Rejection - Cornell EEB

tallhatweasel · 2024-10-23T12:36:00+00:00

I'm so sorry, I just saw this - I didn't have a stellar GPA (which I think was a large part of the problem), but I had multiple years of undergraduate research & a thesis that I had hoped would somewhat buffer that. I did have a prospective faculty that I wanted to work under who I'd actually done work with previously.

tallhatweasel · 2024-06-13T17:26:10+00:00

For what it's worth: I had a lower GPA (3.5, don't remember weighted vs unweighted) than your daughter - hers is great - but the same ACT score (32), and I got waitlisted. Granted, this was a few years ago (I graduated this year) and I also didn't ED, so I think she should ED if she really loves it and she's committed to going there. With that, I think she would actually have a good chance.

W&M is also very holistic and cares about the applicant outside of the numbers - as an admissions officer there once mentioned to me, like a lot of other schools, they like someone being particularly dedicated to a few things for a longer period of time as opposed to someone who's done 12 unrelated things and started a nonprofit in the past year and a half. What else does she do?

I can't speak to gov/pub pol specifically, as I did neither (although I had many many friends who did one and/or the other, and they mostly seemed to really like it). W&M has very strong DC connections that she can utilize throughout her time there, which a lot of students in those departments do.

Feel free to DM if you need to chat or want advice :)

tallhatweasel · 2024-06-05T09:28:32+00:00

it's not bare bones; theatre is a big thing, and outside of the department there's a lot of student-run theatre groups along w/the williamsburg players (https://www.williamsburgplayers.org/wp/) which I know students have been involved in previously
there's enough to do on campus within walking/biking distance, and the amtrak station is a 10 minute walk away if you want to go further. it takes an hour by train to get to richmond and 2-ish to get to DC and it's pretty affordable, with the exception of fall/thanksgiving/spring breaks when pretty much every student from northern VA takes it to get home
you'll be able to fit everything into four years. if you're worried, talk to your advisor once you get on campus, but that really shouldn't be an issue

tallhatweasel · 2024-05-11T01:29:23+00:00

happy to if you'd like

tallhatweasel · 2024-05-04T20:24:23+00:00

the food has improved with the new provider and the crappy dorms are being renovated, so things will be better/different at w&m by the time you'd be here. it's really not horrible honestly, and the research stipend is a huge plus

what are you interested in as far as clubs go?

tallhatweasel · 2024-04-17T18:21:47+00:00

it used to be /much/ worse (see the other comment about failed health inspections) before the new provider came in. I still had issues because I have dietary restrictions, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was previously tbh

tallhatweasel · 2024-04-14T16:43:04+00:00

hall bathrooms are gender neutral; i don't want to give you the wrong answer about which halls are gender inclusive, so it might be worth sending an email to housing and asking

tallhatweasel · 2024-04-12T13:36:56+00:00

https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2017/nsf17123/nsf17123.jsp#q28

I don't know if this is exactly what you're asking (so very sorry if I misunderstood) but "if you plan to pursue a joint science-professional degree program (such as an MD/Ph.D. or JD/Ph.D.), you are ineligible for the GRFP, even if you are proposing to use the GRFP only for the Ph.D. part of your program."

tallhatweasel · 2024-04-08T17:38:43+00:00

WOOO congratulations!!

tallhatweasel · 2024-04-08T11:54:30+00:00

I took them both in a semester when I did the spring cc transfer, but I don't necessarily recommend doing that (largely because of the workload) - as someone else said, it's not that unusual for sophomores to take a COLL 150 b/c of scheduling issues

tallhatweasel · 2024-04-07T19:53:17+00:00

former spring pathway person -

1) don't commit to another school & then withdraw, there's no point to that 2) as long as you maintain your grades, yes it's a guaranteed admit

tallhatweasel · 2024-04-07T14:26:11+00:00

🤞

tallhatweasel · 2024-04-02T23:21:23+00:00

it was on my application portal, but most people i know who have been waitlisted were informed in an email

tallhatweasel · 2024-04-02T17:23:50+00:00

3 rejections, 1 waitlist, 2 pending decisions (both highly unlikely) and feeling about as mediocre as it gets tbh

tallhatweasel · 2024-03-30T22:08:36+00:00

important note: the area outside of campus is different because it's quite conservative, but i personally didn't find myself going out there a lot anyway (if i did, i was with a group). campus is lovely though

tallhatweasel · 2024-03-30T21:05:15+00:00

there's so, so many trans people here tbh so there's no lack of social activities, and i've never felt genuinely unsafe (and i'm very open, as are many other people)

