Does cornell send out a packet or something to all accepted students? I’ve gotten letters but none of those gigantic folders that other schools send out.
we got something pretty small, maybe 5X7 booklet, that basically said go online to find everything you need, along with the physical acceptance letter
Given the transfer option. So annoyed.
@Ranza123 You have been a great source of information on this board! My daughter is interested in applying to the CHE majoring in Human Development. I know this isn’t your major, but I was wondering what if the class sizes for CHE classes were typically smaller? From going to the information session it seemed that CHE was like a smaller college inside a big university, and you would know your CHE professors well. Is that the case? Also, do most students take 4 or 5 classes per semester? (I know it varies by student and that labs are more work, but what’s the average?) Thanks in advance for your help!
@HolyCheeseballs my son received a folder with his acceptance letter inside. It came inside a 5x7 envelope with red ribbon. On the folder it mentioned Cornell traditions such as Slope Day and Dragon Day. He’s CO 2020.
@hviewer my S is in CALS and his classes range from small <20 to ~100 but all depends on the class. He’s minoring in business so those classes are larger than courses in his major. His major graduated 26 kids last year or something close to that. His college has only 3,600 kids and is situated around the Ag Quad so it has a LAC feel. I think CHE is even smaller. My S takes 4 classes a semester
Here’s CO 2021 stats
http://irp.dpb.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Profile2017-Freshmen.pdf
Thank you @CALSmom! Very helpful!
@HERCULES_HERCULES same. you applied ED too right?
No, I should’ve maybe I would’ve gotten a seat @BobSagets
A cap needs to be placed on international students immediately. The increase in applicants is accelerating. Cornell’s acceptance rate this year is the same as Stanford’s was in 2007. It is now as hard to get into Cornell as it was to get into Stanford in 2007. Think about that. The acceptance rate dropped from 14.9% in 2015 to 10.3% in 2018. It took from 1999 to 2007 for Stanford’s acceptance rate to drop between the same two points. That is 8 years compared to 3 years. This is what I mean about accelerating. The logic for allowing unlimited access to American universities for international students is based on an assumption that there is a shortage of highly educated workers for our new service economy. We apparently need more engineers, computer programmers and doctors. While that may be true TODAY, what people aren’t looking at are the accelerating factors. In addition to the number of international students growing rapidly, the children of the last generation of international students are also hitting our universities at the same time and they are all preparing for the same small number of careers. You have to be myopic to not see the problem on the horizon. What may be a shortage today will rapidly become an over supply when these kids hit the workforce. The reason is simple. They all want to do the same jobs. They all want to be doctors, lawyers, engineers and scientists. We will soon go from a shortage of these people to a massive over supply. Student visas need to be capped now and capped low. What we are seeing is that there are plenty of American students hitting the universities now to address the current shortage and projected growth in demand.
you are right, a world w too many doctors sounds terrible, our society would be ruined. Instead we need for fast food workers in order to feed the demand for doctors who as you said will clearly be plentiful very soon. @NotPeeCee
ps there have been too many lawyers for years
Cute but that isn’t what I said. Nice strawman though. Right now we have a shortage of doctors. But that will quickly reverse course and there will be an over supply of doctors, scientists and engineers which will depress the salaries in those fields and those kids will be in a tough position with all of the debt they will accrue. By the way, do you know where there is the biggest shortage of doctors? In rural areas where doctors’ income is much lower. Is anyone doing anything to help those kids pay off their astronomical deb?. Sure, pump out more doctors to help address the needs of these rural areas but why expect the kids that go to those areas to manage the same level of debt?
@NotPeeCee , I like your “Not PC” style. All good questions and everything should be discussed, even if not politically correct. Thumbs up for you!
However, I believe the free market is the “invisible hand” that will direct the economy to an equilibrium. Say, there’s a shortage of doctors or computer nerds, many students rush in to study pre-med and CS. Eventually there will be too many doctors and CS nerds and salaries will be depressed. Then, less students will study pre-med and CS. After a few years there will be less doctors and CS again, and salaries will rise and more students will rush in. See, the cycle continues.
Yes, free market means there will be boom and bust cycles. The Marxist “planned economy” is supposed to cure the cycle and make sure we have just enough doctors and just enough engineers. However, wherever that philosophy is tried, it failed miserably. The government “planning bureau” is the worst enemy of the economy.
I say, let the market run its course of boom and bust. Let regulators lose their jobs and actually do something useful to the society. 
you do know that people on student visas eventually have to go back to the country of origin, unless they hit the H1 B visa lottery, which is only around 80K people. The Student visa is only for while enrolled in a program. I think you’re also missing the point that with the advent of the commonapp and things like application fee waivers, that hopeful US students are regularly applying to 20+ schools, rather than the 5 to 8 they used to. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2016/2016013.pdf according to page 27 of this report, between 1999 and 2010 the number of kids graduating HS increased by 22%
add the extra kids graduating, add the extra applications per kid, and subtract a large number of International kids, who don’t win the visa lottery, and i think there isn’t going to be this big problem you’re so concerned about…
FYI Stanford’s class of 2021 only included 10% international, that’s about 200 students
I think we are forgetting that these universities are moving towards the goal of educating the world, NOT a specific country. They want the best and brightest from everywhere and international students provide truly invaluable insight and knowledge to campus. Putting a cap on international students will limit us from getting some truly incredible individuals simply because they are not American. Think global!
