Should I aim higher than Cornell?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Male
Caucasian
1st Generation Student
Income less than 60,000
private school -sends students to top schools</p>

<p>GPA-3.7 (tough school)
WGPA-3.74
School doesn't rank
SAT - 2330 (retaking for perfect score)
ACT-34
SAT IIs- Bio M- 800, Chemistry- 800, Math 2 - 750
APs- only Biology so far(Retaking for 5), next years- Psychology, Environmental, Latin, Chemistry, Macro/Micro, Calc AB, and Human Geo.</p>

<p>ECs-
4 years Chess Club- president 12th grade
Academic Team- 10,11,12
Newspaper - 11,12
Science Fair- 11,12
Basketball - 9
Organizer for Cancer Walk- 9,10,11,12
NHS-10,11,12
SNHS-12
French Team-12</p>

<p>Hooks
Community Service- 200 hours
Intensive research at University for 2 months.
Some Scholarship money from sports.
National Latin Exam- Cum Laude, 10, Magna Cum Laude, 11</p>

<p>Essays- Amazing
Teacher Recommendations- phenomenal.</p>

<p>Can I get into somewhere like Brown or UPenn if I ED'd?</p>

2

<p>everyone on here always says their essays are amazing. how many actually are amazing? very few</p>

3

<p>You do know that your title is offensive, right?</p>

<p>If you think Brown or UPenn are more suited to you, then apply there. You should not ED to a school you don’t respect and that you seem to know very little about. Also, the person who would be happy at Brown may well be unhappy at U Penn or at Cornell. The three are very different schools, with strengths in very different areas.</p>

4

<p>rejected everywhere… you pompous ****</p>

5

<p>yea, in all seriousness I think cornell is a reach, mainly because there is little depth in you EC’s</p>

6

<p>you have a serious case of prestige-itis. Why don’t you ignore the rankings of the schools for one minute and actually look to see if you think you would fit in in any of these Ivy schools. I do think you should apply to a few. Just lose the elitist attitude.</p>

<p>To be completely honest, I think you have a good application if:

  1. your essays are indeed amazing.
  2. your rank is in the first decile. Your counselor might at least tell you that. Your GPA is a little low, but if your school is really that tough, than maybe you are still ranked well. Ivys care about that if you are committed to them, but there are very good non-Ivy schools as well, so maybe consider them too. There is a different feel about them.</p>

<p>However, I agree your EC’s are a tiny bit lacking in depth</p>

7

<p>Thanks for your ‘sincere’ comments. My ECs are lacking in depth because leadership is meaningless, and colleges don’t realize that leadership is a popularity contest, not who can lead the best. I just want an Ivy school, so please stick to the question.</p>

8

<p>^^
Therein lies two flawed warrants in your judgment</p>

9

<p>You should VISIT Cornell, Brown, and UPenn. They are all top schools. Figure out where you’d be the happiest, not which school is the most “prestigious.” Also, I don’t know where you’re from, but in my region Brown is harder to get into than Yale and Harvard. However, if you’re in the very top of your class I think you might have a good chance of getting into Brown or UPenn.</p>

10

<p>A friend’s son from a top private school in NYC with same GPA took highest level math, captain of his sport, rejected from Cornell. My daughter from one of the best private school in our state with over 4.0 UW was waitlisted at Cornell. Her best friend from Cornell went to a public school scored in mid 600 for SATs with close to 4.0 got into the engineering school. Maybe she showed more of a passion and a better fit than other kids. </p>

<p>Cornell and Brown are very different schools. There should be fit before you consider ED. You may be able to get into a lot of top tier schools even with your GPA if you have something special. But as someone who will need a full aid, it’s going to be tough. If you were a full pay student it may help you.</p>

11

<p>“Hooks
Community Service- 200 hours
Intensive research at University for 2 months.
Some Scholarship money from sports.
National Latin Exam- Cum Laude, 10, Magna Cum Laude, 11”</p>

