Cornell University SAT requirements 2023
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How hard is it to get into Cornell? Learn about Cornell’s admission requirements and discover strategies to write great Cornell supplemental essays to increase your chances of getting inLEARN HOW TO GET INTO CORNELL university Part 1: IntroductionIf your child is a competitive applicant for Ivy League and other Ivy+ schools (e.g., Johns Hopkins, Duke), you might be encouraging them to apply to the youngest and largest Ivy: Cornell. Cornell’s alumni are among the most notable in a variety of fields, from hotel management and engineering to psychology and veterinary sciences, so your child will have ample career opportunities after Cornell. Cornell’s beautiful campus, surrounded by hills, gorges, lakes, and breathtaking vistas, will provide your child with the chance to escape into the great outdoors. The town of Ithaca, with more restaurants per capita than New York City, offers students plenty of options for entertainment just a short walk from campus. From years of advising students, we’ve assembled some crucial information for you and your child about how to get into Cornell. Cornell University comprises eight colleges that offer over 4,000 courses. No wonder that the Cornell motto is “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.” Getting into Cornell would allow your child to study literature with revered writers, research in the labs of world-class biologists, study history in Cornell’s expansive collection of archives, or pursue an interest in music in the country’s oldest musicology department. Your child can spend their summers taking advantage of the enormous network and funding opportunities available at Cornell. Perhaps they’ll conduct research at Cornell’s medical school in New York City or travel to rural Ecuador to study an indigenous language. They might intern at the White House or at a tech company in the Bay Area. No matter what they pursue, the Cornell name will catch the attention of recruiters and hiring managers. Graduates lead startup companies, work on Wall Street, write poetry, and travel the world with Fulbright Fellowships, to name a few opportunities. They are Nobel and Pulitzer winners, TV stars, and Supreme Court Justices. With one of the largest networks in the Ivy League, Cornell and its alumni will help your child succeed throughout their career. Cornell University rankingsHere’s where Cornell ranks:
(Suggested reading:Ivy League Rankings) Where is Cornell?Cornell is located in Ithaca, NY, a small town just over four hours away from New York City with a population of just over 32,000. Cornell University settingRural. Picturesque and cozy, Ithaca is home to splendid cafés, restaurants, bookstores, concert venues, and more. The rural campus is known for its access to nature, especially its lakes, gorges, waterfalls, hills, and canyons. Cornell student population
Cornell acceptance rateHere are admissions statistics for Cornell’s class of 2026:
(Suggested reading:Ivy League Acceptance Rates) Cornell tuition and scholarshipsThe cost of attending Cornell depends on which of the university’s eight colleges your child chooses to attend. That’s due to the fact that certain Cornell colleges are “state contract colleges,” meaning they receive funding from the state of New York, while others are “endowed colleges” and are privately funded. As such, the tuition at Cornell’s state contract colleges differs for in-state and out-of-state residents, whereas all students at the endowed colleges pay the same rate. Cornell state contract colleges are comprised of:
Cornell’s endowed colleges are as follows:
In 2022–2023, the cost of attendance (i.e., tuition, room, board, and fees) at Cornell’s endowed colleges runs $82,552. At the state contract colleges, out-of-state students also pay $83,296, whereas in-state students pay $62,798. Among the class of 2025, 49.3 percent have received need-based financial aid and the average award is over $49,000. Students whose families earn under $60,000 per year generally receive financial aid packages without any loans or expected parental contribution. For students who do take out loans, the average debt upon graduation is under $24,000. Who gets into Cornell?To help you assess your child’s odds of getting into Cornell, we’ve compiled the demographic and academic statistics for the class of 2024:
Part 2: Cornell University admissions requirementsCornell academic requirementsLike most of its counterparts in the Ivy League and Ivy Plus cohort, Cornell is seeking a sense of purpose from its students. Cornell students show passion through success in extracurricular activities, especially by committing to a small number of clubs, teams, projects, and leadership roles. Admissions officers are looking for students who have developed a strong sense of what they might study and why Cornell is the best place to pursue that major. Admissions officers will look to see if your child took advantage of all the opportunities they were presented in high school. This means that if your son’s school only offered AP Calculus AB and AP US History, he should take both of those classes and as many honors classes as possible. Cornell will be especially happy to see that your son took a summer course in chemistry at the local community college or participated in a summer program at Brown. Here are the specifics for some of the larger colleges:
To see the specific requirements for your child’s anticipated program, consult Cornell’s College and School Admissions Requirements. Cornell application requirementsCornell accepts the Common Application, which means your child will need the following to apply:
