Cornell University Top Questions

The lack of diversity in the form of culture. There are very few venues where people of different tastes than the usual party scene can go.

The lack of entertainment that doesn't involve alcohol.

Can seem too big at first. Just ask around and explore your interests.

It's a little too far away from the east coast to easily find good summer internships unless you have a large travel budget and lots of free time.

It is the place where your best isn't enough since 1865.

Strict Core Courses, not able to explore other schools enough

The competitive atmosphere

When you fall behind in your school work, it's almost impossible to catch up.

The pricing on the food and drinks at the dining halls.

The weather can get very harsh in the winter. Also in the winter, the days are extremely short, which can get depressing.

Snow. So much goddamned snow. All the time.

Lack of socioeconomic diversity.

Lots of really rich people

HOMEWORKS!

The academic pressure is fustrating but also a great challenge.

bureacratic and sometimes hard to access the many resources that are availible

The most frustrating thing about my school is how much i have to pay.

Working so hard and sometimes not improving in test scores. Being side-casted because of not understanding a particular topic.

Too focused on research-- classes are huge, TAs do most of the real teaching, and profs tend to be aloof, at least in much of the bio dept. There is a definite feeling of elitism-- if you are not one of the few students working in research, faculty has little use for you

Cornell provides "program housing" for students from similar backgrounds. Despite their best intentions, the unintended consequence is segregation. Students of African or Latin decent often live in a facility separate from most freshmen. Therefore, random housing isn't random and segregation is inevitable. Freshman year is when students decided where to live and who to spend time with for the rest of their college career. Because of this segregation, the mainstream Greek system and social scene is disproportionally white and students who lived in program houses tend to stick together and join a "multicultural fraternal organization," further racially segregating campus.