Chance me for Cornell ED

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics

  • US Citizen
  • State/Location of residency: North Carolina
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public, low-mid

Intended Major(s) Biochemistry (Pre-Med) , Minor in Computer Science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.83 (All non A’s from freshman year)
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.45
  • Class Rank: Unknown
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1580 and 36

List your HS coursework

  • English: English I Honors, English II Honors, AP Lit, AP Lang
  • Math: NC Math 1 Honors, NC Math 2 Honors, NC Math 3 Honors, AP Pre-calculus, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics
  • Science: Earth and Environmental Science Honors, Biology Honors, Chemistry Honors, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, AP Physics 1
  • History and social studies: AP World History, AP Gov, APush
  • Language other than English: Spanish 1 Honors, Spanish 2 Honors, Spanish 3 Honors, Spanish 4 Honors
  • Other academic courses: School newspaper (A Year Long Class), took freshman and sophomore year

Awards

  • USABO Semi-Finalist
  • USMDO Bronze
  • Won three Hackathons
  • Medical and Bioethics Essay Second Place

Extracurriculars

  1. ⁠Science Research at Duke:
  • Published research on microplastics in local food sources using spectroscopy, presented findings to my city councils environmental committee
  1. ⁠Found a nonprofit where I translated rare disease guides to 17 underrepresented languages
  • Had my guides accessible throughout multiple North Carolina hospitals, plus had them posted for free as PDF’s on multiple websites
  1. ⁠Built a predictive model for food desert-linked disease rates using my county’s health data
  • Published online and took large attention of my local community, got onto my towns newspaper
  1. ⁠Co-Founder/President of my schools coding club
  • Every semester our club built a project based on the votes of all students and staff within school (Projects we built include a School Lunch Meal predictor, an interactive AI chatbot that helps students learn to enjoy school, etc) Also every semester we held a fundraiser downtown, raising over 10K in total.
  1. ⁠Vice-President of Science Honors Society
  • Spent many hours after school tutoring biology and chemistry students for free via the club. Created long, immensely detailed slideshows for each twice-monthly meeting that contained interviews of local biologists
  1. ⁠Shadowed Two Doctors
  • Shadowed the famous Dr. Hey of the HeyClinic, an orthopedic spine surgeon. Also shadowed a cardiologist and worked with her on a small awareness project regarding hereditary heart disease.
  1. ⁠Dishwasher at Senior Living Community
  • During summers and during the school year, I dish-washed, set the tables, etc. Also spent a lot of free time (Un-paid) just chilling and conversing with the Elderly there.
  1. ⁠Scenic Mountain Biking
  • Often spent weekends biking hours on end among the mountains, used it as a stress reliever and a large sense of peace. Started a social media account with more than 80k followers where I would post a beautiful view with a piece of advice.
  1. ⁠Varsity Tennis
  • Just tennis. Could become the captain this year? (LMK if that would help out)

Essays/LORs/Other
Other facts regarding me and my application:

  • Single Parent Home
  • Low Income
  • As listed above, I got three B’s and a C freshman year, the rest of my grades are all A’s. My poor freshman year grades were due to awful scoliosis and having to take care of my sister who had trouble regulation her emotions (Will tell in additional information section on the common app)

Schools

  • Cornell ED

  • Columbia (Dream school, LMK if you think I would have a solid chance applying ED to here instead)

  • UNC Chapel Hill (In-State)

  • Duke

  • Boston University (Legacy)

  • NC State

  • University of Rochester

  • Brown

2

If Columbia is your actual favorite, I would just ED there (if anywhere). I don’t think it is a good idea to “strategically” apply binding to a school that isn’t your favorite. Like if you actually did get accepted to Cornell, you would rightly think you have a chance at Columbia, but you would have to withdraw your application. Why put yourself in that position?

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3

Congratulations on your achievements.

First things first….Is Cornell affordable based on the net price Calculator? ? Is your second parent in the picture? If so, their financials will also be included in Cornell’s NPC.

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4

Yes, the basic “requirements” for applying ED are:

(1) You know the ED college would be comfortably affordable; and

(2) If given an offer, you know you wouldn’t want to consider any other offers (including for cost reasons).

If you can’t confirm (1), you should not apply there ED.

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5

I would hope that your school counselor addresses this in their letter.

You can not apply to both of these ED. It’s impossible to say if you have a “solid chance” at any elite college. You have a chance but no guarantees.

You are a very good applicant for colleges. Is NC State your sure thing for acceptance and affordability that you like? If so, that’s a fine enough list.

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6

You seem solid to me. While Cornell is likely a hair easier than Columbia, you have achieved enough to apply ED to either. Your list is fine as is.

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7

IF Columbia is your top choice and IF Columbia appears affordable per the NPC, then why would you apply elsewhere ED?

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8

Yes, assuming the counselor agrees NC State can be used as their Very Likely/Safety, that’s a very solid list.

I think if it were me, I might consider adding another option or two in the Rochester range, where merit might be a real possibility. For Biochem/premed kids, Case Western can be a great option.

And then publics like Pitt and Minnesota have some OOS merit possibility. And they are rolling, which can also be a nice relief.

But none of that is necessary, it just can be nice to have some offers from places like that to consider.

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9

My kid is going to be a freshman at Cornell in the fall. He was accepted in the RD round. Looking at and comparing profiles, I would say you have a good shot at getting in. If you decide to apply there, my advice is to take the time to carefully craft your essays. While they did just do away with one of the required supplementals, they still have the school-specific one. Just speaking from our experience, try to explain who you are, why you fit at that particular school and for your major, and how you’ll utilize your opportunities to be successful.

Now, my other comment for you is that Columbia and Cornell could not be any more different environments. I’m not sure they are interchangeable, so if you are going to ED, please take that into consideration. 4+ years is a long time to be somewhere you might be miserable. Do you want to be in the city or in a rural nature-filled setting? My kid chose nature over the other 2 choices that were based in major metropolitan areas. It played a big factor. It’s just something to think about.

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