Chance me-ED Cornell (Legacy)+T20s [Statistics / Comp Bio Major, 3.8 UW, 1570 SAT, NJ]

Chance Me / Match Me
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US Citizen
Asian Male
East Coast
Competitive Public
Legacy at Cornell

household income is <100k

Major: Statistics or Computational Biology depending on school

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
3.8 UW from fresh-junior
4.47 W from fresh-junior
About top 7%, extrapolated from school profile
1570 SAT (800 Math)
All 5’s on AP’s taken so far

Coursework
14 AP’s and the rest are honors. A bit of a downwards trend (1 B soph year, 2 B+ junior year)

Awards:

  1. First-Author Paper, IEEE __ Workshop (12)

  2. Sole-Author Paper, IEEE __ (12)

  3. USACO, Gold Division (10)

  4. Commendation, Theology—John Locke Institute Global Essay Prize (12)

  5. For my sport: State Top 10, 3rd Team All-State, Junior Olympics Qualifier (11)

ECs:

  1. Computational Biology Research Intern (HYPSM Lab) (summer of 12)

  2. Paid Computational Agrochemical Research Intern (Local Uni Lab). (11)

  3. Independent Researcher (self-directed projects; one mentored by __, __ Lab @ T20 Med School). (11, 12)

  4. Sport: Varsity ___ & Club - Won awards seen above. (9, 10, 11, 12)

  5. Data Science & DevOps Intern @ ___ LLC - Built stuff for the company and commuted to work (summer of 11)

  6. Church (Religious) - Read the Bible aloud 3x; hand-copied biblical books (300+ pages); kept reflection journals; debated theology, philosophy & ethics with pastors. (9, 10, 11, 12)

  7. Co-President and Co-Founder, Statistics Club - Led 30+ members in coding, stats & ML; organized projects, speakers & competitions; partnered with a university center on analytics for social good. (11, 12)

  8. Youth Leader @ Church + Led Mission Trips (9, 10, 11)

  9. Clinical Assistant - Ran front office. (10, 11)

  10. Adopt-a-Park Initiative - adopt & restore local park weekly (12)

Recs:
Physics
CSP
HYPSM research mentor

Schools:
UNC, UVA, Emory, NYU, WashU, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell CALS (ED1, legacy, Statistics & Biometry Major), Vanderbilt, Duke, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, Yale, Georgetown, Rice, + SAFETIES (I already got into a safety through rolling)

pls chance for cornell also i am informed on the cornell case

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Cornell University defines a legacy applicant as a student whose parents, grandparents, or earlier ancestors hold a degree from Cornell University (including undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs).

(I’m not sure if this italicized statement is 100% factual.)

Below is a Q&A directly from the Cornell webpage:

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Here is also a link to an old CC thread covering Cornell legacy.

Legacy students (children of Cornell undergraduate alumni) typically make up about 14.7% to 22.1% of an incoming class depending on the cohort (for instance, legacy students comprised 14.7% of the Class of 2025 and 22.1% of the Class of 2024 Early Decision pool). It would make sense for Cornell to put more weight on legacy during ED than RD.

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yes my mom went to cornell undergrad

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Q: What AP classes have you taken & are currently taking?

Q: What specific classes did you receive the “non-A” grades?

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taken mostly stem AP’s (all science ones except phys e&m and 2) + lang + various other ones. taking BC, Cmech, psych, business, econ, chemistry this year.

got non A’s in honors US1 (in my school the equivalent of first half of APUSH), AP lang, AP precalc (this one was super unlucky… but oh well)

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Looks like you are taking advantage of the most rigorous curriculum offered at your high school. I assume that you’ve taken AP Statistics.

Not sure how admissions at some of your super “reaches” are going to view three “B/B+” grades in AP college-level classes.

Q: Which school(s) have you already gotten admitted to?

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upitt

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The legacy bump isn’t what it used to be but I think you are a very competitive applicant for Cornell.

Best of luck!

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I’d drop Emory since they are now fully need-aware. You may want to replace one of your Ivy choices (not Cornell ED), with Chicago, a school you previously targeted. I assume you are not interested in any LACs. Rutgers should be one of your safeties as a NJ resident. You could also consider dropping a few, ones you don’t really see yourself spending four years at, not the best environmental fits, maybe cutting the list down to a maximum of 15.

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What level of foreign language have you achieved?

What is your English class this year?

There’s an Ivy, I can’t find which, that wants LORs from a STEM and Humanities - yours are both STEM. So review each school to ensure you meet their need or find a Humanities teacher instead of the CSP - which is an elective course. Or drop Physics because on your last post, you noted it wouldn’t be very good.

I like your ECs - the sport (Fencing on your last post) and Clinical Assistant. Otherwise, I think they are too academic - ie not well rounded. But if you have 2 years of helping to run a clinic, some church work, and four years of sports, that’s great.

