Do you guys know if everyone gets the GT option if they applied to CALS? Thanks
No, it is only one possible outcome. Other outcomes are accept, reject, or waitlist.
Do a lot of people get straight up rejected?
Over 40,000 people apply to Cornell for an incoming class of about 3,000, so yeah a lot of people will get straight up rejected from each college.
I know that ILR gives out a lot of GTO’s though; not too sure about CALS.
Oh, when I apply next year, would applying early decision help my chances of getting a GT option? I really want to go to Cornell but freshmen admissions seem more competitive than ever.
Well I don’t think that Cornell offers GTO’s as an ED decision. Most likely you would be deferred to the regular pool first. Admission to Cornell is becoming more and more competitive each year, as with most schools. Truthfully, you can’t concern yourself with the GTO. If you love Cornell, it’s your first choice, and your scores are somewhere within the range (or slightly below), then you should definitely apply Early. Don’t worry about the GTO because it is still relatively rare in the overall picture of Cornell admissions.
Do you know how roughly how many people transfer under the GT option each year? Thanks.
@themaltesefalcon I don’t want to put a number on it for fear of being way off but I do think it is a much, much smaller list in comparison to those waitlisted. Maybe this Daily Sun article can give more perspective on it: http://cornellsun.com/blog/2013/09/30/guest-room-inside-cornells-guarantee-transfer-system/
I’m a GT for this fall so hopefully I can answer some of your questions!
I applied ED last year and was deferred before receiving one in March. It seems like there are two ways to get them: ED --> deferral --> GT or apply RD --> waitlist --> GT. They are usually from contract colleges, but I know some CAS students who received them as well.
I’m not sure what the numbers are exactly (maybe a couple hundred) but I agree that you shouldn’t think about it too much at the moment. I mean, you could get in early decision and then not have to worry about any of this at all 
Nice! What college did you apply to?
@Corlander23 Hi, Thank you for providing good information to clear up some of the confusion. I was recently waitlisted from Cornell. According to your response, I may still have the possibility of getting a Guaranteed Transfer if I get rejected from the waitlist? Thanks again.
Of course, I know they offer GT’s to all ILR students who don’t make it off the waitlist and the other contract colleges give a number of them out as well. I’d send Cornell a letter of continued interest soon to let them know you’re still enthusiastic about attending! Try to mention how you’d be up for alternate admission decisions like spring admission or guaranteed transfers.
Best of luck!
Hey guys I was offered the GT to AEM. Here is the description I found online for transfer requirement http://admissions.cals.cornell.edu/apply/transfer/requirements/aem
As GTs do we only need to fulfill the required courses or do we need to do the strongly recommended ones as well?
Congratz, @gregpuba!!! AEM is super hard to get in to so a GT itself is very impressive. Nicely done.
From what I can see the strongly encouraged courses are just that: strongly encouraged. You don’t need to do them but they might make life easier for you when you do transfer into the Dyson program. I would say to take them if they seem interesting or worthwhile, but don’t pressure yourself into not taking and missing out on a really cool course that your school offers, just to take one of these classes instead.
My understanding is that about 200-300 students get offered the transfer option every year for CALS. http://irp.dpb.cornell.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011-Self-Study-FINAL.pdf
I’m not sure what the exact number is.
@SleepIsTemporary is correct! You only have to take the required courses, and the recommended ones are just a way for you to get a head start on getting graduation requirements done if you feel like it. You can also use AP credit to waive certain classes, which is always nice.
Thanks everyone! I was afraid that I could not complete all of the recommended classes so that is a relief.
@themaltesefalcon I was also waitlisted for CALS AEM. When I called them to see if I needed to send any additional information they said it wasn’t necessary, but from previous threads it seems like people who get admitted off the waitlist send it additional rec letters, etc… What are you doing?
@somebody2015 dang only 200!