As stated on our Requirements page, the content and rigor of the college-level courses you have taken are critical to your ability to transition seamlessly to Cornell Engineering. For this reason, we require every transfer applicant to submit course descriptions and/or complete syllabi for every college-level course he or she has taken.
This page contains guidelines on submitting course descriptions for your transfer application to Cornell Engineering. Follow this link for information on the content of Cornell-taught courses that appear on the "Transfer Requirements" page.
Guidelines for Course Description Submission for Engineering Transfer Applicants
Course Description Submission Content
Course description/syllabus submissions should include:
- Course number as it appears on your transcript
- Semester or quarter during which you took the course
- A list of topics covered in the course
- The name of the textbook used, along with author names and edition number (if known)
- The number of credit hours the course was worth (Students at international universities should indicate the number of hours per week of instructional time for the course, and the number of weeks the course lasted.)
- Whether or not there was a laboratory that accompanies this course
Course description/syllabus submissions should *not* include:
- Classroom policies on absence, tutoring, instructor office hours, etc.
- Homework and exam calendar for the course
- Instructions for homework submission and formatting
- Lists of chapters covered by number but without indication of content in those chapters (i.e. "Sections 12.1-12.4, 12.7")
- Full catalogs from the college or university you attend
Course Description Submission Format
We prefer electronic submission of course descriptions. Course descriptions should be sent electronically to engr_admissions@cornell.edu with the subject line "Transfer Course Descriptions for [yourname]", where you substitute your name for [yourname].
The descriptions must be submitted in one of three acceptable formats: .doc, .txt, or .pdf, and your name and date of birth should be included on every page of the document.
- Do not send an electronic file of your university's full catalog. If you wish to send a full catalog, you can send it by mail to our office (see address below) with bookmarks or a table of contents indicating the pages which list courses you have taken, and marks or highlights clearly indicating the courses you have taken.
- Do not email a link to your university's online catalog. You can copy and paste content from the online catalog into a document, then send it to us using either .doc, .txt, or .pdf format.
If you are unable to send your course descriptions electronically, you can:
- Fax them to our office at 607.255.0971. Make sure your name and date of birth are on every page.
- Mail them to our office. Make sure your name and date of birth are clearly labeled on the catalog or packet of descriptions (not just on the envelope) and send them to:
Engineering Admissions
Cornell University
Swanson Center
102 Hollister Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853-3501
Sending course descriptions to the Transfer P.O. Box is discouraged.
