Non-Myths About Cornell

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
21

<p>
[quote]
Syracuse, NY (the closest major city to Ithaca) has an annual snowfall of 116" according to multiple sources I see on the web. Check it out. So could Ithaca, only 1 hour away, be 67"? Come on. We've all spent winters in Ithaca, haven't we? And have been to other cities on the East Coast in winter to have at least some basis of comparison?

[/quote]

ffhrea - have you ever heard of the snow belt? I've included a link from Wiki for your reference. Syracuse borders the lake effect snow belt. Ithaca is south of it which accounts for the difference in the annual snow fall of the two cities. Syracuse's numbers are slightly exaggerated because they take their measurement at the airport which is north of the city. In the snow belt, every mile makes a difference in snow fall measurements.<br>
Snowbelt</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>

<p>
[quote]
but I'm still going to win the "war" on the big premises,

[/quote]
Why do you care to wage a war - and with misleading statements? Are you that unhappy?</p>

<p>*edit - I was writing this while TchaikovskyPiano was posting - hence the lake effect snow lesson X2.</p>

22

<p>Your forgetting Westchester County, Long Island's littler brother. You go from South Broadway in Yonkers to friggin Scarsdale/Chapaqua.</p>

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<p>Also curious to note that us HV kids are higher represented than Long Island, go figure.</p>

24

<p><a href="And%20wouldn't%20it%20be%20grand%20if%20Cornell's%20Long%20Island%20contingent%20reflected%20that%20diversity?">quote</a>

[/quote]
look, if you're wondering why there are more wealthy Long Islanders than poor Long Islanders attending an elite, private, very expensive college, then I don't know what to tell ya...obviously fewer lower-class students get the privilege of attending Ivies than rich people. As for ethnically, we are mostly white, asian, and south asian, and those are hardly underrepresented at Cornell...yeah, there are fewer blacks/hispanics from long island there, but those 2 groups are underrepresented because of socio-economic reasons at colleges throughout the nation.</p>

25

<p>it'd be grand if Cornell's population reflected diversity period. :(</p>

26

<p>Well, Cornell's population better reflects the real world than many other top colleges. </p>

<p>And no, stargazer, I'm not wondering why.</p>

27

<p>"it'd be grand if Cornell's population reflected diversity period."</p>

<p>Its not going to happen for a long time. Education has never been a truely fair system in this country, even at its founding.</p>

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<p>^ doesn't mean we shouldn't be trying our hardest to make it happen right now.</p>

29

<p>
[quote]
Syracuse, NY (the closest major city to Ithaca) has an annual snowfall of 116" according to multiple sources I see on the web. Check it out. So could Ithaca, only 1 hour away, be 67"? Come on.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yes, it could be that different.</p>

<p>There's a thing called lake effect snow. Chicago and Buffalo, each of which is right next to one of the Great Lakes, get huge amounts of snow. Syracuse, next to the substantial Onondoga Lake, gets a fairly large amount. Ithaca, next to the much smaller Cayuga Lake, is less affected.</p>

<p>My daughter is at Cornell. She doesn't have a single friend from Long Island. In fact, most of her friends are from out of state, as she is.</p>

<p>A couple of other non-myths about Cornell:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>You really can buy a vibrator at the campus pharmacy and charge it to your bursar's bill so that your parents will pay for it. Sexual</a> Health Supplies from the Pharmacy at Gannett: Cornell University Health Services</p></li>
<li><p>You really do have to take a swim test, but you no longer have to take it naked, the way male students in the 1970s and earlier did. Also, the women's swim test is no longer more difficult than the men's, but it used to be. See the following from the "Dear Uncle Ezra" all-purpose Q & A on the Cornell Web site:</p></li>
</ol>

<p>
[quote]
According to Al Gantert, Director of Physical Education, there was a period of time where men used to go naked for all men's P. E. aquatic activities, including the swim test. While it seems surprising now, it was just "one of those things" at the time. Sometime during the 1970s, it just changed, and swimming with your swim trunks on became the policy.</p>

<p>Women have had to take the swim test for as long as the men have, and they have always worn their swimsuits. However, women were originally required to swim four lengths, each length using a different stroke; the men were required to jump in and swim two lengths of any stroke they liked. Eventually a compromise was made, and everyone was required to complete the same test, which is still used today: Jump in feet first, swim 3 lengths, one on your front, one on your back, one of your choice. You can swim using any stroke your wish including the doggie paddle. No points are added or subtracted for style.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Dear</a> Uncle Ezra - Ask Uncle Ezra - Cornell University</p>

30

<p>just to give you some data,</p>

<p>Ithaca</a> Times - Vital Statistics</p>

<p>67.3" to be exact</p>

<p>and the question was not whether or not it was a "snowy ivy", it was how much snow there typically is...</p>

