<p>Hey, I'll be a freshman at Cornell in the fall and I just have one important question. </p>
<p>I'm making the transition from an all-male Catholic high school in Baltimore,MD and even though it was primarily a "jock school," many of the students were well-rounded in that they had a good balance of fine arts, academics, and athletics. EVERYONE would participate in intramurals, we had the most D-1 signees on the East Coast consistently, and a great sense of community.</p>
<p>When I toured Cornell, the students didnt really seem happy, outgoing, or fun like the other schools that I toured (UCLA, USC, UCB, Stanford, Vanderbilt, and esp. Duke/UVA) At Cornell, I got the impression that the students only care about academics. </p>
<p>Did I just visit on an off day or is Cornell lacking in the school spirit department?</p>
<p>Cornell has a lot of school spirit (i.e. hockey, football, dragon day, etc....). I don't know if I am correct in saying this, but Cornell students party on the weekends and friday, but tend to study during the week. Also, unlike Stanford, USC or UCLA the weather around Ithaca varies a lot (rainy, sunny....), thus meaning that you might have visited on an off day. However, I bet that during the winter you will see a lot kids outside doing winter things, and during the spring/summer the same will be true.</p>
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I don't know if I am correct in saying this, but Cornell students party on the weekends and friday, but tend to study during the week
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<p>You are incorrect. Plenty of us get drunk during the week. There are parties on Thursdays. Mixers run Weds-Saturday in the beggining-middle of second semester. You can find people who are willing to party any day of the week. That being said, most people will get their work done before getting wasted.</p>
<p>i have a question for students... if there are any... that went to bars and restaurants w/ bars in collegtown/ithaca. how do you think a cornell student would do with bartending as a job?</p>
<p>If you want to work somewhere in collegetown like Rulloffs, you start out doing ***** work: Door and busing tables during the day, washing glasses, etc. If your lucky you may eventually do some bar. Many of the bars have predominantly women bartenders. Usually youll have to know someone to have a chance at getting a job. If you want to work in a restaurant downtown or something, you'll need to have a resume with some prior experience.</p>
<p>Getting back to the original posted concern of whether Cornell is lacking school spirit, I believe that others have felt the same lack of unity while visiting Cornell. Many of these students don't even bother applying, and therefore would not visit a Cornell chat room to share their thoughts. I know a qualified student from our high school who toured Cornell and felt that the campus was more impersonal than she wanted (she is now at Princeton and loves it). </p>
<p>My daughter was accepted at Cornell and still feels that while Cornell has many good attributes, its school spirit is not always obvious on a visit.</p>
<p>Snajean, I think you are correct. Your observation about impressions made on a Cornell college tour is equally true for first impressions on all other college tours. (I know many kids who were unimpressed by great schools simply because of a less than stellar tour or an annoying tour guide.) If a student is limited to one college tour to get a feel for a school, it is a shame as a scripted tour can never truely reflect what life would actually be like at that school. That is why it is important to do more research than rely on a college tour to form an opinion about a place. Even if a prospective applicant cannot do an overnight, an easy thing to do is subscribe to the school's online newspaper because over time, the paper will give a broader view of the happenings and culture at its campus.</p>
<p>Bmore, hold off on answering that school spirit question until you've seen a hockey game in Lynah (seriously), or met someone twice your age who went to Cornell, or walked through an airport wearing an "Ithaca is Gorges" shirt....</p>
<p>I'm not saying Cornell doesn't have any school spirit. In fact, the only statement I was making was that Cornell didnt seem that it had as much school spirit like some of the other schools that I've visited. I'm just looking for reassurance that I visited on a bad day or something.</p>
<p>Trust me, I know theres a ton of student support at their hockey games. One of the players got drafted and signed a contract with my favorite team, the Caps.</p>
<p>It might depend on what you mean by "school spirit," because it sounds like you really mean something along the lines of "community" or "general happiness/friendliness." (Which is not to say those don't exist--I see both all the time.)</p>
<p>I think Cornell has a lot of school spirit.</p>
<p>I think most that go here are pretty proud of the school, but not the point where they are condecending to those from outside school.<br>
I think there's a lot of spirit, but little snobbery.</p>
<p>While clueless might be being blunt, I don't know if I would call it trolling per say. There is certainly cliqueyness present to some extent. There ARE 24/7 party animals and there ARE nerds who never leave their room....I know plenty of each. The beauty of it, however, is that the vast majority of kids are somewhere in the middle. With regards to "school spirit" (which I will define is a sense of pride/community/communalism as opposed to something that can be quantified by the number of students wearing school-logo athletic clothing), I feel that Cornell has much more of it than most other schools that I have seen. I think that this is largely due to the fact that the university tries very hard to bring people together. Doing simple things like making freshman live on campus and take writing seminars introduces kids to a much wider range of people than they would otherwise meet. I know that most of my friends from freshman year, many of whom I still spend time with, had interests and backgrounds such that I probably would not have otherwise met them were it not for these factors. The university also gives a lot of attention to traditions, which further bring students together through common interests and instills a lot of school pride in the kids. I could go on and on, but I think that if you spend any appreciable amount of time on campus you will see that cornell has school spirit which exceeds that of most other universities.</p>
<p>trust me there are plenty of us who came from 'jock' backgrounds in high school looking for school spirit. go to all of the hockey games and lacrosse, those are a great time. cornell may not have the best school spirit at all times but pretty much everyone there loves it. youll find kids like you in your dorm and writing seminars etc, and you prob wont stay best friends with every kid you initially hang out with, but gain good new friends all the time. first semester is a learning experience and you find the people like you and eventually start doing things you like to do as time passes. i looked at a lot of big sport/party schools, and while sometimes i wish i was at a michigan, cornell probably has the best social life of any school its caliber. </p>
<p>while there are a ton of kids that stay in studying every night, a lot of us have managed to do really well in school and still have fun getting work done early then going out. i took morning classes, did work in the afternoon and then was able to go out at will on nights. if youre looking for some fun 'guyish' stuff, get work done early in the fall and go to a frat to watch monday night football. get to know older kids when youre out, its good to get there perspective on balancing work and other stuff.</p>
<p>I doubt anyone will be able to find a stereotype for such a large population. I'd guess it's like highschool, with a variety of groups, plus many more and everything inbetween.</p>
<p>I really believe that people let go of their cliqueyness at least SLIGHTLY when entering Cornell. There are, as has been mentioned, a lot more "in between" students than actual preps, etc...in my experience. Everyone seems more open to new experiences.</p>