Chemical Engineering - Interview with Avantika Vaish

Welcome to VIEW! Voices of Incredible Engineering Women! In today's episode we explore the world of chemical engineering and discover how it can take you anywhere from making beauty products to a mission specialist with NASA.  We will talk with current student, Avantika Vaish about her desire to help the world through green chemistry and making an eco-friendly environment.  Plus, we will chat with Scott Campbell, Director of Cornell Admissions about what the most important part of the application is, and why it is important to start the application process in your junior year. 

https://visit.engineering.cornell.edu/project/chemical-engineering/

https://www.cheme.cornell.edu/cbe

Transcript

Intro Segment:

Teri

Hi, I'm Teri Carey and welcome to VIEW, Voices of Incredible Engineering Women. Are you interested in math and science? Are you curious about the world? Are you an engineer? Well, maybe you don't know yet! The world of engineering is huge and we want girls to be included in the future of it. So grab a cup of coffee, get your curiosity going and listen in as we talk to real women studying engineering at Cornell.

We hope you enjoy our view.

First Segment:

Teri

Hello! Welcome to VIEW! I’m your host Teri Carey and today we are talking about the world of Chemical Engineering! When I was a kid there was a show called the Magic School bus and if you aren’t familiar with it it was an educational cartoon where this passionate and very enthusiastic teacher named Ms. Frizzle would take her students on these crazy journeys to learn about science on their magic school bus. I distinctly remember the episode where they talked about what chemistry is and for this episode Ms. Frizzle and her students climb aboard their magic school bus and get baked in a cake! I thought it was so cool to think about baking as a form of chemistry. Putting ingredients together like flour, eggs, and sugar to create something new like a cake, or how ingredients can make a reaction happen like the classic baking soda and vinegar explosion. Successful bakers understand the science behind these ingredients, you can watch the Great British Baking show and get some wonderful ideas of what to bring to the next holiday celebration, but also you will get to see why kneading bread is really important to help develop gluten strands making the bread elastic, but too much kneading will make it tough and chewy - that is chemistry! Or how about a souffle?  The heat in the oven helps the air bubbles in the egg whites in the batter to rise and expand. The proteins stiffen and you end with a beautiful and delicious dessert created through chemical reactions. 

So what happens when we combine chemistry with engineering? Well you get chemical engineering and basically this field is out to solve problems using chemistry. They are trying to understand how different substances react with each other and designing processes and systems to make these reactions happen in a controlled and efficient way. Chemical engineers figure out the best and most efficient ways to turn raw materials into useful products. They are also taking into consideration things like safety, cost, and environmental impact. So what does that look like in the real world? Well, you can find Chemical engineers in many fields including medicine, the oil and gas industry, cosmetics, food and beverage development, or helping the environment.  It could even bring you to space like Astronaut Mae Jemison. She majored in Chemical engineering at Stanford and after graduating decided to join the Cornell Family as a medical student. After graduating medical school she went on to work for NASA and on September 12, 1992 she became the first African American woman to go to space serving as a mission specialist on the space shuttle Endeavor. Chemical engineering was her first step to making history. Another amazing woman in this field was Margaret Hitchinson Rousseau. She was the first woman to earn a doctorate in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 1937. She went on to design the first commercial penicillin production plant. Penicillin is used to treat infections caused by bacteria, things like bacterial ear infections or some types of pneumonia. She was able to design a production plant that supported scientists to create this life saving drug on a large scale to help with distribution to those who needed it. 

Trips to space and designing pharmaceutical production plants are only two examples of what chemical engineering majors could go on to do. If you have been listening along to this podcast you have heard me say again and again how intertwined the fields of engineering are. It is imperative that you have collaboration and communication skills in order to be successful because again, like other fields we have discussed, chemical engineering is a field where there are no dividers. Think about the beauty industry for example. Chemical engineers help with products like make up, lotion, and hair care. You can see how chemical engineering is involved with formulation development of cosmetics - ensuring they are meeting industry standards, creating new, cleaner ingredients, or helping to ensure the product packaging is doing its job in ensuring a longer shelf life. So with that chemical engineers are working with dermatologists, marketing professionals, and even computer scientists. I saw this first hand the other day when I went to a beauty store to get some tinted moisturizer. They used a phone with a special lens to take a picture of my skin tone to match it to the right formula for the brand I was looking at. Computer Science, dermatology, marketing, - all coming together with chemical engineering.

