<p>Here's what I'm trying to figure out: we've got Cornell, University of Virginia, and Tufts all competing for my next four years. (UW and WUSTL aren't that interesting.) I hear Cornell is really, really high-pressure even compared to the other Ivy League schools... I don't know if I'd want to live in that sort of environment. (I also heard it's really competitive... people stealing notes and giving each other the wrong answers so that they'll do better, relatively, on tests.) Anyone have any idea how much of that is true?</p>
<p>By the way, I'd tell you what my field of interest is, but I have no idea--so much that I applied to Arts and Sciences but would put it a 50-50 chance I'll end up in Engineering by sophomore year. (Another thing I heard: Cornell schools like A&S and Engineering are very segregated and I wouldn't really be able to get a well-rounded education there. If that's true, it's pretty much out. I don't want to be an engineer at the expense of taking interesting liberal arts classes, or even normal ones like writing or american history or spanish.)</p>
<p>Lastly, I don't really think I'm going to be a big drinker... there'll be other stuff to do there, right?</p>
<p>Have you visited the campus? There's a pedestrian mall in the middle of Ithaca that's pretty nice, and the surrounding fingerlakes region is gorgeous (haha ... I can't believe I made that joke ...), especially in spring and fall. If you're the outdoorsy type like myself, the natural setting should provide a lot of activity, but I don't know very much about the social scene. Check out the Cornell web site for events on their calender.</p>
<p>Of course it's high pressure compared to other Ivy League schools. Any non-grade inflated school is high pressure compared with Harvard, Yale, and the likes. </p>
<p>Yes, students here pour ink on each other's notes, knock over other people's lab benches, rip out pages from people's textbooks, set each other on fire, AND FORM STUDY GROUPS/USE COLLABORATIVE LEARNING AS A WAY TO DO BETTER ON TESTS.</p>
<p>Only one of the above is correct. Can you guess which one?</p>
<p>Cornell is challenging, but that comparison is usually made specifically to the other ivy-league schools, many of which have (or until recently had) significant grade inflation. I have never heard of anyone stealing notes or giving wrong answers. I get the impression that Cornell students are competitive and ambitious (and who isn't at a top notch college), but not cut-throat. You probably also heard that kids are soooo stressed that they all jump into gorges and commit suicide. Thats a rumor too, just like your cut-throat thing. Cornell's suicide rate is lower than the national average, fyi. Perhaps one student stole someone's notes and told him the wrong answers, and thats how the rumor propagated. That shouldn't reflect on Cornell as a whole. We have a moronic president in my opinion; that doesn't mean all Americans are moronic.</p>
<p>Cornell's colleges like A&S and Engineering are seperate, but the distribution requirement requires that one take courses in various disciplines, including 2 writing freshman classes. In addition to being able to transfer between colleges, one can take ANY course in the Cornell course catalog as long as they have met the prerequisites. That means an english major from CAS can randomly decide to take an "intro to architectural principles" class in CAAP in his junior year just for the hell of it.</p>
<p>Sure, theres plenty of drinking that goes on on campus at the multiple frat parties on the weekends, but the university sponsors alternative events all the time, and you will meet lots of people out of the 13000 undergrads who have the same prefrences as you when it comes to drinking or anything else. Any more questions please PM me and i'll answer them as best I can!</p>
<p>Lastly, PICK CORNELL! it is, afterall, distinctly the best of the schools overall that you listed.</p>
<p>Yea, I haven't had anyone sabatoge any of my labs before (probably because I do a pretty good job of that myself). i think it would be kinda neat if people started setting each other on fire though.</p>
<p>Seriously, to get a better grade in a competitive class like orgo, you can either
a) bring up the grade of one person (yourself)
b) depress the grades of 600 people</p>
<p>I think a) is much easier myself. Why worry about what other people do? I think you would have to be incredibly small-minded and quite frankly a j@ck@$$ to feed other people disinformation or ruin their experiments. I have yet to meet any of those people at Cornell (and I'm premed). Everyone I've met have been incredibly helpful and supportive.</p>
<p>I bring up orgo because it's really the one class I've had so far through 3 semesters that I would truly call competitive. I've take other hard classes like biochem or intro bio but they don't really seem to be that hard or stressful.</p>
<p>WELL SAID, norcalguy. I am going to use that one to all of those whom are so worried about their grades that they just have to ruin other people's work. I mean, I think it's really depressing for anyone to have to do such a thing in order to succeed.. Talk about human ethics.. :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, guys! I'm a lot less worried now. One more thing--is the food really "that good"? The dining at UVa was pretty bad, as far as I saw anyway.</p>
<p>appel is #1, rpu is in the top 10. is that "that good" for you? if you really want, just eat at the statler. it's a 5 star. so,don't worry, you won't be fed dog food.</p>
<p>yup...and whatever you are in the mood for, most likely you will find it somewhere on campus (my dining hall even has fried pickles once in a while...and it's really good!)</p>