***Official Cornell University Class of 2021 Regular Decision Results ONLY***

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
21

**Decision: Accepted to SHA (Early Notification on March 1st) **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 34 (36/34/34/31)
ACT superscore (breakdown): N/A because only did one sitting
SAT II (subject, score): Math 2: 780 Biology M: 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):idk how to calculate… I only have one B from AP Physics 1
Weighted GPA: never calculated
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):N/A
AP (place score in parentheses):AP Physics 1 (4) AP World History (5) AP Biology (5) AP Microeconomics (5) AP Macroeconomics (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC AP Statistics AP English Lang AP Human Geography AP Environmental Science Law 12
Number of other EA applicants in your school: ED u mean? I’m not sure…
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar, a bunch of school awards, community service awards, regional public speaking awards, regional science fair bronze, national design competition gold

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Founder & President of a non-profit
Leader & Founder of an organ donation campaign
Marketing lead at an e-publication
Developer of an iPhone application with more then five thousand users
Founder of mock trial club
Member on badminton team
Artist
…etc

Job/Work Experience:
Worked at a cafe for three years
See some above

Volunteer/Community Service:
A bunch tbh… service is what I really care about!!
Won service award every year… (500hr+ every year since grade 7)

Summer Experience:
Went to Penn Law Academy
Worked at a motel in France
Travelled a lot

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays:
Common app: talked about how my family & strangers changed my perspective on my initiatives (idk sound pretty commonplace but a lot of friends likes it) 7.5/10
Supplement: Talked about my experience in the service industry and how I fit… with one anecdote (tbh I did not spend a long time on this essay and didn’t edit it at all before submitting it because I lost hope… but hey!!) I’d give it 6/10
Teacher Recommendation #1: My social studies teacher, she really likes me and I think she is a very good writer so probably 8/10
Teacher Recommendation #2: My French teacher for three years, saw my struggles and growth, really nice person but I don’t know because I think she might write very generally instead of being specific so 7/10?
Counselor Rec: He knows me better now but not when he wrote the letter so 7/10
Additional Info/Rec: N/A
Interview:Did not request for interview
Art Supplement:N/A

Other

Date Submitted App: LOL in the airport before I left for my winter vacation… December 18th
U.S. State/Territory or Country: I’m international from Canada
School Type: Big private
Ethnicity:Asian
Gender:Female
Income Bracket Range: umm can afford full tuition :slight_smile:
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):
tbh I don’t think I have any hooks… I’m asian and I’m interntional…
so I’m actually SO surprised that I got EARLY NOTIFICATION to SHA asdfghjkl;’ so happy and honoured!!!

Reflection

Strengths:I think my stats are above average for Hotel school specifically, lots of service initiatives
Weaknesses:kinda ur avg cornell applicant… no hooks… international & Chinese
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:I would like to think that I am qualified and lucky at the same time! :slight_smile:
What would you have done differently?: umm not sure
Where else did you apply? some other Ivies, Vanderbilt, CMU, UCs, NYU

**Other Factors: **

General Comments & Advice: Good luck everyone!!!

22

Accepted: Physics

23

[ size=4]**Decision:Accepted **[/size]

Objective:
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Total:1460 Math:760 Reading & Writing: 700 Essay:16
SAT II (subject, score): Math II: 720 Physics: 700
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85
Weighted GPA: 4.05
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): Bio(4)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Physics C E&M, AP Econ, Honors Spanish, Regular english
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): National Hispanic Recognition
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): Academic honors with distinction, Tri M Music Honor Society, Most Valuable Athlete (golf)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Varsity golf (captain Junior and Senior year), Jazz band (1st trombone), Finance club, Math club
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community Service: Nothing significant but I did about 20 hours each year in various activities
Summer Experience: Travel and golf camps

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays: 7, not a strong writer but they were honest and sincere

Teacher Recommendation #1: Math teacher of three years, maybe her favorite student ever, didn’t read it but she said it was the best letter she’d ever written, 10/10
Teacher Recommendation #2: Junior English teacher, she said writing letter made her cry, 10/10
Counselor Rec: We had a good relationship, but I hadn’t known her very long and since she was very busy writing many letters for other people, I can’t imagine it was particularly strong. 6/10
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview: Interview not offered for school of engineering
Art Supplement: nope

Other

Date Submitted App: early December, but I don’t think this matters
U.S. State/Territory or Country: NJ
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Hispanic, south-American
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: ~$100k yearly household income
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): URM

Reflection

Strengths: Letters of rec, two significant, time-consuming extracurriculars, URM status
Weaknesses: test scores
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: My essays were honest and about topics I cared about (engineering, golf, music). I think although I didn’t have great grades it wasn’t a big deal because I took the hardest math and science classes offered at my school and did well so a few stray B’s in English didn’t kill me.
What would you have done differently?: I got in, so I guess nothing
Where else did you apply?

MIT (denied), Stanford (denied), Princeton (denied), Penn (denied), Columbia (denied), Cornell (accepted), Rice (accepted), Northwestern (denied), UVA (denied), Rutgers (accepted to honors college)
[ b]Other Factors: **
Didn’t see it listed and I mentioned it a few times, but I applied as a Mechanical Engineering major.

General Comments & Advice:
I think that I definitely wasn’t the best on-paper applicant, but I built a good narrative around physics and math and showed I could do well as an engineering major. That plus dedication in golf and music as well as being Hispanic I think were the big things.

Advice: Just be yourself. Admissions committees read so many applications they truly can tell the real applications from the fake ones. Don’t try to write like Emily Dickinson or whoever just to sound sophisticated. For most people, it only makes your message less clear. As long as you can show that you have a passion for something and the ability to achieve it as well as a desire to help people around you can get in.