<p>I’m applying to Cornell but never had the opportunity to visit myself, and I have a few questions based on things I’ve heard about Cornell from students. </p>
<li><p>Does Cornell have a competitive environment? If so, does that make it mentally invigorating or draining? </p></li>
<li><p>Does Cornell have school spirit? If so, how is it shown in big or small occasions? </p></li>
<li><p>Is Cornell very pre-professional/career oriented? [more specifically, the C.A.S.]</p></li>
<li><p>Is it fun?</p></li>
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<li><p>Cornell can be as competitive as you want it to be. There are plenty of people, pre-professionals especially that foster a competitive environment. However, everyone is very nice and willing to help others with homework and studying. I would say Cornell is mentally invigorating and draining because the classes force you to think, but there is a large workload (especially in engineering).</p></li>
<li><p>School spirit takes place at hockey games and to a lesser extent basketball games. It's not as crazy as you'll find at state schools, just because people can't devote as much time to tailgating and stuff.</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell is very career oriented, there are tons of services on campus that are there to help you find a job, or go to grad school.</p></li>
<li><p>College is as fun as you want it to be. Of course, people don't party every night (except seniors I guess) during the year, but there are plenty of things to do around campus.</p></li>
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<li><p>Cornell is competitive in the sense that it's usually difficult to get an A(I'm an engineer, and most engineers agree; others have different opinions, and this really matters on your major/college). When you get an A in a class, you know you deserved it. People don't step on each other heads here though, most of us are cooperative. So it's competitive in the sense that it's difficult to get As, but not competitive in the sense that people are trying to harm each other to get top grades. At times, the workload can be draining but once again, it depends on what college/major you're choosing. For instance, I know in CAS, physics is a pretty difficult major, but econ is an extremely easy major (8-10 required classes).</p></li>
<li><p>There's not much school spirit except for at hockey games (and sometimes basketball games).</p></li>
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<p>3.CAS is not as professionally oriented as the other schools. Once again, this depends on your major.</p>
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<li>Does Cornell have a competitive environment? If so, does that make it mentally invigorating or draining?</li>
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<p>Depends on who you hang out with and what classes you take. Also depends on your own head. If you aim for A+s in all classes yea it gets competitive. But I guess it only gets competitive in curved classes where others grade effects yours. Sometimes it gets draining but it's not bad. I imagined worse before I came here. The most competitive class I took was probably Bio lab because it's a class of 27 students and it's graded based on ranking. Basically ~13 kids out of 27 gets B- and lower so it was pretty competitive. But then again like I said, some people aim for C+/Bs so its not as competitive to them I guess. </p>
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<li><p>Does Cornell have school spirit? If so, how is it shown in big or small occasions?
Yes, a lot of people do. I guess it's shown by the stuff people wear and stuff like that. Also events like hockey or something? Im not sure cause i have 0 school spirit =D </p></li>
<li><p>Is Cornell very pre-professional/career oriented? [more specifically, the C.A.S.]
Yes, plenty of opportunities.</p></li>
<li><p>Is it fun?
That depends on you. You can definitely make it fun if you want... It's soso for me. I prefer being at Cornell than home (except during testing periods) because theres more stuff going on in School. I dont know if thats called fun... In fact I dont remember when I had fun in Cornell! hahah</p></li>
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<li><p>Cornell's environment is intellectually stimulating. I've met so many people who have done so much with their lives already. I have never seen an incident of competition in a negative sense, although students here are achievers and will always strive to do their best.</p></li>
<li><p>We love Cornell. We wear Cornell gear and go to a wide variety of Cornell events, including a capella, sporting, music, lectures and cinema. When you're at a hockey game, you feel like you are in an extremely sports-school spirited event. There is a niche here for everyone and like every opportunity, it is what you make of it.</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell can be what you want it to be. Certain majors do not lend themselves to a necessary pursuit of grad school and others are more practical. There really is an academic path for everyone.</p></li>
<li><p>I have more fun than I could ever have imagined at Cornell. I've made great friends and laughed more than I ever have before. Even during the testing periods, I went to the library with my friends, celebrated birthdays and met for meals. One of the best aspects about Cornell's size is that you really can find your niche here. You don't have to settle for ONLY being friends with people on your floor (but you can if you want to!) but you can make friends at all of the dorms on North Campus. Having the freshman grouped on North Campus is a great thing - because you see everyone at some point.</p></li>
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<p>Thanks everyone, this is helpful. I guess it's not cool that grading is based on class rank.. but other than that most people are pretty cooperative? Thnx again for the replies</p>
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For instance, I know in CAS, physics is a pretty difficult major, but econ is an extremely easy major (8-10 required classes).
