Cornell Arts & Science Essay Guide

Cornell University sits at the top of a hill, encompassing its own zip code within Ithaca, New York. Sprawled out across 2,300 acres, Cornell’s campus is home to more than a hundred research centers, encompassing over 4,000 courses in over 120 departments.

 Due to this, Cornell’s motto is “any person, any study,” Ezra Cornell’s 1865 founding vision. How can you attend such a vast institution? Let’s dive into the logistics of applying to one of Cornell’s colleges, the College of Arts & Sciences. 

Statistics

According to the admitted Class of 2025’s profile, the acceptance rate for Early decision was around 21%, while Regular decision is 6.7%. Amongst all the people that were accepted, approximately 64% chose to attend Cornell. Good choice! Cornell is a university that tries to admit people from all walks of life, as they send out acceptance letters to students all over the world, picking out the best of the best. Below are some statistics that exemplify this notion: 

Admissions Process

Cornell’s focus is to foster well-rounded students into their specializations, so they take a comprehensive look at every student’s application. As such, everything matters — personal essay and supplements, GPA and test scores, extracurriculars, recommendations, and most importantly, personality comes into play when applying to such a prestigious university.

There are two options when initially applying to Cornell, which are Early Decision and Regular Decision. Early Decision’s deadline is November 1st, as it is for most universities, and you are restricted from applying to any other university early. The decision for ED typically comes out mid-December. As for Regular Decision, the deadline is January 2nd, and of course, you are open to applying to as many universities as you wish and decisions are released by March. In both application plans, there are a few admission decisions: 

1. Accepted
2. Rejected 
3. Waitlisted 
4. (ED Only) Your application will be reconsidered during Regular Decision

A&S Essay Guide

At Cornell University, there are 7 different colleges that one can choose from when deciding to apply for undergraduate admission. For this blog, we will be focusing on Cornell’s College of Arts & Sciences, which is home to 76 different majors. Due to such a wide variety of departments, Cornell’s supplemental question on Common App is as follows:

Students in Arts and Sciences embrace the opportunity to delve into multifaceted academic interests, embodying in 21st century terms Ezra Cornell’s “any person…any study” founding vision. Tell us about the areas of study you are excited to explore, and specifically why you wish to pursue them in our College. (650 words max.)

Example Essay:

I want to major in English and the Classics at Cornell. My primary interest lies in English, though I am undecided as to what type of literature I want to study because my interests lie at opposite ends of the geographic and chronological spectrum. I deeply appreciate pre-1800 classical English literature and am also intrigued by postcolonial literature and its prominent themes such as gendered power dynamics, class struggles, the supernatural, and the conception of the tragic hero. However, to thematically understand and write about these novels, the historical precedent behind the novel must be investigated. The history of a novel can manifest in the time the author is writing in, the setting, or both. My goal at Cornell is to become better at analyzing fiction by becoming responsible for the way I historicize a novel. By responsible, I mean approaching the history of a novel in a bipartisan way that takes into consideration the varying accolades and critiques that a book may have gotten and writing my own analysis without my own dogmatic impositions clouding my interpretations. 

For example, one searing critique of the literary canon The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, according to Chinua Achebe is that it portrays Africa as, “a foil to Europe, as a place of negations at once remote and vaguely familiar, in comparison with Europe’s own state of spiritual grace”. On the one hand, Achebe is not wrong about the portrait that is being presented about Africa. But on the other hand, Conrad was a 20th century Polish-British writer who spent most of his life living in England, at a time when the country still controlled many colonies. His writing reflects the dominant attitude that many Europeans thought at the time and by putting his writing into a historical context, one can better extract the literary themes present in the book. 

Cornell will facilitate in providing me with an interdisciplinary education that encourages students to integrate different methodologies and mediums in critical analyses of texts. I think this emphasis on utilizing mediums that are not novels such as: movies, photographs, paintings, music, and plays, is a crucial component of a well-rounded education. Visual and auditory sources stimulate different trains of thought because they are tangible ways of interacting with a text. They show us what we are reading and give life to the words on the paper. These sources also help to historically frame a text. Whilst I believe the point of literature analysis is extracting symbols and motifs, this information needs to be contextualized in order for it to have a big picture meaning for the audience. 

In the English department at Cornell, it’s common to find courses where movies are the focus and there is a literary supplement that students have to integrate into a research paper. One pitfall of the English education I received at my high school was that there was a strict focus on sticking to the text in supporting arguments in essays. The drawback to this is that often the writer repeats arguments that have already been cultivated and sound redundant. Many classes in the English department are also cross-listed in other departments such as American Studies, Philosophy, Visual Studies, etc. What is particularly amazing about this is that I would have access to professors across departments who approach the topics I am interested in vastly different ways. This helps me bring something new to my writing and to the field I want to go into. Ultimately, I want to be an educator in my post-college career. Though I am unsure of the exact form that will take right now, I know that in interacting with future students I expect from them, as I expect from myself, to push the bar on their writing and utilize the primary and secondary sources they have access to the best of their ability.

Other Supplements 

As for the other 6 colleges under Cornell, their supplements differ in size and number. Let’s take a look at each. 

Agriculture and Life Sciences: 

Why are you drawn to studying the major you have selected? Please discuss how your interests and related experiences have influenced your choice. Specifically, how will an education from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and Cornell University help you achieve your academic goals? (650 words max.)

Architecture, Art, and Planning:

What is your “thing”? What energizes you or engages you so deeply that you lose track of time? Everyone has different passions, obsessions, quirks, inspirations. What are yours? (650 words max.)

Engineering:

Students applying to the College of Engineering must submit two essays, responding to two of the three essay prompts provided here. Each response should be no longer than 200 words. Please select the two essay prompts that you will respond to below:*

● Engineering is inherently collaborative. What does collaboration mean to you? What strengths do you bring to the collaborative process?

● For you, what makes Cornell Engineering special? Why do you want to attend Cornell Engineering?

● Diversity in all definitional forms is intrinsic to excellence in engineering. Indeed, devising the best engineered solutions to complex problems is often achieved by drawing from the diverse ingenuity of people from broadly different backgrounds, lived experiences, and identities. How do you see yourself contributing to the diversity and inclusion of the Cornell Engineering community? What is the unique voice you would bring to the Cornell Engineering community?

Human Ecology:

How has your decision to apply to the College of Human Ecology been influenced by your related experiences? How will your choice of major impact your goals and plans for the future? (650 words max.) 

Industrial and Labor Relations:

Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should show us that your interests align with the ILR School. (650 words max.)

SC Johnson Business:

What kind of a business student are you? Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should convey how your interests align with the school(s) to which you are applying within the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business (Dyson School and/or School of Hotel Administration). (650 words max.)

Is Cornell A&S Right for You? 

If you’re interested in any of the 76 majors that Cornell’s College of Arts & Sciences offers, then this may be the right fit for you. With PathIvy, we will aid you in creating the best course of action during your undergraduate admissions process, supporting you every step of the way. Let’s connect today!

Written by Victoria Harris, PathIvy Team