<p>So, I’m a junior right now, but I want to do some research to get ready–so I just wanted to know if these credentials are in the range for Cornell…</p>
<p>If it makes a difference, ALS for the environment. If its not too much of a reach I want to apply ED (aka if my grades are in the range, I’ll apply ED)</p>
<p>Grades:
no AP, IB in school–> just all honors: so “most rigorous courseload”
most rigorous high school compared to other schools in state
Freshman Year: B+'s in bio and electives, A-'s in US history, english and geometry, A’s in foreign lang. </p>
<p>Junior year (current): as of now–Straight A’s --ancient history, english, german, trig, 2 electives (but I could get an A- in physics II)</p>
<p>worst-comes-to worse: 3.8 GPA: rank–I get slaughtered in this aspect–12/50</p>
<p>I know Cornell is interested in a lot other things besides grades, but I have ECs and test scores–so all I want to find out about is grades…thanks! honest opinions are always valued…so feel free to tell me that my credentials are way off…btw does Cornell recalc. GPA?</p>
<p>its a wannabe private school: its just like one (we get no gov. funding except for the bare minimum) except we don’t pay to go</p>
<p>my rank is low because I got all my bad grades at a time where most students were getting good grades (students at my school generally do worse as they get older, except I for some reason have been getting better)</p>
<p>plus the top 20ish in my class is super…and the bottom 30 really stink…there’s no real medium in my grade…</p>
<p>If there is a way your guidance counselor can try to give you the upper hand when it comes to your rank in their recommendation, that might be good. Otherwise, like I said, good shot. Just keep it up senior year.</p>
<p>I mean if your counselor can spin it in a good way, the they should. If I was looking at your transcript and saw 12/50, I might wonder why that was. Your counselor (or you) should explain it in a positive light.</p>
<p>even if I get straight A’s this year (my junior year), I doubt my rank will be top 10%–it’ll probably be 6/50. Right now, I’m at 10/50, but I’m betting on straight A’s (with the exception of an A- in physics if I bombed my final)</p>
<p>how do you spin a crappy rank in a positive way?</p>
<p>I was in a similar predicament as you are right now and I got in ED this year. I would suggest you focus on your studies for the rest of the year. Never give up, even if it seems futile, just keep getting your work done. Take your sat/act in april/may, and sat IIs in june, and you should be good to go. If you can, I would suggest trying some sort of Dual enrollment class over the summer or next school year to set you apart from the rest of your class. You may not beat them in rank, but you can beat them somewhere else (thats what I did and it worked)</p>
<p>yeah, I have wayyy better ECs than really anyone else in my grade…all the people above me are grade-obsessed so they do like 1 thing for an hour a week…I’ve won every single nomination that my school gives for awards that are for ECs + grades/test schores.</p>
<p>I posted this on another forum and one parent told me that “I looked like a slacker”…that is soooo NOT true, but do my grades/ECs present me like I am a slacker?</p>