Cornell Students: Ideas for success at Cornell?

<p>also wanted to mention....be outgoing during orientation! Leave your door open (when you're there of course!!) so that people can swing by and say hi. Orientation is when I met a majority of my friends...</p>

<p>while i entirely agree with what u say Figgy, I don't agree with the part on how not going to class wastes parents money... some professors do not care about their students (mostly because they are condescending) and lecture because they have to (thats a waste of money, unfortunately). I choose not to attend their lecture and do something else, and actually get higher grades because I'm taking my stress out somewhere else (i.e. working out during that time) and then I'm able to think better. Maybe what I'm saying is confusing, but "going to class everyday" does not always equal "better grades". Just wanted to suggest that to newly accepted students and prospectives that there are many different ways of succeeding in school and class is only one medium with which to use (u've got sections, TA help, online course material/prac prelim). And i'm not gonna lie, the so called "Cornell education" is fluffed up sometimes, but I guess I have some good learning experiences from a few professors. </p>

<p>and for new students, definitely give Cornell greek system a chance! I came in with preconceived notions of fraternity life, but ended up liking it. i keep strong connections with my friends in other frats and sororities but still maintain close relationships with the people in my major. and the plus side is getting a huge room for way cheaper price than cornell housing.</p>

<p>wow, you are a tour guide. so basicly,you know almost everything about Cornell. ~~ i major in business in a community college. i want to transfer by Fall 2009. i'm sorry that i dont know too much about Cornell yet, so my questions may be dump . but, anyway. what would be the right program for business major? the eco or the AEM? what's the difference between these two. oh, by the way, i'm in LA.
thank you for the information you posted.</p>

<p>that was for cornellpride10. sorry.i forgot to mention</p>

<p>Kryptonite - are there any classes/profs you've had particularly bad experiences with? How do you find out which profs/classes are worth taking? </p>

<p>I appreciate all of the advice and I do think that generally, the advice of going to classes/staying on top of things is solid. There may be classes which, after a while, you figure out you don't need to attend, but at least in the beginning, I would think it would be important and it's good to hear that others agree.</p>

<p>llf_ca there is aem, econ, ILR, and pam. I'd research them since I don't kno much bout pam or econ. AEM is pretty much straight business. ILR is like business w/o all the math...it's more history, sociology, hr, labor econ, etc...</p>

<p>Figgy: thanks. i think AEM is what i am interested in. like you said. it's straight business. i would like to learn practical knowledge rather than theories. what is your major? are you in Cornell?</p>

<p>I know that i got to do lots of research on transfering. i go to a community college in LA, so i got limited resources on out-state universities. but for the universities inside california, our college offers plenty of information. i am worried about if that is too hard for me to transfer out. but i would love to if i can transfer to out-state university.</p>

<p>I know that i got to do lots of research on transfering. i go to a community college in LA, so i got limited resources on out-state universities. but for the universities inside california, our college offers plenty of information. i am worried about if that is too hard for me to transfer out. but i would love to if i can transfer to out-state university.</p>

<p>Ya if it's straight business ur looking for it's definitely AEM u want. AEM just got ranked #4 too so it's def a great program and will probably end up ranking even higher in the end.</p>

<p>I'm in ILR cuz I didn't want straight business.</p>

<p>GL w/ everything. There's a good amount of Cali ppl here so hopefully u will soon b one of them.</p>

<p>Figgy: wow.so you are in ILR~~CONGRATS~~ are u freshman? is there very competitive? it's Ivy.
Is ILR more theoretical? i mean , you didnt want straight business, what do you like about ILR ? what's the difference between ILR and AEM? ...........uuuuh...well ,i guess my questions are too many...
Were Cali PPL prospective students? if they were, that definitely encourages me to transfer out!!<br>
thanks for replying.</p>

<p>Echoing the going to class thing:</p>

<p>Go to class... if you need it. (For background, I'm a freshman, CS major in Engineering.) There are many times when going to class is necessary to do well in the class (example: MATH 192, Multivariable Calculus... if you don't go to class you're not going to do well). But there are also times when not going to class will help more. During last semester, there was a lecture I got nothing out of. Instead of sitting through it 3 days a week, I would go to the library and study/do homework, and ended up being much more productive (and pulling an A in the class I skipped regularly!). This semester, I found that for a certain class I learn much better from the book than from the lecturers, so I skip and read the book. It's all based on how YOU learn. I'm doing quite well in this class as well.</p>

