<p>It all depends on your personality as to which one is the hardest.</p>
<p>But Cornell has the highest acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Harv 1400 - 1580
Yale 1400 - 1580
Princeton 1370 - 1570
Dartmouth 1360 - 1540
Columbia 1340 - 1540
Brown 1330 - 1530
Penn 1340 - 1520
Cornell 1290 - 1470</p>
<p>Cornell is easiest based on that</p>
<p>"It may not be official, but there is some connection there. The state doesn't do that for nothing."</p>
<p>You're sort of right. The state does do it for something ... the 4 schools that the state gives money to are used by the state to support many of its goals ranging from agricultural output (hence, the ag school), educational and medical purposes (human ecology), NY's business and labor markets (ILR), and the vet school. The state decided to fund these schools for important research information that would greatly benefit the wellbeing of the state. </p>
<p>"The schools are also listed on the SUNY site as part of the system"</p>
<p>Heck, millions and millions of dollar come Cornell way and all they have to do is let SUNY put their campuses in the SUNY viewbook. Note: the viewbook says the SUNY application will not work for Cornell University. </p>
<p>"Im sure you all know more than Cornell and the State of New York themselves"</p>
<p>And i'm sure you sat down with the dean of a contract college for dinner and brought questions up like I did. In fact, I probably know more about the subject than anybody else on CC. Do a little more research, there's plenty of discussions on the topic in the Cornell forum.</p>
<p>“And i'm sure you sat down with the dean of a contract college for dinner and brought questions up like I did. In fact, I probably know more about the subject than anybody else on CC. Do a little more research, there's plenty of discussions on the topic in the Cornell forum.”</p>
<p>-I don’t care about your grandstanding. You could have had dinner with the university president himself, and that still would not change the FACTS.</p>
<p>-Again, some Cornell schools are a part of the SUNY system. In-state students in the contract schools pay considerably less than out-of-state students. I don’t care how you try to misconstrue this fact, but it is still true, plain and simple.</p>
<p>The SAT percentiles are an invalid measure because it suggests that the applicants with the best SAT scores are the ones who are admitted. For Brown and Cornell, the SATs carry less weight than the other schools. Cornell cares less about SATs than how one's ECs and essays demonstrate intellectual curiosity and passion for their intended major and how well the applicant fits in with that major. It is not uncommon for an applicant with a high 1500 to be rejected while the same applicant's classmate with a 1400 is admitted. In fact, this happens all the time.</p>
<p>“Cornell cares less about SATs than how one's ECs and essays demonstrate intellectual curiosity and passion for their intended major and how well the applicant fits in with that major.”</p>
<p>-Uh, why can't the other schools care about demonstrated intellectual curiosity and have higher scores than Cornell too?</p>
<p>How do you have anyway of knowing that Brown and Cornell care less about SAT scores then similar schools? Why does something impossible to determine always have to be the counterargument. HYP are considered the best three, and have the highest SAT scores. I mean, small point differences shouldn't matter that much, but don't say its because the school doesn't care about stats as much.</p>
<p>Like kk said, couldn't other schools not care about SATs but attract students with higher scores anyways?</p>
<p>kk19131, I said "intellectual curiosity and passion for their intended major," not intellectual curiosity by itself. When you apply to Cornell, you compete against students vying for the same prospective major. That is, you are placed in an applicant pool with those who declared the same major field of choice. The ones who show the highest curiosity and passion for that field will have a clear edge, not the ones with the highest SAT scores.</p>
<p>"When you apply to Cornell, you compete against students vying for the same prospective major. That is, you are placed in an applicant pool with those who declared the same major field of choice. The ones who show the highest curiosity and passion for that field will have a clear edge, not the ones with the highest SAT scores."</p>
<p>-Again, even if that’s true, the other schools could do this and still have higher scores than Cornell. </p>
<p>So, first, how do you know Cornell does this? Second, do you know the other schools do not?</p>
<p>thethoughtprocess, It is not impossible to determine at all...it is common knowledge. Cornell has many "niche" fields where specialized talent and skills and devotion to a major are more significant than how you performed on a single test. Their essay questions and their interviews emphasize this very point. For example, it is very important that you worked at a vet hospital or on a horse farm if you want to get into the animal science major. If you haven't, it is unlikely you will be admitted, no matter what your scores are. Cornell treats many majors like this, whether it be textiles or hotel management or nutrition or whatever. They figure that if you don't have a passion for it, you will not do well in it. This philosophy has its drawbacks (expecting a strong commitment to a field at such a young age) but because Cornell's curriculum is rigorous and fast-paced, they want the students to hit the ground running and not be flustered by indecision. Brown's reason for giving less weight to SATs is more mysterious to me because I am not well acquainted with their school, but they discuss this on their forum.</p>
<p>Oh, good point...Cornell has the hotel admin school, agricul science, human ecology etc. Still, how big a percentage of the student body do these schools make up? Also, it isn't clear that other schools don't look for extra passion in their students pursuing unique majors.</p>
<p>kk19131, I know Cornell does this because I have seen their admissions reports and understand how they work--they sort their admissions decisions by each major. It is not uncommon that they deny an applicant to one major where he/she would have been accepted by another, but sometimes they will notify that person and give them the option. My understanding is that the other Ivies do not do this...you are competing against the whole pool with occasional emphasis given to those interested in majors that have lost interest and are underrepresented.</p>
