Cornell University Top Questions

My favorite part of Cornell, and what I'll miss the most once I leave, is Lynah Rink. And the Carriage House Cafe, in Collegetown. And CTB. I like food. One thing I'd change - the weather. Everyone's got to say that. Winters here suck, it "Ithacates", which is this disgusting mix of snow and rain that blows in your face and makes you hate life. Fortunately, the globe is warming. That said, Ithaca in the fall is unlike anything you've ever seen - beautiful beyond words. Ah, nostalgia. Cornell apples, and apple cider, and all the trees turning color...it makes trudging through the sludge for 4 months tooooootally worth it. Cornell is big. I like it that way. It's broken down into colleges, and that helps. Plus, somehow everyone seems to know everyone. I'm not really sure how that works. When I tell hotel people that I'm in the Hotel School, I am greeted with SHOCK AND AWE. Even though hotelies are dumped on by the rest of campus for being stupid and dragging down the school's SAT scores, it is absolutely the best hospitality school on the planet. Non-hotel people usually fall into one of two categories: "Ohh, Ivy League" or "Cornell, what's that?" I spend most of my time on campus in the libraries, but that is a new development this year! Also, we finally got a Starbucks, which is awesome. Ithacans are hippies and don't like big chains, so we had to fight to get it. But the grande peppermint mocha frappachinos and sooo worth the decline and fall of the unique Ithacan non-conformity. Ithaca is definitely a college town. Collegetown is located off the south side of campus. It's about 6 square blocks of student-focused retail, restaurants, and off-campus housing. Plus, along with Ithaca College on South Hill, college students make up half of the Ithaca population. I wonder what they do in the summertime? Cornell's got a pretty fugly bureaucracy going on. Skorton is the people's president, though, he's obviously making a lot of effort to change things in favor of the students. Still can't get those extra Big Red Bucks back at the end of spring semester, though. The biggest recent controversy? Cornell Republicans trying to get a resolution passed for concealed carry (of guns) on campus. It was astoundingly defeated by the Student Assembly. Every once in a while the Republicans do something bat-shit crazy and cause a stir. Our basketball team is great this year, which is exciting. The Lynah Faithful are always a force to be reckoned with. Other than that, about the only manifestation of school pride is the t-shirt section of the Cornell Store.

Best thing about Cornell is the variety - breadth of classes, range of backgrounds of students. I'd change the central place the Greek scene has in the underclass's social scene. School was just the right size - big enough to meet all kinds of people and offer a lot of different classes and clubs, but split into the different colleges, so it still had a smaller feel. People are generally impressed by the Cornell name, but it doesn't have the same cache as Harvard or Yale. I think more people can relate to it than they can to the other Ivies, though. (I have a graduate degree from another Ivy.) I spent most of my time, when between classes, in one of the library cafes. Didn't get much work done, but it was a fun, casual place to read the paper or hang out with friends. I also spent A LOT of time at the newspaper office. Definite college town, but Ithaca also has its own economy that doesn't just rely on the universities, which is nice. Get to know it! The administration gets a bad rap, but that's the case with all schools. There's a lot of Big Red tape because it's such a large school. I had one incident where I needed the administration's help, both at the college and eventually university level, and they totally fell through. But in terms of general operations, I'm usually impressed. Loads of school pride. Which is different from rah rah school spirit like when you root for a sports team. Cornell has that, too, since our hockey team (and now basketball team) rocks. I think Cornellians bond over the fact that we go to school in what most consider the middle of nowhere, and we do it in what most think is a harsh winter for most of the year (not completely accurate, we do get seasons). An experience I'll always remember is, well....too many to count. A few: seeing Vonnegut speak at the Cornell Sun's 125th anniversary, slope day every year, going to class drunk once (oops!), realizing during an upperclass seminar I talked my way into in my freshman fall that I was a lot smarter than I ever thought I was. Most frequent complaints are probably related to the cost of things, the cold (and then the hot), and the workload. I don't think those are much different from complaints at any of the top Northeastern schools, though.

The best thing about Cornell is most definitely the education. First-rate professors, courses, and majors allow students to have one leg up on students from other universities. People are always really impressed when I tell them I go to Cornell. The administration is difficult to deal with most of the time, and financial aid is definitely really hard to come by at an institution when a lot of students are able to pay full tuition (and then some). So for minorities and lower class students it can be a really frustrating process.

