<p>do u truly like it there?
any regrets you have for choosing cornell?</p>
<p>I like it here, but I'm not really sure if I have regrets or not. Sometimes the stress is too much to handle, but then, I'm reminded of all the good friends I have and the good times I've had. But then again, I don't think I would have learned as much had I not come here. Might have had more fun though, so whatever. I guess the amount you enjoy it here depends on your goal.</p>
<p>what college are you in neutral?</p>
<p>well i applied early decision to cornell and i will hear from them on friday. i mean i really want to go there, but then i hear from people they didn't like it there, so i am thinking twice.</p>
<p>its not clear how much you can think twice if you get in. its binding</p>
<p>for me, everything people have said they don't like about cornell are things that i find appealing about it...</p>
<p>the cold...i love the cold and winter, more than summer
the work load...i love challenges, i love being challenged, i love not being the best (which if i get in, most likely I won't, in fact I wont) and then trying to be the best</p>
<p>if i get in, i know i will love it</p>
<p>I was at Cornell for two years. And to tell you the truth I didn't mind the heavy workload. My problem was studying for hours and hours and not being able to understand the material good enough to get more than a C average. I transfered to a less rigorous school and everything is better. I would have to say that the heavy workload is the main turnoff. My engineering workload was very heavy at times and it got to the point to where getting more work didn't benefit you anymore. The goal was simply to give more work, not to increase learning. And there is supposed to be more to college than doing problem sets and writing lab reports.</p>
<p>Wow...that makes me feel a little bit better about not getting accepted. My impression of Cornell was always that their main emphasis was on learning in different ways...not just by doing constant busywork. Anyway, thanks for your opinion!!</p>
<p>justin, what about the engineering labs, when i did the engineering tours the student guides really emphasized how much hands on work there was, what do you think about that, true?</p>
<p>Lots of hands-on stuff. Even with my worthless chemistry course we had lab every week. The same for physics. The most hands-on work I did was building an air motor and torque wrench. Lots of machining. The problem was that the course emphasized the design process but machining took up 99% of the time. Even with all of the money Cornell has only one machine shop was designated for the 150+ students in the class. And to further complicate matters the course was scheduled during the spring semester, the same time when project teams (Robocup, SAE team, etc.) need to use the shop (Cornell profs must look for ways to make simple tasks more complicated). It got so bad that my team ended up going to a smaller less well-known civil engineering lab to do some of our machining. We had to keep a low profile about it (i.e. not tell any other team about it). </p>
<p>Within a month we put in 40 hours of work on the motor (design and machining/building...25-30 of those hours was machining). And don't forget about all of the other courses you have to deal with. That was a very stressful semester. It was also my last one at Cornell.</p>
<p>In my experience there wasn't much emphasis put on "learning". You had to teach yourself most of the material and the profs covered a lot of it in a short period of time. That is why it may feel like busywork. I didn't have time to grasp the material.</p>
<p>Transfering was the best thing for me because my brain got reprogrammed and I began to understand everything that had confused me before. For example, statics and stress analysis went way over my head. Now I can do it without even thinking about it. My profs focus on teaching the fundamentals of engineering. Once you are good at that the harder problems become much easier. Cornell didn't do a good job at teaching the fundamentals. Or maybe I was just couldn't see it. Everyone has a different experience.</p>
<p>I'm in the college of engineering, biological engineering major. It's not true about the busy work only, a significant portion of learning is from labs. In fact, I'd say that some of my lab courses were extremely excellent and I really enjoyed them. I don't find too much busy work, the most I would say is in the department of mechanical engineering (which I've taken many courses in for fun).</p>
<p>psquared- you may think you enjoy the challenge now, but once you dive into it, it becomes quite different. I think at one point I liked challenge a lot more than I do now; I mean, I still like the challenge, but I don't find it thrilling anymore. Fact is, sometimes the challenge is so stressful it's just not fun. However, I encourage you to come in with an optimistic outlook, just don't idealize anything.</p>
<p>even with the big workload, is it difficult for you to find time to party or whatever?</p>
<p>is the workload similar for science/math majors in the CAS?</p>
<p>I am a MechE and Neutral is right about the busy work in that major. For example, in stress analysis it is vital that you know the theory behind how stress and strain affects the design of machine. In industry a lot of the analysis is done with computers. But for college you also need to learn how to do it by hand and it is a ton of drawing and writing out formulas and numbers. The regular problem sets would be from the textbook and our labs we would use a polariscope to measure the stress/strain in an object. We would also to the analysis by hand and with FEA software.</p>
<p>And if you want to party there will definitely be time for it. Time management is the key. Students tend to party during the hours when they wouldn't be doing work anyway.</p>
<p>have any of you double majored or known anyone who has? If I choose to do so, will I still have some down time? In particular, I am considering majoring in engineering and math. Is that rare, considering how demanding the engineering curriculum is?</p>
<p>I knew I guy who double majored in EE and CS. He was the smartest guy I had ever met but I rarely saw him. He still had time to party but every other hour of the week was used for work. He pulled many all-nighters. One Cornell engineering major is tough enough and most students don't try to carry another full major. </p>
<p>One of my profs recommended concentrating on one major and then taking up a minor if something else interested you. But it is a personal decision. All of his degrees were in CivilE but taught himself CS and now he is a CS prof.</p>
<p>Is it possible to do double major in two different colleges? I was thinking of doing a major in some Engineering and another in Math (which I'm assuming would be in CAS)...</p>
<p>It's possible but EXTREMELY difficult. Most people take 5 years to do it, because they must complete core requirements for BOTH colleges. If you want to do it, you have to strenuously plan your schedule from day 1, and be prepared to take no 'optional' courses.</p>
<p>Double majoring in a single college is not too hard in A&S, and only slightly harder in Engineering (in my opinion, very possible if you plan smart!).</p>
<p>I'm not an engineer but I am premed (biology major from CAS). I would say that if you plan your time carefully, you can find the time to have fun. Yes, it's very stressful. I came into Cornell with high hopes, finished with a 3.85 last year, and this year I'm around a B+ in most of my classes (trying to do well on the finals to bump the grades up). You're never quite comfortable with your grades, but it keeps you working hard throughout the entire semester.</p>
<p>it's interesting that most of the posters here who actually attend Cornell mention how stressful it is. I'm sure you guys have friends at other colleges; how does their stressload compare to yours? Overall, are you happy there?</p>