Any chance for CoE without any math/science/engineering awards?

<p>I'm planning on ED for CoE in the fall, but I am worried that all of awards will mean nothing in the eyes of the CoE admissions officers since they are all Language related or just general scholastic awards, and none are from math/science/engineering. However, I spend a LOT of time in these areas; I am the treasurer of Math team, I spend tons of hours collecting data for my neuoscience project at a local hospital with a researcher, and I write programs in my free time. Does Cornell CoE specifically look for awards in the desired area of study?</p>

<p>It’s fine as long as you show competence in the ECs that you pursue.</p>

<p>And if you have taken AP math and science classes or whatever advanced math/science classes your school offers.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone. Has anyone else been in a similar situation and got in or has anyone else feel as if their engineering accomplishments were their only things that got them in?</p>

<p>What exactly do you spend time on as a math treasurer- did you mean managing the finances or actually in mathematics?
How does collecting data count as research, in your opinion, and why are you interested in neuroscience?
What kind of programs do you write? I’m assuming you’re probably pretty familiar with writing simple joins and other SQL queries if you’re working with large data sets. </p>

<p>If you can answer those questions well and show your passion in your essays, then you won’t be at a disadvantage when applying.</p>

<p>To answer your question:</p>

<p>1) Yes I do both with the Math Team</p>

<p>2) I work with a researcher and I conduct experiments/analyze data for him, keep a lab notebook, form hypotheses, etc. It is a lot of research.
I didn’t choose what field my researcher specified in, I just asked my science research teacher to be paired with a researcher and that is who I got. I am not interested in neuroscience specifically but all fields of science in general.</p>

<p>3) Most of them are just simple application programs are games</p>

<p>Do you think I should make either my Common App essay or supplement essay focus on this topic?</p>

<p>oh i wasn’t expecting a reply haha, just saying those are some questions you should think about when writing your essays. </p>

<p>hmm, yeah that could potentially be a very strong essay for engineering. talk about how what you currently do in research, math and comp sci has changed your perspective towards engineering. </p>

<p>and what are you looking to major in?</p>

<p>I figured you weren’t asking, but I thought I would answer anyway. Could all that go into the supplement essay?</p>

<p>And I am looking to major in CS.</p>

<p>Yeah definitely, just need to tie it together. If you want, when you get everything together, feel free to send me a PM and I’ll give you my comments on it.</p>

<p>yep I got in CoE without any awards (& I’m an international applicant for RD) but I did participate in a few research projects & attachments (and used these experiences to demonstrate why I was interested in mech engineering for the supplementary essay). </p>

<p>My ECs were quite varied and I got pretty decent grades, so i suppose those counted too.</p>

<p>As long as you are an exceptional math/science student, you stand a better-than-average chance of admittance. Meaning your SAT math subscore, SAT II’s, APs, and science/math grades should be top notch. And I do mean top notch. Whereas with the other colleges, top 10% is a good guideline, for CoE, overall top 10% is less important than being top 1-3% in your class in math/science.</p>

<p>OP </p>

<p>Since Cornell will allow you to apply to two colleges, consider a secondary application at CAS (where you can also do a Computer science major).</p>

<p>@Zephyr: So do I submit 2 separate applications? And is the secondary only looked at if the primary is not accepted?</p>

<p>I was kind of in the same situation. I didn’t have any major science/engineering awards, but I did get into CoE with a 1540 SAT (780 CR, 760 Math), an 800 on Math II and a 750 on Bio (M). I took dual enrollment science classes, but the only science AP that I took was chemistry. Most of the AP classes that I took were more humanities-focused, and actually, most of the dual enrollment classes I took were as well, so much so that I was taking a sophomore-level British lit class in my senior year. I think breadth is important for any app, and my acceptance is perhaps an example of this. Note, however, that I did demonstrate significant interest in my intended major (computer science) through my essay and my community service and extracurriculars. I listed several apps that I worked on throughout high school, and my engineering essay was about programming languages.</p>

<p>That’s very interesting, do you mind describing your essay/ECs a bit more?</p>