<p>Hey, I'm a Cornell hopeful and I was wondering if admissions officers take into account whether you've been to info sessions and have taken tours? People usually sign in for these things, and I can't see why else they do it unless they keep track.</p>
<p>Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but if they do take this into consideration, I'm screwed. To tell you the truth, I haven't been to any info sessions and I never signed up for a tour guide in my visits to Cornell.</p>
<p>The whole point of tours and info sessions are to up your 'demonstrated interest.' They do, in fact, keep track of who goes to them, and put them on file, so that when they see your application, they can check to see if you visited. This question will also come up on your alumni interview.</p>
<p>Demonstrated interest happens to be a somewhat important factor in admissions: they may think that you're great for the school, but, by not visiting, you sort of say that you don't really want to go there. And if you don't want to go there, they don't want you there.</p>
<p>This, of course, can be offset by applying ED (because of its binding nature), but if you're applying RD, then schedule one for yourself, pronto.</p>
<p>Most schools say that, though, so it's hard to really tell. But at Cornell, when you go for a tour, I believe they have you RSVP online and then <strong>possibly</strong> check your name off (as being present) at Day Hall. For info sesssions, especially college-specific info sessions, they give you a clipboard with a piece of paper on it to fill out. It's a somewhat specific sheet of information, which I believe they end up putting in your file. That's what happened when I went to an CAS info session this summer.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree. I was just going with the published information. We have been to three different info sessions at Cornell (trying to figure out best fit) and for one of them, if seemed like an interview for all of the prospects present. It may depend on the school/college at Cornell. HumEc seemed very interested in the individual, and the admissions officer was taking notes.</p>
<p>graciek, how certain are you that interest is a big factor? I know it is at some other schools, and I don't know about Cornell. And about alumni interviews, I believe they aren't offered for engineering, so maybe interest isn't part of COE at least?</p>
<p>Yeah, pageturner, I went to both the CALS info session and the HumEc info session (since I'm applying to HumEc primary and CALS secondary), and I noticed a marked difference between the two. Both had you write down information on a sheet of paper, but the HumEc session's info sheet was VERY specific, and asked you a lot of direct, evaluative questions. The HumEc info session itself was also really unique, it was a sort of interview: there were about 6 kids there including me, and the director of admissions basically interviewed each kid there. And he took notes. So I think that, at least for HumEc, attending the info session and answering the questions well could very well help you. But who really knows?</p>
<p>If you don't mind me asking, what kind of questions did they ask for HumanEc? My daughter is thinking about applying next year, so any info would be helpful! Thanks!</p>
<p>Well, first of all, get to the HumEc info session 15 minutes early because that's when they start handing out the sheet (which is long and detailed) and they start the info session pretty much right on time. Second, the leader of the info session I attended was the Director of HumEc Admissions, not just some student or whatever. Third, we all sat down at a conference table and he asked each individual different questions, such as "Why HumEc?" and "Talk about your most important EC and how it sparked your interest in HumEc". He also asked what has contributed to your interests and how your interests would be better served at HumEc rather than the other colleges at Cornell. He said some REALLY fascinating things about HumEc and was an extremely intelligent guy. While he "interviewed" each kid, he had their sheet in front of him and made notes on it. So make sure your daughter really knows why HumEc is a good fit for her. And though I did say I wanted to be a doctor, I didn't go on the whole "I want to help people" or "I love Biology" speech, because half the other kids there said that and it's pretty cliched.
