Cornell University
Cornell publishes 8.4% (Fall 2025 entering class). Early Decision applicants got in at 19%; everyone else at 6.7%.
Acceptance rate
What Cornell's 8.4% is made of
The published rate averages groups with very different odds. These are the splits Cornell reports itself.
By application round
Fall 2025 entering class (Class of 2029), first-time first-year degree-seeking applicants
Read the full decomposition →Early Decision advantage
19% of 10,057 ED applicants were admitted (1,889), against 6.7% for everyone else.
Fall 2025 entering class (Class of 2029), first-time first-year applicants · as of August 2026
See where Cornell ranks →Transfer
Fall 2024 transfer entrants (degree-seeking) — CDS 2024-2025, Section D2 · as of August 2026 · 1.1× easier than first-year
Read the transfer analysis →Part of Real Acceptance Rates, our series decomposing published rates from each school's own Common Data Set.
Testing
Required for 2026-27
- Policy
Cornell's official policy page states: 'Effective for Fall 2026 and beyond, first-year applicants are required to submit the SAT or ACT.' This applies uniformly across all Cornell undergraduate colleges/schools (no college-specific testing exceptions) and is already in effect for the current 2026-27 cycle (fall 2027 entry), since 'fall 2026 and beyond' includes it.
- SAT middle 50%
- 1500–1570sum of section 25th–75th percentiles
- ACT middle 50%
- 33–35
- Average HS GPA
- Not published by the school
Applying
Deadlines, essays and AI policy
- Early deadlines
- Nov 1, 2026 (application + fee); Nov 13, 2026 (remaining materials) (ED)
- Regular decision
- Jan 2, 2027 (application + fee); Jan 19, 2027 (remaining materials)Source
- Supplemental essays
- 1 required
Supplemental essay count varies by the Cornell college applied to: 1 required essay (500-650 words) at most colleges (Arts & Sciences, SC Johnson Business, Human Ecology, ILR, Brooks Public Policy, Architecture/Art/Planning, Agriculture & Life Sciences), rising to 6 required short essays (two 200-word + four 100-word prompts) at the College of Engineering. The value given (1) reflects the minimum/most common requirement, not a universal count.
- AI use in essays
Limited Use Allowed — applies to Application essays and required portfolio materials
“when you're drafting your essays, it's important that we hear from you. [...] using generative AI to outline, draft, or write your essays; translating an essay written in another language; and creating images for a required portfolio [are not acceptable uses, while] reviewing the grammar and spelling of your completed essays [is acceptable].”
Full cycle calendar: Application Deadlines.
At a glance
Size and cost
- Undergraduate enrollment
- 15,995
- Tuition (out-of-state)
- $69,314
- Category
- Ivy League
- Admissions site
- www.cornell.edu
Dewey Smart
Dewey students who got into Cornell
What should this school mean for your list?
A published rate is one input. Working out what it means alongside the rest of your list is the part that actually changes an application. Free 25-minute call, no commitment.
Sources
- Cornell test policy (2026-27)
- Cornell deadlines
- Cornell AI-use policy
- Cornell admissions pages
- Cornell admissions pages
- Acceptance rate, test-score percentiles, enrollment and tuition: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, pulled 2026-08-19.
Test policy and deadlines last verified 2026-08-17.
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