<p>I'm a rising junior, and Cornell is number one on my list of colleges. i'm a little worried, though, about how my scores are going to affect my chances. they weren't exactly stellar when I took my first whole length test (timed and everything) by myself..</p>
<p>I'm enrolled in a class right now, and I plan on taking it at least two times this year, so i know that i have room/time to improve. i will also benefit from the choice of picking which individual section scores to show colleges on applications.</p>
<p>so..what im trying to get at is..if you're a current Cornell student, did you get high scores on your first few times testing yourself? how did they compare to, say, what you really ended up with? like..i'm hoping to raise my score by at least 200 points.. and it seems really hard at this point. i guess i just want some reassurance that others have been through this..and reassurance that everyone at cornell did not naturally start out with 700+ on each section, but have had to work hard for it...because i will have to work hard if I want to get my goal scores.....</p>
<p>also, is it worth taking the SAT in the fall of your senior year if you are planning to apply ED? i mean, the chances of improvement are in your favor, right? or should i not bother?</p>
<p>thanks for putting up with my..anxiety..i'm just realizing that i have to take the PSAT and the october SATs in a few months :S</p>
<p>hey, I can't help you much but I know that you can't choose individual section to send to colleges. While starting from class of 2010, you can choose which test you want colleges to see, you can't "superscore", so you'll have to send your entire test.</p>
<p>SAT was the death of me. i got a 1770 and i knew i couldnt raise it by the 300 points i wanted. so i studied all summer for hte ACT and i got a 28. still not amazing by CC standards, but it worked. So if you cant beat the SAT, try the ACT, it was my saving grace :)</p>
<p>a) some cornell student's didn't even end up with a 700+ on their sections.</p>
<p>b) whenever I did pre-tests, I didn't do as well as I did on the actual SAT. some books, i.e. Princeton Review, make their pre-tests harder than the actual SAT in the hopes of best preparing you.</p>
<p>c) while you may think you may do equally as well (or bad) on the ACT, some people find that they are much better at one or the other. (From personal experience, I got an okay 2090 SAT, but a 35 ACT, without any extra studying)</p>
<p>d) if you are a only a rising junior, you will be surprised at how your score will go up naturally, just by learning harder material and maturing through your high school experience. If this weren't the case, kids who take it in 8th grade would get the same score in 11th-12th grade.</p>
<p>i wholeheartedly agree with chendrix on point D. the exposure to ap eng level work, coupled with the maturity i gained from my junior year allowed me to improve my score by like 150 points and a further 100+ october of my senior year without too much studying. don't fret, sometimes getting exposed to harder material and getting experience from challenging assignments is enough to help</p>
<p>cornell is known to not take SAT scores as highly as the Ivys...i've seen people rejected by cornell with 2300+ sats accepted at princeton and harvard. Yet people with around 2000 SAT get in.</p>
<p>or cornell really looks into the person more than the standardized tests. I'm shooting for that one.</p>
<p>It really depends... if you want to study something like engineering, physics, or math, test scores are pretty important. Whereas if you want to study something like architecture, hotel, or agriculture, they may look over test scores.</p>
<p>i think it also depends on where you live. i've heard from some people that it's easier to get into the state schools (CALS, ILR, HumEc) if you're a resident of NY. but then again, idk if it's true - might just be a rumor.</p>
<p>^ I don't think that's true. New Yorkers get a discounted tuition but that doesn't mean they have an advantage in admissions- they have to be just as qualified as any other admit.</p>
<p>Mendy, if you're worried about your SATs try taking the ACTs. Many people I know do much better- and the admissions committee treats ACTs and SATs equally. In fact, I have heard that they just use a conversion table to convert your ACT score into a comparable SAT score (I could be wrong about this):</p>
<p>and yes, i was accepted to the hotel school. I was deferred but i persisted and had 5 extra letters of recommendation sent in and I wrote a letter and...</p>
<p>well. it paid off: I was accepted. </p>
<p>SO. STUDY and if it is your dream and your goal to go to Cornell or anywhere else for that matter, PERSIST and do everything you can. I wouldn't change going to Cornell for the world. :) best of luck</p>