The Ivy League schools are all extraordinary and prestigious, but they aren’t all the same. Each has their own unique offerings, quirks, and eccentricities that make them stand out from the pack. We think of Cornell as the technical Ivy, or the practical Ivy. The is the only Ivy League school with a hotel administration program or an agriculture program, and they are a leader in information science, engineering, architecture, and even offer an undergraduate program in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
Cornell also has the largest undergraduate student body of all the Ivy League schools with 15,000 undergraduates from 120 countries and all 50 states. The Cornell obsession with the technical translates into the statistics they share from their application and admissions process. They share a lot of numbers, and we love this. If you want graphs, they have them and you can customize them all the way back to 1978 if you feel so inclined (which we do, obviously). These numbers are immensely helpful when grappling with what it means to be waitlisted by Cornell — and what to do next.
Cornell receives over 71,000 applications for a place in the undergraduate class across their multiple undergraduate colleges, and only 10% of applicants are admitted. Nearly as many (as we’ll dive into more below) are offered a spot on the waitlist. If you are one of those who received a waitlist offer, you’re going to need to make big moves now if you want any chance of converting that waitlist opportunity into an offer of admission.
We specialize in helping exceptional students do exceptional things — including getting off of the waitlist and into your dream school. So, email us, we can help.
The Waitlist
As we mentioned, Cornell offers nearly 10% of applicants a spot on the waitlist. Since they love stats and we love stats, we’re going to break down some of the recent numbers below:
For the class that entered in 2022, 7,729 students were offered a place on the waitlist and 5,531 accepted that place. Ultimately, 260 were accepted off of the waitlist, or 4.7%. 213 claimed that spot.
The previous year, 7,746 students were offered a place on the waitlist. 5,800 accepted. Only 24 students were eventually offered a place in the first-year class — a measly .4%.
For 2020, the waitlist was smaller but the acceptance rate from it wasn’t massively higher. The waitlist had 4,791 students on it and 190 were accepted, or 4%.
The is an overall average of 3% over the past three application cycles.
So, what does this mean? Well, they like you enough to not reject you, but they offer as many people a spot at Cornell as they do a spot on the waitlist. That makes the waitlist pool a really big one. They can’t accept a high percentage of people out of it simply because it is so big. Standing out from the crowd of such a massive group of people is an equal challenge to the one you went through applying in the first place. The most important thing is what you do next.
Best Next Steps
The Cornell waitlist is actually a group of smaller individual waitlists for each college. Each undergraduate college manages their own waitlist, so while you are part of this massive pool of thousands of students eagerly hoping for a spot, you’re actually part of a much smaller group of students specifically interested in what you’re interested in. This is really helpful, because it gives you something to focus on as you approach updating Cornell.
First, you need to accept your place on the waitlist. This is really important because you will not be considered unless you tell them you want to be.
Next, you must submit a deposit to your second-choice school. This is really important because — as we hopefully drilled in earlier — there is a very small chance that you will get off of the Cornell waitlist. We want that future for you and we want to help you get there, but you need a backup plan in place that you’d be happy with.
Most Importantly, Cornell invites students on the waitlist to submit additional information, including a letter of continued interest. You can also submit new grade reports, evidence of academic and life accomplishments (like awards, certificates) and additions to your activities in and out of the classroom.
Updates are submitted through the supplemental uploader on the Application Status Page, but more isn’t more. Just because you can send a lot doesn’t mean you should do that. You don’t want to submit so much that the most important details get lost in the weeds or that you appear frantic. You want to present a clear, directed, and driven portrait of yourself.
The most important of these things is your formal Letter of Continued Interest. In the letter, you will reaffirm your interest in Cornell and update them on your life, speaking directly to the program you are applying to. Brush up on the program before you write this letter to make sure that you can include details such as the names of professors and programs that show a deep passion for Cornell. You also need to explicitly state that you will attend Cornell if offered a spot.
If you have questions while you are working on this, you can contact the admissions person for your specific college but don’t spam them. Don’t ask them where you are on the waitlist (it’s most likely unranked so there’s no real answer to that anyway), don’t ask them to put in a good word for you, and don’t ask them when you’ll hear back. Those are annoying questions for them and more likely to be a mark against you than to help.
Final Thoughts
Don’t rush this. Take your time putting your update together and aim to submit it in the second half of April. You also have enough time to get help — which seriously improves your chances of getting in. This is your first time in this situation, but it isn’t ours. Assistance from an expert is often the difference maker.
When it comes to dealing with waitlists, we’re pros. We guide students towards an outstanding future.