Is anybody else sick of the Cornell trash-talk?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
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<p>It took me weeks to finally narrow down my decision to attend Cornell, after going back and forth between it and UChicago. Disturbingly enough, I found that one of the main factors that was keeping me from definitively choosing Cornell was all this terrible commentary going on about it. Disgusted with myself, I finally shook it off and realized that Cornell is an amazing school (so is UChicago, nothing against it either!) and it's just awful how terrible people are being about it!</p>

<p>1) The power the US Rankings has over people is ridiculous. Since when has a mere number had the ability to deem a school "terrible"? Moreover, even if its ranking is #15, why is that something to be ashamed of? Last I checked, 15 out of the 132840357098254733429743573948 colleges there are in the nation is not bad at all. In fact, its GREAT. Sometimes I wish Cornell didn't have the Ivy League tag on it, because people seem to think non-Ivy League schools like Vanderbilt, JHU, Rice, Northwestern, WashU, etc. are amazing, despite their being lower ranked than other Ivy Leagues.</p>

<p>2) I don't understand how there can possibly be a WORST IVY LEAGUE. Ivy Leagues are Ivy Leagues for a reason, aren't they? It's like an oxymoron. I'll admit, HYP have their great names/rankings for a reason, but to say that Cornell be excommunicated from the Ivy League is just taking it too far. Cornell's engineering program is within the top in the nation, their vet school is number 1, their medical school is in the top 15, as well as countless other high-ranked graduate/undergraduate programs. Cornell has clearly proven that it is more than deserving to have a place in the Ivy League, so people really need to stop hating.</p>

<p>3) Cornell is known for it's rigour - students work ridiculously hard to maintain their GPAs. Some graduate schools take that into consideration when adressing Cornell applicants. How can a school that instills such great worth ethic, that makes students work to EARN their grades, be BAD? I just don't get it.</p>

<p>4) Cornell is undeniably the largest Ivy League institution. Founder Ezra Cornell created this school in the hopes of preserving diversity, and offering every possible venue for ANY kind of student. So, because it obviously has more available seats to make this mission possible, this means more students are accepted. It's a simple equation: larger class size = more students. Naturally, the acceptance rate will be a bit higher, so why do people use its acceptance rate as grounds for its "terribleness"? If Cornell cut their class size in half, then there acceptance rate would be on par with the more selective Ivy Leagues. Its shallow that people fail to look beyond a mere percentage (which is still extremely selective - 18% of about 60,000 applicants? Not shabby at all.). UChicago has something like a 26-27% acceptance rate - how come no one challenges its #9 ranking?</p>

<p>5) I ask any individual to attend Cornell and tell me that the students who study there are stupid. Its ridiculous to say so, because such gifted people attend and do such wonderful things. Cornell is a breeding ground for talented people of all kinds, and its a shame for their achievements (merely getting accepted for one thing) to be undermined simply for going to "the Worst Ivy League".</p>

<p>Ok, my rant is over, and thanks to all who took the time to read it. Again, I'm not trying to undermine any other schools, I just wish all this hate on Cornell would cease, because it literally is futile. Feel free to oppose/agree with me - this is a discussion board after all!</p>

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<p>[Calm</a> down, yo…](<a href=“HugeDomains.com”>http://randomoverload.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/eecc15a312u-mad.jpg.jpg)</p>

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<p>Hahahahaha, sorry, didn’t realize how rant-y this came off. :P</p>

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<p>We’re about to be a new Cornell family and I actually agree with just about all you wrote. It is pretty annoying that the Cornell boards have almost as much criticism as praise. You don’t see that on any of the other Ivy League forums, as it would be blasphemy. I don’t have any idea why Cornell-bashing is so appealing to so many people. No school is for everyone.</p>

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<p>Exactly. I find that Cornell always has to be defending its reputation. Even Brown doesn’t have so many negative comments, despite it also being referred to as worst at times. Ridiculous.</p>

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<p>Nope. To be honest, I don’t really care for all this ‘talk’ about Cornell. Just ignore it. You chose Cornell for a reason, so why do you let all this ‘talk’ bother you? Besides, it’s mostly coming from a bunch of Ivy wannabes that feel the need to talk thrash about an Ivy. You’re past that now- you’ll be attending one of the world’s best universities next year. Congrats and see ya around!</p>

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<p>^^ That is very true. Congratulations to you as well. (: To be honest, the only place where I see this negativity is on CC, and you’re right, one shouldn’t care, so I hope future Cornellians don’t let such critcism deter their decision like I almost did!</p>

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<p>I’ve been accepted into the class of 2015. When people (anywhere from baristas, teachers, parents, random people) ask where I am going to school next year and I say “Cornell”, the reaction is usually a big “WOW!” with their eyes widening and and their head thrown back as if they had just come out from a big wind turbine.</p>

