康奈尔大学 FAQs
Admission Questions
What are the deadlines for submitting all of my application materials?
If you're applying as a freshman for early decision admission, the deadline is November 1. Regular decision freshman applicants need to have all application materials to Cornell by January 2. If you're applying as a transfer student, the spring transfer deadline October 15 and the fall transfer deadline is March 15.
May I apply to more than one college at Cornell?
Cornell offers first-year applicants for undergraduate admission the option of applying to a primary and an alternate-choice college, recognizing that Cornell's undergraduate colleges and schools offer a multitude of distinctive academic programs, and that many applicants have diverse intellectual interests that may be satisfied by more than one college or school. Applicants using the primary/alternate admission option must satisfy the application requirements for both colleges, including submitting a college interest essay for both colleges. Only exceptional candidates with a serious intellectual passion satisfied by the alternate college or school will be considered for admission by the alternate college.
How do I decide which college at Cornell would be best for me?
Probably the best way is to relate your academic strengths and interests to the degree requirements of the various colleges and the types of majors and courses they offer. (The Courses of Study catalog shows degree requirements for each college.) Sometimes prospective applicants can make reasonable choices by having clearly defined career objectives, but even when such goals are known, the graduation requirements of what appears to be the appropriate college should closely match your academic interests and strengths.
We also encourage you to read Cornell publications; to talk with our alumni and students, and with members of our staff; to visit the campus; and to learn as much as possible so you can decide which college would be the best match for you. In addition, please understand that you aren't "stuck" with your choice of a college after you enroll at Cornell. Our elective system allows you to sample courses in the other colleges, and about 10 percent of Cornell students transfer each year to a different college at Cornell.
Which college at Cornell will offer me the best chance of admission?
If you apply to a particular college solely on the basis of its acceptance rate, the chances are good that the selection process will work against you. It will be more difficult to show logical reasoning for making your application to a particular program or major. During selection, Cornell's selection committees carefully evaluate the "match" between an applicant's academic interests and the college(s) to which he or she is applying. If you do not seem to be a good match for your chosen college(s), you risk being refused.
Does Cornell have pre-med, pre-vet, or pre-law majors?
Cornell students do not major in pre-med, pre-vet, or pre-law. They complete the preparatory coursework for graduate programs in human and veterinary medicine, and law while pursuing the academic discipline that interests them most as undergraduates. Pre-med and pre-vet students majoring in everything from art history to sociology complete the preprofessional courses that are required by med and vet schools – introductory biology, chemistry, and physics, for example. Pre-law students also pursue any of the majors offered at the university while honing their skills in writing, verbal communication, research, problem-solving, and analysis.
As applicants to med and law programs, Cornell students do extremely well. Nationally, about 44% of the applicants to medical schools were accepted in 2009. Of the Cornell students who applied for 2009 admission, 71% were accepted to at least one medical school; and Cornell students with a grade point average of 3.4 or above had an acceptance rate of 80%. As for law school, 89% of the Cornell applicants were accepted to at least one law school for the fall, compared to the national average of about 66%.
Additional information may be found on the pre-med/pre-vet and pre-law pages.
If I want to major in biology, should I apply to the College of Arts and Sciences or the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences?
Students who want to major in biology can apply to either the College of Arts and Sciences or the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The biology courses and major requirements are the same in both colleges; it's the non-biology courses and distribution requirements that vary. Students with secondary interests in the broad liberal arts curriculum (humanities, social sciences, fine arts, languages) might decide to apply to arts and sciences. Those focused more on science, both theoretical and applied, might choose agriculture and life sciences. There are also biology-related majors in several of the undergraduate colleges at Cornell – human biology, health, and society in the College of Human Ecology, for example. Learn more about biology at Cornell or visit biology's website.
What are the GPA and SAT/ACT cutoffs for admission?
We don't have any. Unlike some colleges and universities, Cornell does not use any single formula for its admission decisions. In fact, the whole process can be very subjective. First and foremost, we look at your high school record, the rigor of your coursework, your grades, and your rank-in-class (don't worry if your school doesn't rank – that's quite common). The personal application you write (essays, extracurriculars, etc.) is also a very important piece of Cornell's selection process. Standardized testing plays a role, but probably not as much as you think. From there, we rely on a lot of tools that can't be quantified: recommendations, for example, and interviews (required for architecture and hotel applicants). Since all of these pieces help inform our decisions, we can't point to any master chart of GPA and test scores and automatically tell you what the decision will be. And frankly, we like it that way, because it allows us to learn as much as we can about each of our applicants.
Will my application be considered differently depending on whether I attend a public or a private high school?
We do not favor a student's application simply because he or she attends a private school. We have always looked for students who have taken the greatest advantage of opportunities given to them within the context of their school, public or private. Although we recognize that some schools have more academic and extracurricular offerings than others, we feel it is most fair to compare students who are given the same advantages within a single school rather than compare students coming from two different schools.
Furthermore, we do not have a set quota for the number of applicants we accept from any school.
What standardized test scores will I need to submit to Cornell?
Here are the requirements for current high school students:
Seniors will be expected to take the SAT Reasoning test or ACT with writing, and meet SAT Subject Test requirements. If you plan to submit an ACT exam score to Cornell, the writing component is required. As always, Cornell's SAT Subject Test requirements will be college-specific. (See Freshman Requirements Chart.)
