For the last few decades, students looking to weasel their way to get accepted into top-tier colleges like Cornell University have stressed themselves silly about demonstrated interest. Should they send handwritten letters to their assignment admissions reps? (No, that’s creepy). Should they go to Cornell’s homepage once a day in case someone is tracking their home address? (No, that’s creepy, but in a different way).
Basically, this used to be a pretty nebulous application component. What exactly was demonstrated interest and how much did it matter? No clear data ever emerged to this last point, and ultimately most institutions came to realize that cataloging applicants’ interest was unwieldy, unreliable, and unfair.
How so? Well, in the age of information, it’s asking a lot of admissions offices to store individual engagement data about each applicant. Second, demonstrated interest doesn’t significantly indicate whether a student will attend a school or not, so it wasn’t a helpful metric for acceptance rate and yield (i.e. anyone can go to a college fair and sign their name on the email newsletter registration, which means no one looks special for doing the little things). Finally, certain markers of demonstrated interest attested more to privilege than to a student’s efforts or attachment to the school. A highschooler with parents who are really involved in their application process and have the financial resources to travel for tours might have the ability to visit campus, but that doesn’t mean they care more about the school than a first-generation student navigating apps without adult guidance or the budget to visit colleges far from home.
TLDR: Does Cornell Track Demonstrated Interest?
No. No!!!! Cornell’s common data set unequivocally designates “level of applicant’s interest” as “not considered,” but if you really want us to spell it out, you can check out this FAQ where they say no for themselves.
What does that mean for you? In some ways, this shouldn’t have an impact on your plans at all. You can shelve any plans to orchestrate a months-long campaign of grand gestures toward a place and refocus that energy into your promposal.
It doesn’t mean, however, that you shouldn’t perform the actions of demonstrated interest just because they aren’t evaluated as part of your application. This may initially sound like we’re giving mixed messages, but we’re not. We’re telling you to not waste your time doing a bunch of small, superficial messages that no one is going to register on the other side. We’re not telling you to stop learning as much as you can about Cornell.
Showing interest in the right place is still crucial. As Cornell’s policy states, they could care less about students “calling, emailing, or visiting the university,” but “students can articulate their fit and interest in Cornell through specific essay questions in the application.” Again, anyone can call the office in a (futile) attempt to get their name in the system. Not everyone has a compelling, personal, well-researched written response explaining why Cornell has unique opportunities allowing them to pursue their academic dreams and integrate into a like-minded vibrant community of peers.
What Should I Do?
Take heart, young padawan. This is good news! All you have to do is relax, learn about schools however you can, and channel what you’ve gleaned about Cornell into your application. Demonstrated interest, in the end, is for you. Admissions officers don’t want to see empty gestures, so you don’t have to run around ticking boxes for every college on your list. Just make your essay as focused, specific, and personable as you can. And one last work of advice? If you’re hoping to be in Ithaca next year, buy a really good coat. Like really good. Those central New York winters are not playing around.
Need help demonstrating interest in your supplemental essays? Reach out to us here.