Part 3: Applying to Cornell early action vs. regular decisionYour child can apply early decision to Cornell by November 1 and receive a decision of either accepted, deferred, or denied, by mid-December. Cornell follows the early decision (as opposed to early action) model, which is binding. This means that your child must commit to attending Cornell if accepted. If accepted, they must withdraw all of their other applications. Defer means your child will be re-entered into the pool and will hear back by early April, and may be accepted, wait-listed, or rejected then. If they are accepted after being deferred, they are free to attend another university if admitted with the regular decision pool. Your child can also apply regular decision, by January 2. How do you know if your child should apply to Cornell early?Early action might be the right choice for your child:
In recent years, Cornell has accepted around 46 percent of its class in the early decision pool. That’s probably because students who apply early decision to Cornell are well prepared academically, have a strong sense of what they will study at Cornell, and are enthused to commit to Cornell if accepted. Applying early decision offers a slight edge to applicants, as it shows that they are committed to attending the university. Part 4: 2022–2023 Cornell supplemental essays (examples included)(Note: While this section covers Cornell’s admissions essays specifically, we encourage you to view additional successful college essay examples.) Acing thesupplemental essays is a crucial part of your child’s strategy to get into Cornell. In addition to the Common App personal statement, Cornell’s supplemental essays help admissions officers develop a sense of why your child wants to study at Cornell, what they wish to study there, and how they might be a strong fit. Cornell is looking for a strong sense of purpose, so students need to apply to the college which best fits their interest, passions, and career goals. Here’s what Cornell writes about its supplemental essays, which they also call “college interest essays”: The primary focus of your college interest essay should be what you intend to study at Cornell. In the online Common Application Writing Supplement, please respond to the essay question below (maximum of 650 words) that corresponds to the undergraduate college or school to which you are applying. Cornell supplemental essay #1Let’s take a look at the specific essay prompt for the College of Arts and Sciences, the most popular college among Cornell applicants. The prompt asks: 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. To think through Cornell’s prompt, students need:
Note that 650 words is the same length as the Common App personal statement. Your child should set aside a similar amount of time—perhaps slightly less—to this essay. Writing a coherent five-paragraph essay requires planning, preparation, and revision. Here’s how Alejandro, a second-generation Mexican American from Texas, approached the prompt: It all started in Geometry Honors. Throughout middle school, I was an ordinary “smart kid.” No one ever recognized me as standing out. When I got to high school, I was placed in Geometry Honors, which was the most treacherous class ever, or so I heard. For the first time, I stood out. I was actually good at geometry, and, better yet, I enjoyed it. Finding “x” was no longer the problem, but a tool to find a greater idea. Geometry pushed me to think deeper. That’s when I fell in love with learning. Geometry made me thirst for knowledge. I yearned to learn more about humans and society. How did we end up here? Why do we behave the way that we do? How do our bodies work? How come we don’t go flying into space? I kept asking myself these questions, and my desire to learn kept growing. I want to learn about Socrates, Thomas Jefferson’s policies, the Cold War, biological magnification, even calculus. Understanding our world is complicated and not very many people take the time to do so. I don’t want to follow that same fate. While a career with lots of money would be nice, it is not the most important thing to me. A lifetime of learning and using knowledge for good is. Specifically, I want to make my future about biology and the world. Thus, the Biology and Society major is basically a dream come true. I look outside the window now and I see fuel-inefficient trucks pass, plastic bags caught on tree limbs, and raindrops falling in late December. I turn on the news and I hear about a new drug, AIDS patients, an argument for STEM cell research. And then I realize I want to be a part of all of this. Whether I pursue environmental studies, law, psychology, or medicine, I know I will have the best preparation with the Biology and Society major. I know I will be able to help people, which is my main concern. I also want to do independent study and research. In my opinion, it is important to have an education that is both focused around peers and mentors. I want to learn all that I can while studying at Cornell. While I am fairly certain about my major, I still do not want to stop learning about the other subjects, and at Cornell, I know I will be able to take classes in every subject area. Most importantly, I’m ready to challenge myself in ways that I have yet to experience. While I’m not sure exactly what the challenge looks like, I’m ready to face it in the College of Arts and Sciences. Any person, any study. I’m ready, Cornell. Here’s what Alejandro does well in writing this Cornell supplemental essay:
