How to Write the Cornell Supplemental Essays 2026-2027

Cornell University provides rich academic and extracurricular offerings to its students, not to mention a gorgeous campus located in upstate New York. Uniquely, you may only apply to one specific college at Cornell, with little flexibility for changes down the line. Each of Cornell’s colleges sets unique prompts. So, as you embark on your application, this breakdown of the Cornell supplemental essays can help you elevate your application. Let’s dive in.

Cornell’s 2026-2027 Prompts

There is no university-wide essay question this cycle. Every Cornell supplemental essay is specific to the college or school to which you are applying, so you only need to write the essay or essays listed under your college below. Some of the colleges have just one longer prompt, while others have a series of shorter prompts. Applicants must respond to all of their college’s prompts, with one exception: the Brooks School of Public Policy has an additional prompt only for applicants who want to be considered for its DC Start program.

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Essay Questions

1. What interests you about the major you selected? Tell us about experiences (both in and outside of the classroom), questions, and goals that influenced your choice. (350 words or fewer)
2. What draws you to Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS)? Reflect on the learning, community, or impact opportunities that matter most to you, and share how they align with Cornell CALS (as you understand it currently). (350 words or fewer)

College of Architecture, Art, and Planning Essay Questions

1. B.Arch applicants: Describe how your interests connect to architecture. Include an example of a creative project, design experience, or personal passion that sparked your interest in pursuing a 5-year professional degree in architecture. Reflect on how this experience shaped your understanding of the field and your motivation to study architecture. (650 words or fewer)
2. BFA applicants: Submit an artist statement describing your creative interests and practice. Address how your work reflects your artistic voice, influences, and process, and how studying art at Cornell AAP would support and expand your practice. (You will also be prompted to upload a copy to your Slideroom portal.) (650 words or fewer)
3. URS applicants: Describe your interest in urban and regional studies. Discuss experiences, ideas, or issues that have shaped your interest in cities, communities, and regional systems, and explain how URS at Cornell aligns with your academic and career goals. (650 words or fewer)

College of Arts and Sciences Essay Question

1. At the College of Arts and Sciences, your education is yours to shape. Describe an intellectual passion, question, or idea that has captured your attention, whether it emerges from your studies or extends beyond your coursework. What specific aspects of our liberal arts curriculum would you draw on to explore and connect your varied interests? (650 words or fewer)

Brooks School of Public Policy Essay Questions

1. Discuss your interest in pursuing a major in policy at the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and what draws you to this field of study. You are encouraged to consider including details related to your personal experiences, values, academic influences, or extracurricular activities that have shaped your perspective and future goals. (650 words or fewer)
2. DC Start applicants only: Please describe why you are interested in being considered for the Brooks School DC Start program. (350 words or fewer)

SC Johnson College of Business Essay Question

1. What kind of business student are you? Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should convey how your interests align with the school to which you are applying within the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business (the Dyson School or the Nolan School). (650 words or fewer)

College of Engineering Essay Questions

1. Fundamentally, engineering is the application of math, science, and technology to solve complex problems. Why do you want to study engineering? (200 words or fewer)
2. Why do you think you would love to study at Duffield Engineering? (200 words or fewer)
3. What brings you joy? (100 words or fewer)
4. What do you believe you will contribute to the Duffield Engineering community beyond what you’ve already detailed in your application? What unique voice will you bring? (100 words or fewer)
5. What is one activity, club, team, organization, work/volunteer experience or family responsibility that is especially meaningful to you? Please briefly tell us about its significance for you. (100 words or fewer)
6. What is one award you have received or achievement you have attained that has meant the most to you? Please briefly describe its importance to you. (100 words or fewer)

College of Human Ecology Essay Question

1. The College of Human Ecology prepares students to respond to human needs through an education organized around the interconnected issues that profoundly affect individuals, communities, and the institutions that shape our lives. Think about an extracurricular/community engagement/work experience that most closely connects you to the CHE mission and your intended choice of major. Tell us what that experience taught you about your broader community and its needs, and the impact you can make. How will your intended CHE major help you make that impact? (Refer to our essay application tips as you write your essay.) (550 words or fewer)

School of Industrial and Labor Relations Essay Question

1. Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should show us that your interests align with the ILR School. (650 words or fewer)

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General Tips

Once you’ve chosen which school you wish to apply to, you’ll need to extensively research its courses, professors, areas of research, and history. This exercise will help you not only understand where you’ll belong, but also what makes Cornell unique.

