<p>
</p>
<p>Please don’t make completely unsubstantiated claims.</p>
<p>I’ve read a book by an admissions officer that says that if you do typically wealthy extracurriculars and have no work experience / easy work experience / a 5th avenue address, they hold it against you, and you have to do better.</p>
<p>They sure won’t let you in with B+s! We’re talking about need blind schools here–the entire Ivy League!</p>
<p>First of all 19.1% is not a “high” admission rate.
Second, Ivy =/= low admission rate, it just happens that they’ve developed that sort of prestige over hundreds of years. The Ivy League is naught but a sports conference.</p>
<p>I believe a semi-accurate way (this is directed to the OP) of evaluating Cornell’s acceptance rate is to look at the individuals who apply. Go through this thread (and I’m sure the other Ivy threads) and you will find people who have been accepted to Cornell (like me, luckily). Look at their stats, ec’s, and complete profiles. </p>
<p>If you think their high school work is impressive, that speaks volumes about the college’s they were accepted to, rejected to, and decided to attend.</p>
<p>Hypothetically, you find some John Doe who you believe has done real well in high school. He gets into Cornell and decides to go. You repeat this process over and over, to get some insight into the student body. Or perhaps on the other spectrum, you find many individuals who you deem to be not very qualified. This will show you that maybe Cornell’s student body is not as strong as you would like. Obviously it is ideal to really study many profiles, as Cornell has 3000~ students entering each year. The reason I ask you to look at individual profiles, and not summary data, is because profiles allow you to see everything. Obviously URM’s and athletes have an easier time getting in (and by easier I mean SAT scores, GPA). The summary data will not tell you any of this. So please, try to learn about the student body before a visceral reaction based on one number influences your decision. </p>
<p>If you find that the student body seems to be accomplished, that tells you something about the school. While I realize some view “how many admitted” as an important qualification of an institution, please look at “who is admitted”. </p>
<p>The previous posters, in my opinion, have done a wonderful job explaining potential reasons for Cornell’s 19% acceptance rate. But once again, please get to know who is admitted into Cornell. Look at where they were rejected to; look at where they chose to go. This will give you much better insight into the strength of student body’s at particular institutions; something much more valuable than an acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Because there are a lot of spots.</p>
<p>It’s easy to get into.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Correction: because there are a lot of spots, it’s slightly easier to get into than other Ivies, if you were more successful than 99% of people during high school.</p>
<p>my point was people are over-thinking </p>
<p>the answer is because it is a big school</p>
<p>edit: also, the ivy league is a sport league</p>
<p>My gut feeling is that the starter of this thread, afraidtoapply, will be one of the 80% denied if he/she does apply.</p>
<p>^ Haha, one of the 81% I may add</p>