Differences between A/S, CALS, and CoE applicants?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>Hey guys, just one last question.</p>

<p>While Cornell claims to value applicants holistically, the reality is that the different colleges tend to place different weight on different aspects of a student. In terms of applicant profiles, what do each of these colleges emphasize? I know Cornell Engineering heavily stresses testing scores (AP & SAT) as well as GPA, and that CALS tends to focus on ECs and work experience in the area of study.</p>

<p>Can anyone elaborate/confirm this?</p>

2

<p>In my opinion, CAS is in the "middle’, probably the most holistic of those 3 schools. CoE definitely emphasizes test scores, they believe in standardized testing.</p>

3

<p>A couple of my friends didn’t get into CoE and they had pretty much perfect stats (2300+, 3.9+, 5s on many APs, 800s on multiple SAT IIs, good ECs, etc), which was pretty baffling to me. It was probably just pure bad luck though :(</p>

4

<p>Yeah don’t get me wrong, top notch numbers won’t get you in. Last year Cornell took about 15% of males for CoE. But even decent numbers could eliminate you without some hook.</p>

5

<p>I would think all universities with specialized colleges like Cornell would value certain aspects differently. </p>

<p>Engineering colleges may value test scores more because its potential students are going to need to be studious and science-inclined if they’re even to survive, let alone thrive.
Broader colleges like CAS may value a holistic candidate better because its potential students need to be well rounded; it’s just in the nature of CAS itself.</p>

<p>Of course, all parts of your app need to be shining for any school of Cornell, but I would think calculating everything in the way you are is unnecessary.</p>

6

<p>The College of Engineering is not strictly numbers driven. They also look to see engineering related ECs. The problem with many engineering applicants is that they are all numbers and very little else…Conell is not interested in that alone.</p>

7

<p>Just wondering- the different schools only look at the essay you wrote for their school, right? So if I applied to CALS with CAS as my alternate, neither school would see the essay I wrote for the other school?</p>

8

<p>^Seahawk, I don’t know the answer to that since my sons applied before there was an option to apply to more than one college. I would think that each department only sees the application to its own school. Have you looked on the website for any info regarding this?</p>

9

<p>I would think that too, it’s just that my reasons for AEM and Econ are largely similar and so I’d want to re-use it without it looking awkward. I haven’t found any info on the website.</p>

10

<p>Well, on the Common App, basically it prints out the essays one after another, so the primary college sees and likely reads both. It’s understandable if they’re similar, especially since you’re applying to a similar major in both. However, the alternate college only sees your essays if the primary thinks you’re abetter fit there, and even then only a very low percentage of people (I think 2-3%) gets into their alternate college after being rejected from a primary.</p>

11

<p>alright. well i doubt if i got rejected from aem that i’d get into econ, even if it’s a bit easier to get into. Everything about AEM is the absolute perfect fit for me. And yeah I used a quote at the beginning of my primary that was used for the alternate, so it looks a bit awkward if they see it but I hope they understand.</p>

12

<p>yeah, either admissions committee can see both of your essays:</p>

<p>“Will my essays for both my primary and alternate choice colleges be read
by both colleges? It is possible that both colleges will review your primary
and alternate choice college essays.”</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/admissions/ugrad/documents/FreshmanApplicationInstructions.pdf#page=4[/url]”>http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/admissions/ugrad/documents/FreshmanApplicationInstructions.pdf#page=4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

13

<p>If you look at the ED thread this year, it seems that engineering and CAS are about the same in terms of weighing numbers. Engineering would probably want a person with more math in his/her high school experience though (in terms of courses/sat IIs taken).</p>

<p>By the way, AEM is quite difficult because of the number of hooked applicants that get in it and the small number of spots. If you really like AEM though, by all means go for it :)</p>