Another great example is how chemical engineers work with biomedical engineers.  In fact here at Cornell, Dr. Rong Yang is bringing these two fields together, using biomedical applications of chemical engineering to solve a rapidly growing medical problem: Resistance to antibiotics. According to her research website, this growing resistance to established antibiotics is globally undermining our ability to fight infectious diseases, but also having major impacts on things like surgical success rates, dialysis, and cancer chemotherapy.  Dr. Yang is taking on these big global issues, and you can see how important her work is as it has the potential to save lives around the world. 

So if you can imagine yourself innovating new products, solving problems to manufacture things safely and efficiently, want to save the earth, or maybe even see it from space, Chemical Engineering may be a pathway to accomplish that and more. I’m really excited to introduce my next Cornell student, who is going to share with us her journey to engineering and why she decided Chemical engineering was a great fit for her. 

Student Interview:

Teri 

Avantika, welcome. Thank you so much for coming on view. How are you doing?

Avantika

I'm good, how are you?

Teri

Really good, doing well. Can you just introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about who you are and where you're from.

Avantika 

Yeah, of course. My name is Avantika. I'm from South Brunswick, New Jersey. And so I'm a sophomore, so class of 2026 here at Cornell. And I'm planning on majoring in chemical engineering. And I just want to thank you for having me on the podcast.

Teri 

Oh thank you! This is such a pleasure and such a treat to actually meet students and hear about their experiences. So I really appreciate your time in doing this. So I always like to start to kind of figure out where girls started with engineering. When were you first introduced to it? Was it something you always loved and were interested in? Or was there like this flash moment of, oh, that's really cool. I want to explore more about what that is.

Avantika 

No, yeah, it was definitely a flash moment for me. So I remember I was in middle school, sixth or seventh grade, and I'm from New Jersey. So there was an engineering program for girls called TARGET. And basically, they would have you complete various different engineering projects from different disciplines of engineering. And I think that was my first real raw introduction to what engineering is. And I didn't even know about the different types of disciplines that you could go into. So that was like my first like real experience with engineering. And I mean, my dad and my grandfather were also engineers. So it was always kind of like looming around the house of like, oh, there's an engineer. This is what they do. But I think my first real exposure was that summer program that I did with Rutgers.

Teri 

Awesome to have that support and to really see what it is. And I like how you were talking about how engineering is a word and it's engineering, but there are so many things within engineering that it could be. So you were exploring the different types of engineering. Can I ask what your family members, what types of engineers they were? And if you were also interested in that, or was it something completely different?

Avantika 

No, yeah, of course. So my dad is a computer science engineer. That was something I didn't want to do. For me, I want to do something a bit more hands-on and I'm not very good with tech stuff, so it just wasn't my area. But my grandfather, he is a chemical engineer, so that really spoke out to me. So I actually talked to him a lot when I was like looking into chemical engineering and like applying for colleges because I really wanted to gain more of a sense as to what chemical engineers do. So he really helped out with that.

Teri 

Yeah. Oh, that's so cool to have a role model right within your family to be able to explore that and see what it's like. Very cool. So you figure out what engineering is. You see, like, chemical engineering seems pretty cool. You have your grandfather who is showing you the way a little bit. Tell me about your journey to Cornell, how you found us as a program, and then your application process. I always like to ask what it was like when you got in, what you were doing if you were in the middle of something or just how you were feeling, who you were with and how you celebrated.

Avantika 

Yeah, of course. So when I was applying for colleges, I wanted to apply to like a medium sized type of campus, not like too big of a school. And I really wanted to be out of state. So I wanted to be a bit farther away from home.

Teri

Mm-hmm.

Avantika

So I was looking across chemical engineering programs and I came across Cornell. And at that time, because of like the pandemic, they weren't doing any in-person tours. So I was a bit bummed out about that. But I did do the virtual tour.

Teri 

Right.

Avantika 

And that really made me fall in love with Cornell. Like the campus was so beautiful, just from what I was seeing on the screen. And it was giving a lot of Hogwarts vibes. And like, as a Harry Potter friend, like that just spoke to me.

Teri 

Yeah.

