<p>Hey- for all current/past students, which were some of the best gym courses you ever took? Which ones were worth the extra cost or were just super fun or relaxing? I'm interested in all types of sports, but especially the nature and outdoors courses (I want to take advantage of the beautiful scenery)...</p>
<p>Beginning ice skating is pretty good. The instructor is very nice and helpful, and the class helped me to improve my skating skills a lot. You could go for the figure skating class too, if that’s your preference. With my hockey bias, I didn’t bother with figure skating, though.</p>
<p>Archery was awesome. It’s indoors though, and the class gets filled up VERY fast. It was worth the extra $20-60 (forgot what the fee was to cover the cost of arrows/bows). It was a small close-knit group and we all had fun trying to see how good and accurate we became after 14 weeks. The teacher was a pro-archer and apparently he has a sharp eye with a rifle too.</p>
<p>it’s nice that you brought up the “small close-knit group” aspect. I really found that with both of my gym classes (pretty typical sports ones.) I had an enthusiastic instructor both semesters, and that combined with a class of 10-15 people makes for a really nice time! I am somewhat inclined to take another gym before I graduate, given the good experiences I had freshman year.</p>
<p>thanks for your feedback 
@faustarp, which two classes did you take?</p>
<p>Bowling will give you tons of time to socialize if that’s what you’re into. You go, bowl, and get a 15 min “class” every session introducing you to basic techniques and different types of bowling balls and how the bowling lane machinery work. Then you bowl some more. </p>
<p>OR you go, socialize, 15min class and socialize some more.</p>
<p>You can get pretty good if you actually try and bowl nonstop while you’re there. I went from scoring 45 to a high of 210+</p>
<p>I wrote another HUGE post about TaeKwonDo at Cornell, if you care to look.</p>
<p>I don’t really want to say, since it’s kind of identifying.
let me say this, though: I have heard time and again really good things about all the various courses where you are shooting guns. I took one of them, but even many of the other courses get really good reviews from people.</p>
<p>Do many people play soccer in their free time/ as a gym course? Is too cold to play? </p>
<p>Also, do you recommend taking gym courses every semester?
Do you pay tuition by the units you take or is there a set price for everyone?</p>
<p>A lot of people play soccer in their free time with friends. Some people take the soccer PE course, and others play soccer as a club sport. It’s not too cold to play during the fall semester. It usually gets really cold at the end to play soccer (Late Nov-Early Dec).</p>
<p>You only pay for PE courses if there are fees, like the cost to replace/rent out (future)/ broken equipment. Most PE courses don’t have an extra fee and is covered by your tuition. You can basically take as many PE courses and pay the same tuition.</p>
<p>I was forced into taking the backpacking in the fingerlakes course (why are all my friends outdoorsy hippies?) and I’m probably the last person you would ever ever ever think to do that. I don’t mind sports but I’m also a fashion design major, hate dirt, and have close to a phobia of bugs…I’ve also never before been camping and I’m 5 feet tall (so the freaking backpack was more than half the size of me). </p>
<p>nevertheless, it was pretty fun taking it with some friends. I probably won’t ever do anything like that again so it was a good experience. </p>
<p>the best part about the course though, is that it costs $300-$400 but if you take it when you need gym credit (before you’ve done two classes), you can take it for free!</p>
<p>another thing to look for in gym classes is the free gym pass. a few of the fitness/workout oriented classes come with a free gym pass for the semester–you can usually find out which by reading the descriptions on the p.e. website</p>
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<p>Is this true of the PE classes in general? I had been looking and feeling annoyed that most of the PE classes seem to have a non-trivial fee associated with them. I can’t find anything on the website that suggests that students taking the course for required PE credit get fees waived.</p>
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<p>Never mind, I see that COE offers a few courses free for credit students each semester. Also students who receive financial aid from Cornell may be eligible for 20% - 30% of the course cost in extra financial aid from COE for outdoor education classes taken for required credit. Still the equipment list for some of those courses looks like it could also run into hundreds of dollars! yikes!</p>
<p>No the majority of the PE courses are free, some that require use of equipment have a small fee like $50-70–if it’s a fitness one though it might also come with a gym membership which is more than that so it’s def worth it.</p>
<p>The ones with large fees are those where a lot of instruction and equipment is necessary—backpacking (food for the three weekend trips was covered, as well as group equipment tents, tarps, etc, discounts on personal equipment rentals, three instructors, planned trails/maps, etc.), surfing, shooting, sailing, etc.
and some (like the backpacking one) waive the fee if you need gym credit</p>
<p>Is there a link that says whether the course comes with gym membership? I remember seeing it before, but I can’t seem to find it anymore.</p>
<p>“the best part about the course though, is that it costs $300-$400 but if you take it when you need gym credit (before you’ve done two classes), you can take it for free!”</p>
<p>Those classes that cost $300-$400 are usually the outdoor-sy ones right? And, lol let me make sure I’m getting this right… even if equipment and stuff cost $300, it’d be free?</p>
<p>alamode, how can you tell from the website which courses will waive the course fee if you take it for credit? thanks :)</p>
<p>yeah the more expensive classes are usually the outdoorsy ones. and the class/instructors/group equipement (what would be covered by the 300-400 course fee) would be free. individual equipment (hiking boots, backpack, sleeping bag, etc.) is not covered by the fee and thus not free, but you can rent them from cornell for a discounted price. </p>
<p>you can find information about courses that waive fees or come with gym membershps here
[Cornell</a> Physical Education: Course Offerings](<a href=“Physical Education | Cornell University”>Physical Education | Cornell University)</p>
<p>you can’t sort by those features, you just have to go though to the classes you’re interested in and read the descriptions</p>
<p>most of the fitness classes come with a gym membership
the only class i know of that waives the fee is backpacking in the fingerlakes</p>
<p>Anyone know how the tennis, racquetball, weight training or golf classes are?</p>