31

<p>this whole argument on snow...isnt that what characterizes cornell? who cares whether we get 60 or 100 inches! yes the winter can be brutal but all you need is a good jacket and a pair of gloves and you can survive. i always joke that its in the arctic circle, but this is coming from someone who lives below the mason dixon line (but it is 30 degrees today here ughhhhh) i gotta tell ya...the best night i had during study week was when there was this huge blizzard and at 11 pm i went sledding with a lot of friends down libe slope in huge plastic bags. and then we proceeded to have a snow ball fight in the arts quad.</p>

32

<p>Marian:</p>

<p>small nit, but Chicago is on the west side of Lake Michigan, so lake effect snow is minimized -- the prevailing winds are west to east, carrying moisture to the state of Michigan. Chicago averages 38 inches of snow per year. In contrast, Benton Harbor, MI, on the east side of the lake, and subject to the full force of lake effect snow, receives double that amount (76") per year.</p>

33

<p>
[quote]
1. You really can buy a vibrator at the campus pharmacy and charge it to your bursar's bill so that your parents will pay for it.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'm not sure I want to know how you, as a mother of a student, know this.</p>

34

<p>
[quote]
1. It IS snowy. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>It IS in a small town. That may be good or bad to you. </p></li>
<li><p>It DOES have a large undergraduate population. Cornell has 14,000 undergrads, Harvard and Columbia have 7,000, Yale and Princeton 5,000.</p></li>
<li><p>It DOES have a very large Greek influence in its social scene. Cornell has 42 fraternities. Columbia has 13. Harvard and Princeton don't have any, and Yale only recently started having them.</p></li>
<li><p>It IS heavily dominated by New York State residents (which are NOT necessarily the same thing as "New Yorkers" or denizens of NYC). That may be good or bad to you.

[/quote]
</p></li>
</ol>

<p>hmm ...</p>

<p>Snow - already covered ... and some of my favorite memories involve playing in the snow ... tray sliding, going for runs during snow storms, playing touch-football in the snow etc.</p>

<p>Small-Town - to me a great college town ... going to Columia would be a totally different experience ... for some a college town is a good thing</p>

<p>14,000 students - true ... need to be self-sufficient ... also part of what makes being in a college town work since Cornell itself provides so much entertainment and variety of people and experiences.</p>

<p>Large Greek Experience - there are a lot of frats ... I never joined one and never cared. While I was there about 1/3 of guys joined frats ... OK add the 14,000 undergrads to that fact ... that only leaves 9500+ non-frat guys to find your 10 best buds ... somehow that worked out just fine for me.</p>

<p>Dominated by New Yorkers ... Hmm probably a higher percentage of home state kids than the other IVYies ... but more geographic diversity than probably 2975 of 3000 undergrad schools (not even counting a NYC kid and a farm kid from upsate are both from NY).</p>

35

<p>Ok at first I was insulted by the long island comments made because I am from long island and I bet we have a lot in common. I grew up in a (barely) middle class Italian catholic neighborhood with small public high schools on Long Island. However, after thinking about it for a minute, I realized that I don't think I have anything in common with most long islanders at Cornell either! True, there are a lot of rich kids on long island, although I never met them until I went to Cornell, but I just wish that people at Cornell would realize that (some) Long Islanders at Cornell and Long Islanders in general are very very different things. Long Island has over 3 million(?) people on it, and each town, and each shore and county are so diverse. Trust me, there are plenty of long islanders at Cornell that you can relate to, you probably just don't realize that that's where they are from.</p>

36

<p>
[quote]
1. You really can buy a vibrator at the campus pharmacy and charge it to your bursar's bill so that your parents will pay for it.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>DEFINITELY under the category of Too Much Information. :D</p>

37

<p>I totally agree Cornelli...I mean the island is so diverse, both ethnically and socioenonomically...saying all islanders are rich lax playing brahs (totally my hometown lol) is like saying everyone from upstate NY is a hick, or that everyone from California is like the kids from Laguna Beach, or that everyone from the Midwest/South are fat uber conservative bible belters, or that everyone from Boston has a funny accent (this one just may be true :D)...haha I can't imagine that island students at Cornell are any different from anyone else...or at least all my hometown friends who go to Cornell aren't. sure, there are obnoxious rich kids here, but guess what, they're everywhere else too...i've met those types of people in my college from all over the place, and I don't expect it's any different up in ithaca.</p>

38

<p>^The boston one is wicked true.</p>

39

<p>
[quote]
everyone from California is like the kids from Laguna Beach...

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No, there more like those on The Hills. :D</p>

40

<p>and everyone from new york city are like those kids in "The City"</p>

<p>haha that show is just so fake and i think it makes me dumber when i watch it... but i watch it anyway lol</p>