Cornell University Top Questions

I love it. There are tons of people studying all different things. If you can think of an activity that you want to pursue, we have it. The campus may be big, but it doesn't feel big. All of the colleges have great reputations. There's a great work hard, play hard attitude. That pretty much sums it up. Our football team isn't the best, and they nickle and dime you for everything, but as a whole Cornell is pretty great. It's true there are some nasty stereotypes, like everyone is stressed and suicidal, or that it's the school for everyone who didn't get into the other Ivies, but these just aren't true. The campus is beautiful, the people are great, and the food is some of the best you'll find on a campus. You can really do whatever you want here.

The campus is very large and there is a diverse student body. Some dorms are much bigger/nicer/more convenient than others. It has the widest variety of majors that I've ever seen. However, I must say that you should be as cautious as possible when it comes to choosing classes and majors. Taking a class that's too difficult for you or that is not geared to your interests or skills can massacre your GPA.

Cornell has the most beautiful campus and natural setting. I wish there were more things to do off campus though, because we are isolated and in the middle of nowhere and the whole frat scene gets old after a while. The campus is quite large, but the student body isn't. The Cornell hills will give you calves of steel in by the end of your first semester. College town is great, and the Ithaca residents are.. interesting to say the least.

The food at Cornell is worth it. People might think that food is a small part of college life, but when faced with the same thing 3 times a day for 4 years, it does play an important part of your lifestyle. Some people worry they may even lose all their weight by avoiding the food, but with the healthy food and the long walks, it does allow you to have a pretty good lifestyle

The best thing about Cornell is it's size. It's big, but separated into smaller communities by the seven colleges, majors, and by organizations. People are always impressed when I say I go to Cornell, and having a big school that everyone's heard of definitely helped in getting a job. There is also a lot of pride that Cornellians take in their school, which is partially due to the huge amount of work. We've all been through it together and we can complain about the school, but if anyone else tries to insult it, we will defend it. Most of my time I spent on campus, between classes, activities, and the library. However, collegetown is one of the best things about Cornell. Collegetown is a neighborhood right off campus where most people live their junior and senior year. It's full of everything a college student needs (coffee, bars, barbers, grocery stores, liquor store, etc). Undergrads don't spend much time going any further into Ithaca than Collegetown, but there are a lot of good restaurants in Ithaca common.

Cornell has been quite the experience this first year. It curriculum is rigorous and one might say it is even unfair. The campus is beautiful, but how could you really enjoy it with the cold weather practically half the year. I am no fan of the cold but after living there, 45 degree weather became warm to me, at least warm enough to go out with a t-shirt. The dining at Cornell is really good, an array of items to choose from and there is rarely anything that doesn't taste good. Cornell is the right school when it comes to preparing you for higher education, such as medical or law school.

Cornell always seems so busy to me. The classes are rather short to my thinking (most are 50 minutes) and in the big lectures halls of the freshman engineering classes, that leaves little time for anything other than desperately trying to keep up with the teacher's lecture. The rest of a student's spare time seems to fill up all too easily with everything from homework to a required film showing to the obnoxious alcohol test they require every student to take. Thus, everything, from getting soda to making friends to getting help on the last stupid math problem that isn't making sense has to be carefully planned out. Cornell, while a truly wonderful, can make someone so busy that spontaneity tends to fall by the wayside unless (and here's the paradox) a student plans for it. Cornell's a juggling act, and the more you get involved the more balls appear.

Cornell has a gorgeous campus in the middle of a fun town. When the weather is good, it is great, but when its bad, its horrible. Be prepared for a loooooong and brutal winter, and because the campus is so big, you are always doing alot of walking. Collegetown is really close and has tons of restaurants and a few good bars, and the Commons (the downtown part of Ithaca) is maybe a mile a way and has even more to offer. Frat life is a big thing on campus too.

The campus is beautiful, the professors are the best in the field, and you really get a great education. The campus feel is great, but Ithaca is a bit too rural for most.

