Miscellaneous Questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>So I have mailed my deposit to cornell and read many of the threads here and based on what I have learned here and elsewhere, I’m very much looking forward to attending Cornell. However, I would like to ask some questions that may or may not have been cleared up on the forum already…thanks in advance.</p>

<li><p>How much pride do Cornellians have in their schools?
Of course this will depend on the student, but are Cornellians in general enthusiastic about going here? Is this the type of school that one establishes a special connection with? By graduation, does it feel like you’re leaving somewhere very special? How much whining do you get among Cornell students about going to the “worst ivy” or not going to Harvard?</p></li>
<li><p>What is the relationship with Ithaca College like?
My friend is going to Ithaca College so this might be relavant to me. Is there a lot of cross campus interaction? Do Cornellians look upon IC students with disdain/love/hate/etc? and vice versa?</p></li>
<li><p>Is there a lot of cross-college interaction?
Do CAS students hang out with other CAS students? Or do they hang out with ILR, Hotelies, whoever? </p></li>
<li><p>Does this article have any basis in fact? ■■■■■■■. com/5jrcc5</p></li>
<li><p>Some colleges are undergraduate focused (LACs, Princeton) while others are research and grad-school focused (UC Berkeley, other large public schools). Where does Cornell fall? Do undergrads get a lot of attention?</p></li>
<li><p>I live in Southern California now, but I am originally from Canada and would like to visit sometimes Are road trips to Toronto/Montreal easily doable? </p></li>
</ol>

<p>I am sorry that there are so many questions but I didn’t want to post 6 separate threads. Thanks for helping a future Cornellian out.</p>

2

<p>1) Cornellians have a lot of pride for their school. It may not dawn on you while you are a student because you are so busy studying and having fun, but most alums develop a very strong relationship to the school. Tons of recent alums make it back for Slope Day every year, and the older alums will typically make it to a reunion at least three or four times in their life. Alumni strike up instant connections with each other, even if they would have had no reason to interact with each other while an undergraduate. Even one or two years out, people really start to miss their time at Cornell.</p>

<p>At the Stanford versus Cornell basketball game in Anaheim this March, Cornellians outnumbered and out vocalized the Cardinal despite the geographic disadvantage. And Cornell alums travel with the hockey team better than any other Ivy.</p>

<p>For a small percentage of the Cornell population... perhaps 5-10%... there tends to be an attitude that Cornell was their safety school, or that Ithaca is boring, and that they are just at Cornell to get a degree. And they never get over this fact. This is their loss, and you can easily avoid them on campus because it is so large.</p>

<p>And I cried numerous times my graduation weekend. So did all of my friends. But we're a bit like that.</p>

<p>2) The IC relationship is not as good as it could be. I always though that there should be a lot more cross-pollination between IC and Cornell, particular when it comes to television, radio, and music. I do think there is a musical theater production put on every year that is jointly coordinated by IC and Cornell kids. I think a lot of the reason why is because IC's campus is just not very well integrated into the City of Ithaca, unlike Cornell's. But the interaction is there if you look for it. The IC girls will show up at the Cornell frat parties, and you will encounter a couple of IC kids enrolled in your classes from time to time. That said, they are mostly looking to transfer to Cornell. I dated an IC girl for a month my senior year. <em>shrugs</em></p>

<p>3) Yes. The distinction between colleges isn't large at all, especially residentially. I lived with kids in six of seven of the seven different colleges during my time at Cornell.</p>

<p>4) No. The article is obviously a joke.</p>

<p>5) The best way to describe Cornell is that it is an undergraduate focused research institution. Whereas Harvard and UPenn have twice as many grad students as undergrads, Cornell has twice as many undergraduate students as grads. That said, it's not an LAC and Cornell is not going to hold your hand for you. But the prevailing focus on campus is towards undergrads and the undergraduate experience. If you get friendly with the professors, a lot of them will freely admit that in a lot of the programs the quality of the undergraduate body is stronger than the quality of the graduate body, which is rarely the case at a place like UCLA.</p>

<p>6) Both Montreal and Toronto are fantastic cities and make for great road trips. Toronto is four and a half hours away. Montreal is five hours away. I know that the Big Red Band always road trips to Montreal, and so do a lot of fraternities. And Ottawa is three hours away. I recommend visiting Ottawa for the Tulip Festival and Winter Carnival as well. There are a lot of Canadians at Cornell, even excluding the hockey team.</p>

