Transferring To Cornell; Requirements, Admissions Tips & How To Tactics

by Chad Agrawal

Cornell TransferDo you want to transfer to Cornell?  Are you considering transferring from community college? Whether you would like to transfer to Cornell from community college, or another 4-year-college, the opportunity is yours for the taking. As you learn from reading this post, being a Cornell transfer student may require some extra time and effort, but the benefits are well worth it if you're willing to follow through.

The first step is to remove any assumptions or feelings of doubt from your mind. Be confident that you can transfer to Cornell University (I'm confident that you can do it, and you should be too!). Once you understand what Cornell transfer admissions is looking for, how to deliver it to them, and what challenges to expect along the way, you will already be ahead of the curve. By arming yourself with with the right information, the average Cornell University transfer acceptance rate should be no threat to you because you will be far more prepared than the average student.

Before reading further, you may want to check out this community college guide.

After reading this post filled with Cornell University transfer requirements, tips, and how to advice for students, you'll be ready to gain admission and transfer credits. We can't offer a guaranteed transfer, but we can give you the information for Cornell to be well within your reach by covering the following:

  • Is Cornell University a Transfer Friendly Ivy League school?
  • Pros and Cons of Transferring to Cornell University
  • Key Requirements to Community College Transfer to Cornell University
  • How to Transfer to Cornell from Community College

So let's dive in and explore how to take advantage of the Cornell transfer option!

Is Cornell University Transfer Friendly?

Cornell University Transfer FriendlyAccepting students from 4-year-colleges and community colleges, Cornell University is one of the seven Ivy League schools that accept transfer students. In fact, they accept the most transfer students out of all the Ivy League schools and have one of the highest transfer student acceptance rates in the Ivy League. So, yes, Cornell University is definitely a transfer friendly Ivy League school. They offer support like basic requirements and a transfer application checklist that comes in handy when it's time to apply.

Another quality that makes Cornell a transfer friendly university is the variety of options they offer for incoming transfers. Listing a few of the most highly demanded programs, Cornell University transfer students can become a(n):

  1. Cornell AS Transfer. The College of Arts and Sciences offers Cornell University transfer students the chance to find out more about their interests while exploring majors in social sciences, humanities and arts, as well as physical/natural sciences. The college features over 42 majors and minors to explore.
  2. Cornell CALS Transfer. The College of Agricultural and Life Sciences features popular majors like Biology, Communications, and Economics. For students interested in becoming a Cornell AEM transfer, CALS is home to The Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Ranked as on of the top undergraduate business schools in the nation, students have the option to major in Management, Economics, Quantitative Methods and Applied Economics. Additional course majors and minors can be found on the school website. 
  3. Cornell Engineering Transfer.  The College of Engineering at Cornell University takes pride in being on the edge of 21st century engineering, providing "revolutionary discoveries" in several fields ranging from medicine to mathematics. Any Cornell engineering transfer student can major in highly demanded majors like Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, and Engineering Management. See more course offerings at http://www.engineering.cornell.edu/academics/departments.cfm.
  4. Cornell ILR Transfer. The School of Industrial and Labor Relations offers the complete package for all things work related. Although they are focused towards one major, your options to minor and create a personalized degree are limitless. They have a little more unique curriculum structure for Cornell transfer credit which you can check out anytime at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/admissions/Academics/upload/ILR-Curriculum-Requirements.pdf.

Don't get me wrong, it's still very competitive to transfer to Cornell from community college or any other college despite the tremendous opportunities available to students. Before we go into how to get an edge on the competition for admissions, we'll go over some of the Pro's and Con's for those of you still deciding on transferring to Cornell.

Pros and Cons of Transferring To Cornell University

transfer to cornellHere are some of the top considerations that you'll want to weigh when deciding to transfer to Cornell University. They include taking the time to think about your major, GPA, school location, career opportunities, housing, and overall experience. These considerations should give you a solid idea of what to expect as a Cornell transfer student.

Majors: As we've seen, there are plenty of majors offered to Cornell University transfers which is great for students with diverse interests. As expected, the quality of the courses and education live up to the Ivy League reputation. The downside is that some of the more popular majors are extremely competitive. In some majors, you'll be introduced to curved grading and highly competitive classmates.

GPA: The pro in this case is also the con. Your Cornell transfer GPA starts over at 0.00. That means, if you had a 4.0 GPA in community college or somewhere else, your GPA does not carry over for your transferable courses. The advantage here is that you've missed the super agressive, "knock out" freshman courses that may hurt the average Cornell freshman student's GPA. The disadvantage is you'll have to say good bye to your hard earned 4.0 GPA in community college or other colleges to start all over again. But no worries, starting over means that you've made it an you're on your way to becoming a Cornell University alumnus.

