Just how selective is CAS compared to the other schools?

Colleges & Universities Cornell University
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<p>I’ve heard that the College of Arts and Sciences is WAY more selective than the other schools. How true is this?</p>

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<p>It’s the most selective overall of all Cornell’s colleges/schools. Take the engineering school. On average, those acceptees tend to have higher SAT scores, but the acceptance rate is higher (due to a self-selecting applicant pool). The engineering college is highly selective, more so than CAS in certain criteria, but less so overall. Pretty much the same can be said of the architecture school. Now take a college like CALS. This college is less selective overall but for majors like AEM and Biology, the selectivity becomes comparable to that of CAS. However, overall, judging all criteria, CAS is the most selective.</p>

<p>Also, it’s often said that if you take CAS’s numbers alone, its selectivity and standards become comparable to those of other ivy league schools–as if it matters–but the information might be relevant to your question.</p>

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<p>im from new york… would it have been harder for me to get in CALS Biology? (anyhow i applied to CAS Biology tho)</p>

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<p>yah, they are the same program, CALS would have been a smarter choice</p>

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<p>whys that?
everyone in my school applying to CALS ED didnt make it, so i figured id go with CAS partially b/c of my interest in foreign languages.</p>

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<p>CAS is 10000000 times better if ur unsure of ur interests, the other schools limit you tremendously and give u really bad flexibility, in fact, a place like ILR has no flexibiluty, same as architecture (i mean, it has a few concentrations, but u get the pt)</p>

<p>in addition, Cornell CAS is in the same level as places like UPenn and Brown…</p>

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<p>

Err what? (characters)</p>

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<p>I guess he means as far as selectivity/prestige.</p>

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<p>um your assumption isn’t entirely true bball87.
snowgirl- just because others in your school didn’t make it doesn’t mean you wouldn’t have. ny state residents have advantage by applying to the statutory schools and CALS has a higher acceptance rate and it cost less to take the same courses as CAS of the same major.</p>

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<p>ilr is very flexible (note the spelling, bball) … in fact, ilr allows students to take the most “out of college and major” electives compared to all other schools at Cornell. </p>

<p>also, it’s reasonable to assume that CAS isn’t very selective compared to other schools at Cornell. The yield rate for CAS is among the lowest at Cornell. Many students just “throw in” applications without any real interest in the school. This inflates the numbers, but i dont mind as it makes Cornell look more selective as an institution overall. This doesn’t happen at a place like ILR … the student body is very self-selected. The acceptance rate may be around 30%, but the yield rate is also around 70-75%. Only those who have an interest in ilr actually apply to ilr, it’s rare that admissions sees a student who would be undeclared for a major and just “throws in” an application … they do that to Arts and Sciences. Also, I believe that average SAT scores of ILR are within 10 points of arts and sciences. I’d argue that anybody who got into ILR could also get into Arts and Sciences. The numbers show it. </p>

<p>The architecture program has the lowest average SAT scores (oh gee, it must not be a tough program to get into) but easily the lowest acceptance rate at Cornell. Only 12-13% of those that apply are admitted. </p>

<p>On the other side, engineering has the highest acceptance rate, but the average SAT scores of enrolled students blows arts and scinces away. 25% of the class scored above a 1550. </p>

<p>is arts and sciences WAY more selective? No. Only prestige whores would really argue that it is.</p>

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<p>Well by using acceptance rate and the middle 50% Sat Scores, I guess you could say that CAS is more selective. However, the applicant pools to some of the other schools could be self selective. Take the college of engineering for instance. Though its acceptance rate is higher, they just don’t accept “any” applicant, and it’s foolish to assume that if you’re an english major or liberal arts type of student, you would get into engineering simply because it’s acceptance rate is higher than arts and sciences. You could also say the same for art and architecture. Even though their sat scores are lower than arts and sciences, art students are actually talented at what they do: painting, etc. In the admissions process, applicants have to submit portfolios of their work, and it’s valued heavily. If you do not have artistic talent, why would they accept you into art? just because your sat scores are high? That doesn’t make sense. Basically, on the outset, CAS admissions appears to be more selective, but the applicant pools to different schools at Cornell are different in interests, goals, and talents.</p>