Size is big enough to be annonymous when you feel like it--like you can go to several places where you know you won't run into anyone you know, but it is really easy to get involved in a number of activities that really make the campus smaller. One of these is Greek life, which some say is a little to prominent. It does give you the best social life at Cornell should you choose to participate, and it definately makes the campus smaller, but the majority of people you'll be meet in your classes will tell you they're perfectly happy being unaffiliated. On campus, I spend time at the libraries, studying and socializing (Libe Cafe is great).

Cornell can be too big at times....it gets super super annoying when professors hold 500+ ppl lectures

- Cornell's campus is gorgeous. Also, the abundance and variety of classes offered guarantees that everyone will find something he/she will be interested to study. - When I tell people I go to Cornell, I heard either "Don't kill yourself", or "Isn't it in the middle of nowhere?" (or both). - There is a lot of school pride. - Most people complain that the campus is too big (have to walk a lot, especially as freshmen, as North [where most freshmen live] is far from where classes are)

I love the size of Cornell. My major and activities that i'm involved in allow me to have a smaller community within the large Cornell community that I love. The one thing that I would change is all the red tape in the way Cornell is run. General people react with surprise when I tell them I'm a Cornell Engineer, and then they ask me how many math classes I have to take. The administration here makes things difficult, in terms of all the levels of contact there are to make one decision and an overall lack of participation of students in the administration. School pride is huge, I'm proud to be a Cornellian. I just wish there was more parking...

People from home are always like WOW, you must be smart when I tell them I go to Cornell. I am either in KD or at Uris library studying. This is not really a college town.. the bars are really strict at kind of small. Everytime I go to Binghamton, I have more fun because I can get into the bars without a problem. Biggest controversy is the whole concealed weapons thing and juicy campus. School pride is only big with hockey.

WVBR-FM 93.5: Real Rock Radio has been an awesome experience. I have met cool people, in and around Ithaca, and I have made a lot of friends.

I like the size of the school. The idea of 13,000 undergraduates might intimidate some people, but I've found it to be a good number. You'll be surprised how cozy the campus seems after spending some time here. I have found a great group of friends, and I always manage to see a familiar face whenever I'm walking to class. Because Cornell is a midsized institution, advising and counseling centers are pretty busy. No one will hold your hand while you're here. It's up to you to take the initiative to talk to professors and take advantage of career advising. The size is great for students who want to be self-reliant. It prepares you for the real world. I like studying in the library cafes--pretty much any place that has the smell of coffee in the air and a little background noise. Catherwood Library is also great. The seats are really comfortable, and the library is always silent. It's the perfect atmosphere to sit down and concentrate on 50 pages of reading. Cornell produces its own dairy products. The Dairy Bar makes incredible ice cream with unique flavors. My favorite Dairy Bar ice cream flavor is called "Pie's the Limit": vanilla ice cream with caramel swirls and pieces of apple and pie crust. It's heaven on a cone.

We have a lot of school pride, but at athletic events sometimes it's hard to tell what other people think of us. As a group the students can be rude, but not everyone is like that. complaints: weather, workload, relationships... typical

The school is the perfect size, not huge, but large enough to keep meeting people into senior year. People are always very impressed when I mention that I am an engineer at Cornell. There is plenty going on and there are certainly several hot spots for campus life that house most of the serious student life. Although there are so many trips off campus: outdoorsy trips, road trips, sporting trips, etc. The school pride is quite lacking. Coming from Austin, TX where Longhorn Pride is LIFE, Cornell has practically no school pride EXCEPT in Hockey and Lacrosse. People are usually talking about how miserable they are from doing so much school work, which kills a lot of the fun. The key to Cornell is knowing how to balance fun and work. There is plenty of fun going on, but it's not always easy to find.

Best thing-Overall, the people here are pretty mature and hard working. In my opinion, people are not nearly as pretentious as they could be. Also, I feel like anyone, however peculiar they might be, can find someone like them. What I'd change- My only real gripe is the weather, which never bothered me until my third winter here. It's really the only thing that is stopping me from applying here for graduate school. Size- I personally like going to a big school. Since Cornell has seven individual colleges and schools, you can rely on the smaller community of students in your division if you fear the anonymity of a large university. Reactions- Generally, people are impressed Collegetown- a fair amount of restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. Nothing too exciting, but still gets the job done when you feel like meeting up with friends for a bite to eat. School pride- mostly just for hockey games Experience I'll always remember- freshman year going out in huge groups of people from my floor, checking out frat parties for the first time(and thinking it was the greatest thing ever...those were the days)

