<p>Cornell alum here. Class of 2010. Economics & Government major. Currently a law student @ NYU.</p>
<p>I just went through and finished this crazy, exhausting cycle of job interviews. And, now, I am bored. Ask me any questions, ranging from admissions to Cornell, food @ Ithaca, social life on campus, classes, or really any other questions that may be bothering you.</p>
<p>I will try to be as brutally honest as I can.</p>
<p>Shoot.</p>
<p>1) You said Industrial Organization I was a joke. But it has Intermediate Micro as a pre-requisite. Doesn’t that make it math intensive and difficult? Also, do you know anything about Industrial Organization II, as that’s the one being offered this next semester?</p>
<p>2) Do you know anything about West Campus apartments like Campus Hill, Ravenwood, and Gun Hill?</p>
<p>3) Why is Collegetown more desirable than West Campus?</p>
<p>4) Do you know anything about Econ 3240, American Economic History II? It requires Intro Micro and Macro. Will this be hard for me?</p>
<p>5) How can I get an investment banking job?</p>
<p>6) Is College Scholar difficult to get into?</p>
<p>Would you mind reading over my essays?</p>
<p>@ Saugus,</p>
<p>Thank you for being the first person to pull me out of boredom,</p>
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<p>Although Intermediate Micro & Macro are prerequisites for that course, that course in question doesn’t use any math beyond basic high school algebra. The class really is a joke. </p>
<p>As for Ind. Organization II, I haven’t taken it so can’t tell you how it is. I suspect it can’t be that much harder. The hardest classes in Econ are Stats, Game Theory, Financial Economics, and Econometrics. Other classes, I thought, weren’t as nearly as hard.</p>
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<p>I would honestly rather live in a dorm in West Campus or an apartment in college town. I heard some bad things about those housings, although I can’t verify those claims.</p>
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<p>It is because Collegetown is where all the action is at. I lived in West Campus for one year, and I thought it was very convenient and the food was excellent. However, what made me move to Collegetown was because all of my friends lived in Collegetown and all the parties took place in that locale. </p>
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<p>Highly doubt it. All the history courses I took at Cornell weren’t very hard. Granted, you might have some reading to do, or your instructor may not hand out A’s like they hand out candies in Halloween, but most of those courses aren’t very demanding, at least conceptually.</p>
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<p>Although I don’t work in Inv. Banking, I had the fortune of interviewing for a couple of banking firms my senior year. (from which I got rejected)</p>
<p>From my interview, I got the impression that Inv banking firms really cared about your GPA and finance internships. They are pretty much looking for 3.7+ GPA people with strong finance internships. The choice of your major doesn’t really matter.</p>
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<p>I don’t think so. As long as you have 3.5+ GPA your first year and get a good recommendation from your instructor, I don’t see why you can’t snag that.</p>
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<p>PM your essay, after copy & paste. My laptop is f’ed up and Microsoft word isn’t working at the moment.</p>
<p>Thanks! If you wouldn’t mind answering a few follow-ups:</p>
<p>1) What’s the point of a double major in Economics if it doesn’t help you get into banking, then?</p>
<p>2) How does one “party?” I get invitations and stuff, but I never go because they seem stupid. I went to one, and people just drank and played beer pong. Also, people were smoking and I don’t like second-hand smoke.</p>
<p>3) College Scholar is capped at 40… Are you sure that not a ton of people try to get it?</p>
<p>4) American Economic History is labeled as an Econ class, though. Should I consider it as a history class?</p>
<p>5) How do you find people to go to New York City with? Where do you stay for cheap? Is it safe to go alone?</p>
<p>I just applied ED for food science major in CALS. I am worried about my 1950 SAT. Because of my family situation, I am 19 and a senior in high school. How much does SAT stand in the admission process? Now, I attend a military ROTC high school, and my teachers are saying that I definitely stand out. Can you tell me what Cornell looks for, or what are the students like?</p>
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<p>Good question. Banking and consulting firms, at least from my impression, didn’t really care about what your major was, as long as it wasn’t something completely random like film studies or something.</p>
<p>Econ really doesn’t get you much advantage for getting you a finance job, compared to many other majors in CAS or even at other colleges within Cornell. (such as Hotel, PAM, etc) Where Econ may be useful is for some niche non-banking/consulting employers that may want to hire Econ grads, such as some economic research firms, government agencies, or some type of marketing firms.</p>
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<p>The best way to party is to develop a solid group of friends who like to drink and have fun. Starting from your sophomore year, you will get access to lots of house parties in collegetown, for example, through someone your friends’ know, etc. Starting my junior year, I & my friends hosted our own parties at our apartment at least once a month, with some quality booze and great music. I think this is the best way to go, rather than going to some random frat parties in which you don’t know anyone and just drink some cheap-a$$ beer that tastes like ****. (sorry, not a fan of Keystone)</p>
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<p>Damn. Maybe it is harder to get than I imagined. Regardless, it shouldn’t matter since “College Scholar” thing isn’t big deal anyway.</p>
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<p>Yes. “Economic history” courses don’t use any math. It is just a history course about the origin of economic theories and economists. Also, no exams. Papers for final.</p>
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<p>The best way to get to NYC is via shuttle. I don’t recommend car-pooling with ppl you don’t know. It may be dangerous. (dangerous driving, etc) Shuttle is the safe way to go. There is Cornell shuttle bus, as well as Coach USA shuttle that departs from Cornell every weekend. I think the round trip is around $100.</p>
<p>I had lots of friends from high school who attended NYU. So, whenever I visited NYC, I just crashed at my friends’ places. If you don’t have any friends in NYC, you may have to get a hotel room to stay, which will do some serious damages to your bank account.</p>
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<p>Cornell adopts holistic approach in admissions. So, someone with a SAT of 2400 can get rejected, while someone with 2100 SAT can be easily accepted. They really look just beyond numbers.</p>
<p>I can’t tell your exact chances without knowing the rest of your profile. What I will say is that Cornell looks for people who are well-rounded, willing to learn, have demonstrated academic capabilities, and ppl who are willing to challenge themselves.</p>
<p>That being said, it really is a crap shoot. The students at Cornell are very diverse. Some are very studious, some are very quiet/introverted, some are very outgoing, and there are some who are pretty lazy, as well. The point is, it is a pretty large school so it’s not possible to make a generalization about the entire student body.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Do you know anything about the air force ROTC?
