<p>I'm a recent grad from Cornell University... just graduated this past May. I had a great college experience and was a double major in the College of Arts and Sciences. I was also definitely a frequenter of the CC boards back when I was a high school senior and they really helped... hence, I'd like to give a little back and can answer a few questions. I'm a bit pressed for time, so I'll probably answer just the first few (not sure how many people actually have queries). Please limit the "what are my chances" posts, as I wasn't involved in admissions, and can really only give a general idea of the attributes my classmates had. Thanks!</p>
<p>hey there. I was wondering if you know anything about the policy at Cornell for legacy kids. At Penn and Harvard it is known that they try to give some advantage to legacy. Is that true for Cornell as well?</p>
<p>hey i just have a general question about your experience there
ive heard that its a fairly isolated college town with not much to do
is this true?</p>
<p>what are your 3 favorite things and your 3 least favorite things about cornell?</p>
<p>also, what is the general personality of the cornell “culture”? like how usc = sports/greek life, brown = liberal/laid-back, yale = intellectual/lively etc. what would you say of cornell?</p>
<p>What should I be prepared for during an alum interview? Do they grant one to everybody, or does it mean they are “on the fence” about you if you get an interview? Is it informational or evaluative?
Thanks - nice of you to offer yourself up as a source of info.</p>
<p>I’ll take a stab at a couple of these questions.</p>
<p>There’s plenty to do in Ithaca! There’s actually not a whole lot that you can’t do. Ways to blow off steam run the gamut from hiking / cliff-diving (into lakes) / skiing / cycling on the one end (of the health-meter) to bar-hopping / fraternity-party-hopping / house-partying on the other, with a little of everything in between. It’s easy to take in both wide-release movies (off campus) and art-house movies (on campus), and for your inner-foodie there’s a surprisingly diverse offering of quality restaurants scattered around town and nearby.</p>
<p>The only thing you can’t do is hop on a train and hit a massive club ala Columbia / NYU. But it’s easy to forget about those if you take advantage of the wonderful things surrounding you (and there is a lot). And many if not most students do an annual road-trip to New York, which is always a lot of fun.</p>
<p>Between what Cornell offers on campus and what Ithaca offers off, if the desire is there to fill your time with fun things to do, you will not be disappointed.</p>
<p>My 3 favorite things about Cornell:
Socio-economic diversity of the student population
Company recruiters’ love affair with Cornell students
Ability to explore academic interests far beyond what you’d probably be able to at most other comparable schools. Some of my best academic experiences were found in classes I took in the Arts and Sciences, Human Ecology, and ILR colleges (I was an engineering student).</p>
<p>My 2 least favorite:
February in Ithaca
Lack of a major airport (although Syracuse isn’t that far)</p>
<p>I should also add with regards to things to do in Ithaca: a lot of what I mentioned are things you can do at most any college. Things that are somewhat unique to Cornell would be gorge-jumping, trail-hiking, and cycling through an area of that country that offers absolutely stunning scenery and vistas.</p>
<p>Is the food science program good?
Also, do people have school spirit? (As oppose to being sad that they didn’t go somewhere else considered “better”).</p>
<p>What would be one thing you’d tell a future Cornellian that he had to do before he graduates. Feel free to leave a couple if you can’t narrow it down.</p>
<p>What was your least favorite part of Cornell.</p>
<p>What professor or two would you tell someone to have before he graduates.</p>
<p>"which majors are considered “tougher” (besides engineering) or “easier” at cornell? "</p>
<p>Generally, students who seemed to struggle the most were those who either had minimal interest in their chosen major, or those who wished they were in other colleges / majors. This makes sense to me; if you truly enjoy what you’re studying, putting in long hours in the library will be more bearable. So in that sense, the hardest majors would be the ones that “fit” you the least. I did ok in engineering; if I had attempted to major in hotel administration I probably would’ve struggled a lot more.</p>
<p>That said, there are several majors that are generally perceived to be “harder”. AEP in the engineering school comes to mind. And from what I noticed, biology and physics majors and architecture students put in substantial effort into their coursework. But I imagine this is not Cornell-specific, and studying these disciplines at any good school will be demanding.</p>
<p>There’s plenty of Big Red spirit! I mean we’re no Fighting Irish – and actually I’m not referring to Cornell football as well – but if you are willing to root for your school in slightly “less traditional sports” then it’s easy and fun to cheer on Cornell. Hockey of course comes first to mind. Cornell is enjoying success in many sports right now, (nationally ranked in men and women’s hockey and wrestling, top of the Ivy League pre-season in men’s basketball), and it’s always fun cheering for a winning team and winning season.</p>
<p>That said, if you absolutely need Big College football (and I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to have this as a top priority), Cornell is probably not the best place to go. I went to several football games over my four year in Ithaca, and I had a great time, but, again, we will never be a Florida.</p>
<p>Do people live on a tight budget or was Cornell’s FA actually really good?</p>
<p>Yes, and – in my experience – yes.</p>
<p>I received a generous financial aid package, more generous than what I received from two other ivy league schools. And as you can imagine, cost of living in Ithaca is low. I was still on a tight budget however and needed to stretch the dollars, and I had jobs at the library and the dining hall to help pay for my time there. This was in the ‘90’s however, and as I understand it, financial aid packages are generally better today than they were 15 years ago.</p>
<p>This brings up a wonderful thing about Cornell: the socioeconomic diversity that this school attracts. The people you meet come from all walks of life; the uber-rich, the broke-ass, and everybody in between. And if you want, you can learn something valuble from every single one of them.</p>
<p>what percentage of Cornell students (very roughly) would you say didn’t like Cornell and would’ve preferred another school?</p>
<p>This is a common feeling among freshmen at many schools, possibly moreso in the case of Cornell as the student population is larger than it is at most of its peers. You’re going to have your extroverts who make themselves at home quickly no matter where they are. And you have the others who feel varying degrees of loneliness and unhappiness until they find their niche (some not at all, others substantially so). It seems that many people find their niche (and the corresponding sense of home and belonging) within the first semester. A great thing about Cornell is that the population is about as non-homogeneous as it can possibly get, so you’re bound to find your niche at a certain point. And for the most part, this is when buyer’s remorse tends to greatly diminish. Lots of freshmen say “I wish I would’ve gone to (Cornell’s peer)”; very few juniors do.</p>
<p>There are, of course, those who dislike Cornell enough that they transfer out, or else stick it out at Cornell but never grow to like the school. What that percentage is I really have no idea. I’ll just say that it’s (probably) a very small minority.</p>
<p>**do people have school spirit? (As oppose to being sad that they didn’t go somewhere else considered “better”). **</p>
<p>Tigerton I now see what you’re asking; I read your question wrong earlier. The answer remains the same. There is plenty of Cornell pride, and we certainly don’t go around expressing desire of rather being at a school ranked higher by a magazine. For the most part, we’re too busy studying or partying to worry about that :).</p>
<p>Yes, Cornellians sometimes take friendly ribbing from people from other schools, but it doesn’t happen often, and, at least from my experience, it’s all done in fun and never maliciously. Cross-admit statistics show that students accepted to for example another ivy league school tend to choose the other school. At the same time there are plenty of people who choose Cornell over many other wonderful schools. The importance of these statistics tend to diminish from the time you start college; you will be working too hard and having too much fun to spend time on this.</p>
<p>Not to mention those cross-admit statistics that most people cite are flawed.
They are asking hypothetical preferences to high school students who have not even been admitted.</p>