In your Cornell supplemental essays, you should strive to communicate an understanding of what you as an individual will contribute to the Cornell community and vice versa. Strive to be specific and tie in anecdotal experiences with your research on Cornell. Moreover, provide specific details about Cornell to the reader. Doing so won’t just evidence your thorough research. A specific, concrete essay will also help the reader visualize how you will fit in at Cornell.

Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Essay Questions

CALS asks for two short essays rather than one long one, and both are introduced by the same preface: “By applying to Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), you are also applying directly to one of our majors. From here, you would be part of a community dedicated to purpose-driven science; working within your major and across disciplines to tackle complex, real-world challenges.” Read the two prompts as a pair. The first is about your major and the experiences behind it; the second is about CALS itself. Do not let the two essays repeat each other. Decide in advance which stories and details belong in each one.

What interests you about the major you selected? Tell us about experiences (both in and outside of the classroom), questions, and goals that influenced your choice. (350 words or fewer)

If you’re passionate about ecosystems, food systems, agriculture, and human interactions with nature, there’s probably a cool story behind that. The key here is to match the school’s emphasis on real-world commitments. How will you apply your education beyond the theoretical? What steps will you take outside of the classroom to reinforce your knowledge and community contribution?

Couple that with your learning, growth, and pursuit of your goals. You can describe academic goals or personal goals more broadly. You can also write about a person or situation that influenced you to pursue your interests. Be sure to define your specific academic interests in this essay regardless of how you decide to elaborate on them.

Notice that the prompt names three ingredients: experiences (both in and outside of the classroom), questions, and goals. With only 350 words, you cannot cover all of them in depth, so choose one or two experiences that genuinely led you to this major, then connect them to a question you still want to answer and a goal you hope the major will help you reach. Because CALS admits you directly into a major, admissions officers want to see that you understand what that major actually studies, so make sure the interests you describe fit the major you selected.

What draws you to Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS)? Reflect on the learning, community, or impact opportunities that matter most to you, and share how they align with Cornell CALS (as you understand it currently). (350 words or fewer)

This is the “Why CALS?” half of the pair. The prompt gives you three lenses to choose from: learning, community, and impact. You do not need to address all three; pick the one or two that matter most to you and go deep. On the learning side, you might point to the flexibility to take coursework across disciplines while grounded in one of CALS’s 20+ majors, or to a specific experiential learning opportunity you have found. On the community side, you could describe the kind of peers, faculty, or extension-minded culture you hope to join. On the impact side, connect CALS’s emphasis on purpose-driven science to a real-world problem you want to help solve.

The phrase “as you understand it currently” is an invitation to be honest rather than exhaustive. You are not expected to know everything about CALS, but you are expected to have done real research. Name specific courses, faculty, labs, or programs, and explain why each one matters to you rather than simply listing them.

Consider giving the reader a glimpse into your growth before college before describing the growth you’d like to achieve through college, specifically at CALS. Lastly, refer to your career and life goals. Explain how CALS has unique programs, courses, and/or opportunities that will bring you closer to achieving those goals. In sum, you should weave a narrative about your interests and goals as they relate to this college.