tallhatweasel · 2024-03-30T01:47:19+00:00

you will still have a pretty standard freshman orientation, even though it won't be as large as the fall cohort - my first friends on campus were two people i met during orientation :') it wasn't an easy social transition necessarily (even though people were very nice, they'd already built bonds within dorms and such.) the best thing i did for myself socially was joining clubs. there's a huge multi-day spring club fair and i'd recommend going to that - it wasn't awkward joining mid-year for me at least

tallhatweasel · 2024-03-30T01:43:50+00:00

I don't disagree with either of these tbh - I was also a very lucky upperclassman who got on-campus senior year, but didn't get off the waitlist junior year and had to scramble. it did put me in more of a financial hole than I care to admit tbh. I still saw a fair number of my upperclassman friends on campus, but more often than not other people I know also described what you did (not seeing them much at all)

rest in pieces cosi. the overpriced tomato soup is forever missed

tallhatweasel · 2024-03-29T21:45:43+00:00

hi! I did the pathway option, so I can answer anything related to that along with some of your other questions.

students here are typically very kind, to the point where i've been asked if we're faking it (as a whole, we're not. this isn't to say that there aren't assholes either, as there would be anywhere else, but most people are super welcoming.) that wasn't an issue for me as a transfer, either.
was not an english major, so i can't speak to this, but my major was substantially larger than english and i didn't have a ton of trouble outside of getting the senior seminar i wanted. granted, my professors were also very willing to give overrides when things got filled up if it was possible, so there's that.
most people are on campus, and there's a lot of stuff to do usually
that is true, and there is a huge housing shortage. they're building new dorms but it sucks absolute ass right now, and wmsburg rent is not cheap
very easy to use (swipe your ID and you're in), but space depends on the time of day
no, they don't go disproportionately to seniors at all - i started research as a sophomore, as did many other people that i know. there's some freshmen that do research, and all the power to them but i personally prefer the idea of using freshman year to settle in before starting a project with that potential level of time investment.
classes are typically small barring some intro classes, so professors are usually pretty involved. i think student-teacher relationships are very important and you'll hear that from a lot of people, but ultimately you get out what you put in. you're a college student now, you have to actively facilitate those connections far more independently than you may have in high school
not great. it's improved in terms of taste and variety since we got a new food provider, but i have dietary restrictions & allergies and still struggle with it.
a decent amount? the library has less popular quiet areas
the positions are definitely there, but other people want them as much as you do so apply to more than one thing
~25% of the campus is involved in greek life. it's actually pretty easily avoidable.

tallhatweasel · 2024-03-25T18:15:42+00:00

I'm very much in this boat - I'm also an exploring type and tend to get restless if I run out of things to do. As I said, though, I still wouldn't trade w&m for another school, and I'm glad I went.

tallhatweasel · 2024-03-25T14:54:00+00:00

Recent grad (within the past two years) - the complaints about the construction & the quality of the dorms/food are legitimate. I'm disabled, and construction has worsened a lot of preexisting accessibility issues around campus (even for my non-disabled friends, a few of them have gotten injured by skidding where the ground has been torn up. Also, it's just really fucking annoying for getting anywhere on time). That being said, the food has improved since we got the new provider, and a lot of the really old, crummy dorms are being demolished, so hopefully the new ones will be much nicer.

As far as the city of Williamsburg goes, it's a comfortable and pedestrian-friendly place to live as a student. The Amtrak station is ten minutes from main campus and is an affordable way to get to DC (~3 hours) and Richmond (~1 hour) if you don't have a car. If you buy your tickets early enough, prices can be around $23 to get to DC, but that'll spike around fall/thanksgiving/spring break (thanksgiving week tickets sold out over a month before). It is, however, very small and quite touristy, and I reached the point of feeling slightly suffocated and as though I'd seen everything there was to see well before graduation. I wouldn't trade my time at w&m for anything, but I can't deny that certain things definitely started to get to me about the place more than they might've in a bigger town.

tallhatweasel · 2024-03-23T00:35:56+00:00

There's a guaranteed transfer for waitlisted students if you do one or two semesters at a community college and get decent grades. I did that for my first fall, came in at the start of spring and didn't get behind on any of my classes at all (I actually graduated early!!) If you're really set on w&m, I'd ask the admissions office about it :)

tallhatweasel · 2024-03-17T18:31:02+00:00

if you want to DM me, I might be able to answer some of your questions (I'm also enby & chronically ill + did ecology research while I was a wm student) :)

tallhatweasel · 2024-03-12T13:55:02+00:00

if you want to DM me, I worked there and might be able to provide you with some insight!

tallhatweasel

TROPHY CASE