<p>I am a
Junior. I have a 3.9 GPA (94) but my SAT's are unknown. I started taking a course, but im
afraid i wont do well on them. I am also a very ambitious student, who wants to
pursue a career in medicine (pre-med). I also work in a laboratory conducting research
on epilepsy, as part of the Intel Science Talent Search Competition. I volunteered in
a local hospital, and im very active in school including editor of the Biology
Journal, member of quite a range of clubs, and also president of the Young Democrats at
my school, which i founded too. What are my chances of getting into Cornell with my good grades, very active activities, well-roundedness in medicine and politics, etc etc. I am very motivated, and a very independent thinker. I am a very nervous student who
really dreams big, but im nervous my SAT weakness may hinder my hard work. I am speaking for all of those wary juniors-seniors who really want to go to cornell, but are afraid that they wont get it! Please help!</p>
<p>well, you seem to have everything else except the SAT. Unless you completely bomb it, i wouldnt really worry too much. Try the ACT! If you think that your really cannot improve your SAT scores, try to make up for it with fantastic essays, awesome recs, etc. Make yourself stand out, not those little numbers that fill in the 'SAT' section of the application!</p>
<p>Im trying to make myself stand out and im sure i will get awesome rec letters from doctors/researchers and political people i work for. I dont think i should take the ACT cus first, i live in New York City, and its not very popular here. Second, i havent taken it yet...though im taking princeton review now. Im in the mid 1200s when it comes to diagnostics. Im shaking in my pants about that.</p>
<p>Thats mid 1200s for M/R only, lol...it wouldve been really bad if that was all 3 :)</p>
<p>A lot of people do better on the ACT than on the SAT. You can choose which ACT scores to send - if you bomb it, no one needs to know. If testing is your weak area, you should attack it from every side!</p>
<p>I have an important question since AP's and SAT II's are coming up in May of which I am taking:</p>
<p>AP US History, AP Biology, SAT II US History, SAT II Biology</p>
<p>What is a "good" score for the SAT IIs for Cornell? Lets say im applying either to the Arts/Sciences School or the Agriculture/Life Sciences. </p>
<p>What is the AVERAGE SAT II score?</p>
<p>Does Cornell accept 4s or 5s on the AP as credit? Or do they make you take it over again automatically, no matter what your score?</p>
<p>"Good" scores vary by test on the SAT II's. You can find median scores by individual test on the college board website. As a very general rule, SAT II's should be 700+ for top colleges. </p>
<p>Cornell's acceptance of AP's depends (you guessed it!) on the college and department. English AP's of 5 get credit in CAS, 4 or 5 get credit in Ag/LS. But don't take my word for it. Check the Cornell website under "Cornell A-Z."</p>
<p>If im apply to Cornell this fall, most likely early decision, what other schools should be on my number 2, number 3---> number 10 slot. You know, like what schools should I also apply to that are like Cornell, in that im most likely majoring in Pre-Med. To help you out, here are schools that are already on my list:
1-Cornell
2- NYU
3- University of Rochester
4- Boston Univ.
5- Brandeis
6- Brown
7- Johns Hopkins
8- Lehigh
9- George Washington
10- Tufts</p>
<p>I am confining my search to schools not any more north than Massachusetts/New York to any point north of Maryland/PA. So basically in New England and Mid-Atlantic. </p>
<p>Is this a good list of schools to consider? Please tell me what to remove or add based on your knowledge of these schools and what would be right for me (considering my description that i gave you)</p>
<p>Should i confine my schools to New York State since i heard one gets much more money from the state you live in, so will i need to do that, considering i know i cant pay for Cornell. Ill have to get financial aid, big time, but then the question of should i apply early decision to cornell, considering i cant pay for it???? </p>
<p>Please answer all these questions as best you can. Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>Don't confine yourself to New York State. You will be up against a lot of tough competition. To maximize your number of acceptances, apply to a couple of schools where you offer something different in terms of your interests, geography and/or experience.</p>
<p>But what about the schools themselves? are they the right picks? add? remove?</p>
<p>those are good
rochester is def a keeper.
if you want a city you could add columbia for another reach.</p>
<p>if you want to do premed apply for bio in CALS and you can get in-state tuition. its the same major as the one in CAS, and cals has a higher acceptance rate</p>
<p>Ye, i heard to apply to CALS definately, with the money issue and acceptance rate. What schools did you all apply to? Who accepted you?</p>
<p>Your list seems good, but really top-heavy. Be sure to include some safeties.</p>
<p>its only top heavy if you assume a bad SAT, seems pretty normal to me, he's got GW on there and BU, good schools but not super top notch. But yes, if your SAT is where you estimate it, add a couple more on the bottom.</p>
<p>Well Syracuse, Pittsburgh are on my list as safeties, plus SUNY Buffalo/Bing....but someone told me here on another thread that BU is a safety for me.</p>
<p>It is true that CALS has an overall higher acceptance rate, but the biology program is extremely competitive for NY resident. I know two kids from my NYC high school with almost exactly the same GPA and SAT score. They both did intel and participated in a lots of ECS. Their recommendations are comparable. The kid applied to A&S as a bio major got accepted under ED and the kid applied to CALS didn't make the cut. CALS has a few majors that tons of NY residents apply to, so the overall acceptance rates for those particular programs are significantly lower than Cornell's overall acceptance rate. If I remember correctly, for the class of 2008, AEM has an 18% acceptance rate. On the other hand, if you apply to some strange major at CALS, your chance of getting in increase significantly.</p>
<p>Well maybe its because he did ED which im going to most likely do.</p>
<p>they both did ED. My point is that don't assume CALS is easier to get in than A&S when you are a bio major. I know several of valedictorians from respected LI high school choose CALS over other Ivies because of the tuition reduction, so the competition is still pretty fierce.</p>
<p>OK -- HERE IS MY COLLEGE LIST, INCLUDING EVERYTHING!
I had one for February , then i revised that for March-April...NOW, i Need one for May-June which will most likely be revised one/two more times. </p>
<p>so here it is:
-Cornell
-NYU
-U of R
-Boston U
-Brandeis
-Lehigh
-GW
-Georgetown
-Vassar
-Colgate
-Drexel
-UPenn
-JHU
-AWS (Amherst-Swarthmore-Williams)
-Tufts
-Union College
-Dickinson
-Drexel
-Fordham
-Brown
-Syracuse
-UPittsburgh
-UConnecticut
-Penn State
-Univ of Sciences in Philly
-SUNY Buffalo/ SUNY Bing/ SUNY Geneseo/ SUNY Stony</p>
<p>This is the ENTIRE list, with no uncertainties counted. Half of this list, im quite unsure of in terms of whether its way too competitive for me to get in, or the opposite, too low standards...examples of this are....
AWS, Drexel, Dickinson, Univ of CT, Penn State</p>
<p>Help me NARROW DOWN this list! (Cus im going to start visiting in June)</p>
<p>Cornell, NYU, U of R, Brandeis, Penn, Colgate, Tufts, Brown and JHU are all great for undergrad premed educaiton. I would say for backups, you shoudl apply to SUNY Bing and Stony. It's pointless to go to Penn State and pay close to 35000 a year.</p>