<p>For Cornell STEM majors, particularly those that have a 3.7 in their field or higher in a STEM major and are looking to go to a top 20 MS or PHD program in their field or a closely related field, I was wondering what are most of the students in this category like in terms or personality and social skills. Are they more of a Big Bang Theory type depiction, with IQs of 160 or higher but have Aspberger’s or other such antisocial behaviors and issues and struggle to create anything like a “typical” college social life and/or are not even able to find time to do that? Are they more of the type of intellectuals you see at Harvard, i.e. extroverts and not socially awkward and even are able to have the typical college social experience but have IQs in the 120 to 140 range and so are not true top tier in math and science but are simply capable, bright students with proactive, social and aggressive personalities you would find in a leader? Or do they have IQs of 160 and higher, and are at Stephen hawking or Einstein levels of intellect AND are also athletic and have great social skills and make for great leaders and have good social skills?</p>
<p>In other words, if you define personalities as Type A, being competitive, proactive, outgoing, being able to comply with rules and having great social skills and being an natural leader and Type B would be more of the Stephen Hawking or Bing Bang Theory type that is introvert, socially awkward, quirky and often as Aspberger’s type behaviors, at Cornell, would most students be Type A with an IQ ion the 130 range, like you’d find at Harvard, Type B with IQs of 160 or higher or Type A with IQs of 160 or higher?</p>
<p>With the size of Cornell (about double the size of Harvard), you will see a good mixture of all combinations you mentioned. </p>
<p>You know all Ivy League schools look not only scores but also EC’s, correct? That gives you a good indicator that type A are common. And Cornell’s competitive STEM grading curves reveals that there are more than enough students with IQ 140 (genius) or higher and certainly many above 160, I know that.</p>
<p>That does make some sense. And I know that all 8 Ivys look at ECs and scores too - but that there are still plenty of students with a list of ECs as long as your arm and are still very much socially awkward, type B personalities who force themselves to grin and bear it with some of these ECs because they see it as a necessity. And so having that huge EC list would not necessarily make them type A, but I do think your point overall is valid.</p>
<p>…I often wonder where these scores come from. The most statistically valid measure of IQ is the individually administered Wechsler Scales & the highest score possible is 160. I often see reports in the media citing people with 200 IQ’s, etc. & wonder if they get this from online tests, which are just forms of “ego marketing” (inflate the scores so you will buy the profile to show everyone"?</p>
<p>Does the smart, average IQ (not sure I ever took an IQ test), uber hard working student, with a decent application, stand a chance at Cornell in CALS or HE? I am going to assume that if the Admiss Co think I can handle it, they’ll accept me. If not, oh well.</p>
<p>The Stanford-Binet test my daughter took was ceiling at 160 (while my D is at 156 the chart we received stop at 160) It may mean that over the ceiling it is a different world and need other tests to determine how far up they are there but people of that level exist. </p>
<p>And no, they didn’t take the tests online. Kids who were spotted gifted at young age were advised by their teachers to take the tests. I am not sure about adults that took tests when they are grownups.</p>
<p>Tides23, I believe if Cornell accepts you, you will be able to handle it. So don’t worry. If everyone is more relaxed and involved in more clubs/activities the overall experience will be even better.</p>
<p>"And so having that huge EC list would not necessarily make them type A, but I do think your point overall is valid. "</p>
<p>You are right. And if you look into the decision threads you will find they didn’t admit applicants with longer EC lists but many of them are with leadership EC’s or concentration of EC’s in one or two areas.</p>
<p>What was so funny about that? I am sure at Cornell and Harvard and MIT you see many elite STEM students who at the very least show symptoms of having Aspberger’s and quite a few who could fit the full diagnosis of it.</p>