Cornell is a large school, on a large campus, with a good sized student body. Coming from a very small highschool class the school seems quite large. For me, I had to accept that I was going to eb treated by the administration as a number in a system, unless I stepped up and made my financial, or academic issues clearly known to someone who could help. This is not for everyone. This accomidates the headstrong student more than the lax, who expects, or hopes for help from above. Cornell is also quite diverse in the student population. Granted I come from a very white town, but most of my classmates agree there are quite a large varietry of cultures, origins, personalities and so on to explore, if you choose, througout the campus. A major Con aboout the University, being so large and machine like is the lack of flexibility it has. While it is quite open to many classes between various disciplines, the ones that are not explicitly set aside as cross-college course are hard to get into. For instance, I cannot take a drawing class at the Fine Art School as a student at the school for Arts and Sciences. Originally I was told the wait list was three years, and now it is for fine arts majors only. This did, and still seems rediculous to me and and my family. The money is the biggest issue for most. You can't get around it very easily, be prepared to deal with it AHEAD of time.

Whenever I tell someone I go to Cornell, they almost always ask "What was your SAT score?" or say "Oh, you must be smart." Awkward!!

A few things I LOVE about Cornell... 1. The PEOPLE- I come a big state-school-college-town in the Midwest, and I've been somehat conditioned to thinking that staying in state is the best option. Coming to Cornell has introduced me to so many amazingly talented people; not just academically, but artistically, athletically, and socially. The people really make the Cornell name worth having. 2. The FOOD- Quality dorm food is a really important 'make it or break it' element of college life, and Cornell has got it down! Lots of options in Ithaca and you'll definitely appreciate the fun dining hall themed nights and Sunday brunches. 3. The ENVIRONMENT- Cornell is a little isolated compared to Columbia's NYC, but it's relatively safe and not too far from other fun activities. In my book, it's a GREAT college town. Cornell's size is also another aspect I love. The majority of classes are rather large, but you can still find the intimate classroom settings if you want. 4. The OPPORTUNITIES- AWESOME skiing! AWESOME speakers!

I was really worried that I would feel lost at such a large university. However, even as a freshman, I got to know professors very well, made tons of friends, and felt perfectly comfortable and like I had a place at the school. I know it's a cliche, but Ithaca really is gorgeous. Walking across thundering gorges on my way to class everyday is just a part of being a student. There is really so much to do on campus that you don't even have to leave. And, if you do tire of Ithaca, we're only hours away from Syracuse (great shopping!), Philly, Boston, and NYC.

There's definitely a decent amount of school pride. People tend to be pretty mature after freshman year there. A lot of kids come in and have never had alchohol in high school before and by the end of freshman year they've sort of grown up in a way. Freshman live in their own section called "North Campus." This makes it easier for people to make friends in a world where everyone else has already established their social sphere. Sophmores usually either live in frats, the dorms (west campus, or collegetown. I would say the split is 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}, 35{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}, 35{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}. A lot of guys join frats. Junior and Senior year a lot of people move off campus. This is less because they don't have housing available and more because they want to experience living in the downtown area that has a lot of cool bars etc. It's also nice to experience living life on your own. People are pretty involved. Most people you meet will be involved in at least a few things outside of class. As an engineer I joined a couple student run project teams. There's definitely a lot of community service going on etc. The campus tries to harp on diversity, but there's also a lot of natural segregation that occurs. They have african american, native american, and latin american dorms where kids can get a better "cultural experience." It usually turns out that these kids just feel pretty small in a body of white and asian kids and feel uncomfortable not living in these dorms with people of similar culture and background.

Opportunities, opportunities, opportunities! Cornell offers so many things you won't know what to do with yourself. Because you're studying a lot, you won't have the time to do as much as you might want to. Here is my advice: take advantage of everything you can. For example, I saw Mike Huckabee speak, and I initially knew nothing about him. I wasn't particularly interested in seeing him, but the opportunity to see such a prominent political figure live and for free tempted me to go...the two hours that I spent at this event turned out to be TOTALLY worth my time! One warning: Cornell may suck you in, especially if you're an over achiever, like I am. Don't be afraid to drop a class/activity if you have to. Each semester begins somewhat easily, and you may think that you can handle a lot, but once the first round of prelims comes around, you're going to be working your butt off and probably stressing out a lot and not sleeping very much. If you refuse to drop anything (like me), take lotsbreaks and make sure to venture away from your textbooks and learn about life. Please don't regret not having spent enough time getting to know the people around you. The people around you are truly fascinating and can teach you so many things if you open up your mind (and schedule).

