The Cornell Human Ecology (CHE) Admissions Team knows that preparing a first-year college application can be overwhelming. We hope these tips will help you approach your CHE application thoughtfully and in a way that reflects you as a person, a scholar, and a community citizen. Check out our complete CHE application tips and our first-year admissions requirements. 

The College of Human Ecology’s supplemental essay prompt

Take a college-specific approach to this updated prompt. Your response should illustrate how your interests, perspectives, and aspirations align with Cornell Human Ecology’s mission and your choice of major.  

• Share how CHE’s education will help you examine your academic interests, inform your goals and create purpose in the context of impacting communities.
• Know that we are more interested in how you plan to use our programs to support the impact you want to make than a job title you want.

Your high school transcript

We consider your academic rigor, preparation, persistence, and excellence when reviewing your transcript.  

• Review our first-year admissions requirements. Competitive candidates, regardless of major, pursue the highest level of coursework available at their school, particularly in math and core science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics), and earn excellent grades.  
• You can explain coursework choices and/or grades that are not consistent with these points in the "Additional Essay" section.
• Apply yourself to your schoolwork throughout your senior year. The senior mid-term grades, as well as the final grade reports for admitted students, are important.  

Extracurricular activities

We want to know how you use your time outside school — what adds dimension, complements your values and academic interests, and connects with our mission.

• Prioritize your extracurricular activities to focus on those that are most important to you and from which you found the most meaning.
• Find ways to test your possible career interests. Be creative in finding these opportunities as they might be in your neighborhood, school, or with local organizations.
• Reflect on what you have learned about communities, institutions, and people as a result of your activities. How might these reflections inform your supplemental essay?
• Remember that leadership is more about how your commitment and contribution leads to impact than just a title.

Required design supplements for Design + Environmental Analysis or Fashion Design & Management applicants

These materials are reviewed by department faculty and help them learn about your creative design process, aesthetic sensibilities, and how you communicate your point of view.  

• Carefully review the design supplement instructions for your specific major of interest, as these supplements are unique to the programs and require written and creative work.
• Submit the design supplement, in addition to the Common Application, by the deadline that corresponds to your application timeline.
• Draw on your creativity in all components of the design supplement.