<p>NO
200 hours community service isn’t worth a whole lot. You aren’t nationally ranked in sports or you would have said so. I’ve taken the national french exam and it’s a bootleg contest, recognition is uber easy to get. I presume latin is similar. Research isn’t really a hook unless you get intel/siemens/etc.</p>

12

<p>Higher than Cornell, my a**. Cornell is an extremely competitive school, and a prestigious organization. Honestly, there isn’t much leadership in your EC’s and how do you know you’re getting a perfect score on your next SAT? And please don’t rate your own essay, let the adcom decide that.</p>

13

<p>I think you have a misunderstanding for what “leadership skills” mean. Being president of your student body does not make you a leader. It makes you a representative. Being the person who starts a club for non profit does not make you a leader. Being a person who starts a club for non profit and raises 1 million dollars does not make you a leader. Being a person who starts a club for non profit and raises 1 million dollars because he went out to gain contacts, sell pitches to investors, and manage the funds properly makes you a leader.
you don’t have to be popular to have leadership skills. College admissions officers know this. And they will see your EC activities.</p>

14

<p>I never said you had to be popular. But as far as what college admissions officers can see on a piece of paper, it takes effort for the average student in high school to become president of an activity, and there are responsibilities placed on the student just by assuming this title. It is very rare, and most certainly a student does not have to, “start a club for non profit and raise 1 million dollars because he went out to gain contacts, sell pitches to investors, and manage the funds properly” to be known as a leader in his high school. If you do happen to have done that, kudos, that’s an amazing accomplishment. But for the rest of us, simply being the editor of a school newspaper has to suffice. The duties such as keeping tabs on all the writers, sending e-mails, and meeting deadlines is “leadership skills” aplenty for a college application. That’s all I was saying.</p>

15

<p>hmmm… NO YOU WONT GET IN… and you are incredibly pompus.
but, you may be able to help me out! i am desperately trying to figure out if I should aim higher than Harvard. OMG i really dont know if im going to cut it!!!</p>

<p>SAT: 2800 (yes, i did score higher than any over achieving student to walk the face of the earth :)</p>

<p>Essays: pretty much the most impressive essays to GRACE the eyes of any human being</p>

<p>extra curriculars:
people for the feeding of starving african children, save the tzutsu rare ethiopian black winged moths, rats are our friends club, lacrosse, spanish club, interact, chess club (president since i was in second grade because im a child prodigee), swimming, football, basketball, tennis, ping pong, scarf making, knittiing, tech, academic team, newspaper, science fair, french team, making technological devices out of fruit team, recycling team, teaching astro-physics to chimps club, and of course we <3 algorhithms team.</p>

<p>hooks:
EXTREMELY good looking
professionall… at everything i do
nice clothes
parents never finished high school
combined my entire family makes $10,000 a year :frowning:
REALLLYYYY VERY good looking
Currently working on a cure for cancer</p>

<p>WWWAAAIIIIITTTT… thats not right!
in reality, i got into UCLA with mabe 1 extra curricular, a less than perfect GPA and a 1700 on my SATS.</p>

<p>id reccomend finding something your good at and working hard to excell in that. i got in with my art portfolio. many colleges are no longer impressed by the cookie cutter AP student who claims to be good at everything.</p>

16

<p>lol mavericks, your SAT score sucks (at joke). Mine is over 9000</p>

17

<p>don’t retake the 2330, it’s truly a waste of money and time at this point.</p>

18

<p>mavericks, <em>you’re</em> obviously a URM because 1700 on SATs into UCLA would not suffice for another minority (not to be rude or anything.) I did not appreciate your sarcastic reply. I’m just trying to set my heights a little higher because I’m anxious.</p>

19

<p>What makes you so confident about your chances at Cornell? All you have going for you is a high SAT score, and there are plenty of those.</p>

20

<p>Wolfd, your ignorance is supporting an offensive argument; UCLA does not practice affirmative action.</p>