I love Cornell to death. I'm back home and all I want to do is go back. The best thing about Cornell is the campus itself- it's BEAUTIFUL!! You will never in the world find a more pretty campus- especially when the spring comes and all of a sudden everything blooms together so the entire campus comes alive- and not just with the plants. Once spring hits, the campus goes from kind of a ghost town because it's too damn cold to be outside to a playground with kids playing frisbee, soccer, football, whatever, everywhere you turn. Cornell's campus is really big- you're going to walk A LOT. If you have to get from the Arts Quad to the Plant Science buildings in 15 minutes, RUN! Haha no you don't have to run, just walk fast. (But don't worry, unless you're taking really, really, really random classes, you won't have to do that often at all. Most of your classes are near each other based on your major and school.) Here at Cornell we always laugh that we live in the "Cornell bubble". Cornell is in Ithaca, NY- ya, I didn't know where that was either when I first applied. But Cornell has just about everything you need to keep you busy: we've got a pretty decent mall about 10 minutes north, Ithaca Commons at the bottom of the hill about 10 minutes away, and then we've got Collegetown right at the western edge of campus. Collegetown is really awesome if you want food that you've never had before. There is just about every type of ethnic restaurant you could think of: Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Mediterranean, American (pizza, grilled food, etc), there's a Starbucks... you name it, we got it. The only problem with Collegetown is that apart from the Starbucks, there really isn't any big chain food places like Panera or Qudoba. BUT there is this really, really, really awesome bagel/coffee/ice cream place called Collegetown Bagels and they will make you any kind of bagel sandwich you could think of. They also have really, really good baked goods (cookies, pastries, etc) and it's not really overpriced. My biggest beef with Cornell is the administration, especially the Bursar Office, and Gannett Health Care services. Cornell is not known for very friendly help when it comes to helping people out, especially when it comes to the bill for Cornell. As you probably know, Cornell is freaking ridiculously expensive, and I swear to God they find every last way to squeeze money out of you. One of their biggest incomes I'm sure is from Gannett Health Services- and they SUCK! You go in there with a cold that may be a sinus infection and the minute you step in they make you wear this hideous mask to "protect others from your germs". Then you wait a freaking long-ass time and when you finally see someone, they ask you at least 3 or 4 times if you're pregnant, even after the nurse before the doctor wrote it down! NO I'M NOT PREGNANT, I JUST NEED SOME DAMN ANTIBIOTICS!!! Anyways, once you finally get out of there (with them performing a hundred extra tests "to help you"... that naturally cost extra) you go to get your prescription and you realize they don't take your health insurance. Now you can pay for the one Cornell provides and it's all easy, but if you have one that isn't one of the 10 or 15 that they work with, you get to pay for the whole damn thing and then take your receipt and send it in to get a rebate/cash back from your own insurance company. And 9 times out of 10, they gave you the wrong prescription or none at all and you're forced to suffer out your cold/infection.

Cornell is the largest of the Ivy's... it is apparently the easiest one to get into, and perhaps the hardest to graduate from. I agree with that generalization - the workload is difficult and the academic climate of the university is quite intense. I lived in Japan during my sophomore year and whenever I told people I went to Cornell, they would always say "Oh! You must be very bright!" So even across the ocean we have a good reputation, but we work hard for it.

The campus is huge. I usually just walk to class because it's good to exercise. It takes me about 20-25 minutes to walk to class so I get a good amount of cardio everyday. Slope day is great.

The campus is vast and there is always a new place to discover. The second part of the motto "any person, any study" is accurate. There is truly opportunity to do significant work in any field.

The best thing about Cornell is the people. I love the people I met here freshman year- I made so many friends from all over the world. The diversity here is incredible, and the majority of people are genuinely nice. I think the size is perfect- you're always discovering a new place to eat, new coffeeshop, or new people. I love the big campus- I never feel bored & it's great exercise. There is a lot of pride here; everyone loves Cornell and supports sports teams- I also love that aspect of Cornell. The classes here are difficult, and there is a lot of work, but everyone survives and realizes it was all worth it. Ithaca is relatively small, but there are a lot of great restaurants and shops in Collegetown within walking distance from the main campus. Overall, I love it here & couldn't imagine myself anywhere else!