<p>Go to your classes at first, then decide if they're helping you or not. If they aren't and there's a better way to spend the time, decide whether or not to attend. (This only goes for classes without attendance, though, of course.)</p>

<p>Other advice?</p>

<p>1) Make the most out of orientation. Meet as many people as you can -- even if you don't keep in touch with them, there's always a chance those acquaintanceships could come back to help later.
2) Don't expect to maintain a 4.0 GPA. Try your hardest, and if you're not doing as well as you'd like, try harder. Go to office hours... multiple times in the same week if you have to. Do your homework -- don't copy, ever, because you won't learn the material and you'll fail the exams.
3) Manage time well. Cornell Learning Initiatives has a lot of great advice on this, and they have a few really awesome resources, like a semester week-by-week chart that you can print and fill out and keep by your desk. It's really helpful, and I don't know if I could manage as well without it.
4) Make friends in your classes! This might seem like a no-brainer, but it's essential to make friends who are in your classes so you can study together, discuss homework (nearly ALL classes allow students to discuss homework together -- not necessarily doing the homework together, but discussing approaches to problems and then writing it up yourself), and ask each other questions.
5) Get to know the people in your hall during the first week. Even if you're going to have a lot of friends from your high school there, or a lot of friends from a pre-orientation program or whatever, make friends with your hall. You'll be living with them 24/7, and it's nice to have friends right near you when you need them.</p>

<p>And lastly:
6) If you see a pre-orientation program that interests you, do it. I wasn't sure about doing mine, but ended up deciding to, and it was possibly the best experience I've had at Cornell thus far. It was just the most amazing time ever, and I've heard the same from people who did other programs. I did POST, which is Pre-Orientation Service Trips, and I have a few friends who did Wilderness Reflections, and they're simply amazing ways to start your Cornell career.</p>

<p>on transfer housing: I was up at Cornell in September and I recall a faculty member saying that all transfers would be placed in new housing. Construction's to be complete by this Sept for the '08ers. I can't confirm this, so if anyone has more information, it would be greatly appreciated :)</p>

<p>The final two dorms will be completed by September. However, these new buildings are not exclusively for transfers. Incoming transfers choosing to live on campus will be housed in groups of 10 or so and dispersed through the west campus dorms.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info, dewdrop. Just for clarification: the two new dorms are being built on west campus?</p>

<p>yes they are!</p>

<p>hot chocolate. I always loved new room smell</p>

<p>Figgy: wow.so you are in ILR~~CONGRATS~~ are u freshman? is there very competitive? it's Ivy.
Is ILR more theoretical? i mean , you didnt want straight business, what do you like about ILR ? what's the difference between ILR and AEM? ...........uuuuh...well ,i guess my questions are too many...
Were Cali PPL prospective students? if they were, that definitely encourages me to transfer out!!
thanks for replying.</p>

<p>I'm a Soph. It's pretty competative but not nearly as much as pre-med level competativeness. If u talking about admissions it's competative in that u need to have passion for it or ur prolly not getting in.
It's pretty theoretical. Sort of sociology/psychology/history of business/workers/unions. Then there's also things like econ/hr/law. AEM is much more straight business w/ all the different divisions of business like finance n such. U also have to take math type courses as well as a couple science ones.
There are a whole lot of cali students here. Not sure y but that's a pretty big pocket of students. NY, new england, florida, cali seem to be some of the hot spots</p>

<p>haha...the new room smell is nice....but there is a chance you won't get a room in the new dorm....just keep your fingers crossed :-)</p>

<p>Hey guys I am a senior(Atmospheric Science major) graduating in a few months from Cornell and all I have to say for success at Cornell is to do the work. If you plan on attending Cornell you'll be in for a great time. Sure, you'll hear many horror stories about the crap loads of work that people do, but in all honesty if you manage your time correctly you will be just fine. One important piece of advice, as other students have already hinted on, is to meet and mingle with new students when you get here and throughout your college experience. Don't get caught up in the party life style(although everyone needs their fun), and make sure you enjoy yourself!</p>