Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 09:42     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
* Stats
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 09:42     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
CMU humanities.

Basically a backdoor to take any and all States, Info System, CS and Engineering classes - assuming you meet the pre-reqs.

Employers actually prefer humanities + tech combo
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 09:28     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
For cornell, if you apply ILR, Nolan, Brooks, CALS, the larger issue - do you want a liberal arts education or not? None of these are classic liberal arts schools and your kid may be sorely disappointed.

CALS does a great job at filtering through all the Ivy or bust kids and really only admitting kids that they think will thrive there. Its a very specific focused set of supp essays. That would ONLY work for CALS and no other school (most likely).

There's a Cornell whisperer essay lady that people hire. I've actually heard of a new one this cycle, too. Let's see what the results look like.

Like the long Michigan essays, the Cornell essays are looking for something VERY specific. I wouldn't overlook it at all.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 09:24     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:ie hotel school at Cornell


Back in my day the Ag school at Cornell was a well known easier admit at least for in state. Is that still the case?


Cornell stopped publishing separate data for different colleges. No one really knows for sure. Isn’t Ag school full of premed?


Ag school is really hard RD. They typically reject or WL most students - who end up often getting into T10.
Yes, full of pre-med and science kids.
I wouldn't say its easier and might actually be harder OOS than CAS.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 02:57     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have a Cornell family and my kid was WL ILR from OOS two years ago.

As you probably have read, Cornell admission rates are quite low now. The contract colleges are slightly easier but not by a lot, based on intelligent swagging by interested parties. I think I guessed that ILR was maybe 13% for freshmen two years ago (there are undergrad transfer applicants as well). There is some remaining partiality to in-state students because that is part of Cornell's historic and permanent mission. Cornell is also sophomore transfer-friendly and gives out transfer options to some diehard freshman waitlisters. This helps ensure that more of the student body really wants to be at Cornell, in Ithaca.

It's larger than other Ivies so has a lot of seats. But you need to tailor your application to the specific college you are applying for, and the colleges have some specialized slants to their priorities. If you are gaming the system, hoping to transfer from one Cornell college to another, it might work out but that's a waste of freshman/sophomore class scheduling options in my opinion.

I can't remember where the relatively new undergrad business major is housed but it is very hard to get into. I've also read on here that Hotel School students now go into real estate corporate management and finance. I would expect that any major that gets people access to NYC Ivy grad finance salaries is going to be hard to get into.

I don't think the difference between a 5%, 10%, and 20% chance is very meaningful for the individual student applicant. I would recommend evaluating how credible the applicant's reasons are for wanting to attend the specific college within Cornell that they are applying to. Also people who have reservations about the location, weather, or academic grinding are probably best suited to prioritizing other universities. My family loved it and are very loyal.


If you think the difference between a 5%, 10% and 20 % chance at admittance is meaningful to an applicant, clearly you did not study math at Cornell.


PP. Did you leave a word out of your post? Maybe the word "not"? There's no need to be snitty.

It's my opinion that a 5-20% chance is no sure thing and therefore the applicant still has to have a full range of apps to a bunch of universities, regardless. Applying to a less desirable college (to you) in order to get in messes up 25% of your college education if you succeed.

I actually did not attend Cornell. I did get a full-ride MBA school offer from them though. The school was great but my spouse and I had career plans that didn't align with Cornell's placement strengths.

It makes me sad that people are so desperate for Ivy that they would apply to a university they don't really want to attend, to a college that isn't their first choice, in a part of the country that doesn't appeal to them. Penn was a bit like that when I was in college. Because Philly was a lot rattier.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 02:48     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's larger than other Ivies so has a lot of seats. But you need to tailor your application to the specific college you are applying for, and the colleges have some specialized slants to their priorities. If you are gaming the system, hoping to transfer from one Cornell college to another, it might work out but that's a waste of freshman/sophomore class scheduling options in my opinion.

How is the slant for a CALS stem major (math, physics, etc) different from engineering?


