CHANCE ME for Cornell CALS ED - Where should I EA to? 4.4/5.0W, 1540 SAT [3.77 unweighted GPA]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US domestic
  • State/Location of residency: US East-Coast
  • Type of high school: Well-known, competitive public HS
  • Other special factors: N/A

Intended Major(s): Agricultural Sciences/Environment & Sustainability/Environmental Engineering - undecided!

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.77/4.0 UW (Unofficial, school does not do UW or rank)
    • My terrible unofficial UW will be explained by personal extenuating circumstances in 9th/10th grade, will put on additional information + counselor letter.
      Upward trend in GPA and class rigor each year, straight As in junior year.
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.4/5.0 W (Not great :frowning:)
  • Class Rank: N/A, no idea
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1540 one-sitting (750R, 790M)

List your HS coursework
Close to max rigor: 13 APs, 3 DEs, Multi-variable calc + linear algebra CC (11), Diff Eq. + Discrete Math CC (12) by the end of high school
All 4s and 5s in 9th/10th grade (extenuating circumstance affected), All 5s in 11th grade + 5 in major-related AP.

Awards
This is definitely my weakest section.

  1. Tons of robotics stuff: [__] World Championship Division Finalist (International)
    • One of national Premier/Signature event champion (no dox)
    • States semifinalist/finalist two years in a row
    • Numerous local tournament champion and other local awards
  2. AP stuff (Scholar, Distinction)
  3. Official certified stream monitor for local county
  4. Should’ve gotten PVSA gold but it got discontinued.
  5. Potentially other stuff coming soon.. nothing huge though

Extracurriculars

  • Two years of summer internship on a specialized local farm (instead of prestigious summer programs, lab internships, etc. like everyone else)
    • Intern experience & farm featured on local news
  • Major-related research from farm internship, accepted into reputable journal, pending pub
  • Independent major-related research, accepted into reputable journal, pending pub
  • Cold-emailed mentored research related to intended major(s) that is WIP, may not make it by ED (Ongoing)
  • Internationally ranked robotics team. Co-founded/co-captain, lead building, game strat and 3D design. Numerous local, national, and international awards.
  • Co-founded largest robotics workshop non-profit program in the area. Impacted over 300+ kids from under-represented communities, raised thousands, etc.
  • Various environmental volunteering
  • Various environmental-based-political volunteering
  • 8 years of competitive sport (Club and school teams, although affected by E.C.)
  • Everything else is sort of trash (school club participant, honors society member, etc.)

Essays/LORs/Other
Everything will be good/alright I would assume. Great teacher rec incoming from AP Environmental Science teacher, which is nice!

Schools
ED: CORNELL CALS. :tractor: PLS LET ME IN
EA/RD: Still formulating, no official list yet.

My biggest concern is that my profile doesn’t fit nicely into most T20 colleges, other than Cornell CALS ultra-specific ones that are so fitting for my profile. Like I have a feeling that its Cornell CALS or bust.
What should I apply for as well?

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Is this like a match me?

You’re going to ED to Cornell but where else should you apply? Some don’t have EA so it’d be RD>

Let’s go with Environmental engineering - since that’s the hardest to find. Often, it’s in Civil but if you go with who is accredited in Env E, there’s 133 schools. Cornell is one.

You have great rigor. Your awards aren’t your weak spot because few have them. Does a kid collecting shopping carts for the grocery store earning awards? Or the one walking dogs at the shelter? It’s not recognition - it’s more like what did you do, what did you accomplish and how did it impact, etc. So I wouldn’t worry abuot this or not make up, but you know what I mean - create awards that are a stretch.

I like your ECs - your far internship is interesting.

What’s your budget? Cornell is now $96K in direct cost so $100K+ in reality. Can you afford this? Do you qualify ofr need aid?

What can your family afford, etc?

Then I can offer other names once I know what you can pay.

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Sorry I’m new to this format, I might have posted the wrong stuff lol.

Yes, my family qualifies for financial aid, and we will most likely be applying for it. However for example in a non-optimal case where we have to full-pay, we will pay it if it means I get to go to a top school. So essentially money isn’t really a pressing issue that limits what colleges I choose to EA or RD to.
And thank you for responding and sharing your thoughts! Isn’t this exciting. :slight_smile:

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If you qualify, you apply.

If you qualify, you likely can’t pay $100K a year - and besides, Cornell is need blind so it won’t impact your admission.

Your family should do the NPC - it will show what you will pay.

Cornell is a fine school but engineering is not prestige based for the most part. As an example, my Alabama son found out at trivia night, he makes more than the Columbia kid that was at the next company over. He started/made the same as the Purdue, Michigan, Case Western grads in his co hort and also the same as the Akron, W MIchigan, grads, etc.

So do you think you’ll do engineering or a non engineering major? What is the thing you are looking for in a school - outside of name - size, weather, sports, greek life, environment (urban, city, rural, etc). Does religious life matter? What is it about Cornell that you like?

