I’ll start this off with even if I got into Cornell, I don’t know if I would go 110%. I am an animal science major looking o go pre-vet, and I have gotten some great offers from great programs elsewhere, so the money aspect of Cornell (depending on how they view my father’s business I could potentially get nothing) was going to be a big factor (especially when looking at 8+ years of schooling). However, I loved campus and I have been looking at Cornell since I was a sophomore. I was preparing for a rejection, but most of all, an answer. Don’t get me wrong, I will take the wait list over a rejection, but I was mentally prepared to have all my college results done so I could move on and make a choice regarding where I will go in the fall. Obviously, the wait list throws a physical and mental monkey wrench into things. Can anyone give me some details on the wait list process and what are the odds of getting off the wait list as a CALS applicant?
Hey, I was also waitlisted at Cornell.
One thing I can say is that getting in through the waitlist is pretty tough. I’m not quite sure about the numbers but probably less than 10% of the waitlist get in (some1 should correct me though) and this is in general. I’m not sure about CALS. Anyways, I would send a letter to admissions and then hope for the best. Also explore your other options in case CALS doesn’t work out.
Anyways, good luck to the both of us!
What type of letter, saying pretty please accept me I really want to go here?
Getting in from the waitlist is highly dependent on the number of accepted students that take their admission offer; there was recently a year where Cornell reported it didn’t take anyone from the waitlist due to the high yield from the students originally offered admission. There are people who beat the odds (point & case: https://blogs.cornell.edu/lauren/2013/03/28/the-cornell-waitlist-part-1/), but you need to essentially be viewing this as applying for college all over again since if you do nothing, most likely nothing will happen. Yes, you’re essentially sending in Letters of Recommendations & essays which say “please accept me”, but it’s like your original college essay all over again, you need to do it in an interesting and appealing way of justifying why you while adding any new information that may have happen since originally applying and trying to push points you didn’t in your original application.
Honestly, if you’re not 100% you’ll take the offer if you get admitted (and fight however much you need to after to get the financial aid that makes it work afterwards), you should look again at the acceptances you did get and decide amongst those.
According to this (http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/03/admitted-class-2019-most-diverse-cornell-history) Cornell blog post, “Cornell received 41,907 applications for admission to the Class of 2019, the second highest applicant pool in university history. A total of 6,234 applicants were admitted, and 3,590 were offered a place on a wait list.”
If you’re set on getting off the waitlist and Cornell is your first choice, in the letter you write either say “I will attend if I get off the waitlist,” or if finances are a consideration and you want to wait for the aid, just say that Cornell is your “first choice.” I’ve heard from other CCers that this is very helpful because it increases Cornell’s yield.
I visited campus in September and fell in love with the school, and nearly applied ED but my parents would not let me because of the financial aid/binding contract. Since then I have tried to detach myself from the school/idea of attending there because I was banking on a rejection. The whole wait list has really thrown me through a loop because the ball is in my court per say, thank you all for the help regardless, I have to figure things out it looks like. Does anyone know if they rank the wait list?
Also, how long should the essay be, like college essay (650 words and under) or as long as we wish (within reason)
Try to keep it as concise as possible, while still getting your points across. Do not write for the sake of writing. The people reading it have enough on there plates and will probably appreciate a well written 200 words explaining interest and new accomplishments (if you have any), more so than a long winded 1000 word response that could have gotten the same points across in one quarter the length.
But if you do have plenty of new things to write about, still include them even if it means having a rather long essay. Just make sure you have good content.
So make them more like status updates and not like our college essays that are more “stylish” per say?
You can go for a stylish attempt. But its probably going to be either hit or miss.
When you’re already this much on the edge I would say to just play it safe. If you want to take a risk though, then go for it… It could just be your ticket in. I’m just telling you what I personally would do.
@vetmed2822 - my D was waitlisted for animal science too. She declined the waitlist invitation because she has other good offers and although she wants to be a vet and loves Cornell, she has realized she might prefer an undergrad school with a little more flexibility to double-major in another area.
That said, you’ve received good advice, but I just wanted to add that most schools do not guarantee the same financial aid to applicants accepted from the waitlist as for ED and RD accepted applicants. I’m not sure if this is the case at Cornell or not, but since financial aid is a consideration for you, you might want to look into that before spending a lot of time updating your application. Good luck to you whatever you decide.