Being A Humanities Student At Cornell

<p>So Cornell is known for its engineering, architecture, and hard sciences... but many of its humanities programs are equally strong. My question is (to those of you who attend/attended the school), what is the experience like for students who are studying the humanities?</p>

<p>Majors I'm interested in include comp lit, linguistics, philosophy--and maybe a concentration in creative writing? I know these programs are strong, but I'm wondering what the experience is like being interested in/studying something so radically different than a majority of the students on campus. Thanks!</p>

<p>i admire people who study the humanities...i wanted to be an english major but didnt find it practical...</p>

<p>I know some of these people, and I don't think it makes much difference. everyone has a lot of homework and is working on their own ambitions. from what I can tell you'd have a lot of nice opportunities. Cornell is not remiss in bringing in speakers too, like we recently had a former US Poet Laureate, and authors are around often.</p>

<p>I think you will find a lot of enclaves on campus that are very strong in the humanities -- most of the buildings on the Arts Quad are dedicated to the humanities, and it's hard not to eat at Temple of Zeus or the Big Red Barb without feeling like you are surrounded by like minded people. The engineering college feels like light years away until you realize that the brilliant kid in your creative writing course is an engineering physics major and you decide to take that really cool course on computationally linguistics offered through the CS department.</p>

<p>Residentially, Risley, Telluride, and the West Campus houses definitely cater to students with more of an interest in the humanities. And you will definitely find parties that revolve around the humanities scene -- Rainy Day, Red Letter Daze, Logos, etc.</p>

<p>"until you realize that the brilliant kid in your creative writing course is an engineering physics major"</p>

<p>Yes! That is exactly the sort of experience I am looking for!</p>