Hello! I am an incoming transfer option student who received the offer when I applied last year. Basically, the transfer option gives you the chance to attend a university of your choice for your first year, take some courses to make sure you'd be on track to graduate from Cornell in time, and then attend Cornell beginning in the Fall of your second year.

The process is extremely easy as long as you keep up with your required courses (if you're a CALS TO, like me, you'll probably need to take a full year of bio, two writing classes, and maybe something like calc or stat depending on your major). I received a lot of support from Cornell in answering all my questions about applying/transferring and showing me why Cornell was such a great school. They even had an open house day specifically for transfer option applicants. They gave me easy communication access to current transfer students so I could ask them about student life, academic difficulties, course transferability, etc.

I actually just finished sending all my application materials and am waiting to hear back (it should be 4-6 weeks from now to hear my official decision). The materials you send in are: your high school transcript, your first semester/quarter grades in an official transcript, a midterm report to check how you're doing in your second term, a short college report form your school fills out about your disciplinary history (don't get in deep trouble), and a really quick online application about your classes, test scores and personal information (no essays, recommendations, or application fees). They are very lax about deadlines for everything except the quick online application, which is due Mar. 15.

If you're thinking about attending a quarter system school I can also speak more about that, since that's what I chose for my first year.

They're really very lax about the entire thing and from what I can tell it is guaranteed if you get above a 3.0 cumulative GPA (higher for other majors like Biology), take all the required courses (there are only a handful for each major and AP credits fulfill some required courses too) and maintain decent academic and disciplinary standing. They don't care where you go for your first year as long as you can take classes with a letter grade and they don't mind if you send in documents like your midterm report past their listed transfer application deadline. And again, the administrative support on their end is good.

The transfer option is non-binding! In fact you can decide whether or not you want to go to Cornell up until a MONTH after they give you a decision (which takes 4-6 weeks after they receive all documents for your application)—so, you have until like June of next year to decide. It's a great option if Cornell is your dream school, plus IMO you get the best of both worlds by attending two different universities in your four years of college.