Cornell RD Class of 2025

Can you explain what you mean by Cornell being a huge legacy school? The class of 2024 was 14.8% legacy, which seems comparable to the rest of the Ivies and other peer institutions…

There were a batch that went out last week that seemed to be for more diversity candidates and Milstein Scholar Finalists so if you’re in one of those categories that could be it, if you’re not it could be from one of the other schools. I think someone said the diversity ones come from a specific email that’s different than general admissions also.

In any case, Congratulations!!

Cornell does not generally consider demonstrated interest and they make that very clear. Their campus has essentially been on lockdown for the most part as they are discouraging visitors of any type to come, but have also stated they don’t consider demonstrated interest in their application process and have continued to maintain same. It would not be fair to the thousands who did not visit or show any more demonstrated interest than is typical, to suddenly now say that’s what we care about.

What schools may be doing however, is consider where someone is regionally and what the likelihood is that they may be willing to travel to Ithaca, etc. because as you know it is not a cakewalk if you do not live in that area and if you are not familiar with the weather it can be a real eye opener, but more demonstrated interest when they don’t ever consider it, I don’t believe to be true. Even the alumni “interviews” are more hands off this year, other than the ones required to submit portfolios.

Emailed. Not sure if there is a follow up hard copy. I know when you’re officially accepted they have both, but there is nothing exceptional in the acceptance packet. At least two years ago there wasn’t.

i just saw on cornell’s ig that they had built three new underclassmen residence halls this year. does this mean they are expanding the student body/accepting more students this year?

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So my husband got his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Cornell. Is this legacy or are just undergrad degrees considered legacy? Our daughter applied regular decision Math major.

This is incorrect. There are 2 new dorms for next year, not 3. They were to be for sophomores while this year a freshman all female dorm was to be renovated, however, the female dorm due to finances from covid the capital project was put on hold and the new soph dorms are being used next year for freshmen and the other dorm is now going to be closed next year. Then the following year those two new dorms will be back to be housing for sophomores. The 2 new dorms are named for RBG and Toni Morrison. Two awesome Cornell female alumni!! They are also in the process of building 3 more additional new dorms but those will not be open for next year. Also going forward, all students will be required to live on campus for 2 years which is not a requirement now. As expensive as it is to live in Ithaca as a parent, this is a welcome requirement. Apartments are outrageous there.

Here is some info on the expansion of the dorms. https://ncre.cornell.edu/

Yes, but she would have had to mark it down on the application where they ask for them to know, so hopefully she did!!

Yes

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Thanks yes she definitely did that. I remember her asking for the year he graduated. I appreciate the info.

The Ivies are all huge legacy schools. Some schools at Cornell have more legacies than others, but overall there are a lot of legacies on campus when compared to non-Ivy schools.

I have been in contact with several members of Cornell’s admissions staff and overall administration, via both official admissions contact and personal/family connections, and they have all given me the same basic answer: while Cornell technically does not consider demonstrated interest, they do take into account the likelihood an applicant is to attend. This typically comes from the applicant’s background, location, and essay content. They want to admit people who are actually going to come. I have heard that exact response from at least five Cornell people. You are right that the interviews are very relaxed this year. Mine was by far the best of any of my 10+ interviews. Without the burden of trying to impress my interviewer, I basically just spend 2 hours asking him about various aspects of the Cornell experience.

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Yes, this is legacy. However, if your daughter did not specifically express this on her application, she might be out of luck. Good news is that legacy isn’t much of a factor in RD.

they aren’t interviews, they are Q&A sessions really

Of the top non-Ivy USNews schools that practice legacy admissions and that publish what percentage of legacy students make up an admitted class (Stanford, Rice, WUSTL, and Northwestern do not make the # public):

Duke 19%, ND 21%, Vanderbilt 15%, USC 15%

Cornell certainly has more legacies than schools that do not use it as a factor (UChicago, JHU, most publics), but it doesn’t seem to be an outlier among those that do, which is why your comment puzzled me.

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With international travel restrictions , 3rd wave in Europe and consulates still closed in many countries most of the Seats will be filled by kids in US.
Good luck everyone

I highly doubt elite colleges will kick “diversity” off (even due to the pandemic). In rankings diversity is considered and these schools are fighting each other (there is a reason they all mention x% is international). Worst case scenario they offer FYSA to more internationals, accept dual citizens. But most likely they will proceed normally with admitting internationals.

Also Cornells Vice provost of enrolment mentioned specifically that they will not resort to admitting fewer international students (even though some directors suggested it).

from what I saw last year, from our school, 5 kids made it cornell and In regular years maybe 1 makes it.

All I really meant is that in my experiences with Cornell, there have been a lot of legacies on campus. There is definitely a noticeable population of legacies at Cornell, more so than a lot of the other schools I’ve visited. I was not aware of these stats.

I’m sorry to belabor this, but noticeable. . .how? Do they wear special shirts, do they introduce themselves to strangers as legacies, or do you mean that accepted students that you, personally, have known have tended to be legacies?

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