Cornell College of Architecture, Art, and Planning Essay Questions

AAP now gives each of its three majors its own prompt, so you only answer the one that matches your intended major: architecture (B.Arch), art (BFA), or urban and regional studies (URS). All three prompts share the same goal. They ask you to connect your interests to the major through concrete examples, and they reward applicants who have researched AAP specifically. Name a few programs, courses, professors, or other aspects of AAP that are directly linked to your interests, and remember that you have a generous 650 words, so there is room for both a story and a clear explanation of fit.

B.Arch applicants: Describe how your interests connect to architecture. Include an example of a creative project, design experience, or personal passion that sparked your interest in pursuing a 5-year professional degree in architecture. Reflect on how this experience shaped your understanding of the field and your motivation to study architecture. (650 words or fewer)

This question is particularly for students interested in Cornell’s B. Arch degree, and it provides you an opportunity to describe some of the high school experiences which you might not have been able to discuss elsewhere in your application. For example, you could describe a moment when you were working on a creative project and realized that this project was the beginning of your future career. Alternatively, you could describe how you realized your passion for architecture would become your career or was something you could enjoy doing all day everyday.

The prompt also asks you to reflect on how that experience shaped your understanding of the field, so do not stop at the moment of inspiration. What did the project teach you about how architects actually work, whether that is iterating on a design, balancing constraints, or thinking about the people who will use a space? Show that your idea of architecture has matured since the spark, and explain why a five-year professional program, rather than a shorter or more general path, is the right commitment for you. Since B.Arch applicants also submit a portfolio, choose an example that complements your portfolio rather than simply describing a piece the reader will already see.

BFA applicants: Submit an artist statement describing your creative interests and practice. Address how your work reflects your artistic voice, influences, and process, and how studying art at Cornell AAP would support and expand your practice. (You will also be prompted to upload a copy to your Slideroom portal.) (650 words or fewer)

This prompt asks for an artist statement, which is a slightly different genre from a typical college essay. An artist statement explains what you make, why you make it, and how. Admissions officers and studio faculty want to hear your artistic voice: the questions, materials, subjects, or obsessions that keep showing up in your work. Be specific. “I explore identity” tells the reader very little; describing the series of self-portraits you painted on discarded cardboard, and why cardboard, tells them a great deal.

Address the three elements the prompt names. Your influences might be artists, movements, places, or experiences outside of art entirely. Your process is how a piece comes into being, from the first idea to the final decision to stop. Then turn to Cornell: explain how studying art at AAP would support and expand your practice by pointing to specific facilities, faculty, courses, or the chance to work across disciplines at a research university. Finally, remember that this statement will also be uploaded to your Slideroom portal alongside your portfolio, so make sure it speaks directly to the work you are submitting and does not contradict it.

URS applicants: Describe your interest in urban and regional studies. Discuss experiences, ideas, or issues that have shaped your interest in cities, communities, and regional systems, and explain how URS at Cornell aligns with your academic and career goals. (650 words or fewer)

This question is particularly for students interested in the URS program at Cornell. If you have past experience with urban or regional issues, now is the time to discuss them. For instance, if you grew up in an urban environment, have worked a summer job in regional politics, or completed a research project in urban studies, then this essay prompt is a great opportunity for you to provide more nuance regarding those experiences.

The prompt invites experiences, ideas, or issues, so you do not need a formal internship to write a strong essay. A bus route that was cut in your town, a neighborhood that changed as new housing went up, or a question about why two nearby cities developed so differently can all work as a starting point, as long as you show how it turned into sustained curiosity. Close by explaining how URS at Cornell aligns with your academic and career goals: name the kinds of courses, research, or fieldwork you hope to pursue and the type of work you imagine doing after graduation.