How generous is the financial aid?</p>
<p>Stats:
Male
Texas resident
Rank: 9/255 ~4%
From under-represented, underperforming high school. In most graduating classes, there is usually one person at most that breaks a 2000 on the SAT. It’s a really depressed school.
Race: Spaniard/Portuguese/Asian
EC: Did 500 hours with the City, played varsity tennis, played some basketball. A few clubs like NHS.
SAT: 2050 (640CR, 720M, 690WR)
GPA 3.95, Weighted 5.1
Taken: AP Biology (5), AP Chemistry (4), AP Statistics (3), AP English Lang and Comp (3), AP Human Geography (5)
Dual Enrollment (community college) Trigonometry (A), Precalculus(A) Human Anatomy and Physiology (A Both semesters)</p>
<p>I am taking another 3 AP classes this year, plus dual enrollment calculus I and II. I have a talent for writing and will write great application essays.</p>
<p>Majors I’d like:
Biology</p>
<p>Would love for you to chance me.</p>
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<p>Sorry, don’t know much about ROTC. </p>
<p>Cornell Fin Aid is very generous. Maybe not as generous as Harvard or Yale. But still quite good. Also, Cornell introduced this interesting policy where if you get a better Fin Aid package from another Ivy, you can appeal your Fin Aid and ask for more $.</p>
<p>@ asianandrpround,</p>
<p>I like your chances. The fact that you’ve taken bunch of AP courses demonstrate that you are willing to push your self. Your class rank is good as well.</p>
<p>Your SAT is a bit on the lower side, however, provided that your essays and teacher recommendations are strong, I predict that you stand an above-average chance at admission.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>Thanks man, I might be retaking to try and bump my reading to a 680 so it isn’t just an eyesore like it is at 640. I’ve just always been a math guy and never read as much as I should have.</p>
<p>Do you have any knowledge of the “Biology and Society(politics/humanities/legal component)” major? If so, could you maybe talk about classes or anything about the major really.</p>
<p>If you don’t know anything about it(I wouldn’t think you would), could you maybe speak to the classroom environment in government classes. Also maybe talk about the professors, or anything you think would be worth noting.</p>
<p>Also to fellow prospective students asking questions, I don’t think NYULawyer had the intention of this thread devolving into a “chances” thread. I don’t want to put words in his/her mouth, but I don’t think he wants to chance people(correct me if I am wrong or overstepping my bounds).</p>
<p>Is the grading truly difficult there like people say it is? Like how hard is it to get an A in a class because of the bad curve I’ve heard of?</p>
<p>Even though you weren’t an engineering major, I figured you may be able to give some insight. Is engineering at Cornell truly as difficult as it’s made out to be? I have heard that engineers are always studying, having no social lives, have no time to party, etc. How accurate do you think this is? Do non-engineering students socialize with engineering students?</p>
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<p>My ex girl friend was Bio & Society major. She’s now at a medical school, I heard.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about the major, except I heard that many of the people in that major were pre-med students. As a result, the competition for top grades in some ‘core’ science classes were fierce.</p>
<p>At Cornell, there are pre-med students at CAS, CALS, and College of Human Ecology. All are good programs that would prepare you well for medical school. The differences between these schools, however, are the electives or other required courses that each college may demand of students.</p>
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<p>The classroom environment in government was very intellectually stimulating and engaging, especially at upper level courses. I liked the fact that at upper level courses, all my courses had less than 15 students, so there were lots of discussions of ideas among students and the faculty. </p>
<p>The professors in the government department were top notch, I thought. Very accessible outside of class, if you have any questions to ask, or were concerned about papers or something. Also, many of the professors were extremely nice people. I can definitely say that the professors I had in government were, on average, much nicer than the professors in Econ department. For some reason, man professors in Econ department didn’t even know how to speak English, and sometimes they were just rude to students. (I once asked some questions to a professor, and he looked down at me, like “Dude, how can you not even understand something as basic as this?”) However, I never had any professor like this in any government courses.</p>
<p>What I would recommend is to really make the most out of professors, especially in upper level courses. There are many excellent, nice, and very personable professors, and you will learn that much more by going to office hours, talking about ideas outside of classrooms, or just getting to know them well. Two of the professors that I visited the most (for office hours) wrote me very strong letters of recommendations when I was applying to law schools, and I am sure they didn’t hurt for my law school applications.</p>
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<p>It really depends on your major and the courses you take. Some classes aren’t even curved at all. There was this class I took that gave A’s to 60% of kids, and B’s to 40% of kids. You had to be literally borderline ■■■■■■■■ to get anything lower than a C in that class.</p>
<p>Some other classes are brutally hard. I heard some horror stories of CS or Engineering classes, just ripping apart even the smartest kids on campus. So, I would say that grading or workload are both heavily dependent on the courses you take.</p>
<p>Speaking from my experience, I thought that getting A’s were difficult and took hard work for many of Econ classes. However, I thought that getting B’s were pretty easy for most courses I took at Cornell.</p>
<p>Hi! This is sort of a stretch, but I was just curious if you knew anything about the fine arts major, or arts in general at Cornell and in Ithaca. Thanks!</p>