Cornell alum taking Q's

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
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<p>I consider myself to be of very average intelligence. Actually, I am good at reading, writing, analysis, issue spotting, memorizing, etc but terrible at subjects such as Stats, Physics, Math, CS, etc.</p>

<p>Anyways, yeah what I will tell those asking me (or anyone else) for their probability of success at getting admitted at Cornell: just apply and see what happens. And, trust me, there is really no point over evaluating your chances. Only the opinion of the admissions officers reading your application will matter in the end, anyway.</p>

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<p>Do people at cornell generally get along very well? Are there still cliques like in high school, or are people pretty open and friendly to everyone? </p>

<p>Also, can you talk about how professors handle large lecture classes? Will they split the class into smaller discussion groups?</p>

<p>Thank you :)</p>

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<p>everyone’s always complaining about the weather…is it really THAT bad? I’m from a cold Midwest state so I’m doubtful it’s any different but everyone keeps saying how horrible it is</p>

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<p>Overall, people at Cornell were much less clique-y compared to my high school. Many kids were open-minded to meet new people and were generally nice.</p>

<p>There were exceptions, of course.</p>

<p>By sophomore year, many people had their own social groups and stuck with close friends. However, many people are still open to meeting new friends.</p>

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<p>Yes, that’s exactly how they do it.</p>

25

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<p>Temperature-wise, weather at Ithaca isn’t much different from NYC.</p>

<p>What makes it different is that it snows a lot more than NYC due to lake effect.</p>

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<p>I was joking before but I legitimately think I’m going to die now because of the weather.</p>

<p>Already wearing thermals, thick pants, gloves, two shirts, two jackets, and it’s still too cold.</p>

<p>It’s not even february yet >_<.</p>

27

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<p>Bro, it was freezing in NYC today too. The weather in Northeast just isn’t very good just about anywhere.</p>

<p>I met my friend who visited me in NYC from LA yesterday. He told me he prefers NYC to LA despite cold weather, due to solid night life, ease of transportation, more city-like ‘feel’, and more corporate job opportunities.</p>

<p>I guess weather isn’t everything.</p>

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<p>I think there’s a difference between just visiting and actually living somewhere though. There’s definitely a novelty effect. I remember when I visited in December it didn’t seem too bad, but now it’s pretty sucky.</p>

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<p>How much of a legacy (2 Gens + Very Generous Giving) boost is there in RD? Cus I’ve heard that there is no legacy advantage in RD. I think my dad knows-ish but he’s refusing to tell me and I haven’t found it anywhere else. </p>

<p>Also, did you go to grad school directly? How difficult was that? I know most big names want some experience first.</p>

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<p>I don’t know exact answer to this question. I’d assume that it is one of those nice-to have boosts, but not a deal breaker.</p>

<p>Say the admissions rep is trying to decide between you and some other guy with equal qualifications, test scores, etc, and at that point they might give you the nod due to having legacy status. But, it isn’t enough of a boost to the extent that it can compensate for a lackluster application quality.</p>

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<p>Good question.</p>

<p>Actually, when I graduated college, I really had no clue what I wanted to do. I graduated without any good job offers. Originally, I planned to enter a job in the ‘business’ sector - namely consulting or finance.</p>

<p>I got about 5 interviews my senior year from a couple of consulting firms and investment banks. I made it to second round interview at two of them. I ended up getting rejected from both of them.</p>

<p>At that point, I did some soul searching and decided to give law school a shot. I studied for LSAT for like 3 months and got a good score. I applied to NYU law and got accepted.</p>

<p>Shortly after I got into NYU law, I got a job offer in corporate finance - but I didn’t take the job offer because it would require me to move to middle of nowhere. So I opted for law school. So, in the end, I had one full year of doing nothing, traveling around, hanging out with friends, and getting drunk 4-5 times a week, in between college graduation and start of law school. Looking back, I don’t regret those moments since I had a blast and I got to travel to really cool places, meeting new people.</p>

<p>Getting back to the original intent of your question - from my observation, some employers really do care about your work experience, and some others don’t expect that you have any ample work experience - in between college graduation and start of graduate school.</p>

<p>For example - most ‘business’ employers that recruit MBA students - these employers won’t likely to hire you unless you have 3-5 years of post-college professional work experience of decent quality.</p>

<p>On the other hand - most ‘legal’ employers that recruit fresh law students - many of these employers don’t regard pre-graduate school work experience of any sort as ‘crucial’. Legal employers care obsessively about your grades & class rank at your law school, and everything else is secondary in importance.</p>

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<p>Harrovian - Legacy card is use it or lose it for ED for most schools. This topic has been discussed quite a bit on CC. You can do a quick search.<br>

This is the case for ED too.</p>

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<p>Agreeing with oldfort. The Cornell Ad Coms come right out and say that if one’s application should see any benefit from legacy consideration, it will be in the ED round only. Also agree that this is the case at other colleges.</p>

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<p>If you don’t mind me asking (NYULawyer) , how are you affording Cornell then NYU for Grad? Are you suffocating in student loans?</p>

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<p>My parents don’t make much, so I got 80% of my tuition covered by financial aid while attending Cornell. My parents helped me out with apartments, and I paid for the remaining 20% of tuition doing summer jobs, etc.</p>

<p>For NYU law, I got a small partial scholarship. But not that much. So, I got a pretty intense debt load.</p>

<p>Next 3-4 years working in NYC biglaw won’t be very fun. I will need to live frugally, cut down the drinking, stop going out as often, and potentially dump my high-maintenance girl friend to pay the loans off ASAP.</p>

<p>The loans by itself is not that big of a deal if you get Biglaw, since you make enough to service the debt principal. What really kills is the 8.0% interest on your loans, hence my burning desire to rid of it ASAP.</p>

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<p>btw, one word of advice off-tanget:</p>

<p>if you are 100% set on attending a professional grad school of any kind (med school, dental school, law school), you need to really pay attention to the cost of undergrad.</p>

<p>don’t go to an expensive private school charging 50k a year with little to no fin aid. it’s just not worth it. </p>

<p>if you don’t qualify for decent chunk of fin aid, consider attending a flagship state school on big scholly.</p>

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<p>Is it easy to switch majors/colleges and what would the process be? Thanks!</p>

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<p>Thank you for the honest reply and advice. If I attend the school, the looming debt definitely scares me a bit. I hope you pay it off soon; good luck!</p>

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<p>Depends on which college you want to switch into.</p>

<p>A lot of people try to switch into AEM after their first semester, it’s not easy.</p>