<p>I am head-over-heels, tripping-over-myself smitten with Cornell (CALS, in particular). If Cornell was a woman, I would go gay for her. However, my mother (a veterinarian who visits the Veterinary Medicine post-grad school often for conferences and the like) insists that the atmosphere is extremely dog-eat-dog, and that it's not unusual for students to sabotage one another in order to get ahead.</p>
<p>Is there any truth to that? I know that every Ivy League comes with competitiveness, but is it noticeably worse at Cornell? (not that that would stop me from applying, but I'd like to hear from current students)</p>
<p>my interviewer told me it's the most competitive of the ivies. however, he also said that such competition is not such a bad thing. coming out of cornell, so he says, you will dominate the job market and graduate school because you are better than others at competition and getting things done</p>
<p>I don't know where people get this notion that Cornell's cut-throat. I have not seen any sabotaging. The cut-throat are a very small minority. ^^Cut-wrist definitely reflects the general atmosphere more accurately : P</p>
<p>If intense competition exists at Cornell, it would most likely be present in only a few specific schools or programs as opposed to being university wide.</p>
<p>Here's what Michael Crichton said about premed at Harvard</p>
<p>
[quote]
In general, I found Harvard an exciting place, where people were genuinely focused on study and learning, and with no special emphasis on grades. But to take a premed course was to step into a different world -- nasty and competitive. The most critical course was organic chemistry, Chem 20, and it was widely known as a "screw your buddy" course. In lectures, if you didn't hear what the instructor had said and asked the person next to you, he'd give you the wrong information; thus you were better off leaning over to look at his notes, but in that case he was likely to cover his notes so you couldn't see. In the labs, if you asked the person at the next bench a question, he'd tell you the wrong answer in the hope that you would make a mistake or, even better, start a fire. We were marked down for starting fires. In my year, I had the dubious distinction of starting more lab fires than anyone else, including a spectacular ether fire that set the ceiling aflame and left large scorch marks, a stigmata of ineptitude hanging over my head for the rest of the year. I was uncomfortable with the hostile and paranoid attitude this course demanded for success. I thought that a humane profession like medicine ought to encourage other values in its candidates. But nobody was asking my opinion. I got through it as best I could.
<p>can an engineering student comment on the cut-throat nature of the school. i was hoping to be done with the competing and starting the collaboration part of my life.</p>
<p>Yeah, the engineers I know always seem to work together on problem sets. The work can be difficult, but it seems like engineers work together to get everything done. I don't know of any engineers sabotaging each other.</p>