If you are not an antiracist, do not even think of applying to graduate School at Cornell University because we have a litmus test that will give you away.

Racism stops here.

In your online application, you will be required to fill out a Personal Statement for all graduate degree programs at Cornell University. While Personal Statements were once only required in the social sciences, at Cornell University we are so committed to antiracism that Personal Statements are now required for all graduate fields from Aerospace Engineering to Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. According to the Cornell University Graduate School Website:

Your 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. Additionally, it should provide insight on your potential to contribute to a community of inclusion, belonging, and respect where scholars representing diverse backgrounds, perspectives, abilities, and experiences can learn and innovate productively and positively together.

Your Personal Statement, which should describe your positionality and your intersectionality, is of upmost importance since a researcher’s identity and positionality can influence all aspects of research, including the research question, study design, data collection and data analysis. Your positionality and intersectionality is also of paramount importance in the classroom and when giving academic lectures.

Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ^Ɂ (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ^Ɂ are members of the Hodinǫ̱hsǫ́:nih Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ^Ɂ dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ^Ɂ people, past and present, to these lands and waters.
This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ^Ɂ leadership.