Cornell University Top Questions

Cornell is rich with tradition, and I love it. As a member of the Big Red Band, I get a very unique flavor of that tradition. I'm section leader now and have been heavily involved since freshman year - most of my closest friends are in band. Suffice it to say that the first thing that will come to my mind in ten years when I think of Cornell will be the band . . . we are a family, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. As for things to do for fun, there's no shortage of events to attend or groups to join. Alcohol is definitely a visible social influence on campus, but I have friends who don't drink and who still have a lot of fun. That's one great thing about Cornell's size - it's just large enough that you will always be able to meet new people, and yet you won't have difficulty finding people who have similar interests as you.

Hooking up and drinking till all hours of the morning. The rest of the time we are at the library.

I am part of 2 clubs on campus that are devoted to helping prospective and incoming students to Cornell. Students are pretty social and like to leave their doors open. Athletic events are usually well-attended. I met my closest friends through my residence hall. If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday, I am most likely studying. People party quite often, usually there is something going on every weekend. Fraternities/sororities are the main social outlet at Cornell. There are plenty of campus hosted events on the weekends that don't involve alcohol.

The social life is dominantly surrounding the fraternities with a third of the undergraduate population participating in Greek life. All of the big parties are thrown at fraternities. Collegetown and its bars are also a big part of the social life if you're above 21 or have a reasonably good fake. Collegetown Bagels is everyone's favorite 2 AM munchie spot.

the greek like at cornell is very important to the social scene. without frat parties, students under 21 basically have nothing to do. i didn't enjoy cornell's social scene until after i was in a sorority and had mixers and could interact with other people in greek life, which are mainly the people who actually go out

I'm mostly caught up in stuff for my extracurriculars. I don't really drink or party on weekends, so I mostly just chill with friends in Collegetown. We'll typically watch movies or just stay up really late talking or playing board/card games. Sounds a bit nerdy, but I stand by my belief that alcohol does not make get-togethers fun. The people and the environment make chilling fun.

People party, people have fun, people study. Cornell has the perfect balance between being a top-tier academic institution and having an extremely active student body- both socially and community actively.

Because I am involved in theater, I have always gone to see alot. There are always plays going on, whether at the Schwartz center, at Risley, or at some other venue. This was my favorite activity to do and go see. In terms of "partying," you can basically go out every single night of the week, and there is always something going on, even if it's just going to the bars. People like going out a lot here, maybe because they do so much during the day that they feel they need to relax and drink at night. But if you don't want to drink, there's still a lot to do , like go to an old/obscure movie at Cornell Cinema, go hear live music at The Nines or The Haunt, or just hang out with your roommates. As I said above though, fraternities and sororities, are very big here, something I wish would changed in the future.

The Greek life is HUGE on campus. I am involved with a sorority and that has opened up a different type of social scene for myself. I am also involved in various other organizations that open up different social scenes also. In the dorms, students generally lock their doors. I lived in the townhouses my freshmen year, and I left my door unlocked (because Cornell is generally a safe campus). Athletic events - if the team is doing well- are very popular. Guest speakers are also popular if it is someone that people are interested in (ie. Jon Stewart, Mike Huckabee, the Dalai Lama) Dating occurs quite often in Cornell - it's not too hard to meet someone =) If you're awake at 2 am on a Tuesday, there are several things that you could be doing: 1. studying at a library. 2. hanging out with friends (i.e. exploring the Arts quad, chilling in a lounge, watching a movie etc). 3. out (collegetown, bars, fraternities, parties etc). Dragon day is a big tradition hosted by the engineers and architects. Homecoming is a huge event that most students go to. Relay for life is also a big event that students go to. People generally party 1-2 days out of the weekend (Thursday, Friday, Saturday). I believe that fraternities and sororities are important in getting to know more people and becoming more involved with the school (and gaining school pride), but it is not the only thing you can do on campus. There are sports teams, religious organizations, cultural organizations and more that you can get yourself involved in and have fun with. A saturday night that doesn't involve drinking: go to the movies, go to a show/play/event, hang out with friends, go out to eat. Anything!!

While frats and sororities are a decent part of social life on campus,I have tons of friends who are not involved with Greek life and are always busy and having fun on the weekends