<p>I actually just graduated from Cornell and I miss it terribly already. </p>
<p>The campuses at both Columbia and Cornell are breathtaking but they're both beautiful in different ways. Cornell has a lot of natural beauty to offer at its campus. Big green trees, hundreds of gardens, many walking bridges over gorges, it's a lovely campus. Columbia's campus is similar without the natural geology, Cornell is hilly while Columbia is fairly flat. Cornell's campus is sprawling while Columbia's is much more close together (it's in the middle of NYC, duh;))</p>
<p>As far as getting a campus job at Cornell, I wouldn't worry much about it at all. It's incredibly easy to find a job. If you want just a job for the sake of making money, there's a specific website through Career Services which posts job listings around campus every day. If you want a reserach job, writing letters of interest to faculty members about their research can help get your foot in the door. And I know many friends who have paid positions working in a professor's lab simply because they were interested in the professor's research. There are also tons of summer positions available if you want to stay for a summer (I definitely recommend it- Ithaca is GORGES).</p>
<p>Ithaca is a rural community, but it's really not that rural anymore. Ithaca has definitely been booming lately with the construction of many new hotels and stores. For example, there's now a Best Buy, Barnes and Noble, Wal Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, Dicks Sporting Goods, Borders, Pet Smart, Bed Bath and Beyond. In the mall there's now an Old Navy, Target, Abercrombie, etc... None of these stores were there when I started Cornell four years ago. So it's not exactly New York City, but it's not middle of Wyoming either.</p>
<p>However, Ithaca is definitely a car culture (as is the rest of our country). If you want to leave campus you will need to take a bus, or a friend who has a car, or your car. You can walk from campus down to the commons if you want, it's actually not that bad of a walk, about half hour or 25 minutes from Central Campus maybe. It's just a steep hill walking back ;)</p>
<p>Campus culture at Cornell is also pretty cool. I usually ran into one or two people I knew on my way to and from classes, especially when the weather gets nice. On the last day of class, Cornell celebrates Slope Day- where bands come and play on a stage constructed on the road in front of West Campus, and thousands of students fairly drunkenly gather on the slope, and listen. This year we had Snoop Dog and The Game perform for Slope Day. There are always activities on campus to get involved in, or seminars on interesting topics. </p>
<p>Personally, I think Cornell has become much more political the past couple years. A lot of speakers have been recruited to give speeches throughout the semesters. For election last year, they had a politician giving a lecture every day I think. Howard Dean, Alan Keyes, etc. </p>
<p>Through Cornell, I've had the opportunity to listen to speeches from Jane Goodall, Janet Reno, Bill Nye, Roe (from Roe v Wade), Jon Stewart, Bill Cosby, Margaret Cho, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Bill Clinton, Wesley Clark, John Cleese, and Bill Gates. There are many activities to keep students involved or interested while at Cornell aside from their studies. </p>
<p>Also, because so many students complained, as I did throughout my Cornell career, that we felt we lived under a rock while at school (nobody had any idea what was going on in the news), Cornell now offers free newspapers every day in the dining halls, and about campus. New York Times, USA Today and The Cornell Daily Sun. It's really nice to read the newspaper for free every day. I think it's helped make Cornell students more political.</p>
<p>I went to Cornell undergrad for four years and loved it loved it loved it. Now I'm off to Columbia for graduate school and I'm sure I'll love it there too, but in a different way :)</p>