I’m traveling to NY in a couple weeks to tour Cornell and URochester. However, I wasn’t able to plan a visit to Cornell because there is nothing available on the date I will be there. So, my family and I are still going to check out the campus but by ourselves, with a map.
I was wondering if anyone has any advice. What to check out, what options we can still do (asking questions to the admissions, maybe setting up a talk with a professor from the physics department?)
It’s good to get a general vibe about the campus, maybe talk to people while you are out and about, check out the areas on the perimeter such as Collegetown and downtown Ithaca, the falls. These places all make up an important part of your whole college experience at Cornell. You can find out a lot about a particular college and major by going on the school website. Maybe you can contact the department directly and get some ideas on how to make the most of your informal tour.
Good luck!
