<p>I'm trying to help out a few prospective Cornellians, and I've forgotten whether or not Cornell keeps track of campus visits as a way to measure interest. Does anyone know?</p>
<p>If you are asking if admissions officers have an item saying “visited campus” on the application when reading and evaluation applicants the simple answer is no.</p>
<p>Source: i’ve spoken with admissions officers and i’ve even been next to one while he was reading an application and showed me how it worked and i got to see how the applications look like, what info is shown etc.</p>
<p>reptil - an admission officer showed you another person’s application? Hard to believe. It is not hard to find out what an application looks like, just go to Common Application online. If Cornell kept track of visits, it would be on their own database, but like many schools “interest” is not a big factor for Cornell.</p>
<p>yes, he did. however, he covered the applicants name.</p>
<p>i do know that at the information session my D attended that had the students fill out a questioniare with SAT scores, etc. In addition they had each studentt stand , introduce themselves & tell where they were from. Since adcoms were there I assumed they somehow kept track???</p>
<p>Applying ED is a much more effective and sincere show of interest than tagging along on one campus tour. </p>
<p>But by all means definitely visit so you know where you’ll be living/studying/etc for four years…</p>
<p>no way that visits are tracked; no idea what csdad is talking about</p>
<p>…involvedobserver…</p>
<p>…my D attended the info session for CHE in Fall of Junior year & my post explains exactly what took place. There were a total of 7 students at the session. What is there not to understand?</p>
<p>Question C-7 in Cornell’s most recent common data set states that the Applicant’s Level of Interest in Cornell is “not considered” in the application process.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I think that the admit rate ED is higher than the admit rate RD across the board.</p>
<p>@csdad, he has no idea what you are talking about in connection to your faulty assumption: “Since adcoms were there I assumed they somehow kept track???” they were asked to introduce themselves just as a nice thing to do - they were not taking active notes on this. come on? just listen how ridiculous that is. and then to match those records up with applications or track them down. ad absurdum.</p>
<p>They do care about how much you want to be in Cornell/ how much you know about the school as it is reflected in your essay (The fact that ED >> RD in admittance rate with students of lower stats overall shows that fact - your commitment to Cornell is considered). However, it’s very likely they don’t care that much about your visits even if they are recorded. Waay too many students for that.</p>
<p>So you got into Cornell. Impressive. 
(it’s a very bored LL).</p>
<p>Attendance of an information session is “required” according to Cornell Admissions publications. You need to make an appointment in advance. They will also check you in at the door (and take down your info if you haven’t made an advance appointment). Cornell is hard to get to, and the climate is harsh. The college is aware of the fact and wants to make sure the prospective student is as well.</p>
<p>I don’t know what you’re talking about mhmm, but my S was a freshman last year and was admitted without ever stepping foot on the campus until after receiving his acceptance. So it’s certainly not really “required”.</p>
<p>mhmm: that flies in the face of reason. Cornell expends hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of manhours getting the Cornell name out to the vast expanse. The majority of this audience won’t have the ability to visit Ithaca. Perhaps you’ve misunderstood some Cornell requirement. Maybe it’s a reference for admitted students to attend a new students’ mtg.</p>
<p>mhmm - I also don’t know what you are talking about. Schools do not penalize you for not visiting if you live very far away. No everyone has money to visit schools. What you are referring to is maybe needing an appointment if you want to take a campus tour. </p>
<p>Cornell’s climate is not any worse than Hamilton, Colgate, Rochester, or many of NE schools.</p>
<p>to T26E4 and oldfort - If you ever picked up a printed brochure from Cornell, yes I know very old fashioned of me, you may have picked up a 3 page accordion folded 81/2x11 brochure. I tend to think its actually called the Common Data Set, but perhaps not. Whats important is it incorporates the CDS. The entire thing is a grid chock full of very useful information. One of the columns contains actions for college admissions and how important they are for favorable admissions. Attending the info session was either required or strongly urged or some similar language that left no doubt as to its meaning. When you do show up for the info session, you have no chance of walking into the auditorium without checking-in, whether your name was already printed on the sheet if you signed up, or whether you had to fill out an index card, if you didn’t.<br>
This info is correct as of several months ago for CAS. I can not remember if this was university - wide or just a CAS info session.</p>
<p>The [Cornell</a> Common Data Set 2011-2012](<a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000504.pdf]Cornell”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000504.pdf) indicates that the applicant’s level of interest is “not considered” at all.</p>
<p>Its not the “level of interest”. Its whether you have attended the info session or not. And obviously if your grades/scores/ecs/recs are not up to their standards, you can attend the info session till the cows come home and not get in. However if all else works and you haven’t when you could, you may get a waitlist as your RD.</p>
<p>I would think that attending an info session means an applicant is interested in that school. Why else go? And no, even if you have stellar stats, your info session attendance will in no way affect whether you get accepted, denied, or waitlisted. It is not a “tipping factor.” At least not for Cornell.</p>