Cornell Chance Me

Colleges & Universities Cornell University
1

Applied to Cornell’s School of Engineering, my top choice, Early Decision. What are my chances? (Be honest, please)

Stats
SAT: Didn’t take
SAT Subject Tests: Math I - 680 Physics - 590 (horrible, I know. My excuse is that I’m in IB Physics HL and hadn’t learned half of what was on the test yet)
ACT: 33 (English: 34 Reading: 34 Science: 35 Math: 30)
GPA: Weighted - 3.7 Unweighted - Somewhere in between 4.2 and 4.5. Haven’t checked in a bit)
APs: APWH - 3 English - 4 (in Calc this year)
IBs: Full IB Diploma Candidate. History of Americas HL, Physics HL, World Literature HI, Film Studies HL, Spanish SL (Tests are at the end of this school year). Took Math Studies SL Junior ear, got a 5.
Gender: M
Ethnicity: African-American

Subjectives
Essays: Both are the best writing I’ve ever produced. I think they are great, but it’s all about perception. My personal statement was about how a loss in a competitive video game tournament taught me the value of competition as a learning tool. My Cornell Engineering essay was on how, as a low-income African-American Male, people have always told me that I can’t accomplish my dreams, and Cornell, with their motto of “of ant student…any study” will help me accomplish these dreams.
Recommendations: waived my rights but one was from my Physics teacher (I’m the highest performer in the class, strive to succeed, and she’s a Cornell alumn herself), and the other from my History and Film Teacher (perform well in his classes, try my hardest and yadayadayada).
Counselor - Amazing
ECs: Varsity Policy Debater (3 years) and Team Captain this year. Hackathon Team Captain (have won multiple competitions). President of Science Club, Math Team, and Nerd Club. Program Director for Black Student Union. Member of Gay-Straight Alliance and Drama Club.
Notable Awards and Recognition: 2017 Cornell Book Award Recipient, Multiple Policy Debate Speaker and Tournament Awards, Multiple Programming and Hackathon Competition awards.

2

I’m not sure what major you applied for in CoE, but I can guess. I’ll be honest: academically, your stats aren’t great. A 3.7 unweighted GPA (I assume you had a typo; typically UW GPA is out of 4 and W GPA is out of 5) is a little low, and you don’t seem to have strong math performance. Your ACT score is in the 50% range, but with math being your lowest-scoring section, admissions might not look at it very positively. High math and physics proficiency is very important in engineering, after all.

Hopefully your essays, EC’s, rec letters and other “holistic” parts of your application make up for it. If they’re as good as you say, then you should still have a decent chance. Good luck, dude.

3

The biggest negative I see are your SAT subject tests, especially Physics. I disagree with AL, I wouldn’t qualify a 30 on the math portion of the ACT as low math performance (Even though I do agree for engineering you would want higher math scores than other majors and schools)… The 680 math 1 might be though. It really depends on how your math grades were throughout HS at this point because your ACT and SAT math scores contrast. Your overall ACT score is good. Your awards and ECs are good. And your GPA depends on what type of school you go to. If it’s from a public school then it’s a tad bit low, but if you go to a highly recognized, very rigorous public or private school then it might not be and it will be seen as you pushing yourself. Overall, decent chance. I see you either getting accepted (a little more likely in my opinion) or deferred (I honestly think this is a little less likely but who knows) ED. Rejection would be extremely strange. But I’m not an adcom so take it with a grain of salt.