<p>I'm looking to apply to either/both the College of Arts+Sciences or Engineering using the primary/alternate option. I think that I would be interested in engineering, but I'm not definite. Furthermore, I would not be able to use my musical achievements (New York All-State first seat two consecutive years, concertmaster in school, assistant concertmaster in my outside orchestra) if I applied to the college of engineering. On the other hand, while I would certainly use my musical achievements to my advantage if I applied to the Arts+Sciences program, there don't seem to be any majors that I would seriously consider pursuing. Thus, I'm thinking about applying for two of the schools, the primary/alternate option. But I'm having trouble deciding which college I should choose as my primary and which I should choose as my alternate. Could you guys possibly give me some more factors that I should consider in terms of which subcollege to choose? Is there any statistical advantage in applying to either of the colleges?</p>
<p>From a strategic point of view, I'd apply engineering as the first choice. If you get in as an engineering student, you'd be able to transfer into the arts & sciences easily later on if your interests change, while transferring into the engineering school from the arts & science school would be very hard. Also, since the alternate school gets to decide whether or not to view your application at all, if you apply to the arts & sciences as your first choice, and the A&S school has a reputation for being easier to get in, the engineering school might not view your application at all as a result. (though the engineering school has a higher acceptance rate, I think this is because it is a more self-selecting applicant pool than that of the A&S). But if you apply to engineering as your first choice and get rejected, I don't see why the A&S school would choose not to read your application, since the engineering school has a reputation for being more selective than the A&S. </p>
<p>But remember, you have to show that you are very interested in both your primary and alternate choice in order to be seriously considered.</p>
<p>Those are just my opinions. Hope it helped.</p>
<p>Sorry, when I said:
"Also, since the alternate school gets to decide whether or not to view your application at all, if you apply to the arts & sciences as your first choice, and the A&S school has a reputation for being easier to get in, the engineering school might not view your application at all as a result."</p>
<p>I meant "if you apply to the arts & sciences as your first choice and get rejected..."</p>
<p>Ct- not true. Transferring CAS -> Engineering is generally easier than Engineering -> CAS, because CAS has stricter requirements for entrance and usually requires its students to enter the internal transfer division. You can transfer into engineering, on the other hand, once you've taken the required courses- that's all. Usually no ITD.
You also need to take into account the fact that MANY people people try to transfer into CAS from engineering than from CAS into engineering- or so I've been told by an ITD employee.</p>
<p>If there is nothing in CAS that you think you'd be interested in majoring in, it doesn't make sense to apply to CAS at all. I wouldn't worry about your extracurricular interests being in music, rather than something engineering related. In fact, many who have interests in engineering are also talented in music (I know some other schools where this is a common dual degree). Cornell understands and appreciates students who enter with a wide range of interests and there is nothing that says an engineering student has to have engineering-related ECs. If you think engineering is your home in terms of what you would like to study, you are likely going to write a more convincing essay than trying to explain your development of an academic interest in the essay for CAS.</p>
<p>when i went to see the wind ensemble play last year it seemed like every single kid was from engineering. the music stuff looks good no matter where you apply and honestly it sounds like you won't have a hard time getting into the engineering school anyway. everyone who's on this board gets a bit too worked up about stats and admissions stuff. if you're genuinely interested in engineering do your best to show it in your app and hopefully they'll think you're sincere. good luck man, maybe i'll see you next year??</p>
<p>I really do appreciate all the help you guys have provided, it's absolutely invaluable!</p>
<p>I'm going to be sending a supplemental CD of my recording together with my application to the School of Engineering and A+S, so I guess either way, these schools will be able to see my musical achievements. So I will be applying to Engineering primary then! Thank you guys :)</p>