Debate Team Speaker, Science Olympiad team, Library Assistant, Tenor Singer, Quiz Team, Entrepreneur
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Engineer at Big Firm
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Got a lot of money for Haiti, charity organizations, and orphanages
[<em>] Summer Activities: Job experience ish
[</em>] Essays: Pretty solid
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Were okay I guess
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Superb!
[<em>] Additional Rec:
[</em>] Interview:
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[</em>] Intended Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant):
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: Private
[</em>] Ethnicity: African
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Income Bracket: 70000 ish
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: Essays, ECs, URM, Counselor rec
[<em>] What you tried to focus on in your application Everything. Its holistic right?
[</em>] Weaknesses: SATs
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I guess my Essays really showed I had a passion for engineering. My IGCSE and Predicted A-levels results were really good as well.
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: ED!
[li] Your “Cornell” factor - the most unique thing in your application: Definitely the way I used anecdotes in my essays to show my passion for engineering![/li][/ul]
See you guys at Ithaca!</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2290 (CR: 780, M: 710, W: 800)
ACT: n/a
SAT II: math level I 720, US History 750
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): n/a (but 4.49 weighted GPA)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
AP (place score in parenthesis): European History (5) US History (5) Literature (5) Government (5) Calculus AB (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP Pyschology AP Calculus BC AP Language College Level Hebrew Honors Jewish History
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Best Delegate YU Model UN Award
Subjective:</p>
<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): abridged: 9th and 10th grade class president, Lead Roles in Theater, Debate Club Founder and President, Model UN, Yearbook (Editor of Ads), Chief of Writers on School Weekly E-letter, Senior Editor of Creative Newspaper, Youth Groups Leader (4 years), Student Editor of Synagogue Newsletter, Israel Advocacy Representative
Job/Work Experience: personal tutor
Volunteer/Community service: 30 hours a year
Summer Activities: Brown Pre-College program, Volunteer at a Children’s Home in Israel
Essays: commonapp - Sushi, my love for it, and how it portrays my persona Supplement - showing that I knew and appreciated the unparalleled nuances of Cornell
Teacher Recommendation: English teacher’s was phenomenal, history teacher’s was prob very good - she is a graduate of Brown and Penn
Counselor Rec: prob decent
Additional Rec: n/a
Interview: n/a
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Intended Major: English
State (if domestic applicant): Fl
Country (if international applicant): usa
School Type: Private w/ Dual Curriculum
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: male
Income Bracket: ~~~
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
Reflection[list][<em>] Strengths:Emphasis on English and theater in application (straight A+s throughout high school in English, out-of-the-box essay[</em>] What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: my personality and passion for education^[<em>] Weaknesses: B+ in math Sophomore year[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Because I demonstrated intellectual depth and personality [<em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: didn’t find out except from Tulane - was deferred Early Action (what a joke!)[</em>] Your “Cornell” factor - the most unique thing in your application: me! /shot</p>
<p>Haha I was originally not gonna post… but after getting into UVa today I feel pretty happy.</p>
<p>Decision: Rejected (AEM)</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2190 (M750 R710 W730 E11)
ACT: N/A
SAT II: M2: 800, US History: 740
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.86-3.93ish (I’m not totally sure what colleges saw…)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): No rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 (US History), 5 (Lang)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Comp Sci, BC Calc, AP Stat, AP Lit, AP Spanish, Honors Econ
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None</p>
<p>[ b]Subjective:**
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Pascack-Volunteers (Founder and co-president), Debate (captain), Spanish NHS (President), iPhone App Design & Maintanence
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: Tons… 150 hrs I think volunteering at a blood bank, and I made my own club…
Summer Activities: Crapload of tennis, chilling…
Essays: Out of all of my colleges, I think UVa (and Duke) got my best supps. My Cornell essays I thought were terrible…
Teacher Recommendation: Pre-calc & Lit teachers - would assume to be satisfactory
Counselor Rec: would assume to be satisfactory
Additional Rec: None
Interview: none</p>
<p>[ b]Other**
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yep
Intended Major: Finance
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 250,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I’m Ukrainian (born in Ukraine??)</p>
<p>Reflection
Strengths: Phenomenal ECs, great GPA (I got only one B for my first 3 years)
Weaknesses: SAT score not good enough for ivies, tanked my senior year
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: No clue
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: Villanova (5k per year merit scholarship), TCNJ (7k per year merit scholarship), UVa ; Wait listed: WUSTL (Olin); Rejected: Nowhere else yet haha</p>
</p>