Chances for Cornell/Mudd ED, or: Will a low first SAT score hurt chances?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Hi CC,</p>

<p>My question is somewhat odd. I received a 1990 on the SAT (700 Math, 580 reading, 710 Writing. I then took prep classes and luckily received a 2400. A lot of colleges require All SAT scores, so I gathered that low initial SAT scores might hurt a candidate’s chances. I did not get enough sleep the night before the first SAT (or a good breakfast, for that matter), and I had a minor cold too, but I still probably wouldn’t have gotten much above 2100, I was not prepared enough at all.</p>

<p>Alright, now for my chances:</p>

<p>My extracurricular activities are terrible.
They are: Track/Field Freshman, Sophomore, Junior year, JV first 2 years + Varsity last year. Participating (Varsity) again this (senior) year.
National Honor Society: this year only (12th grade)- Founder + President (founded it this year).
Yup, that’s it, I’m not like a bunch of you guys with ridiculous activities, and I know this will hurt me. Basically, all I do outside of schoolwork is socialize and sometimes play video games, and do track obviously. Only recently did I start reading this board and find out what it takes to get into top colleges, and I was frankly shocked, but regret isn’t going to get me into college either.</p>

<p>Gender: F
Income: High
Ethnicity: White (children of Russian immigrants)
First to attend college: No</p>

<p>Academics- GPA 4.00 unweighted 4.72 weighted
Rank: tied with one other person for 1/250-300 (don’t know exactly how many)</p>

<p>APs: Calculus BC (5) and 5 ab subscore, Physics B (5), Physics C: Mechanics (5), Physics C: E&M (5), Chemistry (5), Euro (4), English Language (5), Microeconomics (5, self study), Statistics (5), Psychology (5), Russian Language (5, native speaker, did not take class [so technically self study i guess])</p>

<p>Senior schedule:
H Multivar Calc
AP Bio
AP Environmental
AP Eng Lit
AP Art History
AP CompSci A
AP German Lang</p>

<p>Yup, 6 APs and 1 honors. I am in danger of getting my first ever B (well, B+) in APAH, but I can still pull it up although that will be tough (nightmarish with college apps thrown in, but oh well).</p>

<p>SAT 2s: Physics 790, Math 2 800, US History 720 (I was in reg. USH)</p>

<p>Other:
AP Scholar w/Distinction
PSAT commended
I took the AMC 12 last year but failed, haha.
Recs and essays good, I think.</p>

<p>Intended major: ENGINEERING (mechanical)</p>

<p>Chance me for Cornell ED (engineering, obvs)
Harvey Mudd: (If I get rejected early by Cornell, I will do ED 2 here, but probably not if deferred). Notes: dad went here
UC Berkeley
UC Davis (safety?)
UIUC
MIT (lol, I know it’s a massive reach). Notes: mom went here for grad (poly sci)</p>

<p>Other things: I was the freshman in the highest math class in my school (only freshman in Precalc Honors). They made me wait till junior year to take Calc BC though (so i was with a lot of juniors then), so I had to take AP stat in sophomore year (a couple sophomores from algebra 2 the previous year took that before precalc for some reason). I have the precal teacher again for Calc II so he’ll probably mention that in his rec (I also got the highest grade in the class both semesters). Other rec will be from AP English Lang + Lit teacher. Counselor likes me pretty well so her rec should hopefully be good.</p>

<p>Oh yeah, and I’m a domestic applicant but out of state for UCs.</p>

2

<p>You will be fine. Most schools will not be concerned with your first SAT Reasoning test scores so put that behind you completely. With basically perfect SAT’s and valedictory scholar level GPA, your lack of EC’s can be excused – just really emphasize track and your background coming from an immigrant family and watching your folks succeed. Yes, it is a commonly used story, but in your case your parents struggled to get out of a communist regime and if they came here prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall then they have quite a story to tell and probably experienced all kinds of discrimination and hardship to get here. Use it on your applications.</p>

