Cornell University's wording, checked October 26, 2026“What do you believe you will contribute to the Duffield Engineering community beyond what you've already detailed in your application? What unique voice will you bring?”
How to approach it
- 1Pick one quality and one example.
- 2The prompt says beyond what you have already detailed, so check the rest of your application and choose something new.
- 3A voice can come from where you grew up, a job, a language or a way of working with people.
A structure that works
One way to shape this answer. It describes moves, not sentences: the words have to be yours.
- 1Name the quality, perspective or habit you bring.
- 2Give one example of it changing something for a team or a group.
- 3Say where it would show up at Cornell Engineering: a project team, a study group, a lab.
Mistakes to avoid
- Repeating your activities list.
- Claiming a trait such as leadership with no example.
The checklist our grader uses for this question
When you check your Cornell answers, this answer is read against these 5 areas. Each comes back Met, Partly or Missing with a quote from your draft as evidence, and together with the 100 words limit they set its readiness verdict.
| Area | What a reader looks for |
|---|---|
| Answers the question | The opening sentences answer what was asked, plainly, before background or a hook; every part of a multi-part question is answered. |
| One lived experience | It focuses on one specific aspect of the applicant's life or background, shown through a moment or detail, not a list of labels. |
| How it shaped you | It shows how that experience changed what the applicant thinks, does or notices, with evidence rather than a claim. |
| What classmates will gain | It makes clear what the applicant would bring to conversations, classes or campus life because of it. |
| Cornell's ask | It connects the answer to Cornell's community and does every part of what Cornell's question asks. |
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Questions
More on Cornell and this kind of question
- Harvard: Life experiences you will contribute · 150 words
- Yale: Essay: your personal experience · 400 words
- Princeton: Your voice: lived experience · 400-500 words
- Columbia: Your lived experience · 150 words
- Brown: An aspect of your growing up · 150-250 words
- Dartmouth: Let your life speak · 250 words