<p>Aight guys so I was wondering, when we apply to Cornell do we apply for the major we want or do we apply for the college within Cornell??!! I'm heckka worried cause, when I looked at the official results for the CALS students, their stats are okay but when I look at chances for AEM, the stats for these guys are really good but people still consistently say that the chances are low?!! So, when I apply would I have to mention anywhere that I'm applying to AEM within CALS or would I just apply to CALS and then choose my major once I'm in??</p>
<p>in CALS you need to designate at some point what major you’re applying to (for you, AEM.) someone who’s filled out the actual application recently could tell you exactly where you need to provide that info.</p>
<p>in some other schools, like arts and sciences or engineering, you don’t apply directly to a major.</p>
<p>Look at the proper major, college, and admission webpages in order to get the stuff you need to know to apply. There’s a lot, but after a little it should all come to you.</p>
<p>The Cornell supplement asks you to select one of the colleges from a drop-down list. They actually let you pick a second choice, too.</p>
<p>And then once you select the college, another drop-dpwn list appears with the list of majors.</p>
<p>Most US universities have general academic requirements outside of the major. In general, students in the US don’t specialize as early as they do in other countries. Some US universities have more requirements than others. Even in CAS, Cornell’s requirements are not overwhelming, but do include foreign language, writing, distribution requirements, and breadth requirements. But, yes, in general, you will be expected to take classes outside of your major and outside of the sciences. Historically, the goal of most US universities has been to provide a good grounding in the “liberal arts,” rather than produce academic specialists. Most students begin to take higher level and more specialized classes in the junior and senior years, and then, if they choose, pursue intensive study in a single field in graduate school. Technical programs, of course, will differ from the general rule–engineering, architecture, the arts, etc. If this is something that is important to you, carefully check the degree requirements before applying. Some universities have far more general education requirements than others! (Brown, for example, doesn’t have general education requirements.) From a mom and former university professor. FWIW, my math/science son has not complained about any of the requirements in CAS at Cornell. In fact, he has found most of them fun. At least so far!</p>