If your financial aid application is complete, your financial aid award should be sent to you within a few days after you receive your acceptance letter. If you have not received your financial aid package, first check your financial aid checklist to make sure you have submitted all your documents. The deposit deadline for regular decision is May 1, 2024. Please wait until the deadline before submitting a request for an extension.

As the Office of Financial Aid is notified of outside sources of assistance, they adjust your need-based financial aid. Contact the Office of Financial Aid for more information on how outside scholarships typically affect financial aid packages.

Yes. The College of Engineering routinely offers credit for appropriately high scores on Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate Higher Level (IB), and General Certificate of Education (A-level) examinations.

*Students may also earn credit by taking Cornell Advanced Standing Exam(s) (CASE) during the fall orientation period. CASE exam performance will demonstrate understanding of key subject areas (i.e. calculus, physics, chemistry, and biology) within the framework of the Cornell Engineering curriculum. While these exams are voluntary, they help place students in the appropriate coursework level.

This is an abbreviated list, the comprehensive list of subjects for which advanced placement credit is offered at Cornell University is available online.

The process for this will be explained by the Office of Advising over the summer. Once we have the entire class in place, the Office of Advising will send weekly emails to all matriculating students about next steps.

Cornell’s offer of admission includes the following statement: “Our offer of admission is also contingent upon your satisfactorily completing any school work now in progress, and on your continuing to uphold high standards of character in activities outside the classroom.” All enrolling students are required to submit a final high school transcript once they complete their senior year. Each transcript is reviewed to ensure that our enrolling students continued to succeed academically once they received their offers of admission. Students whose performance declined are asked to respond, in writing, with an explanation for the decline in academic performance. Responses are evaluated and a determination is made whether a student will be allowed to enroll, or if his/her offer of admission will be rescinded. The decisions we make in these cases are done thoughtfully, thoroughly, and bearing in mind their impact. This process usually occurs in June and we try to reach decisions as quickly as the process will allow so that students are definitively aware of their status and can plan accordingly.

Yes, all admitted students must submit their final grade report.

If you are unable to make your deposit by the May 1, 2024 deadline, you may request a deposit extension. You may request the extension via your application status page.

The New Students website has a detailed checklist for all incoming first-year students. You should go through this list regularly and monitor your progress. Make sure you note all deadlines!

No. However, once you have matriculated you can work with the head of advising within your home college/school to plan and navigate a change to another college/school within Cornell University. Your advisor will be able to help you manage the internal transfer process. Please note that the earliest you may apply to internally transfer is during your second semester at Cornell. For more information, review the Internal Transfer website.

Cornell’s New Students Website serves as the centralized location for all of the information students need to help ensure a smooth transition to Cornell. It highlights important information, provides a portal for students to complete and check the status of forms, and tracks all university requirements. Students should check the new student website throughout the summer and use it to confirm they have prepared for their matriculation in August.

The Office of New Student Programs coordinates the Orientation for Cornell University. In addition, the College of Engineering facilitates several important orientation events that are critical to your transition.

Admitted first-year Cornell Engineering students may be able to apply for a one- or two-year deferred entry. Requests are evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the Engineering Admissions Office and have been granted in previous years for a variety of reasons.

Reasons for Enrollment Deferral

Cornell Engineering will consider enrollment deferral requests for the following reasons:

• Military Service
• Religious
• International students in the process of gaining a green card (one year only)
• Research, Work, and Internship Opportunities related to educational goals
• Athletic Development

Cornell rarely approves enrollment deferral requests for:

• Financial reasons (e.g. international students denied aid; students wishing to work a year in order to pay for college)
• Educational reasons (studying elsewhere regardless of whether or not the program includes college credit)
• Deferral plans that are not well-developed
• Fall transfer enrolling students

Guidelines

If you are granted an enrollment deferral, the following conditions apply:

• You must officially accept your offer of admission from Cornell University.
• You must submit a $400 deposit reserving your place in a future class of Cornell Engineers. (Note: An $800 deposit is required for two-year deferrals).
• You must formally withdraw your application(s) from any college/university to which you have applied.
• You must formally decline your offer(s) of admission from any college/university to which you have been admitted.
• You must NOT apply to, or enroll at, another college/university during your deferral period.

