Overview

We seek applicants who will make a difference by design.

In Design + Environmental Analysis (DEA), we believe good design is a force for social change – and we see our students as future change agents. 

Design is about making things happen, not just making things. Good design requires knowledge and imagination rooted in the social sciences and the arts.

The goal of the DEA Design Challenge is to communicate how you would make a difference in the world by design. Your submission should reflect something about who you are, your perspective, your goals, and your connection to the DEA major and Cornell Human Ecology mission.

Your DEA Design Challenge submission will be considered together with your application materials (Common Application, transcripts, etc.). DEA applicants who do not submit the Design Challenge will not be considered. 
 

Submission instructions

All DEA Design Challenge components must be submitted via SlideRoom. Materials submitted through other means will not be reviewed or returned.

Deadlines

Design supplements submitted after the listed deadlines will not be considered.

First-year applicants

  • Early decision: November 1, 2025
  • Regular decision: January 2, 2026

Transfer applicants

  • Fall external transfer applicants: March 15, 2026

Internal transfer applicants

Current Cornell students applying for internal transfer must also complete the internal transfer application process.

  • Spring transfer: December 1, 2025
  • Fall transfer: May 1, 2026
student looking at a board with designs pinned to it

Design Challenge components

The DEA Design Challenge consists of four required components.

  1. Process Board Part I
  2. Process Board Part II
  3. Creative Samples
  4. Résumé

All work must be original and produced by the applicant with no assistance from consultants. Submissions found to have significant similarity to work posted on the internet or from other sources will not be accepted.

Part I. Identify a challenge someone close to you faces

  • This could be a friend, family member, classmate, neighbor or someone in your broader community.
  • Focus on something you’ve personally observed, experienced, or cared about.
  • Design a product, space, tool, service or experience that improves their life in a meaningful way.
Format

Communicate your design through a 5-panel storyboard (like a comic strip) that:

  • Clearly shows the design in action.
  • Communicates its impact clearly.
  • Includes people, context and change over time.
  • Generate the cells of your storyboard by hand, using pencil, ink and/or watercolor.

Part II. AI 5-panel process board + reflection 

Use AI to generate an alternative solution for the design challenge you propose in Part I.

Add your own written notations to the storyboard about how the AI-generated design differs from your original design and AI’s impact on your design, for better or worse.

Format

Communicate your design through a 5-panel, AI-generated storyboard (like a comic strip) that:

  • Clearly shows the design in action.
  • Communicates its impact clearly.
  • Includes people, context and change over time.
  • Generate the cells of your storyboard using any AI tool that you wish.
  • Add your written notations using your choice of medium.

Submit 3-5 examples of your prior original creative work. 

Submissions might range from drawings and paintings to models. For each image/example, provide a title and a short description that includes a reflective statement about the outcome or process. 

You may submit a maximum of five pages, one page per example, to SlideRoom.

Upload your résumé highlighting out-of-classroom extracurricular activities.

You may include work, community engagement, school activities, etc. If you submitted a résumé as part of your Common Application, you are welcome to upload that document.

You may submit a maximum of two pages of your résumé to SlideRoom.

Frequently asked questions

The design challenge helps us learn who you are as a person, understand your point of view and recognize how you might fit within DEA. Our faculty review and evaluate the challenge as part of the full review of your application. 

DEA applicants must complete all four design challenge components and submit their work via SlideRoom. The Creative Samples portion of the design challenge provides you with an opportunity to submit your creative work.

Not necessarily. Your creative thought processes and written rationale are as important as aesthetic aptitude. We accommodate students with a wide range of creative talents and experiences.

You may not. You must adhere to the number of images designated in each category.

We do not because there is no one type of correct or successful submission. Consider your submissions as exercises in experimental thinking and risk-taking more than final presentations or examples of technical proficiency.

You can djg326 [at] cornell.edu (email our undergraduate programs coordinator) with questions about the program and/or design challenge. We are not scheduling faculty appointments at this time.