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How to write the Cornell college-specific essay
How to read the prompt for your Cornell undergraduate college and explain both what you want to study there and what you would contribute to that college.
SourceBased on what we at Aristo learned from a former Cornell admissions officer and Cornell's own colleges.
Cornell admissions works through separate front doors: you apply directly to one college or school, and the Cornell supplement asks you to answer that college's own writing prompt. The choices include Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Human Ecology and Industrial and Labor Relations, and the prompts vary widely. Arts and Sciences asks for one essay of up to 650 words about an intellectual passion and the parts of its liberal arts curriculum you would draw on, while Engineering asks for two 200-word essays and several short ones.
Agriculture and Life Sciences asks two shorter questions, starting with what interests you about the major you selected. Many applicants answer these prompts the way they would answer any essay about a dream school, and the wording quietly asks for something more.
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