<p>Enjoy your time on East Hill.</p>

3

<p>thank you for the great answers, CayugaRed2005</p>

<p>some more questions if you guys don't mind</p>

<ul>
<li><p>How useful would a bike be? Is the campus large enough so that a bike is necessary? Are there big box stores within bicycle range? Are there good biking trails?</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell is renowned for its engineering and hard sciences, how about the humanities and social sciences? </p></li>
<li><p>"I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." <- Does the Ezra Cornell spirit still permeate the school? eg. in how its run, the general spirit of the students etc.</p></li>
</ul>

4

<p>1) I had a bike on campus all four years. I found it useful not for getting to class (because you often walk and talk with other people), but for getting around Ithaca after classes and on weekends. That said, it is very easy to bike between North, East, Central, and Collegetown, as I think the total elevation change is only 100 feet or so. </p>

<p>Getting up from West Campus is another story, but I found that University Ave. is doable if you have the gumption. Same thing for downtown Ithaca, Seneca Street and Buffalo Street are no go, but State Street is actually pretty doable to get up the hill.</p>

<p>All of the busses have bike racks. There is a club cycling team that regularly hosts treks around Lake Cayuga (around 110 miles) and shorter bike trips are very nice as well. One of my favorite bike rides is from Ithaca 10 miles up Route 89 to a State Park on Cayuga Lake.</p>

<p>And yes, Target, Dicks, Best Buy are all north of campus within 2 or 3 miles over flat terrain so definitely bikeable. Wegmans, Wal-Mart, etc. are down in Southwest Ithaca -- easy to bike to buy you may want to bus it back.</p>

<p>2) Cornell is definitely known for it humanities as well. The English program is superb -- both in theory and in creative writing. So is philosophy, comparative literature, linguistics, German, Spanish, and history. All are probably top 10 programs nationally. We are weak in the Classics and Art History, but I know that the Classics is getting stronger.</p>

<p>The social sciences are the weakest programs at Cornell in a traditional sense. Economics, government, pysch, and anthropology are all in the 10-20 range, as opposed to top 10. Sociology is perhaps the only top 10 program in that regard. That said, Cornell's applied social sciences -- labor relations, human development, rural and development sociology, labor economics, resource economics -- are superb and are often the best in the country.</p>

<p>3) Well, students at Cornell are studying all different things, from farming to architecture, engineering to philosophy. So I think Ezra's vision is still alive.</p>

5

<p>Cayuga, can you please elaborate on the economics department at Cornell? Thanks.</p>

6

<p>AnAthlete --</p>

<p>I am an ILR student, Class of 2005. All said, I think I took around 10 econ courses at Cornell -- a couple in ILR, a couple in Arts, and one in PAM. </p>

<p>Strictly speaking, the <em>best</em> economists at Cornell are in the contract colleges -- the health economists in PAM, the labor economists in ILR, and the resource and development economists in CALS are some of the best in the country. </p>

<p>The economics department in Arts is a mixed bag. Some professors are amazing, others are less than inspiring. It's become an extremely popular major in recent years, and I think this has hampered teaching quality and the student experience.</p>

<p>That said, it's possible to have a wonderful experience in Arts econ, but you have to seek it out a bit more. I had one friend in Arts econ who was a math/econ/psychology triple major who is now getting his PhD at Harvard. And a lot of the kids use Arts econ exactly for what they want it for -- to get a quality internship and $$$ on Wall Street.</p>

<p>In ILR, PAM, and AEM, the professors will be incredibly receptive to any student who shows a genuine interest in the course material and the professor's research. I have three ILR friends who went on for PhDs in econ in recent years; I almost did as well. But life got in the way.</p>

7

<p>thank you for the detailed and thoughtful answers, CayugaRed2005.
These questions may seem really random, but I really want to know what I am getting into for 4 (or more) years.
1. It's nice that Cornell does not hand-hold, because I have always been rather independent. But does one ever get the feeling that the school has abandoned the students? Is help available easily to those who need and search for it? ie: tutoring, advising etc.
2. How is the quality of the advising? Are the advisors swamped with students, or do they have the time to actually talk things over thoughtfully? Is it going to be like my high school where each counselor has 400 kids to deal with and has no time for individual attention?
3. Does Cornell 'feel' like a big state school?</p>

