<p>Applying for a primary/alternate choice doesn’t improve your chances as only about 1% of applications rejected from primary choice colleges get forwarded to the alternate choice. Also, if you were to apply to engineering, you would have to have one math and one science subject test. You are a competitive applicant for most schools, but Cornell is obviously a reach for anybody. You said you are applying ED which I encourage you to do if Cornell is your top choice. Good luck!</p>