<p>How is the stats for getting into good grad schools? Is it the same or higher than other, say, ivy league schools since Cornell has a repution of not inflating grades? Just wondering</p>
<p>i'm not sure compared to the other ivies, but i know cornell's grad school placement rates are excellent, among the best in the US. I think it's around 88% of the people that apply to law school get into law school (compared to the national average around 49%). The same is true for med school, though i forget the actual numbers. </p>
<p>And i'll agree with spanks on the 'work' part ... this entire week has been brutal. I've been at the library until 2 or 3 in the morning every day. I'm spending all of my big red bucks on lattes, coffee, double shots, expresso, frapuccinos, the works!!!</p>
<p>Time for me to head off to class again...</p>
<p>....and then the library. Again...</p>
<p>....but honestly, I wake up every morning knowing it's sooo worth it here.</p>
<p>excuse my very very very bad grammar etc. in the following post. It's the end of the day, my brain is fried...</p>
<p>My biggest con would be the fact that cornell charges for EVERYTHING. I went to the University of Arkansas for a high school program this year, and while our dorms are significantly better (where else can I get a FIREPLACE in my ROOM?) but, they get free bus, gym, cable w/hbo in each room! But, I enjoy living down the hill, I walk around 20+ flights of stairs worth a day even though I bought a bus pass because I'm enjoying the scenery and the exercise (however, that might change once the temperature plummets). </p>
<p>Cornell is in the middle of establishing residential colleges on West Campus (similar to Harvard's & yales) which is what I have been living last year and this year. You get to meet extremely prestigious professors and people (Janet Reno, Bill Nye, Kristoff, Oliver Sacks, to name some from last year). The third house is being named Hans Bethe after the reknown Physics prof, so you really do get a wonderful sense of connection to all sorts of influential people. You don't have to live on campus to take advantage of the plethora of exciting people that come on campus. Just last Monday, Albert Bandura (for you psych people, he is bobo doll guy and the 4th MOST Powerful/influential psychologist in the 20th century, only after Freud, Skinner, and Piaget--who by the way are all dead, so he is the most powerful living psychologist) at the tender age of 79, came and spoke to us.</p>
<p>I think third eye blind is coming? aren't they starting tickets sales today? I know it might be bad that the closest place that most tours go to is syracuse, but there are enough mainstream and not so mainstream artists visit cornell.</p>
<p>Finally, I just love the people. Almost everyone is wonderful, and I sometimes wonder where and what everyone I meet will become -- rich, famous, etc. I know the majority will be successful.</p>
<p>To add onto the grad school thingy, I know for PhD clinical psychology programs (which is reputedly much more competitive to get into than med school with substantially lower acceptance rates - around 10%) Cornell students do very well. The usual acceptance GPA is 3.8, however, coming from Cornell, you only need a 3.3 to be competitive because you would probably have taken courses from extremely famous/reknown professors, and done research with them.</p>
<p>anyhoo, long enough post, but i cannot stress enough the contacts you will make during your time at cornell.</p>
<p>Cons:
* It takes 20 minutes (uphill) to walk anywhere. The shorter the walk, the more uphill it is.
* Long winters - starts in November, ends in March
* Parties start late and end early. Same with the bars</p>
<p>Pros:
* World-class education - rigorous as hell but you realize its worth once you leave
* Diverse student body with many different types of people with many different personalities
* Excellent course selection - I'm a grad student at Columbia right now and I actually wish I took better advatange of my opportunities while at Cornell
* Most of the professors actually know how to teach and are quite good at it
* Lots of research opportunities for undergrads
* Excellent grad school placement. PhD programs are informal and at times strongly resemble the "good ol' boy" networks of the South. Cornell has some of the best graduate departments in the country, let alone the Ivies, and working with top members in your field will help you out A LOT.
* BIG RED HOCKEY. Some of my best memories stemmed from this.</p>