<p>I know Cornell is big about Interest.</p>
<p>How much will it hurt me if I did not apply ED and did not visit campus?
I might have gone to an information session in my city, not sure...</p>
<p>Whether or not you visit campus won’t affect your admission chances. Your interest in Cornell should be displayed through your essay, and possibly an interview if you’re able to get one.</p>
<p>The engineering school does not conduct interviews :/</p>
<p>As countryangel said, your interest in Cornell is not conveyed through visiting the campus or contacting an admissions officer, it’s about talking about your passions for science/engineering and talking about how Cornell sounds like the perfect place to pursue those passions in your essays.</p>
<p>Research faculty members and their research. Research clubs of your interest. Research project teams or study abroad opportunities or co-op.
Then mention these things in your essays. They want students who know what they are getting into. Who have an idea of what opportunities and facilities and people they will be exposed to. It makes you stand out from just another high school senior who wrote his essay because Cornell was on his list and nothing more.</p>
<p>^adding to chendrix note, don’t brag too much about the college. They know they are good, and telling them that is totally useless. </p>
<p>Avoid highly-generic points, like “oh small faculty/student ratio”, “nice quiet city to study”, and “a lot of famous alumni.” Those points can be applied to any college.</p>
<p>@Alex7592</p>
<p>Are you talking about an alumnus interview? I applied ED for COE and I had mine 2-3 weeks ago.</p>