Cornell Supplement Essay

So I am applying for Cornell’s CALS with an Information Science Major.
The supplement asks for what were my experiences and interests that made me choose this major.
I’ve got the interest part down. But I have zero actual experience that made me choose this major
Is it okay if I just write about how growing up with parents that fostered my curiosity and turned me into someone who will literally never stop asking questions and finding out answers?
I have no idea what to write as an experience…

Anyone

Specifically what about growing up with your parents helped you foster that curiosity? Without being specific, anyone could write an essay nearly identical to yours and Cornell will stop considering you almost immediately due to a lack of understanding of their college.

Well basically I’m from Saudi Arabia and in Saudi culture people really value expanding curiosity but whats Ironic about this is that the Saudi culture also limits a girl’s ability to go out and explore things by her self. Im not sure how I can use this for the esssay…

IMO it’s not specific, unique, and relevant enough to write for the supplement.

I thought so too…honestly, I have zero chance of getting accepted because of this essay…I have no experience that makes me stand out from the rest of the applicants applying to info. Science…while they probably have been to 100 STEM programs.

@norhankj Don’t beat yourself up like that. You DON’t have 0% chance to get accepted. I think your explanation makes sense. If your curiosity is not nurtured in Saudi culture and it also doesn’t make it easy to get the kind of experience you think they’re looking for, this could be a good essay. If everything else is in order (grades, SAT’s), the essay alone does not need to be superior.

Don’t give up! Remember, the prompt doesn’t ask what academic experience in IS do you have, but rather what experiences.

Something you’ll want to consider is the nature of Cornell’s CALS. It is one of the university’s land-grant schools–meaning that it gives priority to New York applicants and offers them reduced tuition. There are incidences of New York students taking advantage of this. Thus, this essay question is not only to assess your fit for the school but to determine whether you really want to be there. Ask yourself questions about your interest in the school. When did you become interested in information science? What activities and classes were you engaged in at the time that may have triggered this interest? What have you done since then to further your understanding of the field? How do you plan on applying a Cornell education to improve the world? You may not have one big, aha moment to write about, but you can try to figure out when and why it clicked for you and zero in on that.

You can also think about experiences that you have had to overcome to pursue your education in this field. As MA_Papi said, if you’ve had to grapple with your culture’s aversion to your pursuit of a higher education, you could talk about what experiences motivated you to persevere.

If you really don’t have any experiences that motivated you to pursue this major at this school, I recommend doing some independent research. It may give you something to write about and at the very least will better prepare you to handle the coursework and pursue research, jobs, and extracurricular activities that really interest you rather than general ones. You can check out MIT’s OpenCourseWare and see if you can find any courses related to your major that interest you. You can also try to contact a professor or professional in the field to learn more, be it through an internship/mentorship, a face-to-face meeting, or even just an email or phone call correspondence. Reach out. Learn more.

I was accepted into the College of Engineering this year and am not attending, so I can’t give you any specific information about Cornell, but I’m still happy to try to help as best as I can. Good luck!

Thank you so much for putting so much effort into replying to me! this is super useful.

I contacted CALS about this. They actually replied and said that not having an experience is not an issue at all. They said they’d be interested in how the fact that there’s limited exposure to technology for girls in Saudi has made me interested in pursuing a degree in Info Science.