A friend of mine applied to Engineering as his primary choice but was accepted to his alternate choice (Arts and Sciences).
And pertaining to what dewdrop said, "Only exceptional candidates with a serious intellectual passion satisfied by the alternate choice college or school will be considered for admission by the alternate choice college. The decision to consider an application is at the discretion of the admission committee in the alternate choice college."
http://admissions.cornell.edu/downlo...eAdmission.pdf
might want to look at this if you haven't already done so