Location: If you're familiar with Donald Trump's building strategy, you'll know that it's all about location, location, location! If you're someone who loves nature, Cornell's location, Ithaca, NY, just might be the place for you. If you're more inclined to be around one of Donald Trump's buildings, you might find the scenery less appealing. Also, you'll seriously have to bundle up during the winter. It's cold!

Careers: The on campus recruitment provided by Cornell University is considered to be top notch. Plus, after transferring, you'll have access to the resourceful Cornell University Alumni network. These are all very exceptional pros. You'd be hard pressed to find the downside about the career opportunities for Cornell students. Students with very narrow majors may have a difficult time finding the positions they want right away, but that would be the case for any university, including the other Ivy League universities.

Housing: Cornell has a beautiful campus so living on campus is the strongly recommended, especially as a Cornell transfer. In the past, there have been some issues with Cornell transfer housing, but I suspect that it has all been settled down now.

Lifestyle: The lifestyle is very different at Cornell than what you might be used to. On the weekends, you will find many students hard at work in the library. (Yes, they still have fun, but to be a successful Cornell University transfer student, you have to have a passion for knowledge). You'll be joining an environment where students are fully dedicated to studying hard because they genuinely love learning.

But, if you haven't found your passion for learning yet or think the academics are too much for you, don't worry! Sometimes it will just "click" while attending community college or other universities, which we'll cover next.

Key Requirements To Community College Transfer To Cornell

Cornell Transfer RequirementsTransferring to Cornell from community college is now a surprisingly popular route to get into the Ivy Leagues. While you can transfer to Cornell from any university, students are realizing that you save tons of money with Cornell transfer credits that are earned from community college. Plus, it gives students a second shot to redeem themselves for any high school mistakes.

So if you're interested in transferring from community college to Cornell (which I assume that you are if you are reading this), you should be prepared to work hard and achieve a lot while going to community college for 2 years. Don't be overwhelmed by these requirements though, you can do it with just the right amount of guidance. Here are the following requirements that will help further your intentions of transferring to Cornell:

1. Top Student Status. Most Cornell students are from the top percentage of their high school class. If you didn't make the cut in high school, community college is your chance to do things right. Make sure you've secured your spot as one of the very top students at community college.

2. Excellent SAT Scores. Cornell University transfer admissions do not require the SATs, but you can probably guess they expect an above average score. While transfer students have gotten accepted with much lower scores, you'll want to be aiming to score above 2100 out of 2400 or above the 95th percentile on the SATs. If you're scores aren't up to par, retaking your SATs in community college is a great idea.

3. Compelling Transfer Application. To get admissions to love you, your transfer application must include an effective Cornell transfer essay that is submitted adhering to all the guidelines and deadlines. Theses application essays are equally important to the first two Cornell University transfer requirements because they can make or break your admissions decision.

To community college transfer to Cornell University, you'll need these requirements and there is no Cornell transfer agreement that says if you do all of this you'll be accepted by the admissions committee. However, in this next section, I'll show you how you can meet all these requirement successfully.

How to Transfer To Cornell From Community College

community college transfer to cornellUp until this point, we've covered the basics for Cornell University transfer students, including information about transferring to Cornell along with the expected requirements. Now, I'm going to share with you how to transfer successfully.

Achieving all the requirements to transfer to Cornell from community college takes time, patience and dedication. When done by yourself, it is very challenging to:

  • become a top student
  • score extremely well on the SATs
  • write effective transfer essay

In fact, you may never accomplish all of this without knowing all the little steps and tricks to make it easier. But, if you set out to accomplish all the Cornell transfer requirements with a proven system, you're chances for success are much greater.

That's why I wrote this community college transfer guide to help anyone learn how to successfully transfer to Cornell or any other Ivy League university.

If you've made it this far, you're already putting yourself on the right side of the Cornell transfer acceptance rate. It shows that you are actually motivated to transfer to Cornell University, but that's not always enough. We all know students who put in plenty of time and effort, but still struggle to succeed academically. They are 100% motivated, but will not get accepted by admissions because they could not fulfill all requirements for transferring to Cornell. This community college guide provides you with a proven action plan to complete all the requirements to transfer to Cornell.

Learn more by clicking the link above!

Photo credits in order of placement: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4

This post was written by Chad Agrawal

Chad Agrawal is the founder of CCTS, helping students transfer from community college to Ivy League, tier 1 or anywhere else by following this community college guide.

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Eddie January 29, 2013 at 3:19 pm

Thanks for the help!

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