<p>because of Cornell's harsh curving policy, it tends to make students think twice about studying in groups...the biggest factor in giving Cornell it's "cut-throat" reputation. If everything is curved, then student's are more likely to study by themselves...after all, if you understand a concept better than any of your classmates, you are better off not telling them than sharing your info and having your grade thus drop. Curve's suck...</p>
<p>but I hear this is not necessarily true of all majors...the "look left/look right" thing I just explained mostly applies to pre-meds and engineering folks</p>