Please chance a deferred student

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Ok I applied ED to Cornell CoE and was deferred. I'm going to send them an e-mail and ask them which parts of my application were found lacking. Please chance me for the following schools:</p>

<p>Cornell (RD now that I've been deferred)
Princeton
UPenn
Lafayette
Lehigh
Trinity U, San Antonio
Bucknell
SUNY Buffalo (Presidential Scholarship)</p>

<p>I'm an international applicant (from India) and I am applying for financial aid.</p>

<p>My stats:</p>

<p>SAT Reasoning : 2360 (CR:790 M:800 W:770) (1 sitting)
SAT Subject Tests : Lit 720, Math II 800, Chemistry 800, Physics 800
AP Exams (Independent Study, my school doesn't offer AP courses) :
Calculus BC : 3
Physics C : Mechanics : 4
Physics C : E&M : 4
Environmental Science : 5</p>

<p>CBSE (Indian System) : Grade 9 : 93.4%
Grade 10 Boards (National) : 96.8 % Grade 10 (School) : 93.8%
Grade 11 : 78.6 % (Physics, Chem, Math and Biotechnology though, and that's the toughest subject combination I've ever seen, really. In CBSE schools all courses of the same subject are at the same level. ie. no honors or AP courses.)
Grade 12 : 81.6% (my first term/semester scores)
Class Rank : My school doesn't rank.</p>

<p>Btw I shifted schools after Grade 10. Came back to my old school in Delhi.</p>

<p>ECs/Volunteer/Work Experience/Academic Qualifications :
-Quizzing (Bunch of certs, nothing major though),
-Electronic Keyboard (Performed in school blehh :/ plus Trinity College, Oxford - Grade 4 this year, got a distinction on the grade 2 exam),
-Taekwondo (blue belt, plus a South Delhi district tourney hopefully)
-Eco Club at school + worked with a couple of NGOs and i'm really interested in 'going green' so...,
-ARSSDC (Space Settlement Design Competition) (Grade 11) Really interesting + Engineering experience + Asian finals, I'm taking part again this year (Grade 12)
-N.I.M Adventure Course : Mountaineering course, 15 days, what can i say?? Bliss. Plus it's graded and I got top grades and it's a really reputed institution or so they say.
-Learned the guitar by myself?? (Summer activity :P)
-Was part of three clean-up drives organised by the eco club at school in collaboration with the Government of Delhi
-200 hours of volunteer work at the National Zoological Park with the vet.
-Have worked with my school in their program for aiding underprivileged children. Also went on a school trip (organised by an NGO) to rural areas in the country and worked with the villagers there.
-Peer tutoring. Physics mainly. But a bit of math and chem too. I don't know whether to mention this because any guy with an 80+ in grade 12 could be a peer tutor (in CBSE) but I spent time on this so I guess I will.</p>

<p>-I was part of a 4-member team from school which won the Niamat Rai Contest for Investigatory Projects in Mathematics. You guys probably wouldn't have even heard of this, but it's pretty presitgious here in Delhi, and it's been held every year, for the past 19 years.
-UNSW International Assessment for Indian Schools - Grades 9 and 10 - High Distinction in Math, English, Science and Computer Skills
-IMO (Math Olympiad) - Grade 11 - All India Rank 103 (Please don't confuse this with the International Math Olympiad, I don't even approach those guys in raw intelligence, this is just a competitive exam for Indian schools)
-NSO (Science Olympiad) - Grade 11 - All India Rank 306
-Computer Literacy Foundation - International English Olympiad (It ain't really international, just for Indian schools) - International/All India Rank 1
-I got certificates in my school for topping/2nd/3rd in math/english/french in grade 10??
And AP Scholar with Honor for what it's worth (I haven't received the award yet but my scores match the requirements)</p>

<p>My common app essay and my cornell supplementary essay were decent. Or at least that's what the people who read them told me. Yeah actually they were pretty good I guess(I spent 2 weeks on them), but nothing spectacular.</p>

<p>Intended Major : Mechanical Engineering at Cornell, Princeton, UPenn, Lehigh and Bucknell
International Studies and Engineering at Lafayette
Engineering Science at Trinity U
Aerospace Engineering at UB</p>

<p>Thank you :)!</p>

2

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<p>Don’t. They are not at liberty to answer this sort of question, and even if they *were *to answer, it wouldn’t benefit you. Whatever they found “lacking” is probably unchangeable this late in the game, and it’s best not to dwell on it.</p>

<p>And come on. You were deferred, which means you’re still in the running. It’s not like you were flat out rejected.</p>

3

<p>^Agreed. Although I think it’s rather obvious that an averaged 80% GPA during your junior and senior years is what killed your chances.</p>

<p>Princeton and Penn with both be very tough but you should be in at the rest. How much aid those schools will be offering is an entirely different question, though.</p>

4

<p>Ermm ok…so I should just get my scores further up, and send them updates regarding my ECs/awards?? Cuz I thought that only those deferred applicants who corrected whatever was missing on their ED apps were admitted in the RD round? Haha yeah I’m not crying over it, I just want to know what kept me out so that I don’t get rejected everywhere :P</p>

<p>And regarding my scores, the educational system in India is very different from that of the US. I believe a 60 on 100 is a pass in the US? In India, a 33 on 100 is a pass. We don’t do grades or GPA, just scores. So a 60 here is a relatively decent score (especially in junior and senior years where our normal courses are equivalent to or tougher than the corresponding AP courses, except for English). My school deflates scores so a 81.6 in the class 12 semester exams will translate to a 92-95% on the class 12 national board exam. Also, it doesn’t rank but I’m definitely in the top 10% of my graduating class. And my school doesn’t send many students to the US, 1-2 every year, primarily because no one applies to the US in the first place. In the past we’ve had students in at cornell, yale and RISD :P</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice :)</p>

5

<p>bump. 10 char.</p>

6

<p>Competition for international students is extremely competitive, so you are at a disadvantage. There are many brilliant students from all sorts of countries vying for places in Cornell, Penn, and Princeton. You are certainly competitive enough for the rest of your schools, and I’m fairly certain they will accept you. With Cornell, Penn, and Princeton, just re-edit your essays if there are any problems and hope for the best. At this point, any changes in your grades or awards aren’t going to make much of a difference.</p>

<p>Chin up, don’t let this deferral get you down. You are a great applicant regardless.</p>

7

<p>Thank you :)!!! Would appreciate some more opinions.</p>

8

<p>I would try calling them. Do you have any contacts there?</p>

9

<p>What probably kept you out is money, though Cornell has more aid dollars for kids from India than any other school.</p>

<p>Each school will give aid to a few kids from India at most, and they get scores of qualified Indian candidates. Because of this, we can’t assess your chances in the way we can for Americans.</p>