<p>How intellectual are the students at Cornell? Cornell is my safety, and I want to weight my options (not that Cornell is not hard to get into, its just my stats are at the top percentile) </p>
<p>So is there intellectual conversations outside of class? About current events etc.?</p>
<p>I am hesitant of the drinking culture and I am hopping the intellectual life at Cornell might be of interest.</p>
<p>I hear that Cornell is basically class+a ton of hw/reading+party=true?</p>
<p>I’d say that intellectual conversation definitely takes place, but obviously it depends on who you’re friends with. It’s definitely there if you want it - but not all Cornell students like to talk about current events…</p>
<p>There’s a good amount of intellectual people. There’s also a good amount of non-intellectual people.</p>
<p>*I hear that Cornell is basically class+a ton of hw/reading+party=true? *</p>
<p>For some people it is. I feel as if there is some culture of that here because of the nature of a school like Cornell, but that’s not really what this topic is about.</p>
<p>I would think that the typical Cornell student would love nothing more than to converse about all types of current issues after spending hours in class then more hours on problem sets and maybe an hour or three on reading. I can’t imagine you finding a more civic minded intellectual group of students anywhere…</p>
<p>It’s pretty stupid to make Cornell your safety school. Even though it has a slightly higher acceptance rate than other Ivies, they still certainly reject plenty of people with “top stats” (just look at past years’ decision threads).</p>
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<p>I wish I could agree with this. There are definitely some folks like this, but I find them to be a minority. Minorities tend to be very repressed at Cornell, too. This is all just observation and should be taken with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>If you don’t mind me asking, what other schools have you been accepted to? As far as Cornell being your “safety”, that is pretty ridiculous since Cornell is not a safety for even a student with perfect scores and impressive EC’s. Just look at the thread of last year’s denied students!!! If you really feel that way, that you are above the students there, maybe Cornell is not the right school for you - just saying!</p>
<p>My D with high school 4.75 weighted GPA (4.0 unweighted), ranked 1/435, 15 AP’s, 200+ service hours, and president/chair for several organizations/clubs didn’t get in when applied RD. No one can say it is a safety!!! (her stats is above 75 percentile of admitted students. She didn’t pay much attention to essays.) </p>
<p>She was waitlisted Cornell CoE and MIT when applied for RD. And Cornell encouraged her to transfer. (similar to guaranteed transfer they offered at the end of RD.) So she enrolled in our state university honors program, fulfilled all requirements, got straight A’s and transferred to Cornell as a sophomore. Even transfer is not easy, it was < 10% when she transferred.</p>
<p>As far as I know from what she said (her IQ is 156), engineering students are mostly VERY smart and competitive.</p>
<p>Also heard it isn’t rare that students with perfect scores didn’t get admitted.</p>
<p>Lol at making a Cornell your safety school.</p>
<p>I scored within the top 1%tile of the nation in terms of scores and in my class, and I EDed Cornell. Even for me, regular decision in Cornell would be far from a safety. Good luck thinking that way - several of my friends thought similarly to you because they had decent stats and now they’re going to state schools.</p>
<p>Also, it’s interesting how the people you expect to do well in admissions sometimes don’t, while others who you never expect to succeed actually do.</p>
<p>My daughter was not in the top 1% of her class, so maybe she is who you are referring to, but I can assure you she has has been able to keep up at Cornell outside of class both intellectually as well as socially. Sometimes she likes intellectual banter after class, but she also wants to have fun and experience college. Solely being book smart or a good test taker doesn’t make you an “intellectual” it makes you one dimensional.</p>
<p>I said admissions, not within Cornell. I like how you take this personally when what I said had nothing to do with your daughter - I am merely commenting on the fact that some people are too overconfident in their academics and that college simply isn’t that easy to get into - people sometimes forget the “chance” aspect of admissions too. Your daughter obviously got in Cornell, so I am not referring to her. It is also interesting how you assume that doing well academically is inversely related to doing well in other aspects of life and being “one dimensional” (when your daughter did so well in high school).</p>
<p>I am referring to the original poster who made an assumption that Cornell their “safety” ivy may not provide enough intellectual stimulation for them outside of class because they hear that students do a lot of work and then just party. My point was that although Cornell may not have all top stat students like themselves, that does not mean that those who scored lesser are not “intellectuals” as well. But, having said that, it does not mean that they aren’t interested in having fun as well. There are many students who are both intellectual and social. Sorry you thought I meant you. I did not.</p>
<p>Oh, in that case then I’m sorry too. If that’s what you meant then I sort of agree too. I think the OP simply needs to do a bit of research on his own and actually TALK to some people about colleges.</p>
<p>@colene your earlier post about the randomness in admissions is definitely true. A girl from my school last year who was in the top 10%, but who had lower than average SAT scores got into both Penn and Cornell (she is attending Penn). She was smart, but she wasn’t the type of person you would have expected to go to Penn or Cornell. Stranger still is that out Val. chose a small non-nationally ranked private school and our Sal. chose Penn State (granted he is in the Honor’s College). It just goes to show you that you don’t have to be a 2400 SAT-getting, EC powerhouse, with essays good enough to be published to get in. </p>
<p>And OP, I would love to know your stats if you consider Cornell a safety. Cornell isn’t a safety for anyone. Maybe its a low reach, but in no way shape or form should anyone ever consider it to be a guarantee. Like others before me have said, look at the threads from previous years. Anyone can get rejected. Not to be rude but you sound a bit self-entitled and pretentious.</p>
<p>@colene - I am glad you realize now that I did not mean you. : ) </p>
<p>@XcTracRunner7. Well stated! I think that was what I was trying to say!</p>
<p>My intent is not to offend, but to be informed. I asked a question regarding intellectual conversations; I am not posting it as a truth or statement. </p>
<p>2400 SAT-June 2010
Saledictorian
I cannot divulge my EC, but it is significant. </p>
<p>I am just not into drinking so I was curious if I would enjoy that atmosphere. From what everyone has said, intellectual conversations occur infrequently and are only found from a small cohort.</p>
<p>From what I’ve found, the general consensus on this thread is correct in that intellectual discussion is only marginally more frequent for me than it was in high school. However, I have found several friends to talk with on topics like that, and that’s all you really need. If you go somewhere where everyone’s a Marxist disciple who loves to talk politics, it will get just as dull as State U where everyone almost exclusively cares about their team winning a National Championship. Not that there is anything wrong with those particular concentrations, just a general observation that getting a good cross-section of people who are very good at certain things is (at least to me) much more valuable and entertaining than living in an echo chamber. I was tempted, as well, to go to UChicago for the intellectual atmosphere, but the finances for it didn’t quite pan out and once I got here I realized that I preferred a place like this to one that was uber-intellectual. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>@herewegonow,</p>
<p>You are free to take away whatever you like to from this thread, and obviously Cornell is not for you. Nowhere in this thread does anyone ever mention that “intellectual conversations occur infrequently and are only found from a small cohort”. However, this would be true in any setting - would you have “intellectual conversations” with people you barely know outside of class or with really close friends or people that you know well/ in a classroom setting? Rather than intellectual discussions, people tend to have intellectual banters - it’s just more fun and it really contrasts from the pressure of taking hard classes.</p>
<p>Just as a side note, it is spelled salutatorian.</p>