XXCornellXX

Hi guys, I am a new to this website and would like you to tell me my chances of getting into Cornell's ILR program for ED. I submitted my application a couple of weaks ago.

Ethnicity: White, Male (European)
Citizenship: Canada
School: Large Public School in Florida

Class Rank: 10 out of 650 (top 1.5%)
regular GPA: 3.81/4.0
Core GPA: 4.46
Unweighted GPA: 5.2

SAT Scores (they suck)
Math: 710
Writing: 750 Essay: 12
Critical Reading: 600 (.. first time i took it i got a 500)

SAT IIS: German with Listening: expecting a 750+ (scores come back on Nov. 20th)
Math Level 1: expecting 700+

I am in the International Baccaleaurate Program. Taking all IB classes this year: IB English, IB Calculus, IB Psychology, IB European History, IB French, IB Biology, AP English Lit. and Composition

Although i have a 3.8 GPA, I had straight As in all my core classes and in all my IB classes junior year. Currently, in first quarter of my senior year i had straight As also. During, my freshmen and sophmore years I had a B+ in PE both semesters, so thats like 4 B+s (i know lol, who gets a B in PE), and my freshman year I had a C+ in computer technology, another elective. If they recalculated my GPA and disregarded those two electives, I would have a 4.0. Also, all my classes since freshmen year have been AP and Pre-IB, hence the 5.1 unweighted GPA.

My freshmen and sophmore years I attended a private school in Canada and was the valedictorian, when I moved to Miami during my junior year my class rank went from 1 to 10/650 at the new school. In one of my recommendations, my guidance counselor has written that if my equivalent Canadian grades were taken I probably would have been valedictorian or saludatorian at my current school.


My ECs now:
-President and Founder of the German club at my new school
-President of the Debate Club
-Several other leadership positions at clubs (i.e. French Club, Doctors Without Borders, and Model UN)
-Tennis Team (have been playing tennis for last seven years)
- a lot of volunteer work (at local hospital, community center etc.)
-volunteered at summer camp for autistic children over the summer
- teach Sunday School at my church for past four years
-coordinated relief efforts for Kosovo humanitarian crisis with my church

The two biggies:
-traveled to Zambia during my sophomore year to build a school house in effort with Habitat for Humanity
- this past summer (08') traveled to Croatia (Eastern Europe) where I worked as an intern at a manufacturing plant, obtained an amazing reccomendation letter

Personal: speak 5 languages fluently, two more i understand well

My essay for ILR dealt with my childhood in war-torn Bosnia, my parents and mine status as refugees and how we obtained asylum for Canada when I was seven years old. I talked about the impact of various cultures on my upbringing (born in Bosnia, lived in Canada from age 6 to 12, lived in Germany from ages 12 to 15, moved back to Canada for beginning of high school, and now live in Miami). My guidance couselor said that my essay was one of the best she had read, and that had I not been white, I would probably get the Bill Gates scholarship. I also stated that I want to attend ILR to broaden my perspective on the world, gain an education in a program that could serve as a pre-law program and pre-international relations, because my ultimate goal is to return back to Bosnia and reform the traditionalist and politically unstable society that has witnessed so much bloodshed throughut the past centuries.

My recommendation letters were amazing particularly those from my English teacher and the guidance recommendation. My English teacher wrote something along the lines that every college should be fighting over me.

I am an emotional wreck at the moment and probably will be until mid-December, when my decision comes back. Please evalutate my chances on a scale of 1-10. (10 being the highest)

Thank You,

I appreciate it.

kmr223

go ahead, apply. i think its a reach for u

glame

can you elaborate on your essay? Did you link perhaps the plight of the Bosnian labor movement to ILR? Your stats look good, but what is important is fit and for me, the essay could best demonstrate your fit. So how did you link ILR to your desire for Bosnia?

XXCornellXX

On my essay for ILR, i didnt really link it to labor, which I feel like a made a big mistake. I wrote about how I'd like to use ILR as a pre-law/pre-diplomacy program and would like to return to Eastern Europe to work as a diplomat. I don't know, i feel that I screwed up badly, although my CommonApp Essay was amazing. I already got accepted into UMich yesterday, but Im not getting any financial aid as a Canadian citizen living in the US, so Im really praying that Cornell accepts me.

glame

About labor, it was just one example. Don't sweat it. Since cornell is pretty big with law and there is a department of international and comparative labor plus an international relations minor. So, while this is far from a guarantee, but it looks like you demonstrated fit. If you do not get in, but are lucky to be deferred, you can write another letter clarifying your interest in ILR. Good luck

sweatpants

you look like you have a good shot. interestingly enough, im actually responding to this from catherwood library (ilr library)

nitefyre

I think you're within the 7-9 range for likelihood for admittance.