As for budget, when one can spend $20K a year (save $80K) over Cornell - and perhaps get the same job - I"m not saying you’d have to choose it but it might be a consideration for your family. It’s something to discuss.

It’s odd to say - we’ll qualify for need aid but we can pay $100K a year nonetheless. Hopefully that won’t strain your family.

I put the NPC here for your folks to fill out and see what it says.

After you tell me more about what interests you, I’ll throw you some names.

Net Price Calculator

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I like this quite a bit as an EC.

The point of ECs is NOT to have the longest list, nor to do what everyone else is doing.

Rather, the point of ECs is to do what is right for you, and do it well, and get along with people. It looks to me like you have done the ECs that are right for you. This is exactly the right thing to do.

I like this one also. Actually I am sorry that this was not available when I was in high school. It sounds very interesting, but it also sounds like something that is challenging and fun, and has some very significant technical content.

I think that your ECs are very good.

You need to apply to safeties. I normally prefer to see at least two safeties (likely more if you want to compare financial offers).

U.Mass Amherst is excellent for agricultural sciences, and is also very good for multiple types of engineering. UVM also comes to mind as a good option. UNH is another very good option, as is U.Maine. If you are from New York (or even if you are not) then some of the SUNY’s would probably be very good, but unfortunately I do not know which ones.

You do not need to attend a big-name university such as Cornell to do very well in agricultural sciences or environmental engineering or civil engineering. There are very good programs and very good opportunities at a wide range of universities. Also, many of the famous highly ranked universities are in cities and lack some of the agricultural opportunities that you might get at a university that is more in the country, or perhaps in a location that was country way back when the university was founded (allowing them to put some land aside, for example). Cornell is excellent, but so are many schools that are going to be easier to get admitted to.

And you will find very strong students such as yourself at any one of a wide range of universities (and in most cases these very strong students will go on to do well in life).

And I agree that you should run the NPC for Cornell before applying ED, and make sure that your family can afford whatever the NPC says. While it is an excellent school and does offer good need based financial aid, if it would involve family financial hardship you really do not need to go there. There are a lot of other very good universities, many of which do (unlike Cornell) have merit aid. Your excellent SAT scores might help you in this regard at some schools.

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Assuming OP wants to stay East, there are 14 US schools with ABET accedidation in the US, with the farthest East being UGA but if wanting the NE - Ohio State.

If it’s environmental engineering, there’s 119 in the US - and specific to the North East, you have these schools - sorted by state.

What state are you from OP? Lots of good choices below -

University of Connecticut
University of Delaware
The Johns Hopkins University
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Northeastern University
Tufts University
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
University of New Hampshire
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Stevens Institute of Technology
University at Albany - State University of New York
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Clarkson University
Columbia University in the City of New York
Cornell University
Manhattan University
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
City University of New York, City College
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Syracuse University
United States Military Academy
Bucknell University
Carnegie Mellon University
Drexel University
Gannon University
Lehigh University
The Pennsylvania State University
University of Pittsburgh
Saint Francis University
Temple University
Wilkes University
Brown University
University of Vermont

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Stanford and Duke allow students to design their own major, and Duke does have some (extremely competitive) merit scholarships.

WUSTL has an environmental engineering degree, merit aid, and a flexible environment

U of Wisconsin has a CALS just like Cornell but no aid for oos students

Purdue has agricultural engineering: Choose a Major - Agricultural & Biological Engineering - Purdue University and environmental and natural resources engineering, and is quite affordable for an oos university

Iowa has ag engineering with good oos merit aid: Agricultural Engineering – Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

UDel has Agriculture Natural Resources | Undergraduate Programs | University of Delaware and strong traditional engineering programs and moderate merit aid

WPI has traditional engineering programs (including environmental) and opportunities to apply them in agriculture through the IQP and Major Qualifying Projects, which are an important part of the curriculum.

This is probably not a good fit for you, but if you would like to spend two more years on a farm discussing the liberal arts in a monastic environment, check out deep springs college.

In my opinion, the best option for a long term future in deep-tech agriculture (e.g.) would be to leverage your robotics strengths in a technical engineering degree (robotics, electrical, mechanics) and apply it to agriculture through elective coursework, research, clubs/projects, research, internships, etc. but I’m not sure if that’s the specific area within agriculture that you want to work in.

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Are you saying you got 4’s and 5’s on AP exams in grades 9 and 10? If so, I’m not sure that there is “explaining” to do about those scores. They are fine.

I’m also not sure why you need to do an ED application, but if you want to ED to Cornell, then do so. Just have your other applications submitted. You can always withdraw them if you get accepted at Cornell.

If your family can afford to be full pay, how would they also be eligible for need based aid? Agree with others…do the net price calculators.

What is your possible career goal?

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The two statements I highlighted above seem contradictory. I’m not sure how your family qualifies for financial aid while also having the income and/or assets to pay $100,000 per year. Have you discussed your actual budget with your parents? Have they run the NPCs for some of these schools to see how much financial aid you’d qualify for?

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Congratulations on your achievements.

How many Bs? Cs? Any unremediated Ds/Fs/Ws?

