<p>Hi, I am a student from India. I'm planning to apply to Cornell in early decision.
My stats are:
10th percentage - 92.2%
Maths A1 (96)
Social Sciences A1 (92)
Sanskrit A1 (100)
Science A1 (95)
English A2 (78)
(A1 is the highest grade , grades are A to F)
Marks out of 100.
SATs
Math 800
Writing 780
Reading 700 (poor vocabulary really hurts)
SAT Subjects
Math level 2 800
Chemistry 780
ECs
Not much (I was in a small residential school.)
Theater
Public speaking
Awards/ Recognition:
Represented my school in Brain Of Bihar (A contest for promoting highly intelligent students in my state.)
Rachnasagar publications' (a leading publisher of India) competition for class 10 students -topped in the country. (And got an I POD as a prize.)
My CR is weak, and not many ECs, but will I have a better chance in ED?
Or should I apply to Stanford or Columbia or Johns Hopkins?
(I need financial aid, and I am going to apply for engineering and applied sciences.)</p>
<p>Conventional wisdom is that, if financial aid would be a deal breaker for you, do not apply ED because then you are stuck with that one school’s package and cannot compare.</p>
<p>Ignoring the above, if I were you I might proceed as follows for an ED application:
- research what schools are likely to provide financial aid to internationals, in amounts that seem relevant (I’ve no idea about this myself)
- from this list, read up and decide where you’d most like to attend, list in order of preference
- cut out the ones that appear by stats to be a reach, if any. Then apply ED to the one that’s left at the top of the list.</p>
<p>For RD proceed same way, but keep low/ reasonable reaches (as well as others) on the list if they are high on your preference list, and apply to multiple schools. Technically you don’t need to rank your RD list until you see where you get in, but the discipline of doing so makes you think enough about each school to help craft a better “Why [ insert school name]” supplemental essay which most will require.</p>
<p>“Conventional wisdom is that, if financial aid would be a deal breaker for you, do not apply ED because then you are stuck with that one school’s package and cannot compare.”</p>
<p>To clarify, “stuck” refers to not being able to compare; you have to decide yes or no looking at that one number. But if it’s your dream school, the question usually is simply: can I afford it? If you can’t, you sadly say thanks but no thanks, and apply RD elsewhere.</p>
<p>One thing to consider is that Stanford offers restrictive early action which basically means you will find out early, but its not binding. You would learn of your financial aid package at that time too. but, if you apply early action at Stanford, you would not be allowed to apply ED anywhere.</p>
<p>In my limited experience in as a US resident, there are other schools that are more generous with financial aid than Cornell. Of the 5 schools my daughter applied to, all of which were private top universities including ivies, Cornell had the worst financial aid package.</p>
<p>She is at Cornell though and loves it.</p>
<p>Yes ma’am , but Cornell has a special scholarship for Indian students , provided by TATA group (the richest company of India ) .I am more willing to go to Stanford, but it is much more selective , and hence I have very bleak chances. I can apply ED at only one place , and Cornell is much less selective (and good , too).</p>
<p>Financial aid won’t be a deal breaker ; getting in with a little less financial aid is better than not getting in at all. But if I had choices , I would take the one with the best aid.</p>
<p>Um , what I asked was actually whether I have good chances at Cornell or not . I will apply ED only if I have very good chances ; else I will go for Johns Hopkins for ED.
But Cornell is much better at Engineering and applied Sciences.</p>
<p>I, for one, have no particular insights on admissions beyond stats pages that are posted.
And I haven’t seen any stats broken out for ED vs. RD in the engineering college, for international students.</p>
<p>2010 COE accepted just under 22% of freshman, haven’t seen ED vs. RD breakdown.
COE entrance stats for 2009 can be found here, the 2010 numbers aren’t posted yet:
<a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000176.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000176.pdf</a></p>
<p>That’s all I know, you can draw your own conclusions and they would be as, or more, valid than mine.</p>
<p>That sholarship is a wonderful thing, wish someone sponsored one applicable to my kid!!</p>
<p>Can anyone please tell me my chances ?
Time’s running.</p>
<p>monydad gave you some stats.</p>
<p>Yes ma’am , I saw them ; by stats I’m most probably in . But I need someone to evaluate my ECs, they are not very good.</p>
<p>We were told at an info session that COE is more “by the numbers” Than CAS, but I have no further insight.</p>