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<p>"also, it’s reasonable to assume that CAS isn’t very selective compared to other schools at Cornell. The yield rate for CAS is among the lowest at Cornell. Many students just “throw in” applications without any real interest in the school. This inflates the numbers, but i dont mind as it makes Cornell look more selective as an institution overall. This doesn’t happen at a place like ILR … the student body is very self-selected. The acceptance rate may be around 30%, but the yield rate is also around 70-75%. Only those who have an interest in ilr actually apply to ilr, it’s rare that admissions sees a student who would be undeclared for a major and just “throws in” an application … they do that to Arts and Sciences. Also, I believe that average SAT scores of ILR are within 10 points of arts and sciences. I’d argue that anybody who got into ILR could also get into Arts and Sciences. The numbers show it. </p>

<p>The architecture program has the lowest average SAT scores (oh gee, it must not be a tough program to get into) but easily the lowest acceptance rate at Cornell. Only 12-13% of those that apply are admitted. </p>

<p>On the other side, engineering has the highest acceptance rate, but the average SAT scores of enrolled students blows arts and scinces away. 25% of the class scored above a 1550."</p>

<p>These are good points.</p>

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<p>Except for the fact that gomestar’s post is littered with falsehoods.</p>

<p>The architecture school accepted around 21-22%, not 12%</p>

<p>Also the 25% to 75% SAT range for ILR is 1270-1445 compared to that of the Arts and Sciences which is 1320-1510. I’ts clearly not just a 10 point difference.</p>

<p>The 25%-75% SAT range for engineering is from 1340-1510.</p>

<p>The information is based on statistics based on Fall 2005 admissions.
<a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/irp/index.htm[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/irp/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Look under Fact Book and either Admission or Enrollement for the information.</p>

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<p>my posts are not:</p>

<p>admissions to the entire AAP school is 21% - but, for the individual architecture program it’s 12%. If i was talking about AAP as a whole, i would have said it. Looks like the easiest major to get in at Cornell is art. </p>

<p>engineering is 1380-1550 for SAT:
<a href=“http://www.engineering.cornell.edu/prospective/undergraduate/class-profile.cfm[/url]”>http://www.engineering.cornell.edu/prospective/undergraduate/class-profile.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>the ilr stats are quite similar with A&S. Even more of an indicator (the only thing i could pull from your link) was the “freshmen in top 10% of the class” statistic … CAS is 83% while ilr is 80%. I’m not sure where you got your SAT stats (not on the website) but the engineering ones wern’t right. </p>

<p>Also, *** is up with Arts and Sciences 38% yield rate??? That might need to be fixed.</p>

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<p>very impressive verbal scores for CAS, but why isn’t the math higher</p>

<p>670-760, defintely could easily be improved</p>

<p>look at other places</p>

<p>it could easily be like 690-780 like a place like duke, </p>

<p>i think that the verbal is great, but the math could be easily improved as there are so many high scorers</p>

<p>if it was 690-780 for M
and 650 - 750 for V</p>

<p>then CAS would be 1340-1530, which would be extremely impressive</p>

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<p>maybe if A&S had better academic programs, they could draw more qualified students and raise the average SAT score.</p>

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<p>Here are the stats:</p>

<p><a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/irp/pdf/FactBook/Enrollment/Undergraduate/current_end.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/irp/pdf/FactBook/Enrollment/Undergraduate/current_end.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/irp/pdf/FactBook/Enrollment/Undergraduate/current_con.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/irp/pdf/FactBook/Enrollment/Undergraduate/current_con.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/irp/pdf/FactBook/Admissions/Undergraduate/Freshmen/bycoll.pdf[/url]”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/irp/pdf/FactBook/Admissions/Undergraduate/Freshmen/bycoll.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Cornell sciences is pretty good. Just this year it was ranked 9th in the world according to the Times of London. Cornell arts isn’t really as recognized as Cornell sciences, but since I’m in the sciences, I don’t mind that much.</p>

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<p>well, i’m not sure what the true numbers are. Both appear to be “official” documents. </p>

<p>or, perhaps combining the 25-75% verbal with the 25-75% for math doesn’t give the true 25-75% for enrolled students. When I mentioned SAT scores, i didnt mean broken down by verbal and math, but by overall scores. This is where the problems probably arise.</p>

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<p>You’re right.</p>

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<p>abike- other than cost what is the ‘advantage’ of applying to CALS?</p>