transfer chances to cornell CAS or CALS

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>Hi everybody,</p>

<p>I do plan on transferring to Cornell for Spring 2011. I just wanted your guys honest opinions as to whether or not I can make it. Right now, I go to the City College of New York. I am also a part of the Macaulay Honors College. I'm an asian-american who can speak cantonese and english interchangeably. I could also read and write in traditional Chinese. I just finished my freshman year at City College as a chemistry major in the pre-med track and overall I am not happy.</p>

<pre><code> Before going to CCNY for Macaulay, I was accepted to NYU, Vassar, Binghamton and St. Johns. I was wait-listed for Cornell, until I was rejected. Before I keep rambling...:
</code></pre>

<p>HS stats: weighted 3.9/4.0 (not sure what the unweighted one is)
graduated rank 10 out of 700+ people with Summa Cum Laude</p>

<p>SATs: Math: 750, Reading: 660, Writing: 640
SAT II's: Chem: 660, Math 2: 710</p>

<p>APs: Chemistry= 5
Calc BC = 3 (yea,..... i kno)
Physics B = 4
Statistics = 4</p>

<p>Honors, Awards etc.
Science awards in HS for Chemistry and Physics, Scholarship from the New York Chinese School.</p>

<p>Extracurrics
-New York Chinese School student and volunteer ever since September 2006. Currently holding the position of coordinator in the volunteer program in the New York Chinese School Patrol. We maintain school safety and organize cultural events for the Asian-American community in Chinatown.
-Was a part of the school's Intel Science team and did research throughout junior year at SUNY Downstate.
-President of the National Honor Society in my high school
-Volunteer of the NYC Food and Wine Festival (Oct. 09)
-Medprep Scholar of The Northeast Regional Alliance (NERA) MedPrep Program at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Summer 2010</p>

<p>College Stats</p>

<p>Fall '09 GPA = 3.62<br>
17 credits
The Arts of New York City = A-
Calculus 2 = A-
Biology 1 = A
Freshman Inquiry Writing Seminar (History) = B+</p>

<p>Spring '10 GPA = 4.0<br>
17 credits
The Peopling of NYC = A
Calculus 3 (multivariable) = A
Organic Chemistry 1 = A+
Speech Foundations = A
World Humanities Honors = A</p>

<p>Cumulative GPA = 3.82</p>

<p>Reason:
Despite the fact that I'm a part of Macaulay, I just feel that the classes in City College (especially the sciences and liberal arts courses) are largely uninteresting and not that challenging. Also I've been looking for research positions, however all the professors whom I ask give me the same response that "Oh, I don't have any positions available due to cutbacks on funding." And I'm sick of hearing the same thing over and over. In short, I really don't like staying in the city, due to the commute, lack of research opportunities due to budget cuts, and lack of challenging courses. I'm eternally curious and I want to explore my options and I really do believe that Cornell is the best place to go with all the research opportunities that I can only dream of. </p>

<p>I'm not sure as to whether or not I should apply to CAS or CALS. I do plan to be a biochemistry major in the pre-med track, but I'm still very interested in the liberal arts, so I'm more leaning towards CAS. However the transfer acceptance rates for CAS scare me... </p>

<p>I need your honest opinions! Do I have a chance? And should I go for CAS or CALS?
Thank you for reading my unbelievably long post! ^__^</p>

2

<p>you have a chance and i think you should apply to CALS</p>

3

<p>Are you a NY resident? Actually it doesn’t matter, apply to CALS.</p>

4

<p>CALS Biology - Biochem</p>

5

<p>yes I am a NY resident, I live in Brooklyn.</p>

6

<p>I wanted to ask those of you who are in Cornell. If I were to be in CALS, can I still take language courses? What do you feel are the major differences between CAS and CALS?</p>

7

<p>If you’re in CALS, you must meet the 55 credit CALS-only minimum to graduate, which includes transferred courses (typically gen bio 1/2). Outside of those 55 credits, you are free to take courses in any other college, CAS, COE, Hotel, whatever. So yeah, you can take language and humanities courses if you want.</p>

<p>As far as bio majors are concerned, the salient differences between CAS and CALS are distribution/graduation requirements. CAS students must meet a language requirement plus probably must take most of their classes in CAS (other stuff too). The bio major requirements are the same regardless of CAS or CALS.</p>

<p>Also there is no such thing as a ‘bio department’ at Cornell. The Office of Undergraduate Biology contains about 10 bio departments (Neurobiology and Behavior, Ecology and Evolution, Molecular Bio and Genetics, etc.), which are all sort of autonomous, meaning they governed equally by both CALS and CAS. CALS and CAS bio majors take the same classes together.</p>

<p>The other important difference is tuition. It will cost you 10-15K less to attend CALS, which should be reason enough. Honestly, a NY resident would have to be an idiot to choose CAS bio over CALS bio considering they are the exact same major. Also, CAS awards a B.A. while CALS awards a B.S. (not of any significance)</p>

<p>For the record, I’m a CALS bio major</p>

8

<p>Thank you Caillebotte2. I feel much more relieved in my decision to apply to CALS for spring 2010. Now I can finally sleep easy. And wow, I didn’t know about the different departments within the biology department. So I want to ask you, what are my chances?
One thing I failed to mention before is that I’m also a part of the Alpha Epsilon Delta Honors Society Mu Chapter.</p>

9

<p>And are my reasons legitimate enough to transfer?</p>

10

<p>Chances are meaningless coming from anybody who isn’t on Cornell’s adcom. I don’t give them (un-sarcastically at least).</p>

<p>Re: your reasons for transferring.
You haven’t articulated why Cornell is the place you want to be. I don’t see any specific mention of Cornell’s programs, courses, or ethos that would indicate you truly want to attend Cornell. You are critical of CCNY, which is fine, however, your complaints could easily be assuaged by about 50 other non-urban research universities. If you list a criticism of CCNY, you need to complement it with how specifically Cornell will satisfy the need not being met.</p>