New Policies for Class of 2012 Affect the Admissions Process

In high school, Daniela Arias of Mountainside, N.J. was involved in what she described as “a pretty diverse range of extracurricular activities.” An active member of her school’s chapter of Amnesty International and a writer for the student newspaper, Arias made it her goal to attend an Ivy League school.

On March 31, Arias was one of approximately 6,730 to receive an acceptance letter to Cornell. While this year, Cornell received a record-high of 33,011 applications for freshman admission, representing a 9-percent increase from last year, its overall admit rate of 20.4 percent only fell a tenth of a percentage.