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Why is econ considered such an easy major? is it simply because there's only 8-10 required classes, which is not really much, and you can take a lot of electives in whatever you want, or is it because the actual econ classes themselves are easy? cause i'm an econ major at another college, looking to transfer, and while I love econ, I struggle with calculus, and I figured it would be even harder at cornell...thanks</p>
<p>both, econ classes are generally not extremely difficult and also because you barely take anything
it allows many people to double/triple major with econ and a few other easier ones</p>
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[quote]
Thanks everyone, this is helpful. I guess it's not cool that grading is based on class rank.. but other than that most people are pretty cooperative? Thnx again for the replies
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<p>Most colleges use this type of grading because the scores on tests are generally pretty low. If they used the typical 90-100: A, 80-89: B, etc. grading, we'd all get D's.</p>
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[quote]
Why is econ considered such an easy major? is it simply because there's only 8-10 required classes, which is not really much, and you can take a lot of electives in whatever you want, or is it because the actual econ classes themselves are easy? cause i'm an econ major at another college, looking to transfer, and while I love econ, I struggle with calculus, and I figured it would be even harder at cornell...thanks
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<p>I consider econ to be an extremely easy major, because I've taken a few econ classes at Cornell and I've found them to be really easy(Intermediate Micro and Macro, known as econ 313 and 314, respectively). I am a very math oriented person, and in my opinion, you don't need to be good at math to do econ. There are a few multivariable calc concepts in intermediate micro, such as partial differentiation and lagrange multipliers but they are basic and pretty easy to pick up. Do not worry, as these concepts are easy to understand if you are fine with basic calculus and algebra. Intermediate macro was not too math intensive at all. These classes are interesting, and easy.</p>
<p>If you are really uncomfortable with math, consider studying ILR with a focus on econ</p>
<p>thanks AnbuItachi and Brown Man...i'm not really uncomfortable with math, i'm fine with basic calculus, I assume it gets harder though (just a freshman so haven't really taken difficult classes). yeah i'm an econ major now but if i'm accepted to cornell, i'm thinking of changing to ilr or pam, as both are econ related and sound interesting. I know econ is really easy for some people, others seem to have difficultly in basic intro econ courses...guess you either get it or you don't.</p>
<p>PAM 2000 (which is the "same" as ECON 3130) is intermediate micro, and honestly, there is not a single bit of math in that class, except for finding out the slope, which, for some people in that class, is REALLY HARD.</p>
<p>so uh PAM =/= econ, it's essentially applications of econ.</p>
<p>hahah finding out the slope...8th grade flashbacks :D
I know pam isn't econ, I said it was econ related, and then you restated my point by adding it's application of econ...I think it's interesting but don't know if I would prefer that or ilr, or just econ. i recently declared my major as econ and have a vague idea of what i'm interested in right now.</p>
<p>I don't have 20000 yrs to read all your responses (k so I'm exaggerating and actually since it's break I have 20000 yrs and some extra) but I'll answer for myself I spose.</p>
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<li><p>Does Cornell have a competitive environment? If so, does that make it mentally invigorating or draining?
There is GOOD competition. When I did track in high school I always got the best times when I was running right next to another running who was nearly evenly matched with me (of course, I'd be the fastest, duhhhh) but you do improve when there are those around you trying as well. this is the competition where you don't feel dumb studying a bunch for an exam, because everyone else is too. you can work hard in lab and it's not like everyone else will want your answers, but neither will they try to hinder your progress. you'll work together for REAL. I don't know about your HS experience but I never had this in HS.</p></li>
<li><p>Does Cornell have school spirit? If so, how is it shown in big or small occasions?
I don't go out to the sporting events, but it seems like there is some school spirit at least around hockey. I mean, people wear Cornell stuff? I am not into school spirit myself and I'm content here, if that means anything.</p></li>
<li><p>Is Cornell very pre-professional/career oriented? [more specifically, the C.A.S.]
I'm in CALS, but I bet it varies by major. some CAS folks I know are really into whatever they're studying and seem to be the learning for learning's sake types, but then there's some pre-med bio majors who I guess are very focused on becoming doctors. </p></li>
<li><p>Is it fun?
yes, imo! come to Cornell! I feel like there's lots of goofing around that I see, if that's what you mean by fun. and I don't mean goofing around in a bad way either. people are acting their age and enjoying themselves.</p></li>
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