<p>I agree. That is what I was trying to say. The original poster has made several presumptions about Cornell and the caliber of students that attend. They may believe that Cornell is their safety Ivy because of their outstanding stats, EC’s etc, and that it entitles them to judge the level of intellectual sophistication among the students as a result. The poster might as well live in a bubble. Students at Cornell are a typical cross section of an Ivy. There are those who choose to engage in intellectual discussion as a recreation as opposed to partying, regardless of their stats and visa-versa. My daughter who is not as impressive stat wise as the original poster really loves intellectual banter and is very open to fun intellectual dialogue outside of class as are many students, but I think the poster would be hard pressed to find any Ivy where that is the main recreational activity because sometimes students need to switch gears and have fun (and that does not mean partying for all) after a long day of classes/homework because Cornell is a lot of pressure. </p>
<p>side note to @colene - I noticed a grammatical error in their original post as well! It should read, “I want to weigh my options…”</p>
<p>OP…there is much to learn and discuss at college, most of which would never be described as intellectual. Here on this board, I hope you have learned that making uneducated statements like Cornell being a safety school to a group that knows differently, will generate a very sharp response.</p>
<p>By the way…thousands of denials from top colleges are mailed to valedictorians and saluatorian with perfect stats. If Cornell is anything like others, hundreds will be denied. You should expect to be denied admission…but hope for the best!</p>
<p>As a final note…I heard a story about a top college that invites freshmen to bring their high school resumes, trophies, plaques, test results and grade reports to campus…for the annual bonfire! Gives you an idea how important all that stuff is once you arrive on campus.</p>
<p>although there is plenty of dumb stuff said around Cornell, I honestly have been quite impressed by many students. I spent some time with a mix of students I didn’t know recent for a class project, and pretty much everyone would have these great interesting conversations at some point. people seemed to have a pretty good perspective on the world and no one was just barking out talking points. I bet you can find this at other schools but I’m pleased to say I wasn’t surprised to encounter it at Cornell. you don’t run into very many people who are just plain uninformed and don’t care. people will very often get your references if you mention historical events or scientific concepts that aren’t necessarily common knowledge.</p>
<p>as for me, sometimes I spend time with people watching funny videos or talking about sports/TV, but other times we have serious conversations about current events, politics, or philosophy.</p>
<p>On the whole, Cornell students are smart. Cornell students in general know what’s going on in the world, even in the “Ithaca bubble.” Sure, some engineers could care less about the Presidential election and some English majors don’t care about what’s going on at the Large Hadron Collider, but all in all, if you are looking for intellectual conversation, it’s not hard to find. That said, just because Cornell students are smart does not mean everyone wants to talk about deep thoughts all the time. Some of the smartest students really don’t want to talk “intellectually” when class is over and would rather talk about whatever reality TV show is on. Frat parties are not going to have stimulating conversation, though I think most Cornell students end up having at least a few really profound conversations while drunk.</p>
<p>OP, I find it hard to believe that you would consider Cornell to be a safety school. I’m not quite sure what would prompt you to do so, but, given your supposedly extraordinary stats, I would assume you knew every university has its fair share of drinkers. I would presume that even at Harvard and the like, no matter how smart their students may be, there will also be the group of immature, clueless guys. Granted, I am a shy kind of guy that probably finds the stereotypical frat boy obnoxious and annoying. As for the “intellectual atmosphere” at Cornell, alumni have described the campus as diversified and, to a point, eclectic. But I’m sure you will choose a university for its academia, not for its “social,” if one could call it that, life.</p>
<p>Post #4 was tongue- in- cheek. I can’t imagine, nor would I want to imagine, a person spending hours in class and hours studying wanting to do nothing but engage in “intellectual dialogue” during some down time. The OP needs to find some fun in his life if he plans on ever functioning in the real world.</p>
<p>I might want to add that I found his original post to be obnoxious.</p>
<p>I am a student Cornell, and am involved in an annual pan-Ivy conference. From what I gathered, the majority of us seek to balance our social lives with our academic lives. And, from experience, we all seemed to party hard and work harder. All colleges have their fair-amount of drinking, the Ivy League is no exception. From experience, just because we do drink and party does not mean we can’t get our obligations and our other priorities done as well. I have found the happiest, and often most successful people in the Ivy League know how to be intellectual and know how to be social. </p>
<p>I have friends at Harvard, Columbia, Yale and Penn and I know we all like to wind down and have fun on the weekends. </p>
<p>I have found that I can have intellectually stimulating discussions outside of class as well, whether it be in the dining halls or at a coffee shop. I also like to discuss things that aren’t academic.</p>
<p>I have not once made a reference to my gender.</p>
<p>Everyone who referred to me explicitly as “him” should be ashamed at the blatant misogyny you just exhibited. All of you who referred to me as “him,” thought that a high achieving, intelligent, argumentative poster must be a male. Disgusting.</p>
<p>Historically speaking, “he” and “him” are considered gender neutral pronouns when the subject’s gender is ambiguous. That’s changing today with political correctness, but I think most would consider it grammatically correct. Personally, I don’t think it matters. I studied Germa, which has 3 genders and the word for “girl” is not feminine, but neutral. Gender and language are complicated. </p>
