Admissions

Why Cornell Engineering?

"Scientists study the world as it is; engineers create the world that never has been."—Theodore von Karman

Cornell engineers challenge the status quo and do great things. Steeped in an environment of questioning, and with a focus on innovation, Cornell Engineering pursues excellence in all areas. Its faculty, students, and alumni design, build, and test products, improve the world of medicine, inform and shape our laws, create and drive businesses, become research luminaries, and overcome real and perceived barriers to achieve scientific breakthroughs that advance the quality of life on our planet.

We invite you to learn more about Cornell Engineering and its programs.

What type of applicant are you?

Undergraduate Admissions

Our undergraduate program will challenge you to transcend traditional boundaries between disciplines while giving you a world-class education in a collaborative, rigorously academic environment.

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Did you know?

In 1933 Ralph Mosser Barnes was awarded the first PhD worldwide in Industrial Engineering for his dissertation “Practical and Theoretical Aspects of Micromotion Study” . It was retooled into the 1937 text, Motion and Time: Design and Measurement in Work, that sold 300,000 copies:, forming a quantitative basis for analyzing the industrial production process, including such applications as movements required for typing and the commercial folding of napkins .

In the late 1800s, Cornell Engineering awarded the nation’s first doctorates in Industrial Engineering and electrical engineering.

Walter Lynn, a distinguished professor at Cornell for most of his academic career, was particularly interested in water quality. He was at the forefront of environmental studies and coined the term "sustainability."

William Durand, a mechanical engineering professor from 1891 to 1904, was instrumental in forming the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1915, which was the forerunner of NASA. Durand helped to plan the committee’s first laboratory at Langley Field.

In 1993, Prof. Darrell Schlom, his MSE undergraduate student were the first to suggest the stability of the HfO2/Si interface. This research enabled faster computing while helping the then-$300 billion a year semiconductor industry to keep growing.