Cornell University is one of the most outstanding universities in the world, a member of the vaunted Ivy League, and has top programs in just about anything you could possibly want. The university is comprised of a collection of undergraduate colleges, and you should have the college you want to go to in mind as you plan your courses, your activities, and how you spend your summers. Altogether, across the various colleges, Cornell is home to over 16,000 undergraduate students from over 130 countries.
The number of first-year applications submitted to Cornell annually have surged in the last five years, to over 65,000 applications annually. The acceptance rate is under 8%, but the Early Decision acceptance rate is 17.5%. This means that, for Cornell, applying Early Decision massively increases your chances of getting in.
If you have Cornell at the top of your list, and especially if you are considering applying Early Decision, you need to put significant thought into how you spend your summers. In this post, we break down what you need to do this summer to increase your chances of getting into Cornell.
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The Cornell Summer Programs — Yes or No?
Cornell University offers some of the best summer programs in the industry for high school students, including both in-person and virtual opportunities. There are also programs that are not ‘Cornell’, but that are at Cornell and that put participants into contact with Cornell faculty. If you are serious about Cornell, we highly recommend taking part in at least one of these Cornell summer programs.
The most accessible summer opportunity at Cornell are the summer online courses through the Cornell School of Continuing Education Precollege Studies Program. Through the program, Cornell offers online undergraduate courses taught by Cornell faculty that allow high school students to earn college credit and a Cornell transcript. The program is open to juniors and seniors in high school, and participants come from 56 countries. Doing the program doesn’t mean you’ll get into Cornell, but it is a chance to show that you are Cornell caliber by exceling in a real Cornell course. Courses range from “Sustainable Animal Husbandry” and “The Social Life of Money” to “Global Business Strategy” and “Relativity, Cosmology, and Black Holes.”
Typically, there has been a summer residential program as well as the online summer courses, but that in-person residential program won’t be offered in the summer of 2024. They may come back in the future, though.
There are also programs at Cornell that are run by secondary groups. These don’t necessarily help you get in with Cornell faculty, but it does show your enthusiasm for the campus and community. The Sustainable Summer @ Cornell program is a residential environmental leadership summer program for rising sophomores and above. The program is perfect for students interested in environmental issues, sustainability (obviously), social entrepreneurship, and community activism. Students in the program live in Cornell dorms for two weeks in the summer, eat at Cornell dining halls, learn from Cornell faculty, and get to know the Cornell campus. There is also a similar program at Yale (which is equally impressive, but we advise doing the Cornell program is Cornell is your dream school). Acceptance to the program is competitive, and we advise students work carefully on their application.
But you need to do more than Cornell summer programs. If all you do is what they offer, that doesn’t show them very much beyond the fact that you love Cornell.
Break Out of Conventional Structure
Cornell loves their summer programs (and those hosted on their campus), but what they love even more is seeing you pour yourself into your passions outside of a structured academic setting. They want to see you striving when it isn’t through a program you paid (or received a scholarship) for.
This could be a job in or adjacent to the field you want to end up in, or it could be an internship with someone in your area who works in a field you are interested in or has your dream job. It could be a long-term volunteer position with a local non-profit. Ideally, you’re spending at least a dozen hours a week for at least eight weeks. It could be self-directed research with the goal of publication in an academic journal open to high school students. Basically, there are a lot of options, but all of them require putting additional work in and going beyond showing up for an organized program.
Have Fun, But Not Too Much
We want you to enjoy your summer. You work hard, and you deserve to have some fun. But don’t have too much. Getting into trouble is really, really bad for your college apps, and can unravel all the hard work you’ve put in. So, don’t use the time off to make dumb decisions. Hold yourself to a high standard, even when there isn’t a GPA on the line.
Cornell seeks out students who take their passions seriously. They don’t just want to hear about what you care about in your essays or even on your transcript, they want to see it in how you spend your time off the clock. Prioritizing your passions shows them more about you than any A in a required course ever could, so show them.
If you’re considering applying to Cornell, reach out for an acceptance-winning strategy.