<p>I’m also pretty sure female’s have nearly a 60/40 edge in colleges in the US and at Cornell it’s roughly even. My guess is the reason Cornell is relatively weighted towards males compared to other universities is that Cornell has a strong Engineering college and Engineering is a male-dominated discipline. </p>
<p>Also, no one found you high achieving, intelligent, or argumentative. My gist from reading the thread is most found you naive, arrogant, and a bit insufferable. Based on your two posts, I tend to agree and if by chance this sample is an accurate representation of your character, I hope you get rejected from Cornell as there are already enough obnoxious people, both female and male. The campus doesn’t need your poisonous attitude.</p>
<p>Historically speaking, as a woman, I did not have the right to vote…but I guess with all this “political correctness” nonsense now I have the right to vote, but I mean who cares about gender equality and ****.</p>
<p>You don’t think it matters? Please tell that to the women in America who are earning three-fourths of that of what men earn in weekly earnings. Please tell that to the 3% of women who are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. </p>
<p>I am so happy to have encountered someone who has spoken to all of the CC posters, as you claim “no one found you high achieving, intelligent, or argumentative.” Since you speak for everyone, I am dying to found out if anyone received a Harvard likely letter. Please let me know when you finish canvassing the entire CC directory.</p>
<p>The campus may not need my “poisonous attitude,” but it sure needs a mandatory gender studies seminar.</p>
<p>Someone needs to study more linguistics as that was the point I was making. There is a distinction between the use of gender in anthropology and the study of culture versus the use of gender in the use of language/linguistics. The level at which you are engaging this discussion is juvenile. </p>
<p>I may not have taken gender studies, but I did study economics. While there technically is a gender gap between women and men in pay, most of the difference (not all) is accounted for in the choices men make versus the choices women make in the labor force. Men are more into engineering/sciences/business whereas women do more social sciences, which pay less. That means on average, women make educational choices that afford them lower human capital. There is also the anatomical truth that women bear children, so that affects career choices and work environment choices (like choosing more part-time work). The issues are super complex (and there is a cultural undertone implied with all these statements I don’t feel like getting into on these forums), but then again, my point is that citing the 3/4th statistic haphazardly is naive. Your use had the implication that women earn 75% of what men earn for equal work. That’s false.</p>
<p>And if you understood context, I think it was clear I was making an observation from the content in this thread, not representing all of CC. By the way, the contextual clue was “My gist from reading the thread is most found you…”</p>
<p>If you got a Harvard likely letter then go there…</p>
<p>Edit: Also why did you turn this thread into a gender war? Can we stick to the topic? Every college is going to have intellectual conversations, even people you’d stereotype as jocks who party all the time have it in themselves to have meaningful discussion. Yes some will have more than others, but to assume that a university as academically rigorous as Cornell doesn’t is really quite ignorant.</p>
<p>Edit Part II: Also if you really think that you need to be in that environment I’d urge you to break from your shell and see the other side of things it can only help you grow as an individual. I’m not saying get into partying and dropping acid every night, I’m just saying get to know people you normally wouldn’t.</p>
<p>Why is everyone attacking the OP over the safety school comment? Is it so hard to believe that there is a very very very small minority of students who DO consider Cornell a safety? It’s all relative. Just as you might consider your state school your safety, someone else might consider that same school as his/her dream school.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Cornell, but the lower-quality students compared to the other Ivies/top universities and the fact that it’s labeled as a party school doesn’t make it seem very intellectual. At least, intellectualism doesn’t seem to define Cornell, though you can definitely find it there (and just about any school…)</p>
<p>Because empirical evidence has shown that people with alarmingly high stats get rejected from Cornell. Cornell isn’t Podunk State University. It may not be on the calibre of HYPSM (though some would argue that it is) but it is one of the best schools in the country, and the world, and is quite selective in its own right. I’d understand Cornell being a match for certain people but to march in here, a forum filled with overachievers who have accomplished loads yet are STILL worried about getting admitted to Cornell, and proclaim it to be a safety is the height of egotism. If the OP was as condescending to Cornell in her essays as she’s been in this thread I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she was rejected.</p>
<p>OP your arguments are tangential and superfluous at this point. There are many strong, capable women who, although they did not receive your perfect scholastic accolades, could hold their own against you in an intellectual discussion at Harvard, Cornell or State U. any day of the week. Please, do not think you represent or speak for all women as your self-serving egotistical views will limit you in any discussion because you have made the assumption that perfect test scores have made you more qualified and better than everyone (male or female) and, of course, always right. You are not looking for intellectual “discussion” just a forum to assert your superiority.</p>
<p>"The OP is simply a ■■■■■ and should be ignored at this point. "
Agreed. Probably the same ■■■■■ that has plagued the Cornell forums for the last several years. Apparently getting banned 20 times wasn’t enough for him/her/it.</p>