<p>So that's my choice, (also got into Georgetown, but I've axed that).</p>
<p>I know the two are vastly different so you needn't say "one's small, one's big etc."
Just straight up, which do you think would I have a better 4 years in terms of fun?</p>
<p>what do you like to do to have fun? Cornell had an outdoor club program that really impressed my D. And all those gorges and waterfalls and glacial lakes and hiking trails.</p>
<p>No way around it: it all depends on your idea of fun, yo.</p>
<p>(that said, I had so much fun at Williams back in the day that I chose not to do a semester/year abroad!)</p>
<p>What ^ said. Don’t know what rocks your boat. </p>
<p>This is what I would say. It is not specific to Williams, of which I know little.</p>
<p>For most, “fun” is not a solo activity. It is dependent on whether one develops a network of good friends, and
an extended network, with whom to do “things” with. Then only secondarily come the actual “things”. People with a common need to find “things” to do for “fun” can be quite resourceful about creating those activities, if they need to be. It’s easier to create the activities than it is to create the network.</p>
<p>LACs tend to have a pronounced predominant campus culture.
If you are confident that you fit really well with that predominant campus culture, then a large chunk of the people there are candidates, at the outset, to become part of your network. Which creates a great opportunity to have “fun”.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my D1 went to an LAC where she expected to fit in, but she was mistaken and she was miserable there socially.</p>
<p>At a university generally, and at Cornell specifically, there is much less of a predominant campus culture. Many different types of people are attending. There will undoubtedly be lots of people you like there, but it may take some sorting out time before you connect with them.</p>
<p>Provided you find them, I imagine there are many more “things” to do at Cornell than at Williams that you don’t have to create for yourselves. And some of these are ready made, for example if you think you may like fraternities then a lot is created for you, socially, with less effort.</p>
<p>But I think finding your social network, at one school vs, the other, will be the biggest determinant of your “fun”. And those odds are for you to handicap. If it comes to the “things”, the answer should be Cornell IMO. More to do generally tracks more people.</p>
<p>Appreciate the responses. I understand how it could be vague without knowing exactly what type of person I am, so I meant more from what you’re own opinions were.</p>
<p>@monydad, thanks for that analysis, very good points. I’m forwarding it to a student who is deciding between Cornell, LAC and a couple others.</p>
<p>My son attended Willliams for undergrad, Cornell for graduate school. His observation is that there was a fair amount of overlap in the general personality of the students, given, as moneydad notes that Cornell has a wider spectrum. </p>
<p>Both attract socially outgoing kids. Cornell, of course, has a lively Greek culture which influences social options considerably. Williams activities tend toward smaller groups. Because of their rural locations, both see a good deal of outdoorsy activities. At both there are zillions of cultural and sports activities every weekend that students may or may not take advantage of.</p>
<p>My son’s opinion was that the alcoholic fueled “fun” at Cornell was more extreme than at Williams. I’m sure that Cornell students, like Williams students, comprise heavy drinkers/light drinkers/non-drinkers, but comparing in Saturday nights on campus, my son felt that Cornell was a notch up on the rambunctious scale. [Maybe it was just a function of getting older.
]</p>
<p>momrath, with all due respect, your characterization of Cornell undergrads is , again, misleading.
Some kids at Cornell are outgoing. Some kids at Cornell are not at all outgoing.
Some kids drink. Some kids don’t.
It is very diverse. Your son would have seen the gamut if he had lived there in the freshman dorms.</p>
<p>He didn’t.</p>
<p>One can see a bunch of kids whooping it up in Collegetown and make some extrapolations to the entire student body.</p>
<p>Those extrapolations would be ill-crafted.</p>
<p>You would not be looking at the other kids who are in the library all weekend. And the others who are elsewhere, doing something completely other.</p>
<p>…and most Cornell student’s activities do in fact occur in small groups.
About 2/3 of Cornell students are not in fraternities.
My daughter never attended a single fraternity event there.
She made friends in various places, including her house, and they went off together to do things.
In small groups. That is what most people do there. Most of the time.</p>
<p>Interested parties can get a sense of the range of what people do there by reading the entries of the “Life on the Hill” bloggers. I think that’s a good resource.</p>
<p>Thinking about it just now. at Cornell a good deal of one’s social life as an upperclassman revolves around housing.
Most upperclassmen do not live on campus. They live in rented houses or apartments, many of which are right near campus, while others are downtown or even further afield. </p>
<p>Housemates or apartment-mates often become quite involved with each other socially. Often that is not a coincidence, since many people knew each other beforehand and decided to go in on renting the house or apartment together in the first place. But even when that’s not the case, frequent contact is conducive to forming relationships.</p>
<p>Oftentimes “going out” starts, or even ends, with a group of people going over to a friend’s apartment to hang out. Or a group from the house winds up going out together, to dinner or a movie or whatever.</p>
<p>On a larger scale, many weekends you will know somebody who is throwing a house party, in Collegetown or elsewhere.</p>
<p>These houses are not owned or controlled by the university, they are privately rented by the students . There are no RAs. There are no bouncers checking IDs. There is lots of opportunity for “fun”.</p>
<p>In my opinion, it is the individual houses that are the real soul of social life for the majority of students at Cornell. Though these are invisible compared to the Collegetown bars, or the fraternities. “The silent majority”, as it were.</p>
<p>There will certainly be people swimming in beer at a frat house or in the Collegetown bars. A lot of them, to be sure. And it would be the relatively rare student who never took a swim or two themselves. But after doing a few of those, a lot of people find them boring and not really fun, and spend relatively more time elsewhere. While still occasionally hitting a bar or two.</p>
<p>While others prefer to hang out at the bars. And others study. And a hundred other things.</p>
<p>I don’t know what Williams is like, but if students there live all four years in college-run housing, with RAs, etc, that might be a lot different.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>One of my concerns with Williams is the lack of events. When I visited last year it seemed kind of boring. However I don’t want to make a mistake by closing the frame of reference to a 4-hour campus visit.</p>
<p>Chris, why don’t you do an overnight on both campuses? There’s no question that Williams is quieter than Cornell. Not only is Cornell a larger school, but Ithaca is much larger than Williamstown. So if you’re making a quantitative comparison of course there are more “events” at Cornell. </p>
<p>At this point, I think this is more of a personal reaction to two different environments, and with a little more exposure your inclination will become clearer. </p>
<p>Seems like this should exist someplace, so I made it:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/1638407-what-s-happening.html?new=1”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/1638407-what-s-happening.html?new=1</a></p>