Couple of questions....

Colleges & Universities A-Z Cornell University
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<p>Hi guys, </p>

<p>I'm an international student and have been accepted, Regular Decision, for class of 2016. Got a couple of questions, bit random, but I've never been to upstate New York and just wanted to clarify some things. I know they're a lot and i don't expect anyone to answer all of them, but if someone does know the answer to 1-2 of my questions, I would appreciate it if you could share.</p>

<p>In regards to my course, I'd like to study Economics, and one of the reasons I applied to Cornell was because of the strength of it's mathematical and quantiative courses. However, a typical Econ degree is a BA. I was wondering if there was anyway I could earn a BSc. ? </p>

<p>I've already looked at the semester dates, but they confuse me slightly. Do we really only get two weeks for Xmas and 9 days for Spring Break? I'm just used to the slightly longer British holidays :p </p>

<p>In terms of housing, how likely is it I could get a single? </p>

<p>Could someone just clarify what a pre-lim is? </p>

<p>How much of a step up is the workload from high school? I'm not afraid of hard work, but I think my SAT score is slightly below the average (2100), but i am a straight A student at A Level and GCSE. Slightly worried about being overwhelmed with the competitiveness of people :p </p>

<p>Does the weather ever hamper the ability to partake in extra curricular/out door activities?</p>

<p>Do there tend to be many arab students/people in Cornell/Ithaca? From the middle east or otherwise... Basically, just don't want to get out of practice with my arabic :p What about pakistani students? Do international students have gatherings and cultural events? </p>

<p>How many students from the UK tend to go there? </p>

<p>I know soccer is widely played, but as a big fan of the Premier League, I was wondering if you get a lot of people at Cornell who also follow football/soccer. Are there any places where people congregate to watch games, assuming there is a following? </p>

<p>I know that the university provides well for religious students, with there being a range of halal and kosher food. How prevalent is this? And what about in town? </p>

<p>I know there are societies, I've looked into them, but what are the horseriding/fencing/rowing scenes like? </p>

<p>Coming from a relatively conservative background, I wanted university to be my chance to break loose a little. I realise in the US, house parties dominate, but as someone who's never really been able to experience proper clubbing, I was hoping to be able to give it a go. Do students go occasionally? Are there any 18+ clubs in ithaca or do students tend to get fake IDs </p>

<p>And, I know this is a bit contradictory and hypocritical, but I don't drink :p So I'm kinda worried I may be outcast seeing as the Greek scene dominates social life? Im sort of worried that, being in a small town, there's not much to do but drink, which may lead me to be kind of bored. </p>

<p>Do people never get tired of being an hours driver away from any sort of medium sized city? :p Do people tend to go on road trips to them a lot? Does the 'campus bubble' not to tend be a little choking? </p>

<p>Wooo... that's all from me now. If anyone could answer any of those questions, I would be grateful :p</p>

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<ol>
<li>What college did you get into at Cornell? Some give out BAs and some BSc.</li>
<li>Cornell has long breaks compared to other schools in the US. We don’t have holidays nearly as long as in Europe - in school or in our careers.</li>
<li>Don’t know. You can request one.</li>
<li>It’s Cornell’s test system. Some of the courses at Cornell give you your entire grade based on 3 prelims, spaced evenly throughout the semester (1st third, second 3rd, and final). A lot of them take place at similar times so you might have 2-3 prelims in one week.</li>
<li>Lol, it’s quite a step up from high school.</li>
<li>Nope. In fact I feel Cornell has more opportunity for outdoor activities than most colleges. </li>
<li>I see a lot of middle eastern students, but I have no idea what part of the middle east they are from. </li>
<li>We tend to be more popular with canada and asia. I met very few UK students.</li>
<li>Not sure. Never saw a big soccer presence on campus. </li>
<li>You can find food for whatever restrictions on campus - there are a ton of eateries. Ithaca is a super hippie town so you can find whatever “alternative” food types you need.</li>
<li>Horseriding is big - there’s even a barn nearby where some students keep their own horses. There are fencing courses, so I’m sure there are clubs. Rowing is pretty big too, we even have an indoor practice area for rowing since it’s cold most of the year.</li>
<li>You’ll have to save the clubbing until you find a group of friends to take NYC trips with. Not such a huge club scene in Ithaca.</li>
<li>I didn’t drink either, it never hampered my social life. I did eventually start later on though… :). But in all seriousness, there are tons of things people do that don’t involve heavy drinking, and you can still attend parties and events with just soda in your cup.</li>
<li>Ithaca is a cool town on its own, and has amenities that you would rarely find in a city this size. It does suck being an hour from a bigger city - but it’s not so hard to take a weekend trip if you have friends with cars. Also, soon Syracuse will finish DestinyUSA, adding much better shopping nearby (Saks off 5th outlet, etc).</li>
</ol>

<p>Hope that helps.</p>

3

<p>No, you cannot get a BSc for Econ at Cornell. The difference is meaningless anyway. </p>

<p>I haven’t looked at the calendar, but winter break is roughly 4-5 weeks. Not sure where you’re looking…Spring break is only a week though. </p>

