Hi, I’m a rising Junior. I’ll apply ED to Cornell CALS during my senior year. Chance me PLEASE.
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): above 1500
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: above 700 Math II, above 700 Physics
Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 4.8 (will be 5.0 when I apply)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): N/A (will take AP Physics and AP stats during my junior year)
Awards: PSAT semifinalist/commended student
my chess team got 3rd in 10th grade in a national competition (will probably be 1st this year)
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Chess (started 10 years ago lol), Piano (played for 6 years)
Volunteer/Community service: NYC marathon
Summer Activities: Volunteering/traveling
Essays (rating 1-10, details): will be very good lol
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): will be very good lol
Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major and College: CALS
State (if domestic applicant): NY
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: above average
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): no hooks I think
Better OP, but you will be competing with students who have won national awards, done research, paid internships, etc… What is your intended major? Do you have an EC that directly ties in with that? The good news is that you have your junior year ahead of you to get more experience! My daughter didn’t win her engineering awards or get her design and work experiences until she was a junior, so you still have plenty of time.
From what you posted, you look like the “average” Cornell applicant. Smart and involved. You need to find pinpoint what you do and love, that will make you stand out from the other smart and involved applicants. Again, you are definitely on track to be competitive.
what is your individual chess rating?
You mentioned about your team, but what is your personal standing after playing more then 10 years? That probably should be mentioned. Good luck
@Liveontheedge
Your chess ranking does matter, since you indicated that you played at the national level! You should have a ranking, I would assume and you need to be proud of what you have. But you can be a captain of the team with a little experience in a game. Don’t be shy, show all cylinders of your engine!!!
None of the people here work for Cornell admission. Their prediction is just a prediction, even with the best guesstimate.
Instead of Chance Me, you may want to spend time reading up on how to postion yourself to be the best candidate for CALS and apply the knowledge to your application. Chance me can give you a false hope or even be discouraging.
your academics are really strong. I would just focus on highlighting your intended major and passion for something in particular in ur apps. something that isn’t chess
You need to do something to set yourself apart from the typical applicant pool, something unique. Being an asian male you’re going to look like most other asian males unfortunately unless you do something off the beaten path. Also, I’m confused re your PSAT commended/semifinalist comment because unless you’re currently a Junior your PSAT score can’t go into consideration for the NMSQ consideration.
I agree with other posters, we aren’t on the admissions committees, but also it doesn’t seem like you have a lot of ECs or that you have won any awards. If chess is where you have awards, then you need to highlight that. Start working on your resume and see what you’re missing. Will you have other AP courses or only those 2? Compared to the typical Cornell applicant, having only Stats and Physics by the time you apply, is not a lot. My suggestion would be to look at the current stats of accepted students and see what they have. The demographics are also posted so that will also help you.
You have nearly 2 years to work on your application to make it as strong as you possibly can. But don’t cram everything into the last year either. I also wouldn’t focus on a million volunteer hours. Everyone has that and that’s not unique. Perhaps tutoring/teaching chess is something you can start doing and spin off to highlight your chess abilities as well as show some leadership.