<p>thethoughtprocess, I would say most of the colleges do this, but especially Agriculture and Life Sciences, Hum Ecology, Architecture, Hotel, even Engineering--all of which add up to a huge chunk (75%) of the student body. I have no doubt about other schools' interest in students' passion about a prospective field, but Cornell has this mentality, for better or for worse, where you need to show some devotion or commitment to the major before you even arrive on campus. For students who have no idea what they want to do, this presents a problem when their application is reviewed.</p>
<p>"-I dont care about your grandstanding. You could have had dinner with the university president himself, and that still would not change the FACTS."</p>
<p>Yes, but you don't know the right facts, hence where I come in. </p>
<p>"-Again, some Cornell schools are a part of the SUNY system. In-state students in the contract schools pay considerably less than out-of-state students. I dont care how you try to misconstrue this fact, but it is still true, plain and simple."</p>
<p>Well, duh some students get cheaper tuition, by about $11,000. This doesn't make the students at these schools SUNY students. Think of it as financial aid from the state to attend Cornell. I wont deny a relationship with SUNY, but it's minimal at most and these schools are worlds away from being anything like any SUNY school. </p>
<p>"I would say most of the colleges do this, but especially Agriculture and Life Sciences, Hum Ecology, Architecture, Hotel, even Engineering--all of which add up to a huge chunk (75%) of the student body"</p>
<p>I would also add ILR in there too. I've worked with admissions in ILR, and although overally they have students with very high SAT scores, a big internship at a prestigious law firm or business will trump SAT scores any day. It's students with experiences like these that admissions really wants to pump the student body with. I'm sure it's the same with other schools, I just have experience in one of them.</p>
<p>SorGirl's right...I was told by an admissions officer myself because I'm interested in one of the colleges within Cornell(not CAS)</p>
<p>SorGirl,</p>
<p>I've also seen admissions reports from Cornell where they bltantly admit they are the least selective and compete more with Northwestern and JHU than the other Ivies.</p>
<p>Cornell's UNDERGRADUATE ENROLLMENT TRENDS
Fall 2005</p>
<p>States:</p>
<p>Competitor Comparisons</p>
<p>This section focuses on comparisons between Cornell and many of the “admissions overlap group” institutions for which we have a source of comparative data.5 As Figure 11 makes clear, Cornell enrolls a larger number of undergraduates than any of our comparators. Typically, freshmen account for approximately a quarter of the undergraduate population. Hence, while Cornell admits roughly 3,050 first-time freshmen, our closest Ivy comparator, the University of Pennsylvania, has an entering class of approximately 2,400, while Dartmouth and MIT are admitting closer to 1,000 new freshmen each year.</p>
<p>Cornell’s admit rate – the proportion of students offered admission divided by the total number of applicants – decreased 2 percent from 31 percent in Fall 2003 to 29 percent for Fall 2004. Of our Ivy Plus Group comparators, from Fall 2003 to Fall 2004 Yale and MIT experienced a 1 percent decrease. Princeton experienced a 3 percent increase while Columbia had a 2 percent increase. Brown, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania experienced a 1 percent increase with Dartmouth and Stanford remaining constant. The changes depicted are often directly and inversely related to the changes in the number of applications displayed in Figure 12 above (an increase in applications typically leads to a decrease in admit rates). As well, the general declines in admit rates are also related to increases in the number of students being admitted via early decision programs and figures prominently.</p>
<p>**Cornell’s 29 percent admit rate for Fall 2004 is the highest in the Ivy Plus Group, which otherwise ranges from a low of 10 percent at Harvard and Yale to a high of 21 percent at the University of Pennsylvania*<a href="see%20Figure%2013">/i</a>. Among Cornell’s seven undergraduate colleges, Architecture, Art & Planning had the lowest admit rate (22 percent) with Engineering having the highest (38 percent). Collectively, the Contract Colleges had an admit rate of 31 percent, and the Endowed colleges’ admit rate was 29 percent for the incoming class.</p>
<p>The proportion of first-time freshmen admitted via the Early Decision Program (EDP) has been increasing at Cornell. Comparatively speaking, however, for Fall 2004 Cornell significantly trails many of its Ivy Plus Group comparators in utilizing an early decision/early action program to fill its first-time freshman class (see Figure 15). For Fall 2004, the most extensive use of early decision/early action programs was at Harvard who enrolled 50 percent of their first-time freshmen in this fashion. At the other end of the spectrum MIT enrolled 31 percent of their first-time freshmen through early decision/early action.</p>
<p>Overall Cornell's Enrollment trend report has been consistent year over year </p>
<p>Each year they have come to the following conclusion</p>
<p>
[quote]
Conclusions</p>
<p>The on-going challenge facing Cornell is to craft and implement strategies that will allow the institution to become an ever-stronger player in the increasingly complex head-to-head competition for high-ability undergraduate students. In particular, it is imperative that we continue to highlight what is distinctive about Cornell to our target populations. In essence, we need to become ever more accomplished in marketing the institution, both to prospective students and the public at large.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What is the point of OP's question? Why would it matter if Brown, for example, were the easiest to get into if Brown isn't a good fit for the applicant? Or if Dartmouth were the most difficult if one wouldn't want the kind of undergraduate experience that Darmouth offers? People debate this endlessly and I can't see the point. </p>
<p>Can't everyone agree that Cornell is the "easiest" to get into based on many factors, but that doesn't mean that highly intelligent driven accomplished students can't get find the same intellectual peer group at Cornell (among the 13,000 undergraduates) that one could get at HYP. After all, HYP together cannot accept all of their highly qualified intellectual super-achieving unhooked applicants. These kids have to go somewhere else. And they do.</p>
<ol>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Dartmouth
4-5. Brown, Columbia
6-8. Harvard, Yale, Princeton</li>
</ol>
<p>sybbie - interesting report, though much has changed since it's release. Applicants at that time were around 19,000 and (as stated) the admit rate was around 29%. The year after that, applicants were around 24,000 and admit rate was 27%, and this past year there were 28,000 applicants and an admit rate of 24%.</p>