Cornell College of Arts and Sciences Essay Question

At the College of Arts and Sciences, your education is yours to shape. Describe an intellectual passion, question, or idea that has captured your attention, whether it emerges from your studies or extends beyond your coursework. What specific aspects of our liberal arts curriculum would you draw on to explore and connect your varied interests? (650 words or fewer)

The College of Arts and Sciences offers the broadest liberal arts education of Cornell’s various colleges. That’s certainly reflected in the multidisciplinary interests of the students they admit. This prompt, however, asks you to start narrow: one intellectual passion, question, or idea that has captured your attention. It can come from a class, but it does not have to. A question raised by a podcast, a problem you noticed at a part-time job, or an idea you could not stop arguing about with a friend all qualify. Pick something you can write about with genuine energy, and show the reader how you have already pursued it, whether through reading, projects, conversations, or experiments.

The second half of the prompt is where your research on Cornell comes in. The College emphasizes that your education is yours to shape: students choose from more than 40 majors, take much of their coursework outside their major, do not declare a major until the end of sophomore year, and often add a second major, a minor, research, or study abroad. Point to the specific aspects of this curriculum you would actually use to explore your question, and explain how they would let you connect it to your other interests. Concrete courses, departments, or research opportunities are far more convincing than general praise for flexibility.

Bear in mind that the biggest thing you should be accomplishing with this essay is explaining reasons why Cornell would be the place for you to combine these interests. For instance, you can do this by describing programs you’ve researched, alumni you admire, and/or classes you couldn’t take anywhere else.

Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy Essay Questions

Discuss your interest in pursuing a major in policy at the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and what draws you to this field of study. You are encouraged to consider including details related to your personal experiences, values, academic influences, or extracurricular activities that have shaped your perspective and future goals. (650 words or fewer)

Public policy is rooted in a desire to improve our conditions. With the Brooks School’s goal of making “positive change in the world,” you’ll want to explain where you too developed this goal. How did your interest begin, and how have you fostered this interest since its inception?

This is a good space to expand on an initiative you’ve taken for your community, a political campaign or volunteer center you’ve worked for. You can even discuss what gets you thinking about ways to better the world. Whatever it is, heed the prompt’s request that you talk about your experiences. It’s also typically easier to sound compelling when writing what you know.

The prompt also mentions values and academic influences, which are easy to overlook. A value might be a commitment to fairness that you can trace to a specific moment; an academic influence might be a history unit, a statistics project, or a book that changed how you think about a policy problem. Weaving one or two of these in will make your interest in policy feel considered rather than convenient. Be clear, too, about which Brooks major you are pursuing, since the school offers both Public Policy and Health Care Policy, and your reasons should fit the one you selected.

Lastly, you’ll want to touch on your life goals and how specific programs, courses, professors, or other aspects of the Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell connects to your life goals and will facilitate you in achieving them.

DC Start applicants only: Please describe why you are interested in being considered for the Brooks School DC Start program. (350 words or fewer)

DC Start is a first-semester residential program that lets a small group of incoming Public Policy and Health Care Policy majors begin their Cornell education in Washington, D.C. Students take a full semester of foundational Brooks coursework, including a course in which they work on policy projects with a community policy partner. If you want to be considered, you indicate that interest on your Common Application and answer this additional prompt. Only opt in if you genuinely want to spend your first semester away from Ithaca; this is not a box to check for extra credit.

In your response, be concrete about why Washington specifically, and why now. What would you do with proximity to federal agencies, advocacy organizations, and policymakers in your very first semester that you could not do on campus? Tie that to the policy interests you described in your main Brooks essay without repeating it, and show that you have thought about the trade-offs of starting college in a different city. Three hundred fifty words is enough for one clear reason, one specific example, and a sentence about what you hope to bring back to Ithaca.

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Essay Question

What kind of business student are you? Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should convey how your interests align with the school to which you are applying within the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business (the Dyson School or the Nolan School). (650 words or fewer)

As business schools on the whole tend to be more professionally-minded, this is a good space to reflect on the real-world impact you wish your business school education to give you. Pay special attention to how the prompt asks you to explain how what you want to achieve aligns with the specific school you’re applying to. For instance, if you’re applying to Dyson, perhaps focus on the marketing skills and business savvy you’ve been building up throughout your life. If you’re applying to be a Hotelier, use this essay to communicate what it is about the hotel, food, and administration industry that intrigues you.

