Cornell University Early Decision

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Hello, I have just finished my Junior Year of High School. After receiving my test scores for the June 2014 SAT II’s, I came straight here in order to get a finalized picture of what the 17 year olds with an innate ability to determine one’s college chances on College Confidential have to say regarding what will be essentially my application to Cornell for an early decision in Engineering. Thanks for reading in advance and forgive me for any writing errors. </p>

<p>Course Load</p>

<p>My course load throughout high school attempts to show my commitment to academic rigor, although you can be the judge of how well it pulls that off. </p>

<p>Mathematics
• Honors Integrated Algebra
• Honors Geometry
• Honors Trigonometry
• Honors Pre-Calculus
• AP-Calculus</p>

<p>Science
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Environmental Science
• Physics Honors
• AP-Physics
• AP-Chemistry</p>

<p>English
• Honors English-9th Grade
• Honors English-10th Grade
• AP Language And Composition
• AP Literature and Composition</p>

<p>Religion (Mandatory at the school I attend)
• Understanding the Bible-9th Grade
• Religions of the world-10th Grade
• Theology 10-10th Grade
• Death and Dying-11th Grade
• Morality-11th Grade
• Theology 12-12th Grade</p>

<p>History
• Global History-9th Grade
• Global History-10th Grade
• Honors US History-11th Grade</p>

<p>Language
• Spanish I-8th Grade
• Spanish II-9th Grade
• Spanish III-10th Grade</p>

<p>Electives
• Jazz Band-9th Grade
• Jazz Band-10th Grade
• Symphonic Band-10th Grade
• Ceramics-12th Grade
*Note: No elective in my junior year because the number of core classes I was taking ruled out this possibility and left no space in my schedule</p>

<p>GPA: 3.66/4.0=92/100=A</p>

<p>Extra Curriculars</p>

<p>Although the following list will not be extraordinarily long, the activities I chose to do reflect a level of commitment, or at least try to. </p>

<p>Junior Varsity Soccer-9th Grade
Varsity Soccer-10th Grade
Varsity Soccer-11th Grade
Varsity Soccer-12th Grade</p>

<p>Varsity Track-9th Grade
Varsity Track-10th Grade</p>

<p>Youth Court-10th Grade
Youth Court-11th Grade
Youth Court-12th Grade</p>

<p>*Note-Youth Court is a peer to peer judgment program run by the State of New York, juvenile delinquents who are charged with up to a violation come through the system and are judged via a court setting in which there are law guardians (Defense Attorneys), Facts Attorneys (Prosecuting Attorneys), and Side and head judges. The sentences given in Youth Court carry the same weight as a sentence given by any other court. The difference is that in youth court the defendant does not receive a permanent record.
Starting in 10th grade, I was a law guardian but within two years I moved up to side judge. </p>

<p>Corning Incorporated Internship-10th Grade </p>

<p>*Note-This is only available for one summer, cannot be repeated as it is a high demand program. </p>

<p>Go Green Club-9th Grade
Go Green Club-10th Grade
Go Green Club-11th Grade
Go Green Club-12th Grade</p>

<p>GeoCaching Club-12th Grade (Started Club) </p>

<p>Standardized Test Scores</p>

<p>SAT</p>

<p>Overall-2110</p>

<p>Breakdown-770 M, 730 CR, 610 W</p>

<p>ACT</p>

<p>Overall-34</p>

<p>Breakdown-32 W, 32 M, 36 R, 34 S</p>

<p>SAT II’s</p>

<p>Physics-800</p>

<p>Math II-750</p>

<p>Thanks so much for reading through what was probably a tedious list. Although I will be applying to Cornell for Early Decision in Engineering, I am applying or thinking of applying to all of the following, a quick chance on these would be greatly appreciated, although Cornell is the most important to me.</p>

<p>MIT
Princeton
Columbia
University of Pennsylvania
Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>Thanks so much again, Kassra</p>

2

<p>Wow this is pretty solid. I’m applying to cornell as well. Though my sat reading is not as good as yours.</p>

3

<p>Actually your GPA is low for all these schools and that 610 W is somewhat of a blemish. If you can get a 700+ on all three sections you might be a viable candidate for Cornell. I think CMU is a good shot for you (except for Computer Science). Penn is a viable reach for you as well. Columbia, Princeton and MIT are out of reach.</p>

4

<p>^^<a href=“http://www.engineering.cornell.edu/admissions/undergraduate/apply/freshman/faqs.cfm#CP_JUMP_15507”>http://www.engineering.cornell.edu/admissions/undergraduate/apply/freshman/faqs.cfm#CP_JUMP_15507&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>"Does Cornell consider the writing portion of the SAT/ACT?</p>

<p>Currently, Cornell is not using the writing scores for admissions consideration."</p>

5

<p>Yes, but all the other schools that the OP mentioned do.</p>

6

<p>My son just graduated June 2014, admitted as a Honors engineering student and is in summer session there now and admitted to their Chemical Engineering Program, His SATs were a tad better but he only had a 32 on his ACT. YOUR GPA hurts you, my son’s was 4.56. Further a second year of Calculus ( BC ) would be helpful. Your sports are mediocre and shouldn’t be mentioned as Cornell is a Div. 1 school, my son was a two sport varsity letterman all four years in Wrestling & Swimming holds two school swimming records all league swimmer and state finalist and still isn’t fast enough of a swimmer but will be allowed to red shirt. Some REAL research would be helpful ( my son did cancer research at Cedars-Sinai Hospital ). Take a fourth year of Spanish AP. A close friend made it into U. of Penn with similar numbers as my son, ditto for Columbia. you best chances are CMU, forget about Princeton. If you are S.E. Asian, Hispanic or Black you will be welcomed in any of your desired schools though. Math team & Engineering team at school in positions of leadership would be helpful as would a couple of hundred hours of volunteer public service, competition is very tough, Kassra.</p>

7

<p>^Wow @fatpapa 's comment is a little harsh and slightly heavy on the kid-bragging. A second year of calculus or a fourth year of AP Spanish may not be offered at your school; my school didn’t offer anything even remotely close to those. Your sports aren’t “mediocre.” I don’t really know what they mean by “REAL research” but I think your Youth Court EC is super interesting; I’m from NY and have never heard of it. And don’t “forget about Princeton.” You can apply there if you want to! And by no means do you need “a couple of hundred hours of volunteer public service.” Youth Court sounds like public service to me, anyway, but regardless, you ARE NOT required to have hundreds of hours (or any hours at all) of volunteer service on your apps. Competition is tough, but those are not the ways to get ahead. </p>

<p>Your SAT II scores are really good. Your CR and math scores on the SAT are really good. Your writing score definitely hurts you, but Cornell doesn’t take the writing score into account. Most other schools do, though, so you may want to retake the SAT and focus mainly on raising the writing section. Your ACT score is also very high. The engineering school at Cornell is super tough to get into. My friend had a resume scarily similar to yours (high SAT II scores, low writing score, varisty soccer and track) and got rejected Cornell Engineering ED. That is obviously no indicator of what your decision will be. I’d say at this point, maybe retake the SAT, continue doing everything you love, and apply ED. </p>

8

<p>you have a pretty good chance! </p>