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HOW TO APPLY Cornell Faces Cornell Campus

International Students: Studying at Cornell

The best preparation for study at a highly selective university like Cornell is to pursue the strongest possible university preparatory curriculum your school offers. Most students who are accepted at Cornell are completing advanced or higher-level courses at the time of application and will receive excellent marks for that work. You should note that Cornell considers how well your background matches your field of interest. We also look for relevant experience and outside interests which complement your academic record.

As an undergraduate at Cornell, you will pursue a major (the academic discipline you'll study in depth) in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges:

Making your home in one of these undergraduate colleges still allows you to take courses in the other six colleges at the university. In fact, all of the more than 4,000 courses offered at Cornell are open to you as long as you are able to meet the course prerequisites. Many undergraduates find that, in addition to their formal major, they can take enough additional credits in another academic discipline to complete a "concentration," (an informal minor at Cornell).

You may find yourself majoring in psychology or chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences while you work on a concentration in communications in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Perhaps you'll pursue some field of engineering as a major and enroll in music, fine arts, and business courses as electives. Courses in biometry and statistics or applied economics and business management might provide a nice complement to a major in industrial and labor relations. Some students even complete double majors or enroll in dual degree programs at the university. You will find more information about these options in Cornell's Courses of Study.