Don’t put this in awards. Do put the number of volunteer hours that you completed for each activity in the appropriate section.

This is true for all students, and suggests you may be too focused on prestige. I hesitate to suggest other schools…are you saying your parents won’t pay full COA for non T20s? If not, what is your budget for those schools?

I would spend relatively more time identifying target schools and at least one affordable school with highly likely admissions that you would like to attend. Statistically speaking, you are more likely to attend one of those vs. Cornell CALS. To be clear though, I see no problem with shooting your shot at Cornell.

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Agreed! OP, do this ASAP. Today if possible.

(Assuming NPC looks good)For your Cornell CALS specific essays, really highlight your farm internship experience.

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You have an top SAT score of 1540, rigorous coursework, & top awards, which I wouldn’t classify as weak (I would also drop #4 about the PVSA but add potentially other stuff). Your current GPA is close to an “A-”; strive for straight "A"s senior year; no more "B+"s or anything lower. If Cornell University is your top choice, then definitely apply ED. CALS is one of the easier schools to get admitted to (10-15% versus 8% overall). Also, Cornell tends to enroll approximately 50% of the class from the NY, NJ, & CT states. If you reside in a different East Coast state, this could provide you a tiny admissions boost (emphasis on the word “tiny”). You will need to consider some other alternatives in case you get deferred or later rejected in the spring. University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, Texas A&M, Iowa State, & Purdue all house top-ranking agricultural engineering departments. Their financial aid & merit aid policies will differ so you’ll need to check out which options will make sense as alternates.

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Hi,
I did the NPC and it seems like I would pay around ~40k instead of full 100k. That is definitely managable for us and shouldn’t be a problem.

I’m honestly not sure right now. Some sort of applied environmental engineering does seem interesting, but I am not sure if I would like to pursue it fully compared to other directions. Hence why I am split betweeen different major options.

I honestly don’t exactly care too much about school size, sports or if there is greek life or not. However, location is a factor: I wouldn’t like to go to the midwest, or deep South(east). Prefer to stay either East coast/New England, but I’m not limited to moving to the West Coast either.

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I think the - I don’t care about things like size - is not fair. Have you visited schools? Often times kids are into schools on paper and arrive and don’t like - for my daughter it was Elon, Miami Ohio, and James Madison…took them right off her list and she was excited pre visit.

Some would say, start in engineering - and you can drop down easier than other ways.

Sadly, much of agricultural stuff is the mid west.

I gave you a list above of NE schools in environmental.

There’s 12 accredited ag engineering schools - but obviously that opens up greatly if you don’t end up in engineering. But again, at most, but you can check school by school, it’s easier to transfer out then in so sometimes starting in is wise.

The 12 are Cal Poly (out West), UGA (deep South but lots of NE kids and an hour from Atlanta, which is very metropolitan), UIUC (midwest), Iowa State (midwest), Nebraska (midwest), ND State (midwest), Ohio State (midwest), Oregon State (far west), Purdue (midwest), SD State (mid west plains) and Texas A&M (south).

You can look at Cal Poly and Oregon State. But your interests don’t necessarily go with the NE geography. For ENVE, you need to look at what type of things are they studying (many are civil). But if you look at your areas, I’d look at more rural type places:

Bucknell - as a larger LAC

Clarkson - a smaller, many STEM majors

UCONN

Delaware

UNH

ESF - maybe a bit urban for your needs but the school is built around it and you have Syracuse access - which isn’t far off from the Cornell experience (many turned down at Cornell likely go to SU)

Penn State

I bet you find a solid alternative to Cornell (should you not get in) there.

Good luck.

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2 B+s freshman year, 2 B+s sophmore year. Everything else are A- or A. The grade splits for 9th/10th grade were like: 2 B+s, 3 A-s, 2 As. 11th: 7 As.

Thank you for replying!

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I’m not sure your extenuating circumstances, but I typically suggest students not explain B grades. There is nothing wrong with B grades, nor is your GPA ‘terrible.’

Good luck.

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For Cornell, I would. Four “B+” grades could be one too many :frowning:

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IME an explanation is not going to make a difference. And the risk is the explanation is poorly done. IMO there is no good or beneficial way to explain B+'s.

It’s up to OP and their counselor if and how they address it. But make no mistake there is risk in how OP and their counselor cover things, beyond having four B+'s.

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Could be - but you don’t “explain away”. That’s excuse making.

The trajectory is upward, the ED will matter. and people act like getting a B is a tragedy. Just like OP writes “my terrible UW” - hmmmm - 3.77 is not terrible. Not close to terrible.

They said the counselor will explain so that’s better - but everybody’s expectations are way too high The overall record is very very good.

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I do agree that any provided written explanation, whether by the applicant directly and/or the guidance counselor should be done correctly, depending on how much experience the counselor has with explaining extenuating circumstances & with Ivy League applications. Cornell does weigh unweighted GPA & rigorous coursework over standardized test scores, per their latest Common Data Set. DaTank100 stands a better chance with the explanation; I would hate to see him or her screened out!