Every year, the Cornell Daily Sun sends all incoming freshman, a pseudo-guide to Cornell. Included in this "guide" is Big Red Ambition: 161 things every Cornellian Should Do. These range from the normal to the supernatural to the kinky. (Each year, more and more things are added, this version is from my year i.e. 2005) Big Red Ambition: 161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do (taken from The Cornell Daily Sun, Monday, February 28, 2005. Page 9.) 1. Make the library into your bedroom, find a buddy. 2. Finally meet the dazzling Denice Cassaro. 3. Camp out overnight (re: freeze to death) for hockey tickets. 4. Go to the Cornell-Harvard men's hockey game and throw fish on the ice. 5. Sing along to "We didn't go to Harvard" with Cayuga's Waiters. 6. Illegally slide down Libe Slope on a tray from Okenshield's. 7. Take H ADM 430: Introduction to Wines. 8. Streak across the Arts Quad. 9. Take Psych 101. 10. Test out Olin Library's musically calibrated steps by throwing stones on them. 11. Go sake bombing in Collegetown (for the over-21 crowd only!). 12. Order ice cream at the Dairy Bar. 13. Climb the rock wall in Bartels Hall. 14. Listen to a full chimes concert from the clock tower and guess the songs played. 15. Go on a blind Facebook date. 16. Wear flip-flops to class in January. 17. Go to the Fuertes Observatory on North Campus and gaze at meteor showers. 18. Have a snowball fight in May. 19. Milk a cow. 20. Play frisbee on the Arts Quad. 21. Pick apples at the Cornell Orchards. 22. Attend the Apple Festival on the Commons. 23. Wait in line for half an hour for a salad at the Terrace. 24. Flirt with your professor. 25. Bomb a prelim. 26. Live through an Ithaca blizzard and tell your friends how you survived frostbite. 27. Attend the hotelie prom. 28. Meet Happy Dave from Okenshield's. 29. Make your face turn blue by screaming at midnight before the first finals. 30. Get hearburn at the Chili Cook-off on the Commons. 31. Enjoy Ithaca's two months of warm weather by spending a summer here. 32. Go to a Shabbat dinner at 104 West! (CornellCard it). 33. Watch the AAP students parade down East Avenue on Dragon Day. 34. Enjoy corn nuggets at the Nines. 35. Build a snow penis, or count how many you see around campus. 36. Dress up and view the Rocky Horror Picture Show at Risley. 37. Take a class you think is impossible just for fun. 38. Go on a wine tour. 39. Kiss on the suspension bridge at midnight. 40. Sleep through your alarm for a 1:25 class. 41. Shop at the Friends of the Library book sale. 42. Get out of a C.U. parking ticket. 43. Buy an Ithaca is Gorges t-shirt, then get sick of wearing it and buy a variation (Ithaca is Gangsta, Vaginas are Gorges, Ithaca is Long Island...) 44. Learn the "Alma mater," "Evening Song," and "Give my regards to Davy." 45. Attend an opening at the Johnson Museum of Art. 46. Smuggle food from the dining hall and run for your life as they try to get back your stolen cookies. 47. Do the Walk of Shame. 48. Have dinner at a professor's house. 49. Get wasted at a professor's house. 50. Have lunch with President Skorton in the Ivy Room; ask if he's done with that Dijon Burger. 51. Play a game of tag in the Kroch Library stacks. 52. See a play in the Schwartz Center. 53. Rush the field at the last home football game of the season. 54. Attend a Cornell Night. 55. Gamble at Turning Stone (try not to lose money). 56. Watch dancers fly through the air at a Bhangra show. 57. Have a midnight picnic in the Cornell Plantations. 58. Play croquet on the Arts Quad (wear your collar up). 59. Ignore any and all "No Winter Maintenance" signs.. slip and fall down the icy stairs. 60. Sit in Libe Cafe when you have no work to do and watch the worried studiers down gallons of coffee. 61. Write an angry letter to the editor of The Sun. 62. Go to Wegmans on a Friday or Saturday night. 63. Pull an all-nighter in the Cocktail Lounge of Uris Library and crash the next day. 64. Go to a fraternity party as a senior; convince yourself you were never one of them. 65. Pretend you're Harry Potter and study in the Law School library (looks like Hogwarts). 66. See the brain collection in Uris Hall. 67. Eat at Banfi's and charge it to CornellCard. 68. Buy beer at Jason's in Collegetown and charge it to City Bucks. 69. Take part in a psychology experiment. 70. Take over a building. 