<p>The only place I have seen people act negatively towards Cornell are HS students on the CC boards.</p>

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<p>^same. perhaps it varies by high school or region, but at my school, going to Cornell was something strangers would congratulate you on.
there’s no “trash talk” about Cornell actually <em>at</em> the school. no one makes jokes about it being easy or worse than any other place. the only time I hear people talk about other ivy league schools is in the context of sports, where we’re obviously rivals. the more common talk (whining?) is about how hard Cornell supposedly is.</p>

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<p>I chose Cornell over Penn and several other top schools. Pay the ■■■■■■ on CC no mind. They suffer from Cornell envy.</p>

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<p>True. Where I live, no one knows what Cornell is, so I haven’t heard any positive feedback about the school; I’m usually greeted by, “Oh, where is that?” However, I’m not looking for praise either, I chose Cornell because it best suits me.</p>

<p>I just wish it would get the credit it deserves! :(</p>

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<p>I’m only 25 so it’s not like I have a ton of life experience. But, outside of this website, I’ve never ever heard anything negative about Cornell. To high schoolers on this site, getting into a top college is (sadly) the crowning achievement of their life. Hence, all the hair- splitting over acceptance rates and SAT scores. Once, they grow up, they’ll realize that the school they went to doesn’t define them and that people in the real world don’t care if a school has a 18% vs. 13% acceptance rate.</p>

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<p>People are absolutely thrilled when I tell them that I’m going to go to Cornell. For some reason, barely anyone gets into the really really top schools even though there are a lot of strong applicants. Stereotypically, if you’re not in the top 15/700, you can’t get in anywhere higher than UCI. (Yes, I was at the top of my class, but more than 15 of our students deserve to be going to epic schools, and more than 2 deserve to be attending epically epic schools.) So after I got Cornell, there was a lot of excitement from my classmates :slight_smile: </p>

<p>I’m so proud of myself, and my family is absolutely ecstatic that I’m going to such a great school! Everyone around me has said only positive things. Like you look places like CC and you look at the acceptance rates for the colleges when you’re first applying, and it may be instinctive to say, hmm… 11% or 20% acceptance rate? If I don’t get into the first one, I hope I’d at least get the other one… and this sort of thinking develops an unfounded impression of the value of some school.</p>

<p>I will be the first to admit that when applying to schools, I never anticipated that I would end up at Cornell. It wasn’t up super high on my list, but when I started really investigating the schools I’d gotten accepted to, I realized that focusing on rankings and competitiveness and aggressively pursuing waitlists wasn’t what I wanted. Once you get to a certain point, academics are all going to be top-notch; past that point, you have to look at which will provide the most opportunity to grow as a person. And for me, that was Cornell.</p>

<p>Hahah can you tell that I’m excited for this fall? :)</p>

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<p>Dude, just ignore those criticisms lol, since they’re not constructive at all. Successful people come from all institutions, and data have shown that it’s more related to what you do in life than which college you go to. Having said that, I chose Cornell because it’s a great institution that’s large and diverse enough for me to explore. But to be honest, I care very little about the name.</p>

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<p>@wadawada - Same here, I never thought I would be going to Cornell, it deff. wasn’t in my top choices, but now I think its the best possible thing for me! (:</p>

<p>And true, people in the real world won’t care about rankings and acceptance rates. I hope this thread serves to deter those ■■■■■■ who think such statistics are so earth-shattering that it deems a school “bad”.</p>

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<p>@wadawada
You said what’s buried in my heart :)</p>

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<p>most of the trash-talkers will never get into Cornell or any other Ivy. Most are highschoolers like me who have this “Harvard, Yale, or Bust” mentality. If they keep it up maybe Cornell will have less applicants and I’ll have a better shot of getting in :P</p>

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<p>To answer the OP’s question…Yes. I have been on this forum for several years and from what I can tell the ones who trash it have either never spent any time on the campus or could only wish to attend. It is sad that these young kids have no idea what they are talking about. I just assume many that speak badly about it have been rejected or due to not being able to afford it they trash talk it.</p>

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<p>I too have never heard a bad word about Cornell. I have heard people comment about the weather. They think its like Buffalo or something. But never a bad word about the school itself.</p>

<p>And you always meet a lot of alumni because there are so many more Cornellians than graduates of Dartmouth, Brown, Yale, etc</p>

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<p>It’s comforting to know that outside of narrow minded CC high school users, Cornell’s reputation is indeed, positive.</p>

<p>To be honest, I heard Brown and Dartmouth have pretty bad reps too, as well as Penn (aside from Wharton). It’s sad that just because they’re not Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, people think they don’t count.</p>