Like the personal statement, this essay provides you an opportunity to talk about yourself. You’ll want to use personal details, experiences, and/or anecdotes in order to build out your essay and support your claims of interest in business. Bring in aspects of your personality that might not have been able to come through in your personal statement or other parts of your application if you can!

Cornell College of Engineering Essay Questions

A quick note on names: Cornell’s engineering college is now the Cornell David A. Duffield College of Engineering, which is why the prompts below refer to “Duffield Engineering.” It is the same college, so any research you have done on Cornell Engineering still applies.

Fundamentally, engineering is the application of math, science, and technology to solve complex problems. Why do you want to study engineering? (200 words or fewer)

You may have a great story underpinning your interest in engineering, and if so, here’s your opportunity to tell it. If not, you may want to think back on the cumulative experiences you’ve had in your life that have progressively pushed you toward engineering. In other words, this essay can consist of a single anecdote or many smaller anecdotes that build upon each other. Both types of structure will help your reader understand the nuances behind your interest in engineering.

In addition, you may want to consider the past, present, and future of your interest in engineering. To break that down, what past experience(s) have pushed you toward engineering? Why and how do you passionately and thoughtfully pursue engineering today? And how do you hope your interest in engineering guides your future? Regardless of how you answer these questions, make sure you clarify what specific field(s) in engineering interest you. You may also want to specify the engineering specialties you hope to study further in college.

Why do you think you would love to study at Duffield Engineering? (200 words or fewer)

As you only have 200 words to fulfill this prompt, you must be concise about your interests and how they connect to Cornell Engineering. Don’t hesitate to show you’ve done research on the school. Consider name-dropping classes, professors, or areas of research you would ideally pursue should you be admitted. Although you can write about why you want to study engineering more generally, your essay may be more compelling if you connect that excitement for engineering directly to the engineering opportunities at Cornell.

A great exercise to get you started is to visualize yourself as a student at Cornell. What classes would you be taking? What major would you eventually choose? Which professors would you elect to work with? Imagine yourself as a future engineer at Cornell: not only will help drum up your excitement for applying, but it will also help you craft a more compelling picture of your reasons to the admissions reader.

What brings you joy? (100 words or fewer)

Unlike most of the Cornell supplemental essays, this prompt doesn’t directly relate to Cornell or academics. In other words, you can feel free to discuss whatever comes to mind. You should not feel pressure to describe an aspect of engineering. If that’s the most authentic response for you, though, then go for it!

Note that this prompt doesn’t require a single answer. You can provide a list of things, people, topics, places, etc. that bring you joy. Alternatively, you could focus on one thing with as much nuance as 100 words can hold. Either route requires specificity. If the details you choose to include in this essay are genuinely personal and unique to you, then they’ll also be more memorable and striking for the reader.

What do you believe you will contribute to the Duffield Engineering community beyond what you’ve already detailed in your application? What unique voice will you bring? (100 words or fewer)

Consider the following guiding questions:

1. Beyond being an aspiring engineer, who are you?
2. What experiences make you you, and why do they contribute to your study of engineering?
3. How would you contribute to the humanistic side of engineering?

Understanding the role that your lived experiences and identity play into your Cornell engineering focus will help build your voice in that community. This essay is an occasion for you to use that voice.

Consider the traditional and/or stereotypical voices in engineering. You may also want to research the Cornell engineering community for more specificity. This research may reveal to you the ways in which you’re different from the average engineer. Your unique voice could be related to your life experiences or background. It might also relate to your worldviews and penchant for out-of-the-box ideas.

You may also want to brainstorm about the times when you’ve added a new perspective to a conversation, changed the direction of a project, or positively impacted others by raising your unique voice. Any of these past experiences could provide the basis of your essay by signifying how you might contribute in the future.

