How well prepared am I?

Colleges & Universities Cornell University
1

<p>Hey </p>

<p>I’m currently a Junior at Americus Sumter High South, Georgia</p>

<p>Well, Idk how this website works but I’ll give it a shot… I was wondering if I could post my stats up here and let you guys decide if I have a good chance or not at getting into Cornell’s Industrial and Labor Relations college. so here goes</p>

<p>Currently, as of the end of my sophomore year, my GPA is 96.3</p>

<p>but thats about to change, because I am taking 5 AP classes this year. (my school gives an automatic 10+ to final AP class grade). I figure if I make 105 in all my AP classes, and a 99 in all my normal classes, my GPA at the end of this year will be a 98.45</p>

<p>How do I know I will accomplish getting that GPA? well my first semester just ended. I took 3 AP classes along with 2 normal classes. my AP english 11 grade is 103, my AP Physics is 108, my AP World History is 106. My Computer App. class is a 100, and my Accelerated Math 3 class is a 99. So yeah, this semester alone I succeeded my target of 105 in AP classes and 99 in normal classes.</p>

<p>but anyhow, GPA isnt all that matter.</p>

<p>I recently took the SAT, my scores are</p>

<p>CR-690
M-710
W-700</p>

<p>total is 2100</p>

<p>I have not taken any subject tests, but I plan on taking the World History and the Physics one.</p>

<p>Oh—and another thing. I know I’d have to write essays for my application, so to give a faint idea of how well my writing abilities is, I made a perfect score on the Georgia Graduation Writing Test. </p>

<p>Oh…and I plan on applying through the early decision program, so would that help my chances at all?</p>

<p>on other stuff, Im not very active after schools, since I have an employment at a Chicken Farm for 6 years now. But…this year, I am the treasurer of the Beta Club at my school (and it look like I will be president next year).</p>

<p>I have no community services :frowning: I’ll try to get some over the summer.</p>

<p>but anyhow…that is my current status as a Junior so far… I’d appreciate ANY criticism or suggestions as to what I could do to improve my chances at Cornell. But if you would, based on personal experiences, give me a ballpark estimate of what my chances are?</p>

<p>Thanks in Advance!</p>

2

<p>I am very confused as to how your school can just add 10+ for each AP Class Final Grade, but again, I suppose each school has its own grading system. </p>

<p>Anyway, your GPA is very strong. Keep maintaining that strong GPA as GPA is one of the first things Cornell looks at for an applicant. Your SAT score is just minimally exceeding the range that most Cornell applicants score between. Since you’re only a Junior and you got a whole year before you apply, take the SAT one more time and if you score above 2200, you’ll be fine. You already mentioned you would be taking Subject Tests so work on that.</p>

<p>But the main thing I am concerned about regarding your application is your extracurriculars. To be brutally honest, your application is severely lacking in activities. Colleges want to see that you’re well-rounded and being involved in school activities/out of school activities help you meet this qualification. Since you were employed on a chicken farm for a long time, you should keep working there for the remainder portion of the year. You want to show that you’re committed. However, join more activities this year as well and participate to a great extent in them. Colleges really don’t want to see that you got a good GPA/SAT Score without any extracurricular activity. I’m not saying that you don’t have any, just that you need a little bit more to convince Cornell, particularly activities that would definitely pique the interest of the admissions officers at the Industrial and Labor Relations college. Get involved; that’s all I could say.</p>

<p>Taking what I said into consideration, I’d say that your chances right now percentage wise are about 40% since you’re applying to ED. If you want to increase that percentage over 50% and into the safe zone, you have to work on your activities. Your GPA is fantastic, and you just need to improve your SAT score by just a little bit. Remember, your activities are what help you write your essays later on as well. So just keep that in mind and hopefully, you can use the better part of your Junior year to improve your chances. </p>

<p>Hope that helped.
(Cornell ED '15 Accepted Applicant)</p>

3

<p>Thank you very much for that detailed reply, Yunsang.</p>

<p>In answer to your question…my school is like at the very bottom of our state. our students, and I choose my words carefully as not to offend my colleagues, are very limited intellectually. Very few students actually take an AP class, and those who are put into it work to death to get out. So, awhile back, my school got permit to give an automatic +10 to the final average. They figure, that since our schools only got 4 AP classes, it will be fine (and they expect nobody to make over a 100 anyway). But since I came, it was proven wrong. So, in addition to the AP classes at my school, I’m taking them online through Georgia Virtual School as well. (because good schools want to know that I take the toughest curriculum possible)</p>

<p>anyway…thank you very much. I will try definitely to get some activities going. I am currently applying for the LEDA program, which is a 7 week intensive academic training at Princeton. They only take 60 people from all over the country, so I really hope I would get in that.</p>

<p>Anyhow, as for a more detailed report… you are right…my extra curricular activies are super minimal. In addition to the fact that I have to work at a nearby chicken farm part-time to help support my family income, my parents simply doesn’t have time to pick me up after school after clubs until this year…so that is why I got nothing for my freshman or sophomore year. But even this year, Treasurer of Beta Club, Mock Trial member, FBLA member, and One Act Play member is all I really got… </p>

<p>Anyhow…Okay, I will re-take the SAT in the late spring, and in addition to that, I’ll take the ACT and the subject tests as well. </p>

<p>but wow! congratulations on getting accepted man! What college of Cornell did you apply to? and thank you once again for your insight…I truly appreciate it.</p>

4

<p>Thank you very much. I applied to CAS (Arts and Sciences). And no problem; feel free to shoot me a PM if you have any more questions as I was in your shoes just one year ago. Best of luck.</p>

5

<p>dud i am applying for leda as well!!!</p>

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<p>I do not believe you will be penalized in your application for needing to work to help support your family. The adcoms know that there are many different circumstances and they allow for that. I also don’t think you need to be well-rounded. They always say they want a well-rounded class, not a class of well-rounded people. So if you have time, pick an activity that you really enjoy and try to spend some time on that. If it’s impossible, simply address the financial circumstances of your family in your application.</p>