CALS is biological science/ag/environmental. You won't find math or physics major there. Premed college.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 02:44     Subject: Re:what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would be reluctant to apply to a college within a selective university solely because of an 'easier' admission chance. Chances are that it's difficult to transfer internally, and the admissions committees can usually tell when a student is applying to a certain college/school/major for an admissions advantage rather than fit. Someone who wants to do generalist business would likely not be happy at Cornell's ILR or Hotel school nor Vanderbilt's education school.

Don't think it's difficult to transfer from ILR to CAS. Most doesn't bother.


For in-staters, it would likely raise your tuition. Anyway, the ILR undergrad degree is a very specific program. Perhaps the closest majors to switch to might be Economics or Public Policy (in Human Ecology/Jeb Brooks). It's not clear you'd have better career prospects with either of those. If you are NYC connected you don't need to switch between ILR and CAS to improve job prospects.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 02:33     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
I hear Harvard has an extension school that's easy to get into.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 02:33     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
Anonymous wrote:It's larger than other Ivies so has a lot of seats. But you need to tailor your application to the specific college you are applying for, and the colleges have some specialized slants to their priorities. If you are gaming the system, hoping to transfer from one Cornell college to another, it might work out but that's a waste of freshman/sophomore class scheduling options in my opinion.

How is the slant for a CALS stem major (math, physics, etc) different from engineering?
Anonymous
Post 01/14/2026 23:57     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
any of these schools with a first year abroad program
Anonymous
Post 01/14/2026 23:53     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
NYU Gallatin?

Guessing 10% admit rate increases to 20%? Maybe.
Anonymous
Post 01/14/2026 21:56     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
Anonymous wrote:I have a Cornell family and my kid was WL ILR from OOS two years ago.

As you probably have read, Cornell admission rates are quite low now. The contract colleges are slightly easier but not by a lot, based on intelligent swagging by interested parties. I think I guessed that ILR was maybe 13% for freshmen two years ago (there are undergrad transfer applicants as well). There is some remaining partiality to in-state students because that is part of Cornell's historic and permanent mission. Cornell is also sophomore transfer-friendly and gives out transfer options to some diehard freshman waitlisters. This helps ensure that more of the student body really wants to be at Cornell, in Ithaca.

It's larger than other Ivies so has a lot of seats. But you need to tailor your application to the specific college you are applying for, and the colleges have some specialized slants to their priorities. If you are gaming the system, hoping to transfer from one Cornell college to another, it might work out but that's a waste of freshman/sophomore class scheduling options in my opinion.

I can't remember where the relatively new undergrad business major is housed but it is very hard to get into. I've also read on here that Hotel School students now go into real estate corporate management and finance. I would expect that any major that gets people access to NYC Ivy grad finance salaries is going to be hard to get into.

I don't think the difference between a 5%, 10%, and 20% chance is very meaningful for the individual student applicant. I would recommend evaluating how credible the applicant's reasons are for wanting to attend the specific college within Cornell that they are applying to. Also people who have reservations about the location, weather, or academic grinding are probably best suited to prioritizing other universities. My family loved it and are very loyal.


If you think the difference between a 5%, 10% and 20 % chance at admittance is meaningful to an applicant, clearly you did not study math at Cornell.
Anonymous
Post 01/14/2026 21:10     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
humanities at many colleges
Anonymous
Post 01/14/2026 20:36     Subject: what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
Nursing at Emory?
Anonymous
Post 01/14/2026 20:04     Subject: Re:what are some easier to get into schools at major universities?
Anonymous wrote:I would be reluctant to apply to a college within a selective university solely because of an 'easier' admission chance. Chances are that it's difficult to transfer internally, and the admissions committees can usually tell when a student is applying to a certain college/school/major for an admissions advantage rather than fit. Someone who wants to do generalist business would likely not be happy at Cornell's ILR or Hotel school nor Vanderbilt's education school.

Don't think it's difficult to transfer from ILR to CAS. Most doesn't bother.