Cornell University Top Questions

I love the classes that I took last year - Food science (which was an awesome review of hs biology!), global health, and plagues and people. Definitely the best classes at Cornell, in terms of knowledge available, and the readings. The classes are filled with passionate teachers... who have no idea who I am, and that I loved their classes because I want to be exactly like them. I want to get out of here and do real things, because sometimes I think that Cornell is a waste of time because in the real world, knowing organic chemistry just doesn't matter if I want to be teaching people in Africa how to avoid getting HIV/AIDS.

The academics here are rough but not absolutely ridiculous. There are a number of small classes which are nice because the teacher knows you and you can participate. Unfortunately there are the other giant lecture halls for bio and chem and organic chemistry (also known as satan)

I know a lot of my professors well because I am in a small major. I think this has really helped me to adjust to Cornell after having come from a small school. It is really beneficial to cultivate relationships with your professors, but admittedly difficult in larger majors/classes. There are a lot of very intelligent people who go to Cornell and spark interesting conversations outside of classes. There are also, however, a handful of people who one wonders how they got into cornell, namely those people in the farm oriented majors.

The introduction classes are very very big. In general, classes range in terms of difficulty. In general, the classes are probably harder then the classes at other schools.

I would probably make this school less stressful acamedically. Here we have so many libraries and a lot of times, even then, it is hard to find a place to sit and do work. I've talked to my friends at other schools and most of them have only one or 2 libraries on their campus and most people never go. I think that even though it is good that students at Cornell work hard academically, I don't think many people are that involved on campus and with extracurriculars due to this.

Most professors who teach large lecture classes do not know my name. My favorite class has been one called Human Bonding taught by Cindy Hazan. We learned about attachment, human relationships, breakups, etc. I see students studying all day and all night. Class participation is common in smaller sections. I feel students are pretty competitive. You can spend professors outside of class if you go to their office hours. The most unique class I've taken was called NS206: Intro to Global Health. We would have video conferences with professors at Weill Medical School in NYC.

Classes vary immensly. I took a class with 1300 students and a class with 17 students freshman year. Generally the professors are fantastic; however, some of the professors are not so great and a lot of the learning must be done through a textbook, unfortunately. School work is hard and there is a lot of it. However, you are able to manage your own schedule and I've found that the TA's are extremely helpful and most professors are flexible in terms of due dates.

academics at cornell are excellent. some of the best in the country. the professors in my major department know my name (and some not in the department) class participation is common in small classes, and not as much in large lectures students are VERY competitive, as we all compete for top job AEM is an incredible program communication is more fun and lighter i spend time with professors outside of class with some extracurriculars and sometimes just hanging out cornell's academic requirements are very rigorous cornell's education is geared both towards getting a job and learning for its own sake. in AEM, learning is geared towards getting a job. in communication, it is more geared towards learning for its own sake

professors dont know my name in big lectures least favorite class is freshman writing seminar cause theyre a lot of work and so many papers students study every day people participate in class some cornell students have intellectual conversations outside of class, but everyone is different because there are so many students lot of work

A lot of intro classes in engineering are pretty large and anonymous, but as I start taking smaller specialized classes I have more professors who I know and get along with well. I think my classes are very, very challenging and it's much harder for me to maintain a good gpa then it was in high school. At the same time, however, I really feel like I'm getting an excellent education, and I sort of feel like if I can do this, I can do anything.

really difficult since you are competing against all these damn smart people

My favorite class is Computer Organization. I like it because it is mostly project based, and the projects are reasonable yet challenging. The homeworks don't take incredible amounts of time, and the lectures are relevant to the projects, homework, and exams. In engineering class participation is rare, and professors don't really know anyone. I'm sure this is different in other majors though. The students are pretty competitive but there is definitely a "we're all in the same boat" mentality that helps us work together. I feel that the education at cornell is geared towards inflicting as much pain as possible on the students so they will glide through the rest of their life and the work environment. It's a rather stressful experience, but certainly one that will pay off in the end. The classes are very hard and frustrating, but the requirements to graduate are reasonable.

Professors DO know my name (in my major, at least). Students study as often as they need to, but classes are challenging and most require hard work. Students in some programs (such as pre-med) are much more competitive than others. My major is Hotel Administration (with a business focus). It's really really interesting and we learn in a very-hands on way. We take practicals and even have a cooking class with a lab. Material is kept up-to-date and professors really are very knowledgable and helpful, for the most part.

HARD!!!! bad chem professors are bad. but i love some other professors my favorite class has been aem 240- marketing the most competitive students are the premeds... but you have to be competitive here if you are premed if you have any intentions of getting into med school worst thing... class get curved pretty badly but i still love it here!

mix between big and small classes, frustrated about the PAM professors - theyre not the greatest. i am TAing a class though and that has been a great opportunity. need more parking at the library, everyone pits a lot of time into work.

I have mostly taken classes where the lectures are extremely large. I do not like that classes are made extremely difficult so that the means on exams are in the 50s and 60s. Rather than make exams impossible, they should test our knowledge so that we can actually perform well on the exams.

Students are very very competitive. Some classes are very demanding.

Psych 101 is the best class. Students will always be competitive. Requirements differ greatly by major. My major, Human Development, has very few requirements. There aren't really any campus wide requirements.

Cornell classes vary dramatically in size, amount of time needed, and professor capability. As you get to the upper level courses, professors generally become better and more interesting. One of my professors this year took out class out for beer. Others have absolutely no idea who I am. However, classes are all about what you want to make of them.

Academics at Cornell are deifnitely more challenging than other schools, based on what I've heard from friends at variuos schools. The classes, especially the general ones, are large (very large--think at least 300 people), but this can be nice at times, believe it or not. The classes are graded to a curve, meaning that the means on tests are often around 50, while the actual graded mean is curved to an 80. So many people like to say, "it doesn't matter how well you do, it matters how well you do compared to everyone else." I've heard complaints about the school being too competitive, but I personally have never had problems, and most people are more than welcome to help out. You definitely have to have the initiative to talk to professors, otherwise they will not know you, but they are open to talking to you during office hours.