What is one activity, club, team, organization, work/volunteer experience or family responsibility that is especially meaningful to you? Please briefly tell us about its significance for you. (100 words or fewer)

This prompt, like most of the Cornell supplemental essays, seeks to understand your values and what drives you as a person. Two key words in this prompt are “one” and “meaningful.” The reader is looking for a focused essay that discusses one way you have participated in community (broadly defined) and the meaning behind that experience. What made the experience special for you? How did it stand out? How has it changed you?

You can think about your personal growth as you brainstorm for this essay. As you’ve matured and become more self-aware, thoughtful, and capable, you’ve likely been supported along the way by certain groups of people. Those people could be teammates, friends, colleagues, family members, or any other group of people. Whoever those people are, tell the reader about them here in this essay. Additionally, share how they have impacted you through your shared experiences.

What is one award you have received or achievement you have attained that has meant the most to you? Please briefly describe its importance to you. (100 words or fewer)

This essay gives you the opportunity, albeit briefly, to pat yourself on the back. Like the last prompt, though, this essay should be driven by what is personally meaningfully to you. Instead of describing your accomplishment itself in great detail, you should focus on why the recognition of your accomplishment was particularly important to you. How did this recognition impact you? Did it boost your self-confidence or open the door for new opportunities?

While working on this essay, consider sharing your drafts with people who don’t know you very well. Because this essay will involve you discussing your successes, it risks sounding immodest or arrogant. In order to avoid this issue, you can seek additional opinions from unbiased readers.

Cornell College of Human Ecology Essay Question

The College of Human Ecology prepares students to respond to human needs through an education organized around the interconnected issues that profoundly affect individuals, communities, and the institutions that shape our lives. Think about an extracurricular/community engagement/work experience that most closely connects you to the CHE mission and your intended choice of major. Tell us what that experience taught you about your broader community and its needs, and the impact you can make. How will your intended CHE major help you make that impact? (Refer to our essay application tips as you write your essay.) (550 words or fewer)

This prompt is built around a single experience, so your first job is choosing the right one. It should be an extracurricular, community engagement, or work experience (not a class) that connects you both to the CHE mission of responding to human needs and to the specific major you selected. Volunteering at a food pantry, working a summer job at a childcare center, helping run a school mental health club, or an internship at a clothing resale shop are all fair game. Choose the experience that taught you something about other people’s needs, not the one that sounds most impressive.

The heart of the essay is what that experience taught you about your broader community and its needs, and the impact you can make. This is where an outwardly focused, observant perspective matters. What did you notice that you had not noticed before? Which need went unmet, and why? Where did you see a chance to help, and what did you actually do? Be honest about the limits of what one high school student can accomplish; admissions officers are looking for realistic insight, not a claim that you solved the problem.

Finally, explain how your intended CHE major will help you make that impact. This requires real research. Whether you are applying to Human Biology, Health, and Society; Global and Public Health Sciences; Nutritional Sciences; Design + Environmental Analysis; Fashion Design; or another CHE major, name specific courses, faculty, research, or resources and connect each one to the need you identified. Read the College’s own application tips before you draft, since they spell out what CHE hopes to see. With 550 words, aim for roughly equal space for the experience, the insight, and the plan.

Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations Essay Question

Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should show us that your interests align with the ILR School. (650 words or fewer)

The ILR school leads in all things labor relations, economics, human resources, and management. Some of the most pressing problems it seeks to tackle are labor negotiations, conflicts among employers and employees, and the social sciences (in diversity, statistics, etc) surrounding labor and employment.

These topics seem to be in the news all the time, and are certainly relevant to a large number of people. So what makes them relevant to you? Why have you taken an interest in labor relations? How have you demonstrated this interest through your actions?

This prompt is also a personal question. You should definitely write about how the school and its programs will help you accomplish your goals in labor relations. That said, don’t hesitate to get personal about the motivations behind your decision to apply to this college.

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