SAT: 1540
Math 2 800, Chem 760
unweighted GPA: 3.87
most of the bad grades were in 9th grade
AP: everything 5 except physics em 4
ec:
Martial art nationally ranked 3rd
Took AIME twice
Worked as a teacher assistant for my school and taught computer science during summer
Went on a free trip to Japan through a program during summer
treasurer of a cultural club at school
placed 9th in national japan bowl competition
member of varsity math team
taught computer science/math for volunteer service
I really want to go to Cornell. Do I have any chance?
I think you will definitely get in especially since you are good at sports with the academics (i.e. math team and fluent in some computer science language).
I disagree with the poster who said you’ll definitely get in. It’s Cornell. It’s going to be a reach. You definitely have a chance, but your ECs look kind of light, and your race and major might negatively impact your chances. Good luck!
That’s just not true about his ECs being light, if you focus a lot of time and energy into something and your good at it
there’s no reason to overwhelm yourself with tons of Ecs. Better to be amazing at a few things that to be okay at a lot of things.
@Acetate I agree with both posters. Cornell is tough to predict just like any Ivy so saying it’s a sure thing is false. I’ve seen people with better stats than you get rejected and some with lower stats get in. But in scores alone you are a top candidate. I also agree with the other poster, you don’t need a two page list of ECs, just a few you are passionate about and have done well for a long time. Your martial arts ranking looks good and hopefully you can tell a story in your essay about how it influenced you. The number of ECs you listed is about the same as mine and you do show at least one leadership position so that’s good. Did you apply RD this month? I think you have a realistic chance but I’m sure you know its a good idea to have a couple of other schools you like just in case. You have the same number of ECs and better scores than me and I got in.
As someone who is currently at Cornell (freshman, Human Ecology), I think I can be of some help here. Like the posters above said, it is Cornell. The higher acceptance rate relative to the other Ivies is because of the fact that it’s a bigger school and can accept more students, not because it’s any easier or less prestigious. Therefore, regardless of how good of a candidate you are, it is going to be a gamble. Now, I also agree with the above poster who said that light ECs don’t matter if you’ve shown dedication. I did relatively few ECs in high school relative to other people who go to Cornell, but I did them all throughout high school. Now again, I am in HumEc, not in Eng, so I’m not sure how the admissions process there relates to the one I went through (each college within Cornell does their own admissions). I’d have to imagine that being an Asian male in engineering would hurt your chances some, but I could be wrong. Definitely apply, as you have a good chance, but be prepared for any outcome.
This is why CC gets made fun of so much. Dude’s test scores and ecs are way above Cornell’s average. It literally comes down to how he crafts the application at this point.