General Questions
What's the real difference between the privately endowed and state-assisted undergraduate colleges?
Cornell is unique in American higher education: Although it's an Ivy League university, chartered as a private institution, it includes three undergraduate colleges – Agriculture and Life Sciences; Human Ecology; and Industrial and Labor Relations – that receive a substantial state subsidy. (You may have seen them called state contract colleges.) The state subsidy results in lower tuition for students who have New York State residency and are enrolled in those colleges.
Our other undergraduate colleges – Architecture, Art, and Planning; Arts and Sciences; Engineering; and Hotel Administration – rely on private support. (They're sometimes called endowed colleges.) Despite the differences in funding for our colleges, all Cornell undergraduates enjoy the same quality of academic and campus life and are free to choose elective courses in the other colleges.
Students applying to Cornell should select the program that most interests them or that best meets their academic needs, whether it's privately-endowed or state-assisted.
Are interviews required?
All students (both freshman and transfers) who apply to the architecture department in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning or to the School of Hotel Administration are required to have a personal interview. Interviews are also recommended, though not required, for students applying to major in fine arts. In architecture or fine arts, you should be prepared to present your artistic ability through the required portfolio as well; and the hotel school is particularly interested in your knowledge of and commitment to the field of hotel administration.
In all other programs, interviews are neither required nor offered. Campus visits are always encouraged, and most students who apply for freshman admission will be contacted by a member of a local Cornell alumni committee in the fall or winter. These informal conversations with alumni are not required and are meant only to allow an additional opportunity for the student to learn more about Cornell – and for Cornell to learn more about the student. (Please note that alumni contacts do not take the place of the required interview for architecture or hotel.)
Does Cornell offer any scholarships?
Financial awards are all based on demonstrated financial need only. Cornell offers no athletic or merit scholarships. All Cornell scholarships that reward grades, leadership ability, or other special academic talents are need-based.
How far is Cornell from New York City?
By car, Cornell is approximately a 4-5 hour drive from New York City. We are located an hour north of Binghamton, an hour south of Syracuse, and 3 hours from Niagara Falls. For students who want to experience New York City, there are daily bus trips to and from NYC.
How are the workload and stress levels at Cornell?
There is a lot of work. Our faculty expect a lot from their students. We don't think this is a bad thing. And neither do our students:
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"Students at Cornell work hard, but they also play hard. The academics here are definitely challenging; however, the environment is not cut-throat. There really is a sense of camaraderie, even among some of the more traditionally competitive classes such as the sciences. Students really have a sense that 'we're all in this together,' and they act accordingly. Classes can be hard, and we want to help each other get through them. Students are not at all absorbed in trying to do better than everyone else." "Sure there's a lot of work, but if what you're studying turns you on, how can the opportunity to learn be a negative experience?" "The only person you're competing against is yourself, and how well you want to do is entirely up to you. No matter where you go, you're going to find students who study all the time. But the majority of students here take both their studies and their fun seriously. We realize that studying all the time would make us go crazy, so Cornell is open to students taking time to have fun and relieve stress." |
What's it like living in Ithaca?
Ithaca is a small, vibrant college town situated on the southern end of 38-mile long Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. You will find a wide array of bookstores, shops, restaurants, and cultural activities (even professional opera and ballet companies) in town, and wineries, state parks, farms, and forests throughout the county. Of course, moving anywhere, whether it be the other side of the city/town or to the next county or out of state, involves change. You need to learn about the area and do the things you enjoy.
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"The natural resources of the Finger Lakes are beautiful!" "Ithaca is more rural than anything I'm used to. You'll soon grow accustomed to it. On the flip side, the quality of student life at Cornell is great partly due to our location. Because Cornell is in a more rural area, the focus of both the students and the surrounding community is on Cornell. Students don't go off and get lost in the city for the weekend - they stick around and do things at Cornell. People are here because they want to be here." "Ithaca is a beautiful place, and Cornell is probably one of the only schools you can go to and walk over a gorge 100 feet deep everyday. We've got waterfalls, beautiful fall foliage, and state parks. Also, there is so much to do here in Ithaca and on campus that you forget that you're in upstate NY. Ithaca has everything that a city should have (movies, mall, restaurants), and there are more than enough activities happening on campus to keep you happily occupied." |
What are the winters like?
Ithaca has a four-season climate. Spring is lovely, summer is beautiful, fall is spectacular, and winter is...well, winter is winter. It arrives some time in late November and doesn't usually leave until late March. Average daily highs in the dead of January and February hover around 31-33 degrees, and the monthly snowfall from December through March ranges from 10-16 inches. When your idea of cold is 60 degrees, these numbers might seem a bit chilling. But they're really not all that different from what you find in other northeastern cities. In Philadelphia and New York, for example, average daily highs barely crack 40, and both cities can expect about half a foot of snow each winter month. And in Boston, average temperatures don't get past the mid 30s, with snowfall averaging a foot per month in January and February. (source: Intellicast)
About the SAT/ACT Tests
What standardized test scores will I need to submit to Cornell?
Here are the requirements for current high school students:
Seniors will be expected to take the SAT Reasoning test or ACT with writing, and meet SAT Subject Test requirements. If you plan to submit an ACT exam score to Cornell, the writing component is required. As always, Cornell's SAT Subject Test requirements will be college-specific. (See Freshman Requirements Chart.)