<p>[asize=4][acolor=#FF0000]Decision: Rejected CAS[/color][/size]</p>
<p>Objective:</p>
<p>SAT I (breakdown): 2400 (first time, 12 essay)
ACT (breakdown): 36 (36 on everything, 12 essay)
SAT II: 800 Bio M, 800 Korean, 800 USH, 800 Math 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 unweighted, 4.8 weighted
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5’s on 8 tests
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry, AP Econ, AP Gov., AP Spanish Lit, Honors Anatomy and Physiology, AP Lit
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NMF, AP Scholar thingy, sports awards, school awards, community awards, state awards, AMC, Siemens</p>
<p>Subjective:</p>
<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): good
Job/Work Experience: none
Volunteer/Community service: good
Summer Activities: good
Essays: I’d say 9/10 for Common App. 10/10 on supplement
Teacher Recommendation: amazing
Counselor Rec: Meh.
Additional Rec: n/a
Interview: Great. Too bad it doesn’t count for much
Other</p>
<p>Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: biological sciences
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public (2200 kids)
Ethnicity: AZN
Gender: male
Income Bracket: 250000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): NONE</p>
<p>Reflection</p>
<p>Strengths: Test scores, GPA, EC’s, recommendations, essay…Everything was spot on.
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: Demonstrated my love for Biology.
Weaknesses: none that I can think of. Maybe not curing cancer? EDIT: A Z N.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Thought I would at least get deferred. Not downplaying Cornell or anything… but it’s odd that I would get flat out rejected.
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted: Caltech, MIT. Rejected: Cornell. Waiting on: Stanford, Cal, UCLA, UCSD, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, UChicago, Northwestern, JHopkins, Penn, Brown, Columbia.
Your “Big Red” factor - the most unique thing in your application: Did all that I could. Cornell was my #1 choice over schools like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, etc… I loved both the campus and Ithaca when I visited there. I’m still bitter about the result, but it is what it is. Hopefully I get into Stanford because it’s my #2 choice. IT’S YOUR LOSS CORNELL. Sorry for the rant. Just really frustrated.</p>