Cornell supplemental essay #2Let’s take a look at the specific essay prompts for the College of Engineering, another popular division among Cornell applicants. Unlike the other prompts that ask for a 650-word essay, the College of Engineering tasks applicants with writingtwo supplemental essays, each with a limit of 250 words. Essay 1 is required of all applicants, while essay 2 asks applicants to choose between answering Question A or Question B. Our examples will be answering the prompt for essay 1 and question B from essay 2. Let’s start by reading how Annette, a Chinese American student from rural Maine, approached the first prompt. Essay 1: How do your interests directly connect with Cornell Engineering? If you have an intended major, what draws you to that department at Cornell Engineering? If you are unsure what specific engineering field you would like to study, describe how your general interest in engineering most directly connects with Cornell Engineering. It may be helpful to concentrate on one or two things that you are most excited about. (250 words) I desire to make the world a better place by creating innovative code as a software engineer and computer scientist. That’s why I aim to create software that uses AI to help young voters become more aware of the impact their votes can have. Cornell College of Engineering’s unique interdisciplinary approach will allow me to make connections between engineering, government, and political science so I can address society’s problems with cutting-edge technology. The College of Engineering’s computer science program provides courses in AI, network theories, graphics, and human-computer relationships. Using AI, I can invent programs that take data from state and federal agencies to identify how political parties’ policies impact the distribution of wealth among government agencies, education, and the military. For instance, an AI program might tell us how our tax dollars would be distributed if we voted Democrat or Republican. I’m equally interested in taking courses in the social sciences and humanities, which is why I’m drawn to Cornell’s Common Curriculum. By studying the history of politics, government, and sociology, I’ll be able to place my code and projects in a larger context. Cornell’s rigorous engineering program will help me build the skills to develop a project that will go on to impact many lives, while humanities and social sciences courses will help me ask the right questions and show me how and where to seek those answers. Essay 2, Question B:Diversity in all forms is intrinsic to excellence in engineering. Engineering the best solutions to complex problems is often achieved by drawing from the diverse ingenuity of people from different backgrounds, lived experiences, and identities. How do you see yourself contributing to the diversity and/or the inclusion of the Cornell Engineering community? What is the unique voice you would bring to the Cornell Engineering community? (250 words) Though my main interests are in politics and AI, I am also eager to pursue courses in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering. Just as I hope to use my coding skills to encourage civic engagement, I also want to use technology to preserve our natural world. Having grown up in rural Maine, I am intrigued by humans’ relationships to animals and plants, and how we can create a more sustainable future. As president of the environmental club at my high school, I launched an initiative that brought solar panels onto our own campus in an effort make better use of natural resources. Given Cornell’s location in the heart of nature, I am eager to see firsthand how engineering and design can create technologies that help save our natural resources. Though a connection to the outdoors might seem common for a Mainer, when attending environmental conferences and events, I’ve met few people who look like me. Although sustainability affects all people regardless of race or ethnic background, nearly three-quarters of people who earn environmental science degrees are white. Therefore, I also hope to work towards increasing diversity within the environmental sciences through outreach initiatives and workshops for Cornell students and local high schoolers from minority backgrounds. Here’s what Annette does well in writing these Cornell supplemental essays:
Final thoughtsCornell is among the most competitive schools in the country. Because all students in the matriculating class have excellent grades and high test scores, Cornell is also looking for applicants who have a sense of what they might do once they arrive at the university. By cultivating this sense of purpose through intellectual curiosity and extracurricular passions, your child can become an excellent applicant to Cornell. THERE'S NO REASON TO STRUGGLE THROUGH THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS PROCESS ALONE, ESPECIALLY WITH SO MUCH ON THE LINE. SCHEDULE YOUR COMPLIMENTARY 30-MINUTE CONSULTATION TO ENSURE YOU LEAVE NOTHING TO CHANCE. Is the SAT required for class of 2023?Dive Brief: More than 1,700 colleges and universities so far are not requiring students to submit SAT and ACT scores when they apply for admission for fall 2023, only a slightly lower number of institutions than the previous admissions cycle.
Do Ivy Leagues require SAT 2023?All eight Ivy League schools will continue to have test-optional policies for the 2022-23 application cycle. While high SAT scores are an asset, they're just one metric that colleges consider. Students should aim to score in the 75th percentile among admitted students.
What SAT score do you need to get into Cornell?Admissions Summary
Students that get into Cornell University have an SAT score between 1400–1560 or an ACT score of 33–35.
Are Ivies test optional 2023?Highly selective universities including The Ivy League, Stanford, Northwestern, and Boston University, all have announced that they will remain test optional through the high school class of 2024.
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