I REALLY want to get into Cornell. How can I make sure that I can get in?

I am a sophmore and will probably graduate top 10 or 5 percent of my class. I have about a 4.65 gpa weighted and its probably a 3.8 or 3.9 weighted. I plan on attending Cornell's Summer College the summer of my junior year. This summer I'm going to Italy to study art history and Italian. I want to go into law so I would probably want to major in economics or government. I play soccer for my high school, I am the vice president of a club called Fight for Green, a club that I helped to create, and I'm also the secretary of Interact, a service club funded by the Rotary club. I got my PSATS back and they were far from good. I scored a 165. However, I'm only a sophmore now and I did not prepare for them at all. I'm sure I will score in the 200's the next time around. I volunteer a lot outside of school, am the team captain of my relay for life team and have a job working at an orthodontists office. I am also in National Music Honor Society. What are my chances of getting into Cornell?

It seems you are taking the proper steps to attending any school you choose. Make sure your grades stay good. I don't know your financial situation, but a scholarship or lots of money will be beneficial.

Massive donation!

Visualize it. See yourself walking into the Cornell school. Rent the Secret. It will tell you everything. I just take cornell notes in school *lol*

Just keep up the good school work, do some volunteering and make sure you do really well on the SAT's, oh yeah, and write really good essays on the application... I'm sure you'll get in.

Just stay on course. You're doing all the right things.

lookz like u gotta good shot bu it is a top skool. umm kep the grades up try ACT 2 a lot of ppl do much better on ACT than SAT. Get sum letters of reomendations from teachers and any influencial person in the community you know (possibly a graduate). a prayer and sum good dick suckin doesnt hurt ether. i threw that last part in there cuz i know itz a pain in the *** 2 get into lol. not tryin 2 be a dick or ne thin

From the information you have given me, it looks like your chances of getting into Cornell are excellent. You have great grades, and you are involved in a wide variety of extracurricular activities. You have also demonstrated a capacity for leadership, which is impressive to top schools. At this point, you should maintain these activities in order to show them you keep your commitments and don't just take up a lot of activities only to drop them later.

My suggestion for you is to learn what sets Cornell apart from other schools at their level. If you can convince them (in your essay or interview) that you understand exactly what their school is offering, you have increased chances of admission.

One last thought: schools tend to admit people that they perceive will succeed ANYWHERE they go, and you seem like that kind of person. Cornell will see how many things you have been involved in, and they will know that you will be successful whether they admit you or not. They'll want to be connected with your success.

Best of luck!

Don't try to overdo yourself. If you are heavily involved in just a few activities, that will have more of an impact than joining 20 clubs. Take the SAT before the end of this year to get a better feel for it, then start studying. Your chances are good!

hey! I'm a sophomore and I'd like to go to Cornell too. Who knows, maybe I'll see you there.
Anyway, you're doing great on being well-rounded, and it looks like you've got a good GPA,. You really need to keep track of your unweighted GPA, because that's the only one colleges will ever see. They don't care about your weighted GPA, it only matters for your class rank/
Your main problem is your PSAT score. You probably won't get in with those scores. And don't count it off on your not studying. Most of the National Merit Scholars I know don't do a ton of SAT preparation. My sister is commended and national achievement and if I saw her preparing for the SAT I'd think the apocalypse was coming. I got 207 and didn't study a lick (and was disappointed in my score. That's what I get for not studying. *sigh*). So that's something you really need to work on. Review your PSAT with your counselor, if you have one at your school. Did you do badly in one certain area but well on the others? If so, that'll tell you where you need to work. If, when you retake it, you do badly, you may want to try out the ACT, which is where you might do better, especially if you scored highly on the math section and not so well on the reading and writing.
At this point, I'm not so sure you would get in, mainly because of your PSAT scores, which do matter a lot, though less at Cornell than other schools. The SAT (and ACT sometimes) is the only ranking they see of how you compare not to students at your school, who may be below average, but to students at a national level. But since you are doing so well in every other section they look at, I'm sure that once you bring that up, you'll have great chances of getting in.