<p>hi, everyone. i'm a senior right now trying to narrow down my college choices to the ones i really honestly think i could see myself attending.</p>
<p>so while i am interested in cornell, i was wondering you guys could give me a completely honest portrait of what it's like to be a student there.</p>
<p>maybe you could answer the following questions?</p>
<p>1.) what are the classes like? extremely hard? fairly easy? interesting? lectures? small, discussion-based? etc.
2.) i want to be a movie editor/producer/filmmaker. i know brown is not well-known for film. i am applying to schools known for film (usc, chapman, nyu, etc) but i like cornell as a school anyway. if i were to go to cornell instead of a film-centric school, would i pretty much kiss my chances of being a filmmaker goodbye?
3.) i'm a bi guy, and i know cornell is gay-friendly, but are there plenty of bi guys/girls too? i want to make sure i fit in and everything. also, i generally get along better friend-wise with straight or bi guys than gay guys for some reason. i do have gay friends though, but i want to be able to have all different kinds of friends, gay, straight, bi. are all orientations well-represented at cornell?
4.) does it get boring at cornell? i hear that the neighboring city doesn't offer much and that it can boring. true? false?
5.) what do people generally do for fun at cornell? i'm interested in joining a lot of student clubs. but i don't like drinking or doing drugs. are clubs big ways of socializing? how prevalent is drinking/drugs?</p>
<p>and any other info about what it's REALLY like to be at cornell would be really helpful. </p>
<p>like is there any certain criteria i NEED to fit to be happy at cornell? (for instance, you probably should be liberal if you go to brown since republicans might not be so happy there.) does anything like this apply to cornell? thanks a lot guys!</p>
<p>Cornell is a very diverse school with seven undergraduate colleges. Student opinions on everything from academics to campus life will vary widely depending on who you ask. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Difficulty in classes varies tremendously. Some majors obviously are easier than others. Even within departments, grading differs by professor. Freshman courses usually are not that bad compared to upper-level classes. If you’ve chosen the right major, you should find yourself interested and engaged in your coursework. Introductory courses, as well as classes in engineering and the sciences are going to have large lectures with small sections and labs. You’re more likely to have smaller classes in the humanities. </p></li>
<li><p>Sorry, I have no idea : /</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t think I can give a great answer. I think that all orientations are better-represented at Cornell than a lot of other schools, if that means anything to you. There are active LGBT organizations on campus, so I would assume you shouldn’t have too much trouble fitting in and finding commonality. </p></li>
<li><p>I personally don’t think it’s boring. However, it is by no measure a large city like NYC. Ithaca has a lot to offer, but it requires a bit more diligence than in a large city to find its gems. Honestly, you probably won’t have enough time outside of school to be bored. Still, my friends and I still go down to the Ithaca Commons to eat and walk around once every couple of weeks or so. </p></li>
<li><p>Clubs are quite active on campus, and are a great way of socializing and meeting new people. There are plenty of people who don’t drink or do drugs. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Again, Cornell is a very large, diverse school. Besides the work load, I don’t think there should be anything stopping anyone from having a good time here.</p>
<p>thanks so much for your reply! it was very informative.</p>
<p>i guess the big thing i need to know is the film thing. it’s already so hard to get into the entertainment industry, so i need to pick a school that’ll have some good connections there. i hope someone knows if cornell does. :)</p>
<p>also, do you know about cornell’s financial aid? is it good? i’d need a lot to go there. :(</p>
<p>Cornell doesn’t quite have the same film connections as say, Harvard, Yale, or USC. But we do have a small, intensive, and well-recognized film program, and a sizable alumni presence in Hollywood:</p>
<p>Ithaca is a small, dynamic, engaging city. If you are looking for big-city night life you will not find it in Upstate New York. But Ithaca is a fantastic place for study, building life-long relationships, exploring the outdoors, and getting involved in the community.</p>
Every type of class you can think of. I’ve had some small classes with 15 people (advanced writing) and I’ve been in some of the world’s largest classes at Cornell (Psych 101 - 1,500 students). You can pick and choose what suits you best. You have access to the median scores for all the classes so if you want to take easy classes, you have that option, but you won’t be happy doing that because the material won’t interest you and there’s probably a reason as to why so many ace in those A median classes.
As an undergrad, you can do anything and go anywhere. Of course, majoring in film will give you a good boost because you learn about the field you want to go into. I have a friend at NYU’s Tisch who is doing really well. This depends on your personal motivation, but if film is what you want to go into, I believe there are some majors here being that my suitemate is taking a bunch of film classes.
I think I only know of two outright gay guys but Cornell is fairly liberal. Again, this depends on how you carry yourself and your personal outlook.
I was hesitant of this as well before I applied. I couldn’t be more wrong. I’m absolutely never bored and have a ridiculous amount of things to do, academically and nonacademically. I’m trying to finish a paper and decided to procrastine on CC so I could head out and party tonight. There’s so many parties and different mingling events your head will spin. I never have a minute to myself.
I don’t drink and I have a good time. Cornell is known for having every club you can imagine. There’s a bunch of “nerdy” things to do like go to stimson and play video games with a bunch of other kids who take over the lab, tons and tons of clubs, sports, PEs, etc. Finding stuff to do is the last thing you’re going to worry about.</p>
<p>Hope that helped. Best of luck with your decision!</p>
<p>i’m not applying to nyu for a lot of reasons: 1.) they barely give out any financial aid, and i’d need it to go. 2.) no real campus/no real connection between students. 3.) supposedly it’s easy to get depressed and feel alone in nyc, and i’d like a more traditional collegiate experience.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I have some friends who were obsessed with film, went to Cornell, and are now doing well in the entertainment industry in L.A. and N.Y. They studied Communication undergrad. Most are working on the business side for now, though.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to step on your dream, but if you’re not going to go to a straight-up film school you might want to also get skilled at the business side to get your foot in the door and be able to support yourself as you build toward full-time film work. Might make sense no matter where you go, and Cornell’s good at providing diverse education. </p>
it was very informative.</p>