Cornell Building a Better Class

3609 prospective students applied to Cornell University this year hoping to study far above Cayuga’s waters under the Early Decision plan. Statistically Cornell filled only about 35% of its Class of 2016 through its ED round. This provides good news for prospective students who have applied under Regular Decision, as more students will be accepted during the RD round. However, what does this mean for the university when compared to its peers? A decrease in ED acceptances will result in a simultaneous increase in RD acceptances, which may lower the university’s ‘selectivity’.

For most of Cornell’s peer universities higher selectivity is crucial during admissions process, which involves the universities keeping their acceptance rates as low as possible. Most universities do this by accepting a greater proportion of its class through Early Decision or creating a massive waitlist at the end of the admissions round. This makes the admissions process extremely competitive and difficult for prospective students, attracting the crème de la crème of students to apply and consequently resulting in long term improvements in their rankings. However, unlike its peers, Cornell has refrained from joining this bandwagon and consequently its acceptance rates have been historically higher than those of its peer-universities.

Why is this the case? Part of the answer lies in the fact that Cornell has a very large undergraduate population. The other half lies in Cornell’s mandate of continuous excellence and thereby building a better class than gaming rankings by keeping low acceptance rates. In doing this, Cornell does not accept more students through the ED round in order to keep RD acceptance rates on the lower end; in other words, Cornell does not risk the acceptance of a good student by filling up seats during the ED round. As a result it creates a better class by choosing the best from each round of its admissions process and thereby granting acceptance to students who are ‘fit’ to successfully complete their undergraduation at Cornell.

Cornell has seven distinct undergraduate schools, each providing top-notch education in its field. By not tangling itself in the selectivity game, Cornell fills each of its seven schools with a high-quality student body each year.