It may not seem like it, but four years of college will fly by and the next thing you know you will be sitting in an interview trying to come up with examples of your experience. The Cornell Portfolio program is designed with checkpoints for you to reflect on your work and growth as a student. Throughout your academic experience, you will submit samples of your work, along with a reflection on what you have learned from that specific sample of your work. This will not only give you a portfolio of work to document your experiences, but the process of reflection will prepare you for future career or grad school applications and interviews. 

We are using the software program called Presence to manage the Academic Portfolio

As a first-year student, you are expected to submit artifacts from the following courses:

  1. First-Year Seminar (FYS), which has a common syllabus across sections, encourages creative and critical thinking about works from a variety of disciplines and provides students with a shared foundation for their educational experience at Cornell College. This course will focus on cultivating careful reading, discussion, and writing skills. Combined with the corresponding student success component, the FYS serves to introduce students to college-level expectations and learning on the block plan and academic support services and resources, providing opportunities for growth alongside the support to achieve this growth.

    1. From this course, you will submit your final paper, your course reflection, and 2 samples of your daily reflections or assignments. 

  2. The student success component extends our focus on students’ transition to college, emphasizing personal well-being, social connectedness, and academic preparedness across 3 blocks. Block 1 focuses on time management with an emphasis on helping students manage their academic responsibilities, campus involvement, and personal well-being. Block 2 emphasizes civil discourse and intercultural literacy. Block 3 focuses on academic planning and future opportunities.

    1. From this course, you will submit your block 2 and 3 reflections. 
  3. Topically based writing courses, with some common elements, taken in a student’s first year, and focused on the further development of academic writing skills. Through both informal and formal writing, students will focus on the process of writing, explore writing techniques and strategies, reflect on their work, and use the revision process to develop and communicate their ideas more effectively. Students are only allowed to earn credit for one first-year writing seminar.

  4. A sample of work from another course you have taken, which could be any course or one of your core requirements courses listed below. 


In your second year, you will select samples from:

  1. Second-Year Seminar: Citizenship in Practice (Block 1). All students with less than 14 credits will enroll in a second-year seminar. Credits granted to students from examinations cannot be counted towards the total credits needed to exempt a student from a Second Year Seminar. Topically based courses encouraging citizenship in practice by focusing on informed, creative problem-solving of real-world issues through disciplinary or multidisciplinary approaches. These courses may include community engagement and/or hands-on experiences such as field trips, off-campus study, service learning, simulations, performances, installations, exhibits, or lab work. SYS courses do not have prerequisites.

  2. 1 -3 Samples of work from your other courses, or from your core curriculum courses listed below


In your Junior Year, you will submit:

  1. A progress report on your time at Cornell and your goals for the remainder of your academic career.

  2. 1-3 samples of work from your core curriculum courses


Senior Year

  1. A Personal Statement or Cover letter 

  2. 1-3 samples from your core curriculum courses

  3. Sample from capstone

  4. Final reflection on your academic career at Cornell

Core Curriculum Courses

  1. Quantitative reasoning is the developed ability to analyze quantitative information and to determine which skills and procedures can be applied to a particular problem to arrive at a solution. Quantitative reasoning has an essential problem-solving focus and includes the ability to create and clearly communicate (in a variety of formats) arguments supported by quantitative evidence.

  2. Intercultural literacy is the possession of knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to appropriately and effectively include, communicate, cooperate, and collaborate with diverse individuals in a variety of settings. In Intercultural Literacy-designated classes, students focus on developing intercultural literacy, communication and critical thinking abilities, and understanding power structures, in order to prepare them for local and global citizenship. Courses focus on identifying and comparing cultural patterns and the relationship between experiences, ideologies, and culture; focusing on cultural self-awareness, cultural knowledge, and intercultural communication.

  3. Demonstration of foreign language competency at the 103 level or above. International students whose native language is other than English satisfy this requirement through meeting the admissions requirements.

  4. Explorations

    1. Fine Arts

    2. Humanities

    3. Natural Sciences

    4. Social Sciences

  5. Writing Encounter Courses

    1. Major

    2. Other writing 1

    3. Other writing 2

  6. Experiential 

    1. 1 of 6 categories

    2. 1 of 6 categories (must be different than first experiential). 

To access your portfolio, view our programs, or find opportunities at Cornell, please visit the Presence portal. 


Please see the Ingenuity in Action website for more information on the experiential program. 


More information on the First Year Seminar and the Student Success programs, can be found on the NSO website.