71. Drive your car up and down Libe Slope or Ho Plaza. 72. According to legend, watch a virgin cross the Arts Quad at midnight and watch A.D. White and Ezra Cornell shake hands. 73. Ace a prelim. 74. Throw a flaming pumpkin into the gorge. 75. Play co-ed intramural innertube water polo. 76. Eat in the Risley dining hall. 77. Play at least one game of Texas hold-'em. 78. Hook up with your T.A. 79. Order a PMP at the Hot Truck. 80. Go to karaoke night at Rulloff's on Mondays. 81. 80's Night on Tuesdays at Johnny O's. 82. Go to Group Therapy on Wednesdays at Dunbar's. 83. Take PA PL 201: Magical Muchrooms, Mischievous Molds. 84. Go bowling at Helen Newman Lanes. 85. Hand out quartercards on Ho Plaza. 86. Take an unplanned nap in the library. 87. Have a friend's parents take you out to eat at John Thomas Steakhouse or Boatyard Grill. 88. Eat a chicken parm sandwhich from Louie's Lunch. 89. Eat breakfast at 2 a.m. at the State Diner. 90. Boys: Get thrown out of Balch Hall. 91. Hook up with a freshman. 92. Go skinny dipping in a gorge. 93. Walk to the Commons and back. 94. Go to an a cappella concert. 95. Play trivia at Dino's on Sunday nights. 96. Eat pizza at the Nines. 97. Sell back your books; use money to buy a book of stamps. 98. Drink bubble tea. 99. Eat a Pinesburger. 100. Walk to a fraternity party with your entire freshman floor. 101. See the library's Rare Book Collection. 102. Get lost in Collegetown during Orientation Week. 103. As a freshman, get negged at a bar because the bouncer is actually friends with the person whose I.D. you are using. 104. See a foreign film at Cinemapolis. 105. Get drunk on Slope Day and run into Vice President Susan H. Murphy '73. 106. See a concert at Barton Hall. 107. Gain the freshman 15, pay $300 for a gym membership and don't go. 108. Eat brunch on North Campus. 109. Do your Freshman Reading Project before you graduate. 110. Fail your swim test, just for kicks. 111. Tailgate for Homecoming. 112. Go ice skating at Lynah Rink. 113. Host a prefrosh. 114. Request a song to be played on the clock tower. 115. Get guilt-tripped into giving blood. 116. Boys and girls: Get asked if you are pregnant at Gannett. 117. Drink with your R.A. 118. Make a chalking; weep when it rains that night. 119. Sing drunk on the Blue Light bus. 120. Meet Bill Nye '77, "The Science Guy," and give him a hug. 121. See how long you can go without doing laundry. 122. Go on a road trip to Canada, flirt with the border patrol, smuggle booze back. 123. Try to order pizza from a Blue Light phone. 124. Go to the adult shop on the Commons. 125. Cross-country ski to class. 126. Get tapped for a secret society. 127. Go to the Pyramid Mall, realize it is severel

Almost everyone here loves Cornell. But we all hate the horrible weather during the winter!Though Cornell might not be everyone's first choice to start out with (actually a lot of people didn't want to come to Cornell and they applied here as a back-up), they do identify with the university as they get more invovled on campus. There is a lot of school spirit at Cornell; the sweater with "Cornell" on it is probably the most popular item. There are lots of activities you can do on campus. Personally, I am involved in a handful of clubs to keep myself busy. I am in a co-ed fraternity and running for Student Assembly. If I want to really concentrate on my studies, I would go to the library. If I just want to goof around, I would probably stay in my dorm and hang out with others. Cornell is a comparatively big university. The student body is very diverse, constituting people from every walk of life and different cultural backgrounds. The campus itself is ridiculously large, stretching from the beautiful North Campus for freshman all the way to the Cornell Dairy on the edge of plantation. Everyone is proud of the school but don't believe it when they say Men’s Ice Hockey dominates the world here. It does not! Only about 10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of people on campus actually care enough about the Ice Hockey team to pitch tents outside of the selling booth. (they have changed to an electronic lottery system now)One frequent student complaint is that Cornell forces the students on regular meal plan to buy $500 of food every semester from its dinning halls or grocery stores. The food there is way over-priced and it is a complete rip-off.