If you recently received a rejection from Cornell in the Early Decision round, you are not alone in that outcome, nor in the massive disappoint you are probably feeling. Cornell has had an overall acceptance rate just under 9% for the past two admissions cycles, with the acceptance rate staying somewhere under 10% for 5 years. The Early Decision acceptance rate, by comparison, has been about double the overall acceptance rate for that period of time.
While a 20+% acceptance rate in the Early Decision round can sound cushy, you’ve experienced the hard fact that it isn’t actually 20% or more for all ED applicants. That elevated rate of acceptance is significantly padded out by athletes with coach support, legacies with strong donor connection to the school, and other students who knew that they were highly-likely to get in long before they pressed submit.
The ED application cycle boost is much more modest for the average Cornell applicant, even if they have the grades and scores to stand out. Instead of a 20% probability Early Decision, then, it’s really like maybe 12% or 15%. And that’s better than the overall, but it certainly isn’t comfortable.
We say this to, hopefully, soften the blow. Yes, it is totally frustrating that you didn’t get into Cornell Early Decision — but that doesn’t mean that you were a bad applicant. You can’t know exactly why Cornell decided to say a definite no (as opposed to a deferral). It could be that it was a really hard call on their part, and it doesn’t mean that you couldn’t still be a strong applicant to another top school. We routinely help students get into an Ivy in the Regular Decision round after an Early Decision rejection. It is possible to pull off a comeback. What you do next, though, is what will make the difference. Below, we’ll break it down.
We help students bounce back from ED rejections. Learn how.
There are four steps you need to start right now, seriously, to have a successful college admissions cycle after an Early Decision rejection from Cornell.
Step One: Take a Break
This one is light-hearted, but it isn’t a joke. It’s actually really important that you take a second — or a few days — to process the frustration of the rejection and regain an optimistic outlook for the future. We need you to get back into your college applications excited and raring to go, not second guessing your decisions because of what happened in the past.
So, fill your favorite bowl with sugary cereal, curl up on the couch with a book and a blanket, go on a long walk in the woods with your dog, or have a long decadently gossip-y conversation with a friend. Whatever fills your emotional cup — do it. You will make your best decisions and do your best work with a deep reservoir of energy and excitement for the future.
Once you feel recharged and ready to dig in, it’s time to get back to work.
Step Two: Strategize
Don’t just start writing right away, though. You have more to do than to simply fill out a bunch more applications. Before you finalize your supplements, you need to finalize where you are even applying.
As we said earlier, it’s impossible to know exactly why Cornell didn’t let you in. Even if your grades or scores were a little low for Cornell, something (or somethings) else played into their decision. So, you shouldn’t just throw your college list out and resign yourself to less competitive schools, but you also shouldn’t just plow forward as if the Cornell rejection didn’t happen. What Cornell gave you is a data point, and it’s important to use that data point to make your best decisions moving forward.
When you look at your college list, do you have a strong balance between schools acceptance-rate wise? If you answer is no, it’s time to fix that. You absolutely must have 3-4 target and 3-4 safety schools unless you have an Early Acceptance or two under your belt that you would be happy to attend.
Whether or not you have an EA acceptance, you need to give some thought to an Early Decision II option. ED II is your next best tool for getting into a highly-competitive college. Of course, you have to really like the ED II you are applying to. If there isn’t a school you love offers ED II, balance on your college list is even more important.
Step Three: Essays
Once you have your list, it’s time to write. Yes, you have a college essay. And we can’t tell you that your essay is the reason that you didn’t get into Cornell. We haven’t seen your essay, and we weren’t in the decision-making room at Cornell. However, we highly recommend starting over.
A strong college essay is a game-changer. It makes the application reader look for reasons to say yes to you, even if other pieces of your application aren’t precisely what they are usually looking for. The story — and what it says about you — needs to be super strong and truly compelling. The reader should feel connected to who you are, not simply something you have done. A successful college essay doesn’t list your accomplishments like a narrative version of a resume, it builds a relationship.
This is true of supplements, too. Yes, supplements are typically more fact-driven and need to be clearly informative, but they still need to be imbued with story. Even a “why this school?” type essay should have a story that drives it forward and hooks the reader.
We work with students to transform their applications between the ED and RD round, and the results are astonishing. Students rejected from Ivies ED receive a landslide of acceptances just a few months later, and it isn’t because their profile changed. Their grades are the same, scores are the same, activities are the same, and dreams are the same. What changed? The writing. So, make that change.
Step Four: Ask For Help
The last step on this list is often the most uncomfortable for students so we put it at the end, but really it should be happening all along the way. You need to be asking for help from people who really know what you are dealing with. Friends are important for regaining a positive outlook. Parent’s, too, are crucial for support, kindness, and an occasional shoulder to cry on. Neither, though, are college admissions professionals who understand what you are dealing with within the broader scope of the national college admissions process. Getting advice from someone who really knows what you are facing, whether by working with a professional on our team or reading our blog posts, is a critical step for outstanding outcomes.
It's easier, of course, to bury your head in the sand and say that it’s too late to change things. That’s incorrect, though. There is time to improve your outcomes, you just need to start making moves today — after a cookie and a 90s sitcom marathon, of course.
An Early Decision rejection is a massive bummer, but it isn’t the end of the world. Learn more.