Hope that helped!</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for that helpful information! Daughter is interested in Human Development, and is trying to learn as much as she can about the program, so hopefully that will help.</p>
<p>Is the sheet they hand out a questionnaire? What type of info are they looking for there? How many people were at the information session? Did you go in your junior or senior year? (Daughter, a junior, wants to visit in the spring)</p>
<p>No problem! I found the HumEc info session to be one of the best I attended out of the 10 colleges I visited.</p>
<p>Nope, the sheet asks you for your SAT scores, your GPA, rank, etc and also asks you to provide details about your top 2 or 3 EC's in importance to you. It's more extensive than usual for a college info session. There were about 5-6 kids including me, so he had a pretty lengthy "interview" with each kid. I went the summer before senior year, I went to the CALS one in spring because they ran their info sessions then, but HumEc only starts theirs in May or something, which is why we went to Cornell twice to visit. I'm REALLY glad I made the extra trip to Cornell, I wasn't sure about applying ED until after the HumEc info session, which basically swayed me to apply ED.</p>
<p>Thanks again! My older daughter is at the Hotel School, but their information session was strictly informational. Obviously, they have a formal interview process, but I was unaware that some of the colleges used information sessions as informal interviews! Thanks again for the heads-up!</p>
<p>Although demonstrated interest is not a criterion for admission, Cornell's various schools -- especially the more specialized ones -- seem to have a strong interest in learning "Why the heck are you applying to this specific program within Cornell? How can we (and you) figure out whether it is an appropriate program for you?"</p>
<p>If you look at Cornell's supplement to the Common Application, you will see that each school has an essay question directed toward this sort of thing. A few of the colleges also have required interviews, which focus to some extent on this area. It sounds as though some of the schools, such as Hum Ec, are also using their information sessions to focus on the thought process that goes into choosing (or not choosing) to apply to Hum Ec. </p>
<p>Cornell does keep track of who has visited, but the information seems to be used mostly for administrative purposes. For example, when my daughter was an applicant, our local alumni association arranged a free bus trip to Cornell with an overnight stay for all local applicants who had not visited the campus. The university's visiting records were used to determine who had visited and who had not, so that the right people would get invitations.</p>
<p>My daughter is in Arts and Sciences, and she visited Cornell and participated in an information session before she applied. I don't think that anything that happened at the information session influenced admissions decisions in any way. The host of the session did ask students about their extracurricular activities and planned majors (and you could see half of the kids in the room gulp visibly and suddenly pick a major out of thin air), but this turned out to be for the purpose of focusing her presentation on the topics that this particular audience would be most interested in. For example, there turned out to be a lot of musicians in the room but no people with an interest in drama, so she talked more about opportunities for participation in musical groups than about theater opportunities.</p>
<p>my kid also attended Human Ec and ILR admission sessions as she wasn't sure if she would be more interested in ILR curric. or to follow a "psychology" type of curric. in Human Ec.
when she did the ILR tour, she was only one of 3 kids attending- so it allowed alot of personal "face time" with the ILR admission counselor. He also explained the differences in programs and suggested that she could take a bunch of ILR courses in Organizational Behavior which might satisfy her intererst in psychology. After she made her decision to apply ILR, she e-mailed him back to thank him and to inform him of her decision to do ILR.
Coincidence, luck that only 3 kids were in her ILR tour or whatever- she got admitted to ILR in Feb. during the rolling notification cycle. Her Human Ec tour that day had about 30 kids attending, so she really did not feel the same personal contact with admission counselor as she did with the ILR group-
but- if it can be done, I strongly suggest you do a Cornell admission tour for the school you are interested in. May not be too big of a boost, but it will never hurt.</p>
<p>As a comparison-we also did a tour at Brown- there was no check in, sign up sheet etc. I don't think they even knew my d went to see the school.
again- all this info is a bit dated as kid graduated in May- but I think an admission tour at Cornell is somewhat helpful.</p>
<p>I didn't mean to give the impression that demonstrated interest is the deciding factor in the application: i'm merely giving my advice and insight into a topic that someone asked about.</p>
<p>I spent almost every week this summer visiting colleges: Georgetown, Columbia, Cornell, and Vassar just to name a few. At all of them, I got the general impression that to take a tour and info session would be an asset to you, a) to find out whether or not you are a fit for a school or not (this is especially important, because you may adore the way the school looks on paper, but not how it is in real life: this happened with both a friend and myself: we went to schools expecting to like them but ended up not even wanting to apply), and b) to show the college that you have/have had some desire to go there. It simply reflects kindly on applicants who visit. Obviously, however, they don't record who asks questions and who falls asleep, but they do note that you come.</p>
<p>It's not an admissions requirement, but I do beleive that it's somewhat implied.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I got the general impression that to take a tour and info session would be an asset to you, a) to find out whether or not you are a fit for a school
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Excellent reason to visit, particularly the rural/urban campuses.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It's not an admissions requirement, but I do beleive that it's somewhat implied.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>For some colleges, yes, and they usually make it pretty clear that demonstrated interest is a help to admissions. However, other colleges also realize that adding 'plus factors' in admissions for visiting/touring is discriminatory, economically and geographically. Given that Cornell receives part of its budget from a Blue State legislature.......</p>