8

<ol>
<li><p>Yes. Very easy. There is an extensive support system across campus throughout the residence halls, colleges, and student groups. If you feel that you are getting off track you will need to let somebody know, however, as they probably won't come to you unless something is seriously wrong.</p></li>
<li><p>The quality of advising is generally good, but sometimes mixed. In the high-demand majors (econ, computer science), students will sometimes complain that their advisers don't care about them. But I think it's typically the student's fault, and not that of the adviser. The students who choose to only seek out their adviser only once a year shouldn't be surprised that the advisers don't know much about them and what they want to do. In my experience, students who actually wanted a meaningful lasting relationship with professors are more than able to develop them at Cornell -- have dinner with them, meet their family, etc. I was very close to three professors at Cornell, and am still in pretty consistent contact with all three. For another two I took their class and talked to them in office hours for maybe a grand total of 3-4 hours of my life, but I still feel free to email with them now three years out when I see their name in the paper or on NPR or what have you, and yes, they still write back. There are 10 undergrads for every member of the faculty. </p></li>
<li><p>Of the Ivies, Cornell definitely feels the most like a Big 10 school. But Cornell feels very different to different people. For a comparative lit major, it feels like a liberal arts college. For an architect, it feels like RISD. For an engineer, it probably feels like CMU. For somebody who doesn't get all that involved, skips half his classes, and drinks Wednesday- Sunday, it's gonna feel like a state school.</p></li>
</ol>

9

<p>KH892:
Not to take away the thread, but can you accept an offer of admission online and pay with credit card?
I also made my final decision on going to Cornell and am trying to figure out to send the deposit.</p>

10

<p>I don't think so
I just sent mine in with mail. There didn't seem to be an option for online payment in the packet I got. If sending your deposit by mail is going to be a challenge, you should contact the admissions office and ask them what you should do.</p>

11

<p>CayugaRed2005 , I am interested in transferring to Cornell next fall. May I ask you some questions when I start to work on my application?</p>

<p>I already have two questions:</p>

<p>My first one is about the policy for the alternate college:</p>

<p>Can the students who apply to CAS choose an alternate college? In the common app, I only saw alternate major for Engineering students I think.
I am applying to CAS because it matches with my education background. However, if I can choose an alternate school in case they reject me [my HS grade is mediocre] , I think that I will choose the Hotel School. One of my siblings went to an Hotel and culinary school (not Cornell), my parents has been working in the Hotel industry for years, I also as a room attendant and a maid in a Hotel during summer. So I have been surrounded with Hotel people. The hotel school's idea came to my mind last night . So what do you think? Could my family background be an reasonable explanation for why I would also like to be considered for a spot in the Hotel school or a good reason to justify my interest in hostelry? </p>

<p>In the 150 words essay [ whether it is for CAS or Hotel school] about one of my activity, I want to write about my job at the hotel. I enjoy my maid's job and wanted to do it because I felt that it brought me closer to my parents and my sibling who is an hotelier given that it was an opportunity to know better the job that feed me and feel how hard they are working to support me. When I was a young teenager, I always dreamt of buying the hotel where my parents work because it went close to bankruptcy several time and is still faling apart. I have an entrepreneurship mind, so I thought that I could save the hotel. I still want to want to buy it or build my own hotel.</p>

<p>Now I am afraid that the admission might think that I am just trying to be a copy of my parents and my siblings.
Some thoughts?</p>

<p>My current school is in a big city, but I don’t like it. I have never been to Ithaca but I like its rural theme and enjoy the life in the middle of nowhere better than in the big cities.</p>

<p>Thanks for your help</p>

12

<p>Grande Antilles:
obviously I am not going to know as much as CayugaRed2005 about the admissions process, but I will tell you what I know. This year, i believe something like 98 percent of students were accepted to their first choice college and 2 were accepted to their second choice These figures are for those admitted during freshman admissions and transfer figures might be different.
I believe that the Cornell Colleges determine their decisions on fit more than anything else. A shoe-in to CAS might be rejected from Hotel and a budding hotelier might be rejected from engineering but accepted at the Hotel School. I think that your life story makes you a good fit for the hotel school and you should go for it! Any of the Colleges at Cornell will give you a top-class education.</p>

13

<p>Thanks for your answer kh892. You kow even if I get into CAS, I would like to do a cross colleges minor if I can and do a minor at the Hotel school.</p>