Should I bother applying to Cornell....

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'll be applying as a Political Science major.</p>

<p>UW: 3.72
W: 4.25</p>

<p>Rank: 36 / 635 (top 5%)</p>

<p>SAT I:
Math: 700
CR: 660
Writing: 720 (Essay 11)
Total: 2080</p>

<p>Superscore: 2110</p>

<p>SAT II:
US History: 760
Literature: 740</p>

<p>AP Exams:
AP World History: 4
AP US History: 4
AP Biology: 3</p>

<p>Planning on taking the following exams this year:
AP Computer Science A
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics B
AP Macroeconomics
AP Government
AP Japanese
AP Psychology
AP Literature</p>

<p>Awards and honors:
1. AP Scholar
2. Scholar Athlete (3 times)
3. William Austin Baker Award - given to one player on the varsity baseball team each season in recognition of his academics along with his character on and off the field.
4. Nomination for Golden Shield Award for Pre-Calculus Honors - 10 students of each honors/AP subject are nominated for the Golden Shield Award
5. 2nd Place in Division 1 CIF for Baseball last year.
6. Soon to get Seal of Biliteracy
7. MVP of Junior Varsity Baseball</p>

<p>Community Service:
1. Founded and currently the president of the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles Junior Division, an organization that aims to bring together Korean American youth in Los Angeles and help them connect with their heritage. We also do community service, including food drives and cleaning grafitti. We were given a sponsored trip to Korea by the Korean Government last summer in recognition of our work, and we met multiple city officials along with the head of Chadwick International
2. Founded and currently the president of the OC Korean Marine Corps Veteran Food Drive. We get bread, donated by Tous Les Jours, and donate them to homeless shelters.
3. 4 year member of the school's Key Club.
4. 3 year member of the school's Red Cross.
5. 2 year summer volunteer at my local library, where I organized books on shelves and read to children.
6. 3 year member of NHS</p>

<p>Work Experience:
- 2 year Japanese tutor during 10th and 11th grade. I taught three students accordingly to what they were struggling in.</p>

<p>Other Extracurriculars:
- 3 year JV/ Varsity Baseball. I was the Captain of the Junior Varsity team
- 9 years of Taekwondo, 3rd degree black belt. I am currently the head youth assistant to my master at my academy.
- Secretary for my school's Japanese Club. My duty was to help the president set up meetings and help members comprehend the more complex Japanese words while watching various Japanese shows and news.</p>

<p>Hook:
1. I lived in Japan for a year during 8th grade, where I was bullied for being half Korean.
2. Live in abusive household where my alcoholic dad nearly killed me last year with a knife.</p>

2

<p>Those sound pretty amazing. As long as your background story and your passion for your extracurriculars show through your essays, I’m sure you stand a chance. I would advise you to take your SATs one more time if you can, but other than that, it wouldn’t hurt to try.</p>

3

<p>Thanks so much! I guess I’ll really have to craft my essays to perfection then.</p>

4

<p>bumpppppppp</p>

5

<p>I’m revoking my statement</p>

6

<p>Yes! First of all it is always worth it to apply and you have a great chance!</p>

7

<p>@Knockaround, well if i’d like your honest opinion! </p>

<p>@Atmaior, thanks!</p>

8

<p>Your backgrounds is okay for Cornell, however, since you did very well in sat sub, why not try another sat test to bump your chance? 2080, currently is not a satisfactory score. You still have big chance. So go ahead.</p>

9

<p>2080 or even 2110 is not a great score (in the context of Ivy League/similar universities) but it won’t kill you for Cornell. I imagine you go to a pretty difficult high school, as 3.72 would not be anywhere near top 5-6% around here :stuck_out_tongue: I’d still call Cornell a reach, but not so much more than the average applicant.</p>

<p>Not much to say about community service achievements. Sounds like the best ones I’ve seen in quite a while, and not just generic “I have 100 hours” and whatnot.</p>

<p>Just a warning on the hooks: Make sure you focus on how you dealt with your circumstances. There are some here that make their problems sound like excuses that will get them into college alone (though you have achieved a lot in community service, so I doubt you’re one of them), which is likely not a great idea, whether the problem was just feeling unhappy or as dire as yours. I do hope everything is all right. :)</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1578562-chance-ea-rd-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1578562-chance-ea-rd-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt; if you feel comfortaable doing so</p>

10

<p>Oh my gosh OP, the last couple of pieces of information really threw me. I had to respond. </p>

<p>Your stats are good – strong GPA, good SAT II (especially considering your projected major), impressive ECs. The APs are low but it sounds like you are doing some self-studying this year? I ask because you list 8 APs and I doubt your HS will offer that many, or at least, that 8 AP classes fit into your schedule. </p>

<p>I suggest focusing on those which you are super confident that you will excel in. Especially if you are doing a lot of self-study, where your learning is not reinforced daily in an academic setting. If you take fewer you will be able to focus on your strengths. In other words it would look much more impressive to get 3 5’s and a 4 than 5 4’s and 3 3’s. I can’t imagine that the quantity of taking 11 APs would make up for quality (i.e., better to have 8 APs of 4s and 5s and that one already-existent 3). </p>

<p>You may want to get some support on how you present your background, specifically in your essay. Your last two items suggest real struggle, ongoing abuse and emotional duress. You will want to be careful how you present these. You want to show that you are someone who overcomes adversity. Not a bitter victim. I am NOT saying that you sound like one in your post! You sound like the opposite. What I AM saying is that those are bombshells which are quite powerful. Be careful that they don’t backfire. </p>

<p>You are (I presume) still in the midst of a terrible living situation which you neither deserve nor asked for. As a parent it upsets me greatly to hear that you had to go through that. Please enlist support from one or two people you trust (friend, mentor, teacher, etc) and use them as sounding boards for your essay. The incidents in Japan sound – and I am sorry if this sounds callous! – interesting, not because you had to go through them but for what they reveal about cultural conflicts between Japanese and Koreans. Most of us in this country have absolutely no clue about this! Hence it is an itneresting glimpse into another facet of the world, through YOUR eyes. </p>

<p>The fact that you have put yourself intentionally in this intersection of different cultures while growing up in the US is the maturity part of the story. You do not remain a bullied kid in a schoolyear. You go on to participate in the Korean American association, Taekwondo, tutor Japanese and serve as secretary of your school’s Japanese club. You start growing up, not by erasing what you lived (and suffered) but by entering it and transforming it.</p>

<p>Now THAT is a coming of age story for a political science major. </p>

<p>The abuse part will be much, much more difficult to tell in an essay. It is still going on, because even if you are not presently under physical violence, there is a threat and a recent trauma which can’t help but to shadow your life. But…don’t let that be ALL that an admissions rep takes away from your application. You are much more than that. You have motivation, and brains, and leaderships skills, and ambition. Don’t let the abuse define who you are. </p>

<p>Definitely apply to Cornell, but also to 9 other schools, and be sure to include some less selective ones where you can 1) get in and 2) afford to attend. It would really help for you to get away and live somewhere else so DON’T set your heart only on one school, even as wonderful as Cornell. And yes take the SAT I again. Best of luck to you!</p>

11

<p>sorry should read “schoolyard” not “schoolyear.”</p>