Admissions and Costs

Admissions

The Sibley School accepts applicants for both the fall and spring semesters. Students applying to the Master of Engineering program must submit an application, college transcripts and letters of recommendation. For current Cornell students, see the Admissions for Cornell Students page. International students from non-English speaking countries are required by the Master of Engineering Programs to achieve minimum scores on each of the subsections of the TOEFL exam (see below). A typical admit to our program has a GPA 3.6/4.0.

Application

The M.Eng. application must be submitted online through the Cornell University Graduate School ApplyWeb Portal. The application fee is $105 and fee waivers are rarely granted.

Application Deadline

M.Eng. students are admitted in both the Fall and Spring semesters. The deadline for Spring is October 1, and for Fall admission, the deadline is February 1. This is the deadline for the applicant to submit the application; a reasonable amount of time is allowed for letters of recommendation and official test scores to be received once the application has been submitted.

Selecting a Field and a Concentration

The Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering offers two Master of Engineering degrees: one in the field of Mechanical Engineering and one in the field of Aerospace Engineering. You must choose one field at the time of application.

Academic Statement of Purpose

This should be a one-page summary explaining why you wish to pursue a Master of Engineering degree.

Personal Statement

Personal Statement should provide the admissions committee with a sense of you as a whole person, and you should use it to describe how your personal background and experiences influenced your decision to pursue a graduate degree. For additional information about the personal statement please refer to the M.Eng. Programs Application Guide.
 

Letters of Recommendation

Three letters of recommendation are required and need to be requested electronically by providing the name and email address of each recommender on the application. We will not accept hard copy submission of recommendation letters and letters need to be submitted by the recommender.
 

TOEFL/IELTS Examination (if applicable)

TOEFL or IELTS exam is required of all international applicants from countries where English is not the official language unless the applicant has studied for at least two years in a country where English is the official language and the language of instruction was English. 

The Master of Engineering Programs sets the minimum required scores for English language proficiency tests.

TOEFL

Speaking: 22

Reading: 20

Listening: 15

Writing: 20

  • Send scores to Cornell University Graduate School, Institution Code 2098. Department codes are not used for matching scores to applications; if ETS requires you to select a department code, you may choose “undecided” or “not listed”.
  • The TOEFL score must be dated within two years of your program’s application deadline. Photocopies of TOEFL score reports will not be accepted.
  • Take the TOEFL early enough to have the results submitted at the time of your application. Exam dates are posted on the TOEFL website. Please note that we cannot confirm receipt of test scores until an applicant has submitted an online application. 
  • If you receive your test results and any sub-score does not meet the requirement, you should make arrangements to retake the test.

IELTS

An overall band score of a 7.0 or higher is required on the IELTS Academic exam. 

  • When you register for the exam, you may select up to 5 institutions to which you would like to have your scores sent. Cornell University has multiple IELTS accounts so please be sure to select Cornell University Graduate Admissions when registering for your IELTS test date.
  • You may also submit a request to your test center to have additional score reports sent to institutions not originally listed on your test registration form. Scores must be sent electronically (e-delivery) to the Cornell University Graduate Admissions, Caldwell Hall e-download account. E-delivery may also be referred to as an e-TRF by your test center.
  • We do not accept paper IELTS Academic test report forms.

For additional information regarding the English Language Proficiency Requirement, please see the M.Eng. Programs Application Guide.

Transcripts

A copy of the transcript from each college you have attended is required; electronic copies of official transcripts are to be uploaded into your application. Hard copies of official transcripts will only be requested if you are admitted and plan to matriculate, and will not be reviewed as part of the application process.

Résumé or CV

You are not required to submit a resume or CV; however, if you wish, you may upload a copy of your resume or CV into the application; include a list of publications, if applicable, with your CV.

Do Not Send any hard copy documents they will not be reviewed.

Please do not send published papers, CDs, or any additional materials not listed above. A writing sample is not required.

Application Review Process

After the application deadline, applications will be reviewed once they are complete (official test scores and letters of recommendation are received). Application status can be monitored through the online application system, you will be contacted after the application deadline if additional information is required.

Admission Decision

All applicants will receive an admission decision via email. We expect to notify applicants for Spring admission by November 15 and for Fall by March 15.

Admissions for Cornell Students

Costs

This is a self-funded program.

The Bursar’s office updates the tuition rate for M.Eng. degrees each academic year. M.Eng. degrees are considered Tier 1.

The M.Eng. program is a professional degree program and no funding is available for research or teaching assistantships. There are a limited number of opportunities for graduate teaching research specialist (GTRS) positions and the College of Engineering has a small number of fellowships. For more information about funding options for M.Eng. students, please visit the Paying for Your Degree page.