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The fall 2020 acceptance rate for Cornell College is 70%. That means, out of _____ applications received in 2020 , _____ students were offered admission. The number of males who applied was _____ vs the number of females which was _____.
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What should every freshman at your school know before they start?
Find a college where you are comfortable - don't let institutions swoon you with their fancy gimmicks. Know what you want and expect to get for the money you spend and find it. Don't compromise - remember, this is where you'll live and hopefully encounter some life changing experiences and lessons. It has to be a good fit. When on campus, get involved. Use your time in college to become that well-rounded individual. Of course, maintain excellence in academics but join student organizations, athletics, or service organization. College is not only a time where one learns and crafts interests but it is also a time where one experiences self discovery - a time where you learn a form of independence. Enjoy the experience. There are few occasions in life where one is given an opportunity to spend such focused time studying personal interests and spending time with individuals in the same life situation.
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Describe the students at your school.
Classmates are friendly, open students who like to work hard and play harder.
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What do you consider the worst thing about your school? Why?
We live in a bubble, disconnected from world events and other people. This makes it hard to get jobs after college and social interactions are a little odd especially when we are all stuck together for winter. The things we learn here seem applicable a lot of the time only in the bubble as well as the things we choose to do while here. Many of the issues we discuss while on campus seem very unimportant in real life and when outside of the bubble.
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Describe your favorite campus traditions.
One Course At A Time
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Describe how your school looks to someone who's never seen it.
A small, friendly, highly academics-focused school located on a beautiful, historic campus.
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What kind of person should not attend this school?
A person who procrastinates. A person who isn't interested in studying subjects in great depth. A person who is close-minded. A lazy person.
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Here's your chance: Say anything about your college!
Overall, I really do like Cornell. But I have 3 minor beefs with the school:
1. The administration has some policies that seem more appropriate for a boarding school than a college. The write-ups for alcohol are stringent, and there is no amnesty policy. There is a zero tolerance drug policy (including marijuana). But more disappointingly, these policies are advertised as being community building, when really they just encourage even more dangerous student behavior.
2. Cornell really bills itself as a school with an international student body and focus, with myriad opportunities around the globe. The opportunities exist. But the student population is not nearly as intellectually curious or diverse as advertised. Most of the people I know are not particularly interested in taking a block in a foreign country; they'd rather just take a vacation from school.
3. The food. It's really repetitive and there is a serious lack of vegan/vegetarian friendly options. Props to whoever designed the cafeteria, though, for giving students ways to customize whatever's for dinner. There's a sandwich/quesedilla press, always vegetarian and meat chilis, and there are usually the ingrediants to make a pretty decent salad or bagel pizza. But it would be nice if we didn't always have to resort to making our own food.
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What kind of person should attend this school?
Someone who is very focused on their education and wants a laid back college experience.
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What do you brag about most when you tell your friends about your school?
Cornell College is located on a beautiful campus with classes which allow students to focus on their subject.
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What's the most frustrating thing about your school?
The feeling of being trapped within only 18 days, expected to continue even when we're not feeling well; striving for a good grade when the A we start out with today can become a perpetual F tomorrow, no rest, no sleep, just work and more work, then block break comes, and we'll think it was all worth the work.
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What is your overall opinion of this school?
The size of the school is perfect (1200), though socially it can feel small if you restrict yourself to hanging out only with those in your main social group. People tend to spend their most of their time on campus hanging out in the dorms, but you'll always see people in commons and the library. The town is tiny, basically just a main street, but it has some really cool shops and restaurants. It's 20 minutes to the nearest walmart and to anything open after 10 pm, so a car is really awesome to have. Cornell is the kind of school where a lot of people go to games, and there's a sizable audience at most performing arts events.
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What are the academics like at your school?
Cornell's academics are incredibly unique: we take classes on the block plan. That means that we basically take 1 course each month, with a 4 day weekend in between. Since we take one course at a time (and have a built in vacation block if we want it), our academic calendar is incredibly customizable. You can take a chemistry class on campus block 5, spend block six in the bahamas studying slavery, and intern in chicago the next. Most people don't, but the options are there.
While the individual class experience is incredibly varied, the vast majority of courses are capped at 25 students and most professors really care about your success. Students are very collaborative. There isn't really any sense of competition here. Overall, I haven't met very many true intellectuals, but the people here are for the most part very smart.
The most popular departments seem to be science-related. There are a lot of kinesiology majors, and the special office for advising pre-med students means that there are a lot of future doctors, dentists, and pharmacists on campus. The other standout departments are definitely theater and music. Theater is nationally ranked by princeton review, and the music department has a very supportive program that is very large for a school of Cornell's size.
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What is the stereotype of students at your school? Is this stereotype accurate?
There really are no stereotypes for the whole student body. There are some jocks, some nerds we refer to as "Narnians" but really everyone is just normal. It's easy to make friends and everyone gets to know everybody on a campus this size.
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What are the most popular student activities/groups?
Greek organizations dominate the social life for a large portion of the student body. Because there are so many (14), there are parties almost every weekend, although they are not the ragers that you see in movies. The school does sponsor some dry activities on the weekends, but most of the time you have make your own fun, dry or sober. Because Cornell is on the block plan, parties tend not to happen on weeknights (you really can't miss class), and it's not unheard of to have a paper due on Friday nights. Everyone's usually in bed by midnight during the week, and 2 or 3 am on weekends.
Since practically everyone lives in the dorms, there's definitely a community. You'll see lots of doors open on a typical night. There are a lot of couples on campus, but there's definitely a lot of hooking up, too.
If you want to do something off-campus, you can drive into Cedar Rapids (20 minutes) to see a movie or go out to eat. In Mount Vernon there are some cute restaurants and shops. There is a bowling alley, a grocery store, and a tiny movie theater. Campus is hilly, and there are definitely places to sled, and there's even an official sledding hill in town that's closed to traffic in the winter.
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What's unique about your campus?
The best thing about this school is the block schedule. It is something different from most other schools, and in my opinion is a much easier way of having classes. Though the classes are quite fast paced.
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What's the one thing you wish someone had told you about freshman year?
I wish that I had known which dorm held which type of people - the jocks, the geeks, the community service people, etc.
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Is the stereotype of students at your school accurate?
I'd say these are relatively accurate stereotypes. There are a lot of athletes and greek organization members here, and they really do rule the school (yes, it's kind of like high school). The so-called Narnians are definitely an eclectic bunch; they LARP and play humans vs. zombies. But there are also a fair amount of people who are not big on the greek scene but who are considered to be pretty normal. Most importantly, though, there isn't a whole lot of tension between the groups. It really only surfaces in the cafeteria (where each main group: the middle-earthians, narnians, and jocks) has its own seating area.
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What is the stereotype of students at your school?
There are 2 stereotypical groups within the school itself (not enough people outside the bubble know it enough to harbor stereotypes!). The first stereotype is that the school is ruled by your typical football-playing frat boy and ugg-wearing sorority girl. Then there are the 'Narnians.' These are, according to the jocks, the weird kids.
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