<p>My daughter is a legacy at Cornell - both myself (her mom) and my sister (her aunt) went to Cornell. Furthermore, my sister (her aunt) and my sister’s husband (her uncle) are both professors at Cornell (aunt at Johnson school, uncle in A&S).</p>
<p>My daughter is a student at an arts high school in Italy (in Venice) and expects to transfer to a public school in the US for her senior year. This means that her first language is not English, she will not take any SATs or ACTs until her senior year, and even then, may have difficulty with them being ESL.</p>
<p>What are her chances of getting in? She is not a great student at the moment (a sophomore) but I understand that when students transfer to a school from outside the US, their grades do not transfer, only the pass / fail. She has done some volunteering over the summer and plans to do more this year. Will being a legacy and being an “interesting” candidate pull her through at Cornell?</p>
<p>The way I’ve heard it is that it only gives a slight boost if you apply ED. Even then, I’ve also heard the average legacy applicant is better than the average regular applicant, so if your daughter is not a good student…</p>
<p>being a legacy is NOT that much of a help…I have seen legacy kids from my own area - good students, interesting students, students who on paper looked qualified on their own merits, NOT be accepted. your daughter nneds to strengthen her record and then decide if and why she wants to go to Cornell.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s true that her grades wouldn’t be transferred to her new school in the US. My nephews moved from Hong Kong to CA, all of their grades transferred. We are moving overseas, our younger daughter will be going to an American international school, and her grades will be transferred to her new school.</p>
<p>Even if the US school doesn’t use her Italian school grades to figure out GPA, Cornell is going to want to see her Italian school’s transcript. sophomore and junior year grades are the most important ones for most colleges. In your daughter’s case, she may be compared to international students rather than American students. My sense is that international student pool maybe more competitive and they are all very interesting. Legacy status gives applicant a slight bump, but it won’t overcome below average stats.</p>
<p>I also sense that the quality of the legacy status matters as well. If you haven’t really been connected with Cornell since you graduated, that will be discounted when compared to children whose parents, say, serve on the University Council. They don’t necessarily need to be donors, but they need to be active and engaged with the University.</p>
<p>Regarding legacy, Cornell only considers you a legacy if you are a direct descendant (parent, grandparent). So siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., don’t count.</p>
<p>To what CayugaRed said: If you’re a more involved alum, it will help a little more, but I know plenty of active alumni whose children did not get in.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen statistics for this year, but for the Class of 2013, 35% of legacies were admitted, so your chances are better, but then the caliber of legacies themselves can also be better.</p>
<p>I remember reading somewhere (in the NYS DoE maybe? can’t remember right now) about this issue of grades because of the disparities in grading systems internationally. I suppose an American international school and an American school would be similar, but I can tell you that the difficulty of an Italian high school is far and away greater than your (average) US high school. She is in the classroom 40 hours a week and has homework on top of that. Plus, Italian kids earn a diploma in 5 years in Italy, not 4. There are numerous differences. </p>
<p>My daughter works hard but still struggles, it’s true, partly because of her family sitch, but that’s another story. I worked hard in HS and got into and out of Cornell just fine. Things have gotten a lot harder since then, indeed.</p>
<p>kelly - If I were you, I would contact Cornell’s admission office about your daughter’s situation (or any college your daughter is interested in). Ask them what information they would require from your daughter’s current school for admission. I would also speak with a GC at her new school to see how they would look at her transcript (new school may look at 85 as a B, and at her current school it may be an A). It would be easier for you to get the information now rather than later when she is no longer at the school.</p>
<p>We had choices of 2 high schools for my daughter to attend. I contacted Cornell and Colgate admission offices to see whether they were familiar with those schools. After I heard back from them, I was then comfortable with our choice.</p>
<p>Good idea. We are mainly looking at public SUNY colleges, such as Purchase, Geneseo, Fredonia ( I have no illusions as to my daughter’s ability to get into higher ranking schools) and Cornell would be one of her reach schools.</p>
<p>I suppose a phone call is easy enough to make.</p>
<p>Kelly, my son is a double Cornell legacy (husband and I both graduated, and donate a bit every year), with SAT scores well above Cornell’s averages and an A- average in a demanding high school curriculum. He did not apply Early Decision, which we gather is the easier way to get in, because Cornell’s ED is binding and we were not sure we would get enough financial aid. He was rejected from Cornell in the regular decision cycle, though he was accepted by the university that he most likely would have chosen anyhow, so all is well.</p>
<p>My niece is attending SUNY Geneseo and loves it.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply - it was very helpful (and reassuring in a backward sort of way :-)). I’m glad your son was okay with not getting into Cornell - I think fate plays a very compelling role in life. </p>
<p>Glad to hear your niece enjoys Geneseo! Being from WNY, that would actually be a great place for us.</p>
<p>Legacy probably boosts, but if someone is not a good student, I don’t think Cornell will accept him/her.</p>
<p>I was at the Cornell Days last week listening to the Vice Dean of Finance talking to all the prefrosh. Apparently both she and her husband are professors at Cornell, and yet their son didn’t get into the school.</p>
<p>On her NY transcript, it varies by school. Some schools will put the grade from the other school on the transcript while others will do credit/no credit. When she applies to college, she will have to send her transcript from the school she attends senior year as well as a translated version of her transcript in Italy. Make sure that you have a sealed official copy for her file so that when she applies to college her high school in NY will be able to send a certified copy of her Italian transcript.</p>
<p>Since she will be coming to school in NYS for the first time as a senior, the principal can waive the Global History and Science Regents requirement (however, she is still responsible for the course work in order to graduate). She will still have to sit for the NYS regents exam in English, Mathematics and US history. Depending on the course work she has taken in Italy, she may not have all of the credits required to get a diploma in NYS.</p>