What separated Cornell accepted vs. rejected applicants this cycle? Not grades: admits and non-admits had exactly the same median GPA. Cornell admits about 9% of applicants by its official rate, the highest of the eight Ivies, and in our sample the clearest differences were research, which major applicants chose, and how many ended on the waitlist.
We compared 142 Cornell applicants from self-reported 2026 r/collegeresults posts: 40 admitted, 55 rejected and 47 waitlisted. (One admit came off the waitlist.) That makes Cornell the Ivy with the most admits in our tally. This is part of a larger comparison of accepted vs. rejected applicants at top colleges, and Cornell's decisions are also pooled with the other seven in Ivy League accepted vs. rejected applicants.
People who post results skew strong, so 28% of this sample got in, far above Cornell's real rate. Compare the two groups with each other, not with your own odds, and treat a gap of a few people as possible noise.
Cornell admitted student GPA and SAT: no real difference
| Admitted | Rejected or waitlisted | |
|---|---|---|
| Median unweighted GPA | 3.98 (30 stated) | 3.98 (75 stated) |
| Median weighted GPA | 4.60 (21 stated) | 4.50 (64 stated) |
| Median SAT (scores sent) | 1550 (36 people) | 1540 (74 people) |
| Median ACT (scores sent) | 35 (8 people) | 35 (31 people) |
| Median AP/IB courses | 12.5 | 11 |
| National-level award | 83% | 76% |
The same median unweighted GPA, nearly the same SAT and the same ACT. A 4.0 was actually a little less common among admits who stated a GPA (12 of 30) than among everyone else (36 of 75). 136 of the 142 sent test scores. At Cornell, in this sample, a top transcript got you into the pool and nothing more. That's different from Penn and Northwestern, where admits were clearly more likely to have a 4.0.
Major choice: where most Cornell rejections landed
63 of the 102 rejected or waitlisted applicants had applied for computer science or engineering, versus 16 of the 40 admits. By the majors applicants listed (some listed more than one):
- Computer science: 12 admitted, 35 not (26%).
- Engineering: 8 admitted, 37 not (18%).
- Social sciences and policy: 10 admitted, 14 not (42%).
- Business or economics: 11 admitted, 17 not (39%).
- Biology or health: 10 admitted, 17 not (37%).
Cornell admits students into one of its undergraduate colleges, such as Engineering, Arts and Sciences or Agriculture and Life Sciences, rather than to the university as a whole, so the major you pick decides which pool you compete in. In this sample, the engineering and CS pools were by far the hardest. We cover why engineering programs often run harder than a school's headline rate in why engineering admissions are more competitive than you think.
Which activities Cornell admits listed more often
- Research: 75% of admits versus 52% of everyone else, the biggest activity gap at Cornell.
- A school award: 50% versus 31%.
- A science fair award: 23% versus 7%.
- Student government: 30% versus 16%.
- A varsity sport (not recruited): 48% versus 34%.
- Community service: 68% versus 55%.
And some showed up more often among applicants who weren't admitted:
- Clubs and honor societies: 40% of admits versus 58%.
- Music: 25% versus 41%.
- Robotics or engineering teams: 10% versus 26%.
- Coding or tech projects: 15% versus 26%.
- Science or general academic competitions: 15% versus 27%.
The robotics and coding gaps likely reflect the major mix above more than the activities themselves: those activities are concentrated among engineering and CS applicants, who were the most likely to be turned down. That doesn't mean robotics hurts an application. Research is the more interesting result. Across all top schools combined it made no difference, but at Cornell, as at Georgia Tech and UIUC, it lined up clearly with admission. For what counts as real research, see do high schoolers need research for admissions.
A third of Cornell applicants were waitlisted
47 of the 142 applicants (33%) ended on the waitlist, the highest share of any Ivy in our tally and among the highest of any school. Only one admit in this sample said they came off it.
Cornell's own numbers show why that's hard: its Common Data Set reports 8,103 applicants offered a waitlist spot for Fall 2024, 6,190 who accepted, and 388 admitted, about 6%. We compare every Ivy's waitlist in Ivy League waitlist acceptance rates by school, and cover what helps in our waitlist strategy guide.
Few applicants in the sample named Early Decision: 9 did, and 2 of them were admitted. Nine applicants said they were deferred, and 2 of those were admitted in the spring. New York residents did better, 5 of 7 admitted versus 28 of 105 applicants from elsewhere, but 7 people is too few to read much into.
What Cornell applicants can take from this
- Grades and scores won't set you apart here. Admits and non-admits had the same median GPA and nearly the same SAT.
- Your major is your real competition. CS and engineering applicants were turned down far more often in this sample.
- Research stood out. It was the clearest activity difference at Cornell.
- Plan for the waitlist. A third of this sample landed there, and Cornell's own data shows few come off it.
Cornell's College Intel page carries the same applicant-profile comparison, updated as new posts are logged.
Sources
- College Intel's tally of self-reported r/collegeresults posts, 2026 admissions cycle (404 posts logged as of Oct 9, 2026; 142 with a Cornell decision). Recruited athletes and transfer applicants excluded. Aggregates only; no individual post is reproduced, and no figure rests on fewer than 3 people.
- Cornell University Common Data Set 2024-25 -- Cornell IRP (waitlist figures, Fall 2024 entering class, as cited in Ivy League waitlist acceptance rates by school)
- College Scorecard -- U.S. Department of Education (Cornell's official admission rate)