Late to the engineering game?

I recently discovered that I really want to study engineering. I go to an all-girls school that doesn’t really promote engineering, so I knew very little about it until recently. I am scared that my activities from the past 3 years don’t quite exemplify my interests. I am strong in math and science and scored a 33 on my ACT (Math 34, Science 33). I am planning to apply to Cornell Engineering ED this fall. Would it be better to apply to the College of Arts and Sciences, even though I really want to be an engineer? Thoughts?

Don’t sweat the lack of engineering-related activities. Most HS kids don’t have those. Just apply to a variety of schools with engineering in case Cornell doesn’t work out. Your test scores are good so there should be a good place for you. Just don’t get too focused on just one school.

Changing to the engineering division after enrolling is not automatic. Better to apply to the engineering division in the first place.

Many students major in engineering even though they do not have high school engineering ECs.

Your high school grades in chemistry, physics, and calculus are more relevant than “engineering activities” whatever that may be.

Apply to the engineering school if being an engineer is what you want to do. Significant prior knowledge in engineering in high school is extremely rare, so you aren’t behind or anything at this point. In fact, freshman year in college is typically more math, chemistry, physics, etc. with the real engineering classes starting in earnest your sophomore year.