Please note: If you are granted a deferral of admission, you will begin to receive information in the spring prior to enrolling at Cornell to help you prepare for your arrival. It is your responsibility to apprise the university of any changes in your mailing address and/or email address.

Students admitted from the waitlist are expected to enroll for the upcoming fall semester and are rarely granted deferrals.

To request a deferral, please submit the form located in your application status page.

First-year students will pre-enroll online for fall courses in late July.

Beginning on May 3, 2024, Engineering Advising will send weekly emails throughout the summer to first-year students with helpful information and considerations to guide you through a planning process for your fall course selection. Additionally, detailed information and step-by-step instructions about how to select your courses and pre-enrolling in them will be provided to you prior to July, before the start of pre-enroll.

Many first-year engineering students will pre-enroll in the following courses during the fall semester:

• Engineering Math (4 credits)
• Science (Chemistry or Physics, based on academic interest and advanced placement credit, 4 credits)
• Intro to Computing (4 credits) OR Introduction to Engineering (ENGRI) (3 credits)*
• Engineering Seminar (ENGRG 1050) (1 credit)
• First-Year Writing Seminar (3 credits)
• Physical Education (1 credit)
• Academic Excellence Workshops (optional) (1 credit each)

*Some students may not take a science in the fall, but rather an Intro to Computing course and an Intro to Engineering course. Furthermore, a few students, who have a significant amount of advanced placement in math and science, may decide to take a liberal studies course in the fall semester.

There is more information on the Engineering Advising new students’ website that will be regularly updated beginning in May.

The core mathematics courses for Engineering students are:

1. MATH 1910: Calculus for Engineers

2. MATH 1920: Multivariable Calculus for Engineers

3. MATH 2930: Differential Equations or MATH 2940: Linear Algebra

4. A math course chosen by major

Students must enroll in one (and only one) math course for the fall term in order to be in good academic standing in the College of Engineering.  A list of the topics covered in each course is located on the Engineering Advising new students’ website.  More information about good academic standing is available in the most recent Engineering Undergraduate Handbook.

We constantly maintain and modernize our computing facilities in the College to make sure that each student has access to the necessary technology. So the answer to this question is “no,” you don’t need to have your own computer, though most students feel that owning one is convenient and opt to have one. If you decide to buy a computer, check out these computer recommendations.

Yes, a scientific (non-graphing) calculator is necessary for your coursework in some classes. Additionally, most students tell us that a graphing calculator, although not necessary, is helpful for some assignments. Students indicated Casio and Texas Instruments calculators are the most widely used brands for each type of calculator.

All students are assigned an Engineering Faculty Advisor when they matriculate to Cornell Engineering. Students usually keep that advisor until they affiliate with a Major, even though the advisor may not be in the Major in which they intend to affiliate/declare. You will meet your Faculty Advisor during the Engineering Orientation in August and meet weekly with them for your Engineering Seminar (ENGRG 1050) course in the fall.

Good news – you do not need to worry about this! All Cornell Engineering students begin as general engineering students regardless of the major that you may have listed on your application. During your first two years, you will take a common set of classes that we believe all engineers should take. During your sophomore year, you will select your major and affiliate with that department. Visit our Student Conversations to learn more about this.

All first-year students are pre-enrolled in a section of ENGRG 1050. This one-credit fall course gives first-year students an opportunity to get to know their Faculty Advisors on a more personal level. Meeting regularly with their advisees gives Faculty Advisors an opportunity to learn about each student, to assist in resolving problems as they arise, and to help new students adjust to the demands of the engineering curriculum. Activities in ENGRG 1050 may include discussion of engineering careers, active research in the college and engineering in general, ethics, and workshops on study and exam skills useful to engineering students. Practicing engineers, student services professionals, and faculty members from different disciplines may join the group from time to time.

The Cornell Store will provide lists of books required for each of your courses. You may buy them through the Cornell Store or an independent vendor of your choice.

The Engineering Undergraduate Handbook offers helpful information about the affiliation process (applying to your major). Most students apply for affiliation (apply to their major) during the first semester of their second year. Students apply directly to the major with which they wish to affiliate. In order to be accepted into their major, students must have a cumulative grade point average of ≥ 2.0 and have satisfied the major’s specific course and grade requirements. Students who are not affiliated or “conditionally affiliated” with a major by the beginning of their fifth semester will be withdrawn from the College of Engineering.