ARE PEOPLE HAPPY HERE??

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>I visited last week and I found the energy from the student body to be incredibly lackluster. No one bothered to introduce themselves to me, or for that matter to any of the other newly admitted prospies. Is this school as depressing as it would seem from this experience?</p>

<p>In contrast, the students at Northwestern seemed so much happier/more welcoming (maybe its a midwestern thing?). Despite myself, I had a great time. </p>

<p>Basically, if you are a current student at Cornell and have so far thoroughly enjoyed your experience, PLEASE SHARE!! Do people really only choose to cope with Cornell because of its ivy league rep, or do people actually end up having a good time? I don't want to end up making the wrong decision and live in misery for the next four years!! :( </p>

2

<p>I’m worried because I have a friend who went there and hated it, though I know her experience doesn’t speak for all Cornellians.</p>

<p>My gut is telling me Northwestern, it seemed more laid back/fun. Do people at Cornell take themselves too seriously? I think that’s my main concern. I don’t want this to turn into a flame war. I just need opinions.</p>

3

<p>“No one bothered to introduce themselves to me”
Do they know you are a new student?? There are 14,000 undergraduates there, I don’t think they would greet everyone they saw on campus. But they have their groups and interesting activities or clubs. You can be one of them that initiate some activities as well.</p>

<p>Are they happy? (you need to listen to the video to get the mood)
<a href=“Snowpocalypse 2010: Battle for the Arts Quad on Vimeo”>http://vimeo.com/10818723&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Well, I wore a name tag, and I sat in the area designated for new admits. While the purpose of having a designated area for new admits was so that current Cornell students could meet us and talk to us, they segregated themselves. It was very awkward–in then end, us admits just sat at our own table and talked to each other about how we thought we were supposed to be talking to current students.</p>

5

<p>well that snowball fight did look like a lot of fun.</p>

6

<p>“so that current Cornell students could meet us and talk to us”</p>

<p>Don’t feel too bad about it… you know Cornell campus is large, and all these teenagers or young adults who don’t really pay much attention to time these days were probably running for classes, unless it was a weekend. But then if it was a weekend, except those who were going to events they might not go on campus. And I bet most students don’t keep track of what dates/time/tags/area the university hosts new students. (and these may change from time to time) Close groups are not always seen on campus because of the large campus. The advantage of this size of campus is that you can have the kind of fun like in that video. :slight_smile: </p>

7

<p>Look at the map…
<a href=“Cornell University | Maps”>http://www.cornell.edu/maps/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>When the event in the video happened at Arts Quad, students in Engineering Quad or Ag Quad may not hear a sound!</p>

8

<p>I was pretty happy, although I think I could’ve been happier during undergrad years.</p>

<p>the key - regardless of which college you end up at - is to meet and maintain strong relationships. be pro-active about finding good friends that share mutual interests, are easy going, chill, etc. that will make all the difference, not which college you attend.</p>

9

<p>We were up at Cornell this past weekend to see our younger kid’s recital. Her older sister and boyfriend (gradudates of Cornell) also came with us to show support. They were very nostalgic about their time at Cornell. My older kid said they were the best 4 years of her life. We had brunch at the Statler, all three of them seem to know a lot of guests in the dining room.</p>

10

<p>Here’s the right video to watch
<a href=“http://vimeo.com/23897683”>http://vimeo.com/23897683&lt;/a&gt;
read the comments</p>

<p>I think a lot of college students are happy when their social lives are going well, and less happy when that was not the case. That’s how I was. Also when their studies are going well, vs when they aren’t.</p>

<p>Based on the above, I cannot guarantee that you will be happy at Cornell. Or, for that matter, whether you will be happy at Northwestern. D1 has a good HS friend who went to Northwestern, and hated it. He found it very stressful there. He did not find it to be “laid back” at all.</p>

<p>It’s mostly up to you. You can have fun or you can not have fun. At both places. IMO. What you will do I’ve no idea.</p>

<p>You can’t take a pool of 14,000 students with very diverse interests and say these people are friendly, or not friendly. It’s absurd. Some people are, some people aren’t. Cornell does not systematically select people because they “lack energy” . It’s probably true though that people from the northeast are less likely to introduce themselves to strangers than people in some other parts of the country though, there was just a thread on that elsewhere on CC.</p>

11

<p>Dude u visited during prelim week, of course they were going to be more on edge then normal haha. I was there this past week too and didn’t wear a name tag, but still reached out to ask a few questions and found the majority of people to be very friendly and helpful</p>

12

<p>Oh… that would explain a lot.</p>

13

<p>I’ve lived in upstate NY near Cornell all my life, but much of my extended family is from the midwest. There is a big cultural difference between the two areas with respect to chattiness with strangers. I tend to find it a little odd when I visit Minnesota and have every store clerk ask me my life story, lol. At the same time, my mother (from ND/MN) sometimes gets a little discouraged by how taciturn people can be here. You’d think this effect would be diluted on a college campus with people from so many places, but maybe the effect is still there.</p>