All these can go either way - including Cornell ED - so I’m glad you’ve already gotten into your safety but please make sure you love that safety and will be happy to attend (and that you can afford to attend) or look for another. Also, ensure your parents run the NPCs on all your schools - while you will have financial need, make sure your family can afford the price the schools will give. Don’t trust tables - i.e. if you make less than $100K, you get free tuition. They all have disclaimers - because some families don’t have income but do have substantial assets. On both your post last year and this, you don’t address budget. You don’t need to with us - but you need to run the NPCs. If a school says you need to pay $50K and your family can pay $20K, it’s not going to work and should be removed.

Are you applying to Oxford at Emory, which would increase your chances?

@maijem11 is correct on the need aware thing - if you need too much, they can bounce you, wanting to spread their aid budget amongst others. They recently went to need aware.

Best of luck to you. No doubt you are qualified for any on your list but these are unpredictable. I would think UVA, Emory, Rice and maybe NYU are most likely but you are legit for all. Whether or not they see similarly is the question.

On an earlier post, you said - if you get top 20, your family is willing to invest in you. The issue is, if you decide on med school, it’s another $400-450K by the time you go. You cannot borrow that.

I get their desire for you but they have to live. Loans are pricey. Loans have fees so you’re not borrowing $100K but rather $96-97K. Loans may have to be paid back at $1K+ a month.

So it sounds great on paper - go to who US News says who is the highest ranked (which is very different, by the way than who Linkedin or WSJ or Time or Payscale says).

Guess what - there are kids from Ivy that don’t make it in life and there are kids from TCNJ that hit a home run,

Not sure Rutgers will be as cheap as you think - Students with an annual adjusted gross income (AGI) between $0 and $65,000, as reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or NJ Alternative Financial Aid Application (NJAFAA), will pay a net price of $0 for tuition and eligible fees (includes school, student, and technology fees) if they meet the following criteria:

You really need to have them run the NPCs and discuss what that amount truly means to their future, to your future and more.

SUNYs may come in less expensive. They have free app week through Nov 2nd (can apply up to 5) and might be smart to put in, just in case.

Best of luck.

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You look to be a competitive applicant and legacy is a plus. All anyone can say is apply, put your best foot forward, and see what happens. Much will depend on things that cannot or should not be shared on a public forum such as essays and LORs.

Congrats on your accomplishments and good luck.

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yeah i might drop emory thanks for that info i didnt know that. im not sure if im going to do uchicago bc i heard rd extremely, extremely hard to get into and i dont think i want to ED2 uchicago. rutgers is one of my safeties. im applying to a lot of colleges js bc i feel like my application is sort of shaky and im scared of rejection but yeah it might be better for me to cut down on schools

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hi, thanks for the response. i ran NPCs for a couple schools and they seem affordable - for example, i would go for free to Cornell according to it, with only 5k i would have to pay off per year through student working… also another reason why im applying to so many top schools is because ive figured that they tend to be more affordable than publics with a cheaper tuition tag… yeah maybe ill apply to some SUNYs ill look into that. thank you. also for emory i would be doing main campus i think if i apply

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No need to apply to UChicago if not interested. Also, no need to fear rejection - some of these schools have 95+% rejection rates; every applicant is facing the same fear. Harvard & Yale are the reaches I would consider dropping.

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The reason I mention Oxford at Emory and it’s a different experience for the first two years (very small campus way out there), but it gets you a degree from Emory, where you’d be your last two years so it’s just another entry point - you can apply to one or both.

Make sure Rutgers is affordable. You may need it. Best I can tell, unless your income is as I’ve shown, is over $40k.

You’d go OOS for less - as low as low 20s depending on the school. And there are less expensive in state schools too.

Make sure to have the family run the Rutgers NPC. You don’t want a surprise that uh oh, I have no where I can afford.

That’s why on all three threads I’ve asked what can you afford? You say my income is low (under $100k) and that means little. You need a $ figure and then find schools that will achieve it. That’s how you pick a safety. I’m guessing Rutgers may not be safe for you - affordability wise. My parents will do anything is not realistic either. Would a bank or financier lend them so much?

Unless I’m mis reading, if their income is above $65k your cost will be North of $40k short of merit aid.

I don’t mean to be worst case scenario but that’s what many students wish they had done after not being admitted anywhere or able to afford where they were.

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yeah, i have no expectation of harvard and yale. i should probably drop them… the only reason im applying to them is because my dad went to harvard and i had a research internship at yale so i feel pushed to apply

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yeah thats true ill run rutgers NPC tonight. we make about 75k

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If you have the time to apply and you want to attend, why not ? Even if you had no Bs they are unlikely, but you can’t get in if you don’t apply.

So mom went to Cornell and dad Harvard ? And the family income is $75k?

Do they have loans?

I’m sure they are quite successful in what they do but success in regards to financing college via loans - is dependent upon income. So I’m surprised they are so focused on rank.

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yeah im still going to apply. its just a time-commitment thing. im going to see how all my essays for the RD round go and if it looks like im on a time-crunch I might drop one of them

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well my mom switched industries to a lower paying job so she could spend more time with the family and my dad is unemployed for whatever reasons… they care a lot about my education regardless though.

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