Cornell Culearn (2024)

FAQs

What is the hardest Cornell College to get into? ›

The most selective schools at Cornell for admissions are:

College of Engineering. College of Architecture, Art & Planning.

5. Do all Cornell applicants get an interview? No, because Cornell receives so many applications and doesn't have enough interviewers or time to interview everyone, only around 30% of applicants get an interview. 6.

Personal interviews are not required (or available) for admission to any of Cornell's undergraduate level programs. While not evaluative interviews, first-year applicants to any Cornell college or school may request an informational meeting with an alumni admissions ambassador in their local area.

So, you're probably wondering how hard it is to get into Cornell. As an Ivy League University, Cornell is consistently one of the most competitive and highly selective universities in the country, with an admission rate below 10%.

Cornell and Brown often rank at the “bottom” of the Ivy League and switch places for “worst” Ivy quite frequently. Dartmouth however, has a different issue, it isn't as well known as the other 7.

Cornell is the easiest and youngest Ivy League school. It was established in 1865 and is situated in Ithaca, New York. Out of 49,114 candidates, Cornell accepted 5,330, for an admission percentage of around 10.9%.

The enrolled student population at Cornell University, both undergraduate and graduate, is 30.3% White, 17.9% Asian, 11.2% Hispanic or Latino, 5.88% Black or African American, 4.3% Two or More Races, 0.236% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.0849% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders.

Cornell denies most Early Decision candidates. While the school hasn't released its Early Decision acceptance rate since the Class of 2026, it's surely below 20%. And since, in recent years, between 21.7% to 24.3% of applicants have been deferred, the overwhelming majority have been denied admission outright.

Your Chances of Admission to Cornell After Being Waitlisted

Over the last 25 years, Cornell admitted an average of 4.1% of waitlisted students. Over the last five years, that figure has stood at 3.86%, though it was 5.87% for the most recent Class of 2027 when 362 students earned admission out of limbo.

It's important to note that Cornell's interviews are not required, and your application will still be considered without one. Interviews are usually offered on a first-come, first-served basis and depend on the availability of alumni interviewers in your region.

Can you get into Cornell without an interview? ›

The Cornell University admissions community receives many inquiries each year from first-year applicants requesting an interview. However, Cornell's colleges and schools do not offer the opportunity for a true interview because we want to be as equitable as possible during the admissions process.

While individual experiences can vary, getting a likely letter means that the admissions committee was extremely impressed by that student's application. If you receive one, it's a reason to celebrate, but remember that the majority of admitted students do not get likely letters.

Education. AEP's educational programs offer a unique combination of engineering, mathematics and physics. EP is often considered as one of the hardest undergrad programs at Cornell, with strong emphasis on basic physics and mathematics.

With a GPA of 4.07, Cornell requires you to be at the top of your class. You'll need nearly straight A's in all your classes to compete with other applicants. Furthermore, you should be taking hard classes - AP or IB courses - to show that college-level academics is a breeze.

These include Academics, Character, Involvement, and School Fit. You'll need to score highly in all four to have a shot at being admitted. With the guiding principle of “any person, any study,” Cornell attracts the largest number of applicants of any Ivy League school each year—almost 70,000.

For example, the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering tend to be more competitive, whereas the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) might be somewhat less so.

Niche, a ranking and review site, recently published its list of the “2023 Hardest Colleges to Get Into.” Using data from the U.S. Department of Education on various colleges' acceptance rates and SAT/ACT scores, they found, unsurprisingly, Harvard University to be the most difficult college to get into.

Which Little Ivy Is Easiest to Get Into? The Little Ivy that is easiest to get into, based on acceptance rates, is Lafayette College, which has a relatively high acceptance rate. However, it's important to note that acceptance rates can change over time.