I have a question, looking for opinions. My daughter is a TO student who was unable to get a couple of the classes that were on the “required” list due to the way her current university made her schedule classes. She’s in their honors program and has maintained a 4.0. The classes she had to take were reviewed by Cornell and were approved via an email and we were assured they would be noted in her file. All the items on her application status checklist are showing as either waived (grey check-mark) or completed (green check-mark) and the only thing on her Financial aid checklist is the “transfer transcript” item. I was thinking that my daughter should call or email the admissions office and make sure everything was in order and the aforementioned class exceptions were visible to the admissions office. My wife tells me I’m being paranoid and the admissions office doesn’t want those types of unnecessary calls. Opinions?
Anyone else getting a weird “Oracle Peoplesoft” page when trying to login to their fin aid checklist?
What major did she aim for? What were the required courses?
@OwlOfAthena Since admissions are released on a rolling basis, people who sent in their documents later will most likely get their decisions after people who send them earlier.
Yeah, their portal is very buggy. Just try again and it will log you in. Eventually.
@Firstofmany You should definitely call (or email, since they are usually very responsive by email), because not having certain required courses diminishes your daughter’s chance of admission. In most cases, this would require taking additional summer courses to meet the requirements, so communicating with the admissions office would definitely be warranted in your case.
It is also possible that some required courses can be taken at Cornell (which is case-by-case) so asking them about it would help you with making the decision whether summer courses are necessary.
Her major is Animal Science and I know not having them would normally reduce the chances of admissions. However, in her case, it was all pre-approved by Cornell. We went for the TO day over the summer and they reviewed the classes, and based on the content, they told her (and emailed her confirmation) her two animal science classes w/ labs would substitute for the bio requirements. What I don’t know is how well that will be communicated from the people who made the exceptions to the ones that review the TO applications.
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”required courses”
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Are you guys talking about this (my major’s version)?
It says “RECOMMENDED COURSEWORK FOR SOPHOMORE STANDING”
Multivariable Calculus and 2 Science courses are not part of the CS program at my Community COllege, and I can only take the courses that are part of my major because I depend heavily on financial aid (Pell grant does not cover a la carte coursework).
Am I screwed for not having some of the courses from that list?
I thought “recommended” meant “nice to have but not a big deal if you don’t”.
Should I email them? 
@OwlOfAthena usually in college admissions language “recommended” becomes “required” because there are so many competitive students that end up having them. but you won’t automatically be counted out. maybe call and ask? that’s what i would do.
And also it’s cool that you’re from a CC and applying to engineering, I am too!
@OwlOfAthena we are referring to the list of courses that are required to take advantage of the Transfer Option that was offered to some students when they applied for admission to Cornell last year. The required courses per major can be found here: https://admissions.cals.cornell.edu/transfer-option/transfer-option-course-requirements/ . If you aren’t a transfer option student, then I’m not sure what the implications are if you don’t take the recommended classes, but I would assume your chances would be better if you checked off every item on the recommended list.
So, I am semi-screwed? XD
@OwlOfAthena honestly, this entire transfer process is one massive gamble/ lottery. Don’t let your hopes die yet.
@parkcentral I don’t have anything in my financial aid checklist.
I applied to CAS, I’m not a GT/TO, and I didn’t apply to financial aid.
@on2something it’s pretty obvious why u have nothing on ur FA checklist lol
Would an incomplete financial aid checklist effect the timing of your decision? My application checklist has been complete since it came out but I sent in my last two financial aid documents today.
@mikeobrien21 your financial aid application is separate from your admissions application, so don’t worry. The only thing if you submitted anything to financial aid office after March 15, your financial aid package will be negatively affected (that’s if you get in).
Negatively affected how?
I submitted something that was missing last week, and they said that they should still be able to finalize my award in time for the decision (if I get in) even though it was way past due per their portal (I didn’t gain access to FinAid checklist until last week).
@OwlOfAthena negatively affected meaning less money awarded compared to if you submitted everything earlier.
Woah! That sucks!
Does it say that on their website? I’d like to read it. 
When I spoke to them on the phone they said I’d be okay.