14

<p>Hi! I’m a current student at Cornell and couldn’t be happier!! I find that I’m always stopping to chat with a friend or waving to people I know between classes but if I was on my way to class and saw a group of people I didn’t know it probably would never have occurred to me that they were accepted students… But when I did see prospective freshmen I made sure to say hi!</p>

<p>With that being said- I love the energy on campus and feel very lucky to be at such an amazing place with so much to do and take advantage of. Most of my friends are extremely happy here as well. I don’t feel like I’m “coping” just for the Ivy name brand at all. </p>

15

<p>I have been on campus guided tours from Haverford and Swarthmore to Duke and UNC Chapel Hill to Berkeley and Stanford, and I don’t recall anybody anywhere coming up to us and welcoming us (it would have been interrupting the tour guide), or even waving hi.</p>

<p>But, benedictharold, you raise an interesting point. Last August or September during freshman orientation week I was in the main library at Cornell when a group of first year students came through on an orientation tour of the library. They had just finished the tour and were standing around chatting among themselves, and it never occurred to me to walk up to them and welcome them to Cornell. I guess I thought it would have seemed presumptuous to interfere with their conversations. And I’m from the northeast.</p>

<p>If they were considering joining an a cappella group or a political organization or working for the Cornell Daily Sun, and walked up to a table in the Straight (the student union) that was promoting that activity, we could discuss things like how many hours a week they’d be working for the organization, and whether some people found it too heavy a load in first semester. And I would certainly welcome them, enthusiastically. </p>

<p>But you’re right, any student in that library tour might have questions about the best place to eat on campus, or (since they’re in the library) the special strengths in the library’s holdings and how many hours a day students might expect to find themselves working there (assuming they hadn’t been told that by the guide). I will do better next time! </p>

<p>Still, when I was in freshman orientation, nobody came up to me, and I never expected anybody to. On the contrary, I tried to disguise the fact that I was a freshman and therefore a rube, as for example when the Sun came out with a fall weekend hoax issue that could only have fooled freshman (as it did). </p>

<p>t didn’t occur to me that people in a political organization, for example, would be thrilled to know that they had some new students coming in.</p>

<p>Yet I was very happy at Cornell during orientation week, and am very happy now. In the end you make really intense friendships with 6 or 8 students and professors, and somewhat looser friendships with a considerably larger circle, or at least that’s what happened to me and most people I know. Which happens anywhere.</p>

16

<p>I chatted with a girl who visited last week, not during Cornell days and she stayed with a first year student she knew slightly from her HS. The first year girl is very happy there (from CA),. My friend sat in on a psych lecture she said was in a lecture classroom but the size was not a problem, it was a great class, very engaging. The other girl said her other classes were all about 15 people, but they weren’t in session on the visit day. She was a bit overwhelmed by the size of the campus. She was a bit freaked out by nets at the bottom of the gorges. The friend told her the IB Diploma they did makes them very well prepared for college and so far it has been easier than high school.</p>

17

<p>My best friend is in her second year at Cornell. It was her top choice (both her parents went there and she’s been a hardworking student all her life) but it took her a long time to feel at home there. Even now, she says shes content at Cornell but feels like she could be happier somewhere else. We’re both from New York, so it’s not a location thing. I think she thinks its a bit dreary, weather wise, location wise, and a lot of people are stressed in that environment. That’s what I know about Cornell, hopefully that’s not what it’s like for most. :)</p>

18

<p>This thread is a bit old, but I figure I shall share my thoughts for those who may be considering Cornell.</p>

<p>I absolutely love it here. The vibe on campus is amazing. You will meet people here that will make you feel like a total idiot, and that’s great! Most who gain admittance were the top-of-the-top among their peers in high school / college (for transfers), and to come to an institution where you are force to collaborate with absolute geniuses is an amazing experience. The professors are brilliant, the resources available to students is immense, the food is (generally) tasty, and the natural beauty surrounding campus is, well, beautiful! I’ve lived in upstate New York my entire life so I’m quite used to the dreary, cold weather. I can see how that can be a turn off for some, but it’s easy to make the most of it. People will seem a bit standoffish and stressed out, but that can be expected when you attend one of the most demanding universities in the country. It’s all worth it, in my humble opinion. Cornell is a great place.</p>

19

<p>Say hello introduce yourself with a smile and you will be surprised at how much genuine good feedback you will get from 99% of the people you engage. That is the truth everywhere, including Cornell. I work in a place that every year or so we get new recruits, we are taught to not engage them, and they are taught to introduce themselves with a handshake, eye contact and a smile. At that time we then know that this new person cares enough to have listened to his educators and put their best foot forward to make good workplace relationships. A smile and genuine easygoing personality is infectious. People will trust you and want to be your friend. It is impossible for a college with that many people to be miserable.</p>

20

<p>I recently graduated (Big Red '14)
I thought it was a harsh change, regarding weather, coming from FL
Best four years of my life, though. Definitely opportunity to do whatever you want to (“Any person, any study”, as the saying goes)</p>