<p>If you are planning to be a Mechanical Engineer then you have other things to think about. Remember, Harvey Mudd is a general engineering school with a liberal arts slant. Excellent school and you will most likely get in if they determine that your intellectual curiosity is sufficient for their program. If you have asthma or any respiratory problems, you might want to discuss this with the school ahead of time. At times, the air quality can be very poor in Calremont. For all the other schools you mention, you have a very good chance – just write good essays. I would also consider the following schools as you have a real chance to get in:</p>

<p>Stanford (low reach)
Cal Tech (high reach)
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (match - my son chose this school over 5 UC’s due to their extraordinary hands on teaching methodology. If you want research go to another school. If you want to learn by doing consider this school. It is very highly ranked. My kid had similar but slightly lower stats than you. However, his EC’s were spectacular and international in nature.)
Georgia Tech (match)
Virginia Tech (safety)</p>

<p>Anyway, good luck!! Oh yeah, if you want to be a Mechanical Engineer, then go to a school with an ME major! A general engineering program is not for you. Also, make sure that it is ABET accredited if this is important to you. Some schools or some engineering majors within an accredited school are not – don’t be surprised at who is and who is not!</p>

3

<p>Stanford is certainly not a low reach. With those EC’s it’s certainly a bigger reach than Caltech (which has a higher overall acceptance rate, and a higher one for girls than boys, and puts more emphasis on academics over non-academic EC’s, which is the weakest point of this application by a fair margin).</p>

<p>Since it’s ED, you have a good chance at Cornell and a very good one at Harvey Mudd if you apply ED (since its overall acceptance rate for girls is over 50%). In fact, you could probably take out UIUC and UC Davis since you will get into Harvey Mudd. Also, I would call Cal Poly a safety.</p>

<p>As for the SAT, your 2400 probably will effectively erase the 1990, and they might even assume you were sick or indisposed the first time since your other scores are strong. The US History one probably won’t hurt much since you are going to be an engineer, but it could be higher (too late to retake for early schools, though).</p>

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<p>I’m not totally set on ME, for example I think Harvey Mudd would be fine even though it’s just general engineering.
Thanks for the suggestions. Stanford, Cal Poly, and Caltech was actually on my list but I took them off after visiting, didn’t like them much.</p>

<p>My parents did experience a lot of hardship but probably not on the level you’re imagining, and it hasn’t really affected my life as they don’t talk about it much and are financially successful; I have no remaining close family in Russia, so they’re pretty much Americanized since they went to college and lived here since. I’ve never been to Russia either, so I don’t think I could write an essay on that. Thanks for the advice though. Also is that true what you said about Mudd? When I visited, it seemed great (no problem with the air), although I don’t have asthma or anything anyway.</p>

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<p>I think I’ll keep UC Davis, it’s only a fee after all. But maybe I will take out UIUC. My counselor said retaking the US History wouldn’t really matter, but do you think it would be important? I’d have to relearn virtually everything… :(</p>

5

<p>My son has very mild asthma (had a prescription for an inhaler as a child) and is in poor physical condition due to too much computer time. I’ve heard that August is the worst time at Claremont for pollution, and he was there all August and didn’t complain. Anecdotal, true, but maybe some consolation. However, every time I go, I’m upset that I can see the bad air between me and the mountains, making the mountains look dingy.</p>

<p>

Mudd’s take on their general engineering program is that the exciting stuff happens in the boundaries between disciplines, and this makes sense to me. Mudders seem to be well-prepared for specific engineering jobs and grad schools even with general engineering preparation.</p>

<p>

I know that OP is well-qualified and that Mudd admits a high percentage of girls, but I don’t think this is quite a safe thing to say.</p>

6

<p>I was just told by someone who actually lives in Calremont that the air quality is not as bad as I thought. In fact, that person said that they believe that the air there is the same as anywhere else in So Cal. Since that person lives there, I’ll take their word for it. I must have been there on bad days. My kid is a lot like GeekMom63’s when it comes to asthma and if her kid was OK then I stand corrected.</p>

<p>I hope that you did not get the impression that I did not like Harvey Mudd. In fact, I truly respect the school. One of my closest friends from my MBA program works for a global company that sells specialized calibration products used to maintain manufacturing equipment. His CEO is a Mudd grad and my friend said that his boss is, “the smartest man that I have ever met.”</p>