Pretty grim... chances anyway

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>Nothing too interesting to say here, I'm a pretty bad slacker but my guidance counselor wants me to apply to Cornell, and I absolutely love the school.
White male from a great public school in NY</p>

<p>Cumulative UW GPA is about 3.7. I won't go down a class listing because i figure no one reads that, but basically I've done well in history/english courses with a stain here and there (a B and a C+ in one year of math and chem.) Mostly honors courses in everything available except math.<br>
Class rank is in the top 10%</p>

<p>SAT- 2240/1460 (730 V, 730 M, 780W)
SAT IIs- 680 Biology, taking US history and Math IIC in October</p>

<p>ECs:
10 years of viola: solo/group performance in a private music school (played at Carnegie Hall,) 6 year member of a competitive extracurricular orchestra for which I eventually earned a scholarship that now pays my tuition
4 years of newspaper, section editor
4 years of community service in Key Club
3 years of volunteer tutoring
3 years of volunteer tutoring for Foreign Language honor society</p>

<p>High honor roll, national honor society member, nothing too special as far as awards go.</p>

<p>I know it probably doesn't look great, but I want to apply to CAS with a Political Science/Government intended major. I think i can stress the fact that i've been interested in independent research in political science (i'm in a competitive research class that I've worked really hard in) along with my participation in music. Also my parents are first generation immigrants from Kosovo; they moved here to escape the war and i did not grow up with English as my first language. I'm a dual citizen and I lived in Europe for 2 years in my childhood before coming here to start elementary school. </p>

<p>Any ideas at chances, and how I can stress the things I mentioned before, especially my ethnicity (without basing my main essay off of it)?</p>

<p>Thanks a lot</p>

2

<p>Why are your chances grim again? Good courseload, decent GPA, very nice test scores, and decent ECs. If you want to improve your chances, apply ED, but I've heard of many people with lower test scores/GPA/stats overall than yours being admitted...ED will really help you tip the scale though.</p>

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<p>Have some self esteem. If that's wat you can do while unmotivated, try to apply urself.</p>

4

<p>thanks, it's just that a couple of other people with better stats than me are probably applying to Cornell early and I've always been a bit dissapointed with my grades. I'll probably be applying early decision after considering it hard; it's definitely my first choice by a stretch. hoping for the best :)</p>