Students can apply for admissions through the College of Engineering or the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
There are two administrative pathways Cornell students may use to complete the Environmental Engineering major. They may matriculate in the College of Engineering and affiliate with the Environmental Engineering major in the CEE department, or they may matriculate in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and major in Environmental Engineering in the BEE department. The curriculum and degree requirements are the same for all students in the Environmental Engineering major regardless of the administrative pathway a student selects, except for minor differences in the freshman year. Faculty advisors are assigned to each undergraduate at the time they formally enter the major.
Cornell students are not allowed to double major across colleges.
CALS students majoring in Environmental or Biological Engineering may not double major in any other Engineering major. For BEE students wishing to double major with another major in CALS, please note: According to SUNY policy, CALS students majoring in a degree leading to professional licensure (Biological andEnvironmental Engineering) are forbidden to have significant overlap in coursework (more than 12 credits) with their other major. Due to the specific nature of engineering degree coursework, we do not expect significant overlap with other majors in CALS.
Affiliation
College of Engineering enrolled students
Students who matriculate in the College of Engineering (CoE) may affiliate with the environmental engineering major in their second year of study (transfer students entering the CoE typically affiliate with their major program at the time of transfer). Affiliated students pay endowed tuition and complete all environmental engineering requirements while enrolled in the Engineering College.
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences enrolled students
Students who enroll in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) as freshmen majoring in environmental engineering affiliate immediately with the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering. These students register in CALS for their freshmen and sophomore years and then are registered jointly with CALS and CoE during their junior and senior years. The primary college in the junior year and senior year continues to be with CALS. These students pay state contract college tuition all four years of their program.
Transfer students
Transfer students may apply to the EnvE major through either college. The academic expectations and award of transfer credit in these ABET-Accredited engineering programs follow the guidelines set forth by the Engineering College, and prospective applicants should review the Engineering transfer website for detailed information.
Engineering math transfer credit is determined by the Cornell mathematics department and transfer students must submit their previous math coursework.
Award of Advanced Placement credit is completed according to the rules of the Engineering college.
Transfer students are encouraged to apply to enter as sophomores because some of our second year requirements do not have equivalents at most other institutions.