<p>I'm going to apply to Cornell RD and was wondering something about AEM and the Primary/Alternate admission option.</p>
<p>Well firstly about AEM, since it's located in the CALS, I was wondering if in my essay and activities I need to demonstrate an interest in Agriculture or the Life Sciences in addition to Econ/Business? Because I'm not really into those areas so if they want interest in that too then I should probably apply to CAS instead...</p>
<p>...which brings me onto my next point, about using the Primary/Alternate admission option. Does anyone know if choosing an alternate college would affect the chances of being admitted into your primary college, with the chance that they might think you're not as serious about their college? Or am I over-thinking it?</p>
<p>Sorry for the double post but I just wanted to add something.</p>
<p>I am taking IB Economics HL, but I didn’t ask my teacher for a reccomendation because I felt like he did’t know me that well, that there were many stronger students in my class, and that other teachers knew me better in comparison. I am, however, getting a 7 in the class (though he was probably slightly generous with that :p).</p>
<p>In lieu of this, should I even bother choosing AEM as a college choice since when they see that I take the class but didn’t ask the teacher for a rec, they might think I’m not very serious/enthusiastic about the subject.</p>
<p>I got in for ED AEM and I was worried about that too, since the only B’s Ive gotten are from math and science classes, my science sat IIs were barely above 700 (though I somehow have 800 and 36 on math sat ii and ACT testing respectively), and I just don’t really enjoy the two classes in general. Looking at the core requirements, while AEM still requires some math and science credits, I still thought that getting the full AEM program was worth it. That being said, if I didn’t want to go into business, there are a couple LACs that I might like just as much, if not more. But basically, I have definitely not demonstrated interest on math and science, so I don’t think it’s a necessary factor. </p>
<p>As for the alternate, I didn’t put one so I haven’t looked into it too much, but I feel like I read in the Cornell FAQ that they value your primary collee decision the same even if you put an alternate. I would pull up a link but I need to sleep, haha. Good luck!</p>
<p>OK cheers for the response. So you only demonstrated interest in Economics/Business right? However what about the fact that I didn’t ask my economics teacher for a rec?</p>
<p>And does anyone else know about the college choice thing?</p>
<p>Applying alternate college option won’t harm or help your chances with the primary college. IMO, this option is pretty stupid and I don’t know why Cornell lets people do this.</p>
<p>Cornell rarely admits anyone via alternate college admissions and if you get rejected from primary college, I heard that your alternate college won’t really even read your app anyway. So, I think this is kinda pointless and silly process. But, yeah, you should be fine and don’t worry about it harming your app. If you have good stats and write good essays, you should be fine and don’t worry about it. However, I would still apply to other schools too just in case…</p>
<p>Ok well in case anyone else out there is wondering about the Primary/Alternate admission option, I e-mailed the admissions office and this is what they said:</p>
<p>“Using primary/alternate does not hinder your chances, however, both schools can see your essays so use primary alternate only if you are torn between similar programs in different schools.”</p>