<p>I believe if you want a single, that’s easy enough. Doubles are more competitive because students are looking to cut costs. </p>

<p>A prelim is an exam. Most other colleges call them mid-terms, but most Cornell courses tend to have 2-3 major exams before the final, rather than one. I think this is true at other colleges too, so preliminary exam (prelim) is actually more accurate than mid-term.</p>

<p>I took several courses in the Near Eastern studies department, so I’d probably overestimate the number of Arab students, but they are there for sure. There are always cultural events on-campus. It’s probably not an exaggeration to say there are 2-3 per week. Cornell has over 900 student organizations, and many, maybe even a majority are culturally related.</p>

<p>Yes, the weather can hamper your ability to do outdoor activities. The most underrated aspect of Cornell are probably its PE classes though, so take advantage. I took well over the minimum of 2 required.</p>

<p>As for competitiveness, don’t worry. I was an Econ major as well and it’s not competitive. The rigor is definitely a step-up from high school, but Econ is more intellectually challenging than time consuming, so at least you shouldn’t be up too late very frequently studying.</p>

<p>You should be able to watch soccer. I’m thinking you might want to live in the International Living Center. Tons of soccer fans there, and you get frequent cultural events.</p>

<p>You should be able to fairly easily meet your dietary restrictions. </p>

<p>Horseriding/fencing/rowing are all common at Cornell. If you are looking to do them low-key, I suggest the PE classes.</p>

<p>Fake-IDs are hit-or-miss in Ithaca from what I can tell. Much more likely to be successful if you are a female. Clubbing itself isn’t really an option as Ithaca is too small and as said above, you’d probably need to go to NYC for a proper clubbing experience. </p>

<p>I didn’t drink my first year and it wasn’t an issue. No one ever really pressured me. That said, I did eventually start drinking and my advice with that is make sure you start with friends you trust, should you decide to imbibe. </p>

<p>The Ithaca bubble can be choking, but the campus offers A LOT to do. If you’re ever desperate, you’re only a short bus ride away from NYC.</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot for your replies guys!!!</p>

<p>I was wondering… Do you think having a single room would negatively affect my social life? In terms of making friends etc. ?</p>

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<p>^even single rooms are usually in suites I think. someone correct me if I’m wrong?</p>

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<p>Usually, yes. Being in a single shouldn’t affect your social life. You might have to make a slightly bigger effort if you are naturally introverted…</p>

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<p>In west campus (where I was) it was 4 guys to a suite, two in singles and two in a double. All four of us got along - there’s a common area and a shared bathroom, etc so it’s like living in a house together and having your own bedroom.</p>

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<p>Ahh… I see… So it’s not like living on a corridor with each person to their own room?</p>

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<p>Sorry, bump :stuck_out_tongue: Just wondering if someone could answer my last question?</p>

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<p>Ya it depends where you’re living and whether you’re all that social to begin with. someone mentioned the international living center, that’s a horrible idea as it’s notoriously antisocial. </p>

<p>The high/low rises are what you’re thinking (two isolated suites connected by one long corridor with the rooms off to the side of the hallway) but really aren’t bad in terms of meeting people - and dickson for example where everyone has singles is known for being very open.</p>

11

<p>@ilr </p>

<p>Oh right… I applied for the International House as a “second choice” preference after ‘Residence Hall’, do you think I should change that? For that matter, my application status for housing is “Applied” but for some reason is still incomplete? </p>

<p>Oh right, I thought the high/low rises were more like flats. In the UK dorms are basically ‘hotel style’. Rooms along the side and a corridor linking them with other rooms, so just a little confused :p</p>

12

<p>Right, most dorms are like that, it’s just that with the high and low rises the rooms are arranged around mini hallways that all connect to the common room.</p>

<p>If you apply for a program house you’ll probably get it so yeah, I would go ahead and change that. From my limited experience with HILC it’s just really quiet…if you’re a soccer fan believe me you can find quite a few others in the regular dorms which all have programming going on all the time</p>

<p>it’s been a long time but i think you can just edit that preference and resubmit your app</p>

13

<p>Do there tend to be any “black tie events”/formal ball kinda things at Cornell? Was just thinking, cause I’d never been to one, it would be nice to be able to go to a couple during my uni years.</p>

14

<p>Bump. Just wondering if someone could answer the last question? :p</p>

15

<p>There are in fraternities/sororities and certain student organizations. The only university-wide format event would be the Duff Ball senior year; at least that’s all I can think of.</p>

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<p>Contact the nicest and friendliest department on campus, the Near Eastern Studies department. Everyone in that department is awesome–the faculty, the faculty families, the graduate students, the administrative staff, everyone. If you want to practice your Arabic, you could sign up for an advanced class or maybe work as a tutor. NES has a ton of history, literature, and language classes you can use for your distribution requirements. Look up the department. Read about some of the professors. Research the Cornell Sun and the Cornell Chronicle. </p>

<p>No significant clubbing in Ithaca, but there’s always the campus to campus bus which will take you from Ithaca right to the Cornell med school mid-town NYC. The upside, Cornell has the best view of the night sky.</p>