<p>A friend of mine was accepted to Cornell for mechanical engineering, but is not sure if she wants to attend. She is also considering UConn, Lehigh, and Union. I've tried to tell her that Cornell has one of the absolute best engineering programs in the world, and that she will be immensely successful in being accepted to a reputable graduate school and obtaining an excellent job if she chooses Cornell (in addition to receiving about the best possible education for her particular field). While money and distance are two of her concerns, her main fear of Cornell is that it will be "too hard" and she will fail out. She repeats the phrase "Easiest to get into, hardest to graduate from" perpetually. I've tried to explain the concept of grade inflation, and that Cornell wouldn't have accepted her if they thought she couldn't handle the work or difficulty. Please help me to alleviate some of her fears so she does not end up spending the next four years of her life bored as sh^t in Storrs, CT.</p>
<ol>
<li>Cornell does NOT accept students who can't handle the work</li>
<li>Cornell has the #10 Engineering program in the nation, #1 in the Ivy League</li>
<li>Cornell is an awesome campus, community etc.</li>
<li>Once you get out of intro level classes, they become very small and personal at cornell, some having just 2 or 3 students</li>
<li>Although your friend may be "certain" about her major, she may change her mind. It is easy to transfer to other colleges at cornell, especially A&S. An A&S degree from cornell is much more prestigious than one from any of the other schools mentioned.</li>
<li>Cornell's "easiest to get into, hardest to get out of" reputation, is for the Ivy League. And by easiest to get into, thats only because of its large size. As to hardest to get out of, thats only because cornell does not have grade inflation like, for example, yale.</li>
<li>Cornell has a fabulous alumni network that can hook her up with a job at a top industry company when she graduates</li>
<li>Cornell has incredible research facilities</li>
<li>Cornell can party just as hard as lehigh</li>
<li>The fact that I can get to reason number 10 makes cornell awesome.</li>
</ol>
<p>Your friend should try and contact engineering students there to get an idea. also, going to cornell days will give her an idea of the engineering life at cornell. Lastly, look how high cornell's retention rate is. That doesn't leave many students to fail out. Your friend should go for the best education possible. If she can get in, she can handle it and shouldnt shortchange herself. oh yeah, tell her cornell is reputed for having hot guys, maybe that will change her mind lol</p>
<p>If they didn't think she could handle the workload, they wouldn't have admitted her. In my four years, I've only seen one engineer not handle the difficulty.</p>
<p>I think I'm going to jump into the gorge the next time I hear someone reject Cornell because it's "too hard."</p>
<p>theres no way it can be "too hard" for your friend, just probably "too much work and too stressful". but no question she should take cornell over the others, if she has ambition. if not, whatever.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help...hey Sparticus, go easy on Yale. And I thought there was grade inflation at all the Ivies.</p>
<p>cornell has a FORCED bell curve. that means 50th percentile WILL receive a C, regardless of actual percentage.</p>
<p>Also, might any current Cornell engineering students have anything to add? And, to what degree are Cornell engineering graduates successful in being accepted to various graduate programs?</p>
<p>wait for perro, he's an engineer and awesome and, yea...</p>
<p>i just needed another ivy as an example, harvard and yale are fairly notorious i hear, though they might have cracked down. princeton was too until recently. As a colleague of my mom's said when she taught there "an A is not bad, a B is not good..."</p>
<p>theres a similar thread to this where cornell is charactarized as being very strong with both graduate school acceptances and positioning of its engineering graduates in companies</p>
<p>"cornell has a FORCED bell curve. that means 50th percentile WILL receive a C, regardless of actual percentage."</p>
<p>Not true. I'm an engineer at Cornell. We work hard. The median grade for most of my classes is B or B- (reports are available online through the registrar if you want proof).</p>
<p>That being said, it is difficult to maintain a high GPA. Most schools and employers know about the rigors of Cornell Engineering and will appropriately weigh a Cornell graduate's degree.</p>
<p>I'm an engineer and I'm going to a great school next year in something that I didn't even major in. A bunch of my friends got into top schools like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, etc etc etc.</p>
<p>My son graduated from Cornell engineering last June and is having trouble finding a job---how to get with the alum networking====he seems lost. GPA only 2.75. please help</p>
<p>What is the typical courseload like Freshman year? What do you recommend taking?</p>
<p>i apologize. i probably misunderstood what my friend who is going there said about the forced bell curve. they do give out grades according to percentile though right?</p>
<p>kittyqueen28: call cornell and ask about their career services 2.75 gpa is of course rough, but the cornell degree will help immensely</p>
<p>Yes, it's a bell curve but the median can be curved to whatever you want. Typically the median will = a certain grade and 1 std. dev above the median will be a full grade higher than the median grade.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>The median/mean on the last orgo prelim was around 65. Std. dev was 15. The mean/median is curved to a B which means you got a solid B if you received 60 and a low A if you received 80. Some insane person probably got two std. dev above the mean (95) which means they receive some sort of high A++. I wouldn't know since I'm never in that range:)</p>
<p>There's a lot of info on the engineering career services website about networking and advice for alumni:</p>
<p>Back to grades: Each class' grading scheme is ultimately determined by the professor. They often follow guidlines (sometimes strict) from their departments, but a lot of discretion is given to the profs. Most classes end up being curved to a B.</p>
<p>Freshman year you'll take the basics. In the first two semesters combined you'll take 2 math courses, chemistry, physics, computer science, an intro to engineering class (related to your desired major, but not required for your major if you are still undecided--as I was), 2 writing seminars, 2 PE, and a once-a-week seminar that lets you get to know your advisor and to tour Cornell and the engineering department. This is the standard freshman schedule, but some have AP credit to get out of some courses, and some choose to delay classes like PE or writing for later years.</p>
<p>thanks everyone, im also going to be in EP when i get there int he fall...and im canadian...so my basic questions is this: What is all this talk about grade inflation and on a curve?? all we ever do in canada is 91, 93 75 or wutever ur mark is....and what is a 2.75GPA in terms of both A B or C or wutever and in terms of number like 75% ??? What is the min. GPA to graduate>?? And for those who really know...what marks/GPA/ etc are required to be accepted to grad school??? is it like high school where grd 9 counts too so for grad school they pay close attentino to 1st and 2nd year?? pls help me its greatly appreciated!</p>