Please chance me for Cornell?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>Hi, I'm an incoming senior, and I was wondering if anyone can chance me for Cornell because I REALLY want to go there even though I think it's a reach for me. I'm also applying to Boston College, UNC Chapel Hill, UVA, Vanderbilt, UCLA, Northwestern, Binghamton, NYU, Emory, WashU</p>

<p>Basic Info:
State: NY
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)
Top 10% of competitive high school
School sends many students to Cornell (10 this year itself) - I don't know if that makes a difference?</p>

<p>SAT: Superscore = 2210
First time- 2180<br>
Math- 700<br>
CR - 690<br>
Writing - 790 (essay=10)<br>
Second time-2190
Math - 700<br>
CR - 720
Writing - 770 (essay=12)</p>

<p>GPA: 95.1/100, 4.0/4.0</p>

<p>SAT II: World 680, Bio 680, U.S. 780, taking Math II senior year</p>

<p>AP: AP World (5), AP Eng.Lang (hopefully 5), AP U.S. (hopefully 5), AP Psych (hopefully 5)
Senior Year APs: AP Econ (Micro/Macro), AP Bio, AP French, AP Calc AB</p>

<p>Awards: National Merit Commended Scholar (11th), National French Exam (9th), National French Exam (11th)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Key Club (9th grade)
Midnight Run (9th grade)
Asian Night (9th - 11th)
DECA (11th + 12th) - made it to National level
Fashion Show (will do in 12th)</p>

<p>Jobs: none
Volunteering: one summer at North Shore Animal League (animal shelter), one summer at Senior Citizen Center</p>

<p>Sorry about the weird format; this is my first thread in CC. Thanks for the help!</p>

2

<p>Can someone please reply? I’m not trying to be annoying but I just want other people’s input. Thanks</p>

3

<p>I think you have a good start, i would STRONGLY suggest finding some time to volunteer or do something unique, colleges really want a diverse and unique student body and there are a lot of kids out there that have a similar application to you, you have time to boost it up by finding something cool and interesting that will make you stick out in the competitive application pool. Good luck! ( My sister got into cornell and she had similar grades but did a lot of volunteering/ leadership activities, just some helpful advice! )</p>

4

<p>Yeah, I know that ECs are definitely my weakness but I’ve been looking for volunteer/job opportunities and I’m having difficulty finding any. Have any ideas?</p>

5

<p>Depending on where you live, my sister volunteered at a local organic farm and i think that could have really helped her. You could just start a club at your school (it doesn’t really have to be big or anything). Do you live in a city area or more suburban? I could help you with ideas depending on where you live, (i dont need specifics-lol im not a stalker!)</p>

6

<p>Haha I live in more of a suburban area (lots of stores, etc.)</p>

7

<p>Which college are you applying to (within Cornell)</p>

8

<p>Decent chance. Scores aren’t great though (Cornell doesn’t look at writing). Check your schools naviance, if there is one, to see if kids with your GPA and sat scores or close to it have been accepted to cornell</p>

9

<p>Slight - medium reach for ED. Don’t think you should RD.</p>

10

<p>I am planning to ED to CAS. My school’s Naviance shows that for people who were accepted:
Average GPA=93.60 (mine=95.07)
Combined SAT (1600)=1477 (mine=1420)<br>
Single SAT (2400)=2191 (mine=2180)<br>
Combined SAT (2400)= 2211 (mine=2210)</p>

11

<p>I think you’re at a pretty good standing. I know how you feel about wanting people to reply. I just made my first thread, (also a chance thread.)
Starting a club this year, volunteering this summer and writing great essays should give you a pretty good shot.</p>

12

<p>My school used to have similar statistics as well. The reality is that they don’t show you that there’s a really good number of kids that are rejected with those stats - a number much greater than accepted, and once again stats aren’t everything.</p>

<p>These accepted numbers are generally skewed by time (it’s generally marginally easier to get into a school for early graduating classes) and hooked acceptances (especially for ethnic/sports-recruit heavy colleges).</p>

<p>However, it does show that your stats are around the ballpark but you don’t really have anything that sets you apart except for the national qualifier for DECA - I’m assuming you didn’t get like top 1-5 either because you didn’t report it here. So you have achievement, but I’m not really seeing much leadership -> your ecs would be around average/slightly above after considering everything together. Your grades and stats are pretty mediocre as well (especially because cornell doesn’t consider writing section) and you are disadvantaged by your ORM status. If you apply ED (which helps a great deal), things would balance out and you’ll have an okay shot (still a reach) for Cornell. If your school sent 10/200 then you are good to go for ED - i’d say around a 40 something %ish shot for ED, and have a fair shot at RD (20 something %ish). If it’s like 10/400 then it will be (significantly) difficult for you to get in RD.</p>

13

<p>I put your chances at above average. That your school has a history of sending students to Cornell definitely matters. The pure stats aren’t nearly as meaningful as knowing that several students with a 93GPA from your school have attended and more importantly, succeeded at Cornell. Someone with the same stats as you from a school without a history of sending students at Cornell would be at a significant disadvantage (though since everything is still within range, they’d obviously still have a decent chance of being admitted, and I mean “decent” by Cornell admissions standards). </p>

<p>If you apply ED, your chances are probably 40-50%'ish. Given your school’s history, I’d be tempted to go higher, but the EC’s are a huge minus since I don’t see any demonstration to dedication of a passion. Your essays really will need to be excellent to compensate.</p>

14

<p>Thanks for replying! @Colene, regarding the number of people who applied, I’m not sure about this year but for the past 4 years it was:
Class Apply Admit Enroll
2011 74 22 13
2010 72 7 3
2009 61 10 4
2008 62 24 18
2007 55 17
It seems to vary greatly by year (some year Cornell took 1/3, others it took 1/10)
@mikeyc765, I agree with you completely.</p>

15

<p>I think you should retake the sat in october</p>

16

<p>I really wanted to but I’m taking Math II to get another satII score > 700</p>

17

<p>I think your scores are “in range” and a higher score is not what’s going to set you apart. An exceptional essay and exceptional recommendations might. Find some way to show your passion and make yourself memorable.</p>

<p>That said, if you are really concerned about the scores, take a look at the ACT. It offers both a September and October test date. You could try a sample test to see if that’s likely to be a fruitful direction for you.</p>

18

<p>When I posted, the denominator was your class size, not the number of applicants. If I take your class size to be less than 300 then these numbers show significant edge for Cornell applicants, and I’d go with about 40-50% as I said before for ED (going by last year’s record… some other years are a bit worrisome). It is likely that in some years more students applied ED than others.</p>

19

<p>@mathmomvt, Unfortunately, I’m not sure what my passion is yet. As for the ACT, i was considering it but the format is so different from that of the SAT.
@Colene, now I get what you’re saying. My class consists of a little more than 300 students, looks like I have to hope for the best!</p>

20

<p>Why are you interested in Cornell? What are you hoping to study, and why?</p>

<p>I’m not sure what’s involved in DECA but maybe that’s a skill/interest/talent you can build on.</p>

<p>Do you have some kind of unusual skill that you could work into a fun story for your common app essay?</p>