@cricketfan I visited last June! Rented a car with my dad and drove the 3 hours from Manhattan. It was windy and gray, but I loved it nonetheless.
@forest2021 That helps me out a bunch, again, thank you! I’m currently trying to plan out the extra courses I will need to take in order to fulfill the requirements.
For anyone who would like an update, as of right now, I plan to take two chem classes at my local community college this summer to fulfill some of my chem lab requirements (the rest of which will be fulfilled at UCSD freshman year). This is tentative; I need to speak with my guidance counselor for clarification and, of course, email HumEc to ensure these courses will satisfy the requirements. Given schedule constraints, I will very likely have to take more community college courses in biology during the next school year in addition to taking classes at UCSD.
are we permitted to attend admitted students day? I know that the email said there is a TO open house in July, but I’d like to meet with an advisor soon to discuss courses and how I can plan things out properly
@forest2021 Also, just to clarify, if Cornell required 8 credits of a course, can it be satisfied by 12 credits at UC? Since 8 divided by 0.67 = 11.9 and round up? (sorry I’m not a math person haha)
@tocollege182 yeah that sounds right, but I am also not really a math person lol
@sprinkle - I called ILR today to ask about whether it is a good idea for TO applicants to visit on the Cornell Days this month. She said that those events are specifically for the students starting as freshman in Fall.
She did suggest visiting during the summer (every Friday or Monday starting June 2nd).
There is a link in the Visit Cornell page where you can actually register your visit for a certain date. I think I will be going there in June for my first visit.
@forest2021 - Did you fly in from California? I’m sorry not sure if anyone from California visited. Just want to figure out which airport is the most convenient (and inexpensive) to fly into.
@cricketfan Yup! I flew from SFO to Newark Airport, stayed in NYC for a few days and spent a night in Ithaca. I’m not sure about prices because I actually had just tagged along with my dad on his business trip and he paid for the ticket with mileage.
There seems to be much confusion and failure to clearly address the topic of Wait List especially regarding ILR. Cornell SAYS that a GT means that the applicant was refused admission for the freshman class and is being offered admission as a sophomore conditioned on meeting certain course/GPA requirements. Since the applicant receiving a Wait List notification has NOT been refused admission to the freshman class but is still “waiting” that should mean, logically, that an ILR applicant waitlisted should, at the very least get a GT (and not an outright rejection) if not admitted to the freshman class since GTs have already been issued and the WL applicant is still “alive” for admission to the freshman class whereas the GT applicant was already “refused.” Does everyone agree with that and, more importantly, has anyone confirmed that logical conclusion with an authoritative person at Cornell? It would seem illogical and incongruous for Cornell to issue GTs as an admission decision while contemporaneously issuing Wait List decisions and then later converting what seems to be the higher and better Wait List determination into an outright rejection.
@Collegesfs22 I’m also an ILR GT! Do a google search for “college confidential Cornell guaranteed transfer 20xx” and just try a bunch of different years. I read through so many forums and heard so many success stories that way. If you want to talk more abt it though, message me!
@Ivycrawler There is definitely a lot of controversy about colleges offering GT. I’ve read articles about how unfair it is to other colleges who get students “stolen” from them because of students transferring out and to us students for dragging us on and on. I’ve read, but of course this is all speculation and nothing official, that GT’s mostly get offered to legacies, ED deferrals, and others who are obviously super committed to Cornell but were not objectively impressive (low test scores and GPAs). By admitting these students in their sophomore year, Cornell does not have to include the low SAT/ACT scores and GPAs in their admissions data for incoming freshman. Essentially, they honor those who are truly 100% committed to Cornell by giving them one more chance to prove themselves through a GT. (I myself was ED deferred, sent in a heartfelt LOCI, and didn’t score exceptionally high on the SAT)
From what I’ve read from other threads, some people rejected from the waitlist still get offered a GT. I’m not sure how many exactly. Perhaps sending in a LOCI and additional info will help get you off the waitlist or get you a GT.
Again, all this info is what I’ve read and heard in articles, blog posts, and other threads here on CC, so none of its really official.
I do agree that there is definitely some unfairness in offering both GT and WL, as you said. But then again, college admissions is just so unpredictably subjective and it rarely turns out perfect for anyone.
