Why didn't I get in?

Applying to College
1

<p>Why didn't I get in to Cornell? Dartmouth or Yale, I understand I suppose, but why not even Cornell?</p>

<p>In the interview, I basically told him it was my dream school, and I thought it went really well.</p>

<p>My SATs were: 770 in writing, 750 in math, and 700 in reading. </p>

<p>My transcript was almost flawless, nothing but honors classes, nothing but A's except for three semester A-'s in different subjects, one class that was A-'s all year (AP US History), one random B in gym freshman year, and a B in AP Calculus this year.</p>

<p>My essay was perfect in that it was passionate, well-written, and DEFINITELY would have stood out among all the others.</p>

<p>My separate essays for the College of Ag and Life Sciences and the College of Arts and Sciences were very good, not excellent, but very good.</p>

<p>My extra-curriculars and honors were great, not excellent, but great, with VERY wide-ranging areas and different responsibilities, including backpacking leadership, select choirs, drama club, summer enrichment programs, and math & french club.</p>

<p>My leadership was decent, though pretty mediocre. I had President of French Club, Choir Treasurer, and Mini-Olympics Co-Director.</p>

<p>No community service (I am ashamed of this, I know) or job experience, but I thought that when applying to a COLLEGE, they considered ACADEMICS.</p>

<p>No sports, but many people have no sports.</p>

<p>Everyone I talked to about it said I'd definitely get in. I guess Ivy League schools don't want public school scum from a school with a ****ty academic standard in their population of Prep school pricks. </p>

<p>Not even wait listed, straight up REJECTED.</p>

<p>I did get into McGill in Montreal, but Cornell was my dream school. It had everything, I know everyone can relate to that. Very frustrating.</p>

2

<p>All Ivies get huge numbers of applicants like you, perfect stats and EC’s. They cannot distinguish. They would absolutely love to have you, but they can’t admit that many. There was a thread around here that outlined an NPR recording of a Swarthmore adcom session. Its emotional for them, and anything in your application can get you tossed out. It isn’t a judgement on you as a person, its just they simply cannot admit everyone.</p>

3

<p>Maybe you overestimated how great your ECs and essays were. As you note, the leadership roles were a bit mediocre.</p>

<p>Are you sure your recs were totally positive? Would a sense of entitlement have seeped through your applications, or been noted by a teacher? Did you have any personality run-ins with those who wrote your recs, or your GC?</p>

4

<p>I read my rec’s (again, ****ty public school, things are pretty lax), and two of them were EXCELLENT (my AP U.S. History teacher and my Guidance Counselor) and one of them was great (my AP Calculus teacher). The thing is, if you’re from a public school, you have to be PERFECT. Not enough leadership? Not getting in. Not in the NHS or a class officer? Not getting in. Those were my only weaknesses, and that was all it took, I am positive everything else was to par.</p>

5

<p>Well, it is great to know your recs were so positive. These days the public schoolers at Ivies are over 50%, so you really can’t blame it on that angle. </p>

<p>You do not need to be a class officer, if you demonstrate another type of passion or commitment. Maybe your activities were spread over too-wide a range, and did not show which one big passion motivates you. The ad-coms might not have gotten a clear picture of what you are about.</p>

<p>My condolences, this is a tough admisions cycle. Have you considered trying to transfer into Cornell later? Check out their transfer rates (see their Common Data Set) to see if
that is a possibility. Best of luck.</p>

6

<p>Speaking as someone who also comes from a “sh**ty public school,” you can’t blame your surroundings for this. You tried hard, you had what it takes…but so did thousands and thousands of other kids. I’m fairly sure that Prep school kids aren’t automatically admitted to these schools. If they don’t have enough leadership, aren’t in NHS, aren’t a class officer, etc., their chances are diminished as well. Whether you go to McGill or not, your future is going to be just fine. :)</p>

7

<p>You don’t believe your lack of community service may have been a simple justification for an adcom panelist to dump you immediately? I have read most of the results threads for the top 12 schools in the country (I know Cornell is not in the top 12), and I wasnt paying strict attention to this factor, but i do not ever recall reading a resume in these threads that did not include plenty of volunteer efforts.</p>

8

<p>I don’t mean to offend you, but you sound quite full of yourself, which may have shone through in your application. And if your essay had been as amazing as you seem to think it was, you wouldn’t have been rejected.</p>

<p>Sorry to be so blunt.</p>

9

<p>^I concur but was attempting not to offend.</p>