It would've served you better to link it back to ILR and not so much prelaw/international relations. A great way of doing this is to show what you know about the school and referencing a professor you really want to study with. In your case, mentioning an International and Comparative Labor professor/class or an International Labor Law class would've been a clincher.

I wouldn't worry too much about this and if you're deferred, which you probably won't be, definitely bring those assets to bear when trying to persuade admissions. If you really are more interested in IR/pre law, the government program in A&S might be better suited to your interests.

I was also an IB student and I'm involved in ambassador work at the school.

nitefyre

Also let us know how you did, the decisions should be going out soon. I think a lot more people have been applying ED to Cornell (ILR) in recent years so it'll be interesting.

FYI, the critical reading scores might also put a damper and move you down from "10" territory because there is an intense amount of close reading. Of course, since I imagine English was your second language, it's understandable. Don't worry so much about excuses for not being valedictorian, etc, schools really don't care about people who are obsessed about those trivialities.

And about reference letters, as you'll learn, they're relatively meaningless because they're 99% always great. It's if they're less than "super-hero" status that you have to worry.

XXCornellXX

Thank You so much for your reply. Decisions are coming out on the 11th, I'm really optimistic.

Unidentified

Did you get your results?

How did you do?

dhara2391

Wow...i think u have a great chance!!!!! do u think i have a chance?
CHance ME?!?!? (my SAT is a....1880) >_<***
Do i stand a chance (SAT is a ......1880) ?!?!?!?!? some kids have 4.0 gpa, 2100 SAT, great currics and get deferred!!!! ><
here are my stats....
lols i want to go here sooooo badly, you have no idea!!!! (brown univ is out of my reach lol)
gpa. 3.97 W
SAT scores: 1880 O___O* sweat*
Subject test: didn't take it yet...
Act:27....O____O; *gulp*
taken all honors.....
taken all the math and science classes available at my skool
ONLY taken 2 AP's-calc and physics- (but made it up with college courses at harvard and this community college) so......think of it as.....6 AP's...lols
skool type: catholic
rank: top 10% (out of 350)
ethnicity:asian (works against me!!! arghhh!!!) >.< first gen. to go to college in america
no legacy.......
essay.....so so.....
recs......standard....i got one from my lab teacher in harvard summer school tho...
extra currics: Live Poet's Society, Book Club, Mission Club, Interact CLub, Founder of a charity organization, Indian Classical dance, Math League, tutoring, vocal recordings in multi-languages, independent cancer research reviews, piano, and thats pretty much it....
Languages: Tamil-mother tongue, Telugu-2nd mother tongue, Hindi-can only read and speak a little- (Indian dialects), Russian-can speak and read Cyrillic, and Spanish....and Japanese ^.^* and im sending colleges me singing in russian and english ^O^*
Other factors: Completed 8 credit course for undergraduate biology in Harvard this summer..............and im sending brown this huge lab report thing from harvard summer skool on Meotic Mapping on Yeast......
so pleaseeeee chance me?!?
i dont have a good SAT, i don't think my currics are that impressive, my gpa doesn't stand out when applying to it, my essays are OK, anddddddd............lol did i mention the SAT score...xD 20% chance i get in? 10%? lols....25%? LOLxD

p.s. i wanna major in bio or biomedical engineering

ffhrea

I say mid to low chances. When he said "I wrote about how I'd like to use ILR as a pre-law/pre-diplomacy program and would like to return to Eastern Europe to work as a diplomat", that was the #1 kiss of death right there. Even beyond the low SAT scores.

cornellstudent

If you dont get in apply as a transfer to ILR because it has a 60% admissions rate.

dhara2391

Improved my scores to nearly 2000
increase of nearly 100 points!!!!!
ACT went up by only 29.
Actually GPA I posted was my unweighted(3.97)
Weighted was 4.30. But did not make it.
for Cornell.