@tiggyb62 I think you can request an interview. I know it is not required. Still it would be a good learning opportunity for a candidate that can’t visit Ithaca. I know for sure that Cornell colleges other than AAP & Hotel School do give interviews.
@Much2learn You cannot request an interview. Alumni interviews are offered to some applicants, but they are initiated by the interviewers. My daughter was contacted by one a few days ago. There is no way to initiate this, as an applicant - it depends on the availability of interviewers in your area. https://blogs.cornell.edu/admissions/2014/11/24/alumni-interviews/
@aquapt Interesting. Well, in our area they get to a very high percentage of them, and the percentage has been rising rapidly. I see that blog is a couple years old. I would guess they are close to 90% this year. Learning to use their large alumni base effectively.
@Much2learn No, you cannot request an interview. Cornell does not do interviews for admissions except for AAP and Hotel School, as I mentioned above. The CAAN (Cornell Alumni Ambassadors Network) give informational “interviews” if there is one available in your area. These have no bearing on your admissions decision. My sophomore daughter was offered a CAAN interview in our area when she applied ED two years ago, however, she and her interviewer never got a chance to connect due to busy schedules etc. She got accepted regardless. So possibly you are confusing these types of interviews that CAAN does.
I think you are not worse off if you can’t visit Cornell, it’s not that important at all unless you are applying ED. As for your essay, I think you are fine. Your mother’s advice is a little misguided, as admissions does not like you repeating things in your essay that you already put elsewhere on your application. I think you have your priorities straight in telling Cornell why you chose them and demonstrating how much it fits you as a student. You could talk about your graphics engine in the vaguest terms, like “I designed a graphics engine for an app I made” and maybe demonstrate any recognition or success your app received; it’s not really necessary though.
Overall, if your academic record reaches Cornell’s standards even barely, it’s worth it to apply. After that, your application should just reflect who you are as a student, both in and out of school. At least, that’s how me and other Cornell students approached the process when we applied.
No matter what, good luck! :-bd
That sucks. The way your mom wanted you to write your essay, is NOT the way to go about it. I saw this exmaple where admissions see it as trying to force yourself it. oh jill… jill jill jill. anyways, it’s because you’re just listing your accomplishments, but not choosing one life changing one and magnifying it. like you’re bragging, “I interned at Stanford during the summer. Stan. Ford.” like what all you did was not clean up broken glass and fetch dunkin donuts coffee for the big guys. I think you should explain it to her. She’s not the one going to college, you are. I think an actual guiadance counselor would know better. Tell her you need to visit to get more ideas of why cornell!
@TiggyB62 Yes, the CAAN interviews. I think they can help you. I think they say it won’t hurt you, which means there is no penalty for not doing it.
Sometimes admissions gets useful information from them that did not come out clearly in the application.
To the OP, I’ll be another voice saying it’s okay that you didn’t get to visit Cornell.
Why do I say that?
Because I didn’t visit until accepted students day!