Is Cornell really need-blind for Internationals?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
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<p>Hey, guys. </p>

<p>I thought about posting this question on transfer admission thread, but I think opening up a thread is more appropriate.
I am sure there are at least a couple of current international students looking at this board time to time.
I have a question for you; is Cornell really need blind (in admission) for internationals? </p>

<p>I know exactly what the website (or the financial aid office) says. They claim that it is 100% need blind and that your financial need will not count against your admission decisions.
At the same time, however, I have read or heard far too much talk about Cornell really being need-aware for internationals in contrary to what they say.
Cornell is obviously a school that cares about their face statistics (ones like average SAT and GPA for the admitted), and FA is a huge part of the face statistics that can either draw in or out applicants each year.</p>

<p>It would not be unreasonable to reject a kid who has a huge financial need over another kid of a same caliber that shows no need (since financial aid statistics like "need fully met" only counts for ones who are admitted, the statistics will look better if they admit the kid with money).
On the other hand, if they decide to admit a bunch of internationals who are a bit better qualified in terms of fit and stats over kids who are loaded, Cornell will worsen their face statistics as they frankly don't have enough money to fund that many international kids.</p>

<p>It is hard to believe that Cornell, not having the sheer amount of resources like HYP, does not consider financial need in the international students admissions process.
In fact, I have heard of many cases where a seemingly much better international candidate who applied for "need blind" financial aid got rejected, while a kid who was worse off in stats with no financial-need got in. </p>

<p>Since we are not in the back office of Cornell admissions, nobody can really tell for sure if these stories actually mean anything. </p>

<p>So I want to know if I can find any international student at Cornell who applied for FA, were judged to have a need, and got accepted without getting any FA.
That would be a counter example to Cornell being fully need-aware in international admissions. </p>

<p>I am a transfer student who can fund my education without a problem, but applied for FA anyway thinking that it was need-blind.
I want to know if it is better off withdrawing the FA application.</p>

<p>Thank you for your help.</p>

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<p>That’s exactly what I thought when I was submitting my application!
Hello @aerivus‌! I’m also an international student applied for Cornell AEM as a transfer applicant this year.
Since Cornell is a private uni, I assume that they might desire for international students who can fully afford their tuitions without any financial aids. Hence, I just said “no” for any question regarding to financial support on the CommonApp.
I will come back and post my stat. here once I receive a decision from Cornell in future!</p>

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<h1>Challenging Did Cornell’s common app have a question asking us whether or not we were applying for financial aid? I feel like there was one, but when I look at the submitted app for Cornell, I can’t find one. If there was, I definitely clicked yes without knowing what “need-blind” for internationals implicates. I better call the office tomorrow to disregard my answer for that specific question…</h1>

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<p>@aerivus sorry… I guess I mixed up with NYU. I just checked the CommonApp again and there’s no question regarding to the financial aid for Cornell. So no worry :slight_smile: </p>

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<p>@Supernova123 Yes, that is exactly what Cornell’s financial aid policy states. I was just inquiring if what they state is really true. Like I specified in my original question, international students who seemed better qualified with financial needs were rejected more often compared to those with worse stats but had no financial need.
Any school can state whatever they want in their financial aid policy. As long as we are not given full information about all the international applicants every year, we cannot really tell if Cornell is really practicing need-blind for internationals. They have an incentive to say they are need-blind but actually practice need-aware.
That’s why I wanted to see if there was even one international student on this forum who got accepted, were judged to have need, but didn’t get a single dime. That would serve as an indicator that Cornell is at least practicing somewhat of a need-blind but need not fully met policy.</p>

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<p>I do believe they are need blind for internationals, at least for the ED round, as I distinctly recall reading about some internationals getting accepted ED, but not recieving enough FA in their packages in the ED forum. U could prob just look there for evidence.</p>