@LondonVall I agree completely, my post was arguing against this notion that there are too many international students One of the big draws for my Cornell 2022 student is the many aspects of Cornell’s diversity
@bogeyorpar Thanks for the thoughtful response! You have a good point about the H1B. I will look into that and see how it impacts my analysis. Also, being married to an economist, your free market argument is an attractive one. The one thing I would point out is that those booms and busts are largely caused by irrational behavior. My wife really likes behavioral economics so we talk about these things all the time. I would point out that there are few people more irrational than tiger parents. While I agree that a Marxist approach to this is undesirable, I think something should be done to regulate irrational behavior. More on this below.
@miscparentname 80K people flooding into a small number of job categories every year is still a lot. When you add that the children of the last generation of international students that got H1Bs or became citizens have children also hitting the job market at the same time and in the same small number of fields, yeah it could still be a problem. But, yes, the H1B factor should be considered. Now, let’s talk about the students that go back to their home country. I have heard arguments supporting educating those kids here. One argument is that they will bring our culture back to their home country. That’s nice but I don’t think that justifies pushing American kids out of our elite universities in favor of these international students. Another argument is that we want people in other countries to be better educated because it will drive demand for exports and, in general, benefit the world. I am not sure it will have that big of an impact on foreign economies or demand for American goods. And I don’t think the American students being bumped out of our best schools in favor of these kids are idiots that are incapable of being the next Nobel prize winning doctor. Yet another argument is that they pay full freight and reduce the cost for American students. That actually is a real and tangible benefit. I’m just not sure we need a million international kids paying full freight.
I am not saying that we should go to zero international students. I am saying that the growth is currently more than exponential and should be capped or controlled in some way. The growth in the number of international students is dwarfing the increase in American graduates. Why should American students be pushed out? Why not force China and India to expand their universities or build more? Finally, I am not a big fan of the effect that tiger parenting is having on the kids that are fighting to get into the super selective schools. The rate of college kids entering therapy is also growing rapidly. These kids are selling their childhood for an acceptance at an elite school. They are under excessive pressure. When they fall short of their parents’ expectations, it is devastating. Imagine sacrificing your childhood and STILL not getting into the school that your parents want you to get into. I don’t want that culture for my children or my children’s children.
American kids aren’t being pushed out. If they want a spot, they just need to be more competitive. It’s that simple. Also some of the best universities in the world are in China, India, and Japan, but American students don’t apply to them because despite the 3 years of foreign language we all take in high school, American kids usually can only thrive at English only schools. International students are extremely talented and competitive and capping their numbers will only serve to hurt American students. US kids need that push. We need that competition to expand ourselves. I would rather the Ivy League be filled with incredible foreign students than medicore American kids who only got accepted because we had to limit the rest of the competition with international caps.
@LondonVall That’s a bit harsh. I would argue that many of the students who are rejected from Ivies are not “mediocre”. I think it really comes down to what role you think American educational institutes should play: should they prioritize American students? Or not?
Also, I have to add that 10-15% is not a measly number. Considering that many of the applicant pool is “hooked” (low-income, URM, athletes, etc.), the actual number of seats that other un-hooked candidates compete for are much lower. Add a surge of international applicants into the arena, and of course you are going to see American kids being pushed out.
I’m not trying to make the case of whether or not it is/isn’t a good thing. I’m just stating what the reality is (from my POV). I also agree on the point of trying to make America more competitive- however, I think what needs to be done is to change American culture and attitudes. That is the only long-term way to create that relentless drive that international students have.
Again, this is just my view, and personally I don’t really have an opinion on international students. The debater in me just felt the need to say something
If you want to see if seats are being taken up by international students then you need to look back to see % of international students at each elite universities over the last 10 years (I don’t have time to do it now), by looking at acceptance rate is not going to give you that information.
The main reason acceptance rate has dropped for most unies is due to common application (ease of usage) and students are applying to more schools. It is not uncommon for students to apply to 15+ schools because most of them have financial constraints.
Schools like Cornell have the luxury of crafting the kind of class they want. Their admission is holistic, which means it is not just based on stats. There is no reason they would want to admit more international students now than 10 years ago. They do not have financial reason to admit wealth international students over American students. I think the adcoms probably try to keep number of internationals very consistent, no different than keeping # of NY students steady.
I do not agree with NotPeeCee’s statement.
@oldfort That is definitely true. However, according to this article that seems relatively well-researched-
- the percentage of international enrollment at elite colleges has been growing while the overall acceptance rate has plummeted.
I also agree that the acceptance rate has dropped mostly because of the Common App- however, I do think that on a matter of technicality, it is true that international students are “pushing out” domestic ones. Colleges are consciously choosing to increase international students, and whether or not their reasons are legitimate is best judged by each individual.
Many colleges argue that their university is purposed to raise the next generation of global leaders- as such, that means they must take in students from around the world. Furthermore, they cite the diversity argument that being in contact with others from around the world is beneficial. Either way you fall on the topic, I do think it is clear that colleges are choosing to enroll more international students and displacing American ones.
Again, this is just based off of my observations, so I may be wrong.