I don’t know how fair it is to call it a “failure” on Cornell’s part since they aren’t entirely obligated to explain their practices. After all, it’s one of the oldest, world-renowned academic institutions.
From unofficial research, I have found a lot of information pretty identical to what @forest2021 already mentioned. Similarly, I was ED deferred, sent in a LOCI, and didn’t have a phenomenal ACT score (to point out, I’m not a legacy). I get that the ethics of the Cornell GT are questionable, but, personally, I’m beyond thankful to have the opportunity nonetheless.
I’ve also looked into what motives colleges may have with a GT/TO versus a waitlist. It appears that the waitlist is generally considered to be used as an insurance policy for yield rates. On my FAQ from HumEc, Cornell stated that “Mostly, we do not have room for all the applicants we would like to admit. In some cases, candidates would benefit from beginning their college careers elsewhere to clarify their choice of major, career goals, and/or recover some academic momentum.” From this, I get the impression that there is more priority placed on those offered the GT, but that could just be my bias getting in the way.
If they use the waitlist and the GT for different reasons then, to me, it makes sense that they’re (relatively, it seems) mutually exclusive.
The question I posed was: if you get wait-listed at ILR are you guaranteed to get a GT if you don’t get offered a place in the freshman class?
There is a lot of moralizing going on about the ethics of GT program in the media. It is interesting to get lectured on ethics by people who have even worse reputation for their ethics than our president.
The truth is that 1 in 3 college student transfers during their college years. Colleges don’t have a divine right to hold on to students they have admitted.
Their motives are the same as that of Cornell which offers GT to fill up seats vacated by transfers among other.
At some point the students have to think about their own future also. I am really looking forward to my time at Cornell starting next year, but I am not in LOVE with it (although this might change after a campus visit). I look at Cornell as a place which will provide me with world class resources for my personal development and allow me to contribute positively to society. Perhaps my other college option might not give me the same opportunity. The reputation of Ivy League colleges is not all fluff. It has been earned over a hundred years and continues because of their rigor.
Both Cornell and I have vested interest in this process and I don’t think the two are very different. At the end of the day Cornell would like to add more names to their ‘Notable Alumni’ list and I too would like to get on it one day. I’m sorry if some college feels hurt by my leaving. Most colleges reject more students than they admit so the heartbreak goes both ways.
We know that people who have been wait-listed at ILR have received GTs. The question was: is the wait-list status at ILR automatically converted to a GT IN EVERY CASE if you don’t get invited to join the freshman class? Stated another way, does anybody have actual personal knowledge of someone who got wait-listed at ILR and then later got an outright rejection? Same question for those getting wait-listed at other divisions of Cornell that give GTs? (I know that some divisions of Cornell do not give out GTs at all so if you get wait-listed and don’t get offered a place in the freshman class you are rejected. I believe this occurs in all of the endowed divisions–Engineering and Arts and Sciences and most likely Architecture)
@Ivycrawler Not all people on the waitlist receive GTs afterwards. There’s too many people on the waitlists to give all of them a GT.
@Ivycrawler We we’re trying to help you the best we could. If that was your question, why didn’t you post just that, instead of calling out Cornell as being “illogical and incongruous”? You also asked if we agreed with your argument (I do not), which is what I responded to.
None of us are capable of giving you an absolute answer about things happening “automatically” and “IN EVERY CASE”.
@Ivycrawler Did you get waitlisted to ILR and are hoping for a GT if you don’t get off it? Is that what this is all about?
Did anyone receive transfer requirements or other information from SHA?
@tocollege182 - Let’s cut @Ivycrawler some slack. I think your assessment is probably correct. I think he/she is merely trying to see if there is a chance of NOT getting a TO if they deny his/her Wait-list status.
I know how it feels to be on the edge. I was denied/waitlisted by all my ‘Target’ and ‘Reach’ schools. The only saving grace is this TO offer from Cornell. Now I really don’t want to go to my ‘Safety’ school because what if for some reason, beyond my control, I falter and get ONE B- or less. That will jeopardize this TO to Cornell which is my last hope really.
@cricketfan I totally get what you mean; I was also rejected/waitlisted from all of my match and reach schools. I definitely think all of us are beyond anxious about ruining our TO, and I’m all for figuring it all out together, but I just don’t appreciate how things were brought up.