Avantika

So the scenery was definitely a big play into it. And specifically for engineering, Cornell offers this project teams type of program. So that really drew me in. So those two factors really made me want to like apply to Cornell and I did ED to Cornell. So... I think I submitted my application around sometime in November, and then I found out in December. So it was really funny because I was actually working on my application for Princeton at that time when the decision came out.

Teri

Oh!

Avantika

Yeah. And I remember I got like the email notification and I was like, oh my God, like the results are out. The results are out. But my parents were like, no, we want you to open it with us. So I was like, okay, let me finish this like supplemental essay for Princeton. 

Teri

Oh, they made you wait?

Avantika

Yeah, I was like waiting. I was like, okay, let me just finish this and then we like all sat down huddled around the screen. And then, you know, I opened up the portal and I just like read the first word. It was like, congratulations on like the acceptance letter. And like, I broke down crying. I was like, so happy.

Teri 

Oh my goodness. That's incredible. So how long did you have to wait from the time when you were notified to when you could sit down with your family?

Avantika 

I think it was like a solid like hour and like that might not seem like a lot,

Teri 

Oh, that's a long time. No, that's a long time.

Avantika

but like yeah, it built up. Yeah.

Teri

Oh my goodness. Oh, that's so cool. So then you were able to celebrate with them and you didn't have to continue your application, right? You knew you were going to Cornell. That was it.

Avantika 

Yeah, I did not finish the application at all. I was like, I'm done.

Teri 

Yeah, that's a great benefit of ED is that you know exactly where you're going. And in the spring when everyone else is kind of waiting and thinking and like, oh my goodness, is it going to happen? You already know where you're going. You just got to keep on track with your classes and you're good. 

Avantika

Exactly, yeah, that's the best part.

Teri

I love those stories. All right. So you get into Cornell, you're here. Can you tell me about what chemical engineering actually is? I always do a little intro an intro segment when doing an episode, but I always like to also hear from the student their description of what chemical engineering is.

Avantika 

Yeah, so I think for me, chemical engineers mainly work on developing different types of processes and manufacture goods, right? So this can be anything from like gasoline to like detergents, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and like so on, right? So it's really broad. And so like, that's really what like kind of like brought me into it, that there's so much that you can do with it.

Teri 

So can you tell me about your classes and what you're learning, if there's lab components to it and what it's like to actually study here at Cornell for chemical engineering?

Avantika 

Yeah, so I think two of my major required classes that are applied to chemical engineering that I'm taking this semester are chemical processes and analysis. And so that class is really focusing on working with different types of applications where you're trying to like, dealing with material and energy balances. And we basically draw out the processes to carry out specific chemical reactions. So we look at the type of like reactors that we have to use and the separators and like at what temperatures these need to function at. So that's a lot of what that class is. So I really like that because again, it's really like hands on in terms of like the drawing and trying to figure out what goes where. And that's really what like chemical engineers do, you know, they're working trying to figure out how do I make these processes work out at the end of the day. So that class is like a great intro for that. And then the other class that I'm taking related to my major is physical chemistry. So that just covers your basics of quantum mechanics and Schrodinger's equation, a lot of stuff that kind of goes over my head sometimes, but also very interesting. In terms of lab components, none of my classes this semester had any, but I did take two lab courses from my Gen Ed Chem classes in my first and second semester. So those were really cool because I always love being in the lab and being hands-on. So it's something definitely that I'm looking forward to in future semesters because I'll have a lot more labs to take.

Teri 

Right, yeah, so you have a little bit more experience to get to. You're a sophomore, so you're still not even affiliated technically, right, for a chemical engineer. 

Avantika

Exactly. I'm hoping to apply. Yeah.

Teri

So you're still getting your general education and engineering requirements out of the way before you get to the chemical engineering aspect of it. But speaking to these hands-on kind of experiences that you have, can you tell me about other things you're involved with in at Cornell? Things like research or project teams or any other co-curriculars, like if you're doing sports, music, things like that.

Avantika 

Yeah, so on campus, I'm involved in a project team, Mars Rover, 

Teri 

Oh, very cool.

Avantika

And I'm also an AEW. Yeah, and I just love being on the team, it's great. I'm on the Astro Tech sub team, so each project team has several different mini teams within it that work on different components. So I'm on the Astro Tech sub team, and we really work on implementing this onboard laboratory system that conducts tests on soil samples to see if there's life, because that's one of the big things that we do at competition.

Teri 

That's so cool. I have to say, as an admissions representative, the Mars Rover project team is asked about a lot. That's one of the ones that people are very interested in. Can you tell me more about the team and how it operates? You said that you have competitions and things like that. I would like to know more about the competition aspect and what you do.

Avantika 

Yeah, so competition is actually held in Utah in May. And so there are several sub teams on Mars Rovers. So a lot of the things that we have to do at competition require not only detecting life from soil samples, but navigation and identifying targets. And a lot of it's just maneuvering the rover and seeing what it can do and operate. And so we have different sub teams for that. We have ARM, which will focus on the arm component of our rover. And then we have drives, which is really like working on navigation along with like CS and electrical, which goes all behind into like figuring out how will this rover move. So, I mean, at the end of the day, we're all like working together to make sure this thing is working, but it's a really great team environment. I mean, I can say like a lot of my friends are on that team and like, it's just a really great experience overall. Like not only is it very like educational and like you get a lot of hands on opportunity, but it's also really fun along the way. Like I've made a lot of good friends.

Teri 

Yeah and there's a lot of different types of engineering that goes into that project. It's not just, yeah, it's not just chemical. It's like so many things, right?

Avantika Vaish 

Yeah, there's like so many. Yeah, you got mechanical, you got electrical, CS, chemicals obviously there. We also have even some non-engineering disciplines. We have like biology majors. So it's like very like widespread. And that's what I love about Mars Rover specifically that like we have so many people coming from like different majors. So like we're all contributing something different which is great.

Teri 

so collaborative. It's such a word we use all the time, but I always like when we can actually identify a project and show and prove like, look at this, like you, it's not just one person, it's not just one field of engineering. It's so many. It's not even just engineering. It's, you know, so many people coming together for this project. That's awesome. I love hearing about that. Do you have any other co-curriculars you wanted to share?

Avantika

Yeah, so also on campus, I'm an AEW facilitator. I don't know if people know what AEW facilitator is, but basically for our general engineering classes that all engineers have to take, some of them offer this additional class outside where you basically work on more practice problems and really build on your foundation of that topic. And so as an AEW facilitator, I would like a co-facilitator. We each week lead this class of 24 students, and we just make slideshows and give them extra problems to work on, and really focus on making sure that they collaborate with each other, and not just us spoon feeding them the information,

Teri 

Yeah.

Avantika

because at the end of the day, it's them who has to work on this on their own. And so being able to learn from each other is what we really try to push them to do. Okay, instead of asking us for help, try to learn from your peers instead. So that's something that I really like.

Teri 

That's cool, you're building a community almost, you know, within these students who are new to this. You're giving them the support, but also building the community within themselves so that they can do that. And then they can go on to continue on to their engineering fields. That's awesome. 

Avantika 

Yeah.

Teri 

So what do you hope to do with chemical engineering in the future? And I also like to ask usually, if there's something that you see in like our everyday life that is relevant to chemical engineering that people may not realize or know. I feel like chemical engineering is everywhere, but people may not be able to necessarily identify it.

Avantika 

Yeah, so I think personally what I want to do with chemical engineering is that I'm really interested in like energy and green chemistry and green chemistry is like where you're working on improving and innovating processes that are more like eco-friendly to the environment. Because a lot of like productions that go on behind making all these products, right? There's a huge like concentration of waste and pollution that come from the factories. And so I really want to work on like eliminating all this waste and pollution and trying to like modify these processes so that they're just more sustainable to the environment. And I think that what's really neat about chemical engineering is that like literally everything that like, like from the clothes that we wear to like, you know, the food that you make like that's all like processed at one point and that's basically we work on the production of all of those things. So like everything that you see around you was produced in some way or shape or form.

Teri 

Yeah.

Avantika 

and chemical engineers are behind that, which I think is really cool.

Teri 

Yeah, absolutely. It is literally everywhere and you don't realize it. And that's what's so great about this opportunity for you be able to point that out to people and be like, look, this is chemical engineering and you don't even realize it, you're wearing it.

Avantika 

Yeah, exactly.

Teri 

Awesome. Can you tell me about your experience being a female in engineering? If you feel empowered being in this field or if you have a different perspective, because it's not always a 50-50 split, like I say, like I've said in previous episodes, that it can be that you're the only girl in the room. But I'm interested to hear about your experience being a female in engineering.

Avantika 

Yeah, definitely. I'm just thinking back to this one instance. I was really little, but it was like, bring your child to work day. And so I went to my dad's office. And just seeing the entirely male-dominated feel kind of freaked me out a bit. I was like, wow, there's hardly any girls here. 

Teri 

Yeah.

Avantika

And so that kind of set me back a little bit. But I think coming to Cornell, specifically Cornell engineering, what I really like about it is that there's a very level playing field. And in all my classes, like there's an equal number of both like boys and girls. So like, I feel like every opportunity is available for every student here. And even like seeing like my TAs and my professors in my classes, like there's a very well mix of them being both male and female. And I think that it's great to see females stepping up in these leadership opportunities because it motivates students like myself, you know, to wanna continue and pursue this field and like take leadership in that eventually.

Teri 

Mm.

Avantika

I definitely think this sense of empowerment will definitely come more upon me once I join the work field and I actually go out and see, okay, wow, like the ratios are not so as even as I thought they would be like I saw in my dad's workplace. 

Teri 

Yeah

Avantika

But again, it's just hoping that like, I can be successful in my career by doing good for the planet and also like in my personal life as well that I can motivate others to continue to want to pursue degrees in STEM and hopefully like eliminate this ratio in the workforce.

Teri

Yeah. And that must have had an impact on you as a young girl to see that and kind of have this picture in your head of like, wait a second, nobody here looks like me. Is this where I belong or is this not for me? And especially as a child not being able to necessarily process that as much. But I'm so glad that as you grew, you were able to oversee that and be like, wait a second, this might be how it was, but let's change this. Like, I want to continue to go forward with that.

Avantika 

No, yeah, and like that program that I talked about earlier about the TARGET program where I first like gained like engineering experience, that was specifically targeted for girls.

Teri 

Yes.

Avantika

So like back in like middle school, like not many people like, first of all, not many people knew in middle school what they wanted to do. And if they ever did, like not many girls would be like, oh, I wanna be an engineer. And so like, I never had like that kind of thing that, oh, there might be others who might be interested in this like me. And, but then seeing all those girls in one place, having like that same passion as yourself. It really drove me to be like, okay, this is something that I can do and I want to do because I'm not alone in this. So that really helped.

Teri 

Absolutely. Oh, that's beautiful. I love hearing that. That's really cool. So when going through all of this and having, you know, being at Cornell and being able to see that there is a 50-50 split, but you still have things to overcome, it's still an engineering program, it can be rigorous to go through this. Who is your support? Who helps you feel like you've got this? That you can get through, you can continue to be successful in this.

Avantika 

I definitely think my family are like my biggest supporters. I mean, yeah, like you said, the curriculum here is very rigorous, and it was definitely a step up from high school. And so trying to like, settle into that was very difficult. And so like just a phone call from like my parents whenever I'm stressed out really helped me like say like, Okay, no, I got this I belong here, you know, I can work through this. So that's always there. And I'm so grateful for them. And I made some pretty great friends here at Cornell who are also going through like the same struggles and like,

Teri 

Mm-hmm.

Avantika

you know, like they're experiencing the same difficulties. So I think being able to share that experience and like talk things with them also really helps because at the end of the day, they can also relate to you, but they'll also be your support system here. So really value them as well.

Teri 

That's really nice to be able to have that support. And I like how you said, no, I belong here. And that's so important. I think sometimes when people are accepted to a program, they kind of get this feeling of like, wait, is this a mistake? Like, I don't know. Maybe this wasn't right. But you have to really trust in the process and know that when we admit you, we see it. We see your potential. We see your experiences. And you do belong. Like, we can see that you're able to be successful in this program. And so. it's going to be difficult, it's going to be rigorous, there's going to be stress. But at the same time to fall back on the trust of like, wait a second, I was admitted here. I deserve to be here. I belong. So I love that word that you used, you belong here. That's absolutely 100% true.

Avantika 

Yeah, it's just, you just gotta get, like you have to get past through that like first initial barrier, but it works out in the end. So.

Teri 

Yeah, yeah. So can you tell me about your view of engineering and why girls should explore chemical engineering, why they should invest their time in this?

Avantika 

Yeah, so I think as like my general view of engineering, engineers, they take your daily problems and they turn into daily solutions, right? Like if you have a problem in the future, engineers gonna fix it. And I feel like being part of the solution is one of the biggest things that I value. And so like, if you're interested in that, then like, I feel like it's definitely for you. Cause again, there's so much that you can do in engineering apart from chemical engineering, there's CS, there's civil, there's mechanical, there's so much. So,

really like engineering could be for anyone because it has so many opportunities.

Teri

Yeah

Avantika

Specifically for chemical engineering, I think one of the examples I like to think about is a pandemic. So when the vaccine was getting developed, it was on such short notice and it was needed, like it was needed very rapidly. So chemical engineers like went in behind that. Not only were they developing the vaccine, but they also worked on mass producing it at a large scale to deliver it to so many people across the world. And I think that's such a huge impact that is often overlooked, that like chemical engineers were responsible for that, you know, like so many engineers were obviously involved as well, but like, you know, chemical engineers were part of that as well. And I think that to make such a big difference like that, like is what really like matters. And so like with chemical engineering, you know, like you can do something with pharmaceuticals like that. You can like work in like energy and sustainability, like how I want to do with like developing like more sustainable products and like eco-friendly like processes. And so I think with chemical engineering, you can make a huge impact on the world in a positive way. And I think that's what drew me in, and I hope it draws other girls in as well, because there's so much opportunity in this and you can do so much with it.

Teri

Absolutely. That's a great example with the vaccine. Some people don't really necessarily think of that. They just think, oh, it's a medical field. And they don't necessarily bring that back to, wait a second, this is engineering too. This is a lot of chemical engineering, biomedical coming together to have this incredible goal that was so steep. It was something that we needed, but also seemed impossible at the time. You know, it was incredible that it came together in as short of a time as it did, even though it seemed like a really long time because there was so much happening in that time. But perfect example. That was really great. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time and your voice in this and being able to lend your experience so that other girls can learn more about chemical engineering.

Avantika 

Thank you so much for having me. I think this podcast is a great idea. And I really hope that like girls out there like, you know, are getting motivated to like, want to be part of STEM because it's a great field and it really is not just only for men, it's for everyone. So I'm really glad that you're setting this up and I got the opportunity to be on here. Thank you so much.

Admissions Segment:

Teri 

Hey Scott, how's it going?

Scott 

Hey Teri, how are you?

Teri 

Doing well. We're in February. We are in the middle of reading lots of applications.

Scott 

Time is flying, that is for sure.

Teri 

Absolutely. So speaking of applications, my question for you is, what is the most important part of an application? We get this all the time, every day.

Scott 

Oh, yeah, that's a great question. So I think if you look at the common application, which is the one that we see the most, for any one applicant, there's probably what, 40 to 50 pages worth of material that comes in as an application. And I think probably what I would say is they're all important. Every piece of information that's on any one application is super important. And...The reason it's important is because all of that information comes together to give us hopefully a good sort of robust view of each applicant so we can sort of see them from multiple directions. So I think my initial answer is probably not all that satisfying, which is it's all important. Everything that any applicant submits is super important to us. But maybe I can help a little bit by talking about the two things that we gravitate towards as soon as we open any one application. And the first one is the transcript. And basically what we're looking there for, you know, grades across time and also the rigor of a student's curriculum relative to what was offered to them in high school. Those two things will tell us really important information really quickly, which is, is the student prepared for engineering particularly the math science piece of that. And the second piece of information that we're really interested in there is, have they challenged themselves within the context of their own environment? In other words, have they taken rigorous classes that were available to them within their own high school context? So the transcript is probably one of the most important informational pieces that we'll see. The second one that I tend to look at really quickly after the transcript is the academic interest statement. And basically what I'm after there is, you know, what is the student really interested in studying in engineering and particularly what is that student interested in studying here at Cornell and then the other pieces that come along with their writing on that Cornell supplement, that's the additional piece of writing that Cornell asks our applicants to complete when they're submitting the application. So it's all important, every piece of it is, you know, we look at it at all. The transcript is probably the first place we go to so it has a certain amount of increased relevance. And then of course the academic interest statement helps us get a clear sense of what the student is interested in, how that ties into Cornell and our College of Engineering here.

Teri 

Yeah, absolutely. I have the same system, you know, going and looking at grades first, seeing what the story is there with the academics, but then going in and seeing the actual student, seeing what they're interested in and building off of that. So yeah, anything can be a tipping point, any part of it. So it really is all important. You know, we look at the whole application and seeing how the student could do well here and give to our community, but also how they can benefit from Cornell, both ways.

Scott 

Yeah, and I always, you know, there's not, students are always looking for, well, what's the factor you're looking for? And they're really all, all are important. And so the trick then becomes, well, how do I put my, how do I play my cards well? Or how do I put myself in a good position for admission? And the way to do that is really for each student just to put their best foot forward and to be genuine and authentic in the application. And that gives us the opportunity to make a good admissions decision for that particular student in terms of whether we're able to bring them into the community. And a large part of what we are doing is building an engineering community. So we're building this really interesting and unique group of people coming together. And that takes a lot of looking at multiple pieces of any one application to try and understand who each applicant is and how we build that community.

Teri

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. So what advice did you bring for us today, thinking about the admissions process and applying to Cornell?

Scott 

Yeah, I think it's always good to sort of remind people of the logistical part of the process, because it is a process. There's a lot of different moving pieces. And so, for any student out there thinking about applying or going, beginning that process, it really is starting to think about timelines, honestly. What is, what parts of the application are due at specific points? How do they understand the deadlines that they'll be required to complete, whether that's submitting the full application, whether it's submitting mid-year grade reports, whether it's submitting final grade reports, whether it's updating their application with other materials that they want us to take a look at. It's really about the logistical part of it today, and that's, you know, start your application early, develop a good timeline, really research where you would like to apply, whether it's Cornell or elsewhere, and make sure you understand exactly what the logistical parts of their different processes are.  If you do that, it reduces stress. It really takes away a lot of the stress of the process because things become much more visible and you can plan them out. I would also say not to put pressure on students, but it's good to start this process in your junior year and really take a look and just, you know, have to do all the logistical pieces, but at least start to map out, you know, what does this look like and what am I gonna be doing over the next year and a half to get ready to go to college? And if you do that, it also puts pushes the stress levels down a little bit. So today's advice is plan early, understand the logistics, and do your research and really try to identify good timelines on what needs to be submitted and when it needs to be submitted by.

Teri 

Yeah, and it also helps with people who are helping with your application, like teachers who are writing those letters of recommendation. If you ask them the spring of your junior year, they're going to be so much happier to write that letter versus asking them fall of their senior year because there are so many people asking, there's so many other things going on. So if you at least have a concept of what you want to do, maybe you don't necessarily know where you want to apply to specifically yet, but you can get...get that question into your teachers and say like, Hey, would you mind writing this letter? It puts pressure off of them as well because then they have some time to be able to do that.

Scott 

Yeah, the letters or recommendation or teacher evaluations are one of the most important parts of the application. It also, that's one of the parts of the application that you're relying on other people to do the lift for you. And so you really want to set that up well. And that is exactly as you say, identify who you want to write your teacher evaluations or letter recommendations, go to them early and let them know you're going to be asking for those. And then give them good information about yourself. What do you want to study in college? Why do you want to study that in college? What are five words that you think describe you really, really well? Give them good information so that they can write you a robust letter or teacher evaluation and make sure you go to them early enough where they have time to be able to map and plan that out for you so they can do good work on your behalf.

Teri 

Yeah, and the same with the essays too, right? Like over the summer, when you don't have as much schoolwork necessarily, plan them out, outline them, do a couple of drafts, see how you go, have other people read it, so that when you get to the fall crunch time, you already have a really great foundation ready for you.

Scott

Yeah, I think what we're basically saying is be a good engineer and plan ahead and nail the logistics. So really use your engineering skills to sort of say, okay, what is this thing? How do I break, break it down into its component parts, understand it, and then plan and really deliver things. Well, these are all basic engineering skills that you're going to use anyway. So why not put them into play for the application?

Teri 

Absolutely. Well, thank you very much. I want to thank our student Avantika for chatting with us about chemical engineering. Thank you again Scott for always giving us some great advice and helping us answer all of our questions. And finally, thank all of you for listening. I hope you learned something today, and maybe it was that you're an engineer.

Closing Segment:

View, Voices of Incredible Engineering Women Is a podcast produced and written by the Cornell Engineering Admissions Office. Please remember to like, follow, subscribe and share our podcast and help us bring engineering to the ears of young women everywhere. To find out more information about Cornell engineering please visit our website visit.engineering.cornell.edu.