Cornell Supplement Essay

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>The CAS essay prompt this year changed up a little bit:</p>

<p>College of Arts and Sciences: Describe two or three of your current intellectual interests and why they are exciting to you. Why will Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences be the right environment in which to pursue your interests?</p>

<p>This year, they're specfically asking us to describe two or three of our intellectual interests, when last year they just said 'discuss your interests and how they evolved.' Does this REALLY mean I have to talk about more than one interest? I don't have room in my essay to talk about more than one. I'm writing about my main interest, which is biology/science, and I'm already at 477 words. If the limit is 500, how can I fit in another intellectual interest AND talk about how Cornell is the right place for me?</p>

<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>

2

<p>Lol the limit was 500 and I wrote 750 words last year; I guess they aren’t so strict on essay limits, although I wouldn’t go to the 800+s just to be safe.</p>

3

<p>Oh, haha, that’s good to hear. I thought their word limit was rigid, though, so I was worried. And I’m guessing you mean to say that since the prompt explicitly states ‘two or three’ this year, that I’ll HAVE to talk about more than just biology?</p>

4

<p>they changed the limit to 650.</p>

5

<p>Oh, they did? I was not aware of this! Where did they state that they made the change?</p>

6

<p>I just typed in the box until it said that the maximum is 650 words so I need to shorten. They were not clear about it at all. And I already structured mine around being 500.</p>

7

<p>This is similar to the old prompt.
When talking about Cornell, try to find something specific to Cornell that no other college offers.
That is what they are looking for. (or at least, that was true when I applied.)</p>

8

<p>I would recommend to follow the prompt exactly, which means to discuss at least two intellectual pursuits. Trim down your section on science / biology and add in another one (of at least a decent length).</p>

9

<p>DO NOT send your essays to anyone on this site. Keep the editing process among people who really want YOU to succeed - an English teacher, your college counselor, a parent. NO matter what people here say, some could take your ideas or your essay itself. Really important to protect yourself from these possibilities.</p>

10

<p>Does anyone know if the word limit for the cornell essay is 500 or 650???</p>

<p>Common app says its 650 but on a pdf on their website it says 500</p>

11

<p>Its 650. Im an ED admit and mine was around that length.</p>

12

<p>Hey i got into engineering ED but i feel like the prompt is similar…</p>

<p>You could say 2 aspects of biology ( if thats what your interest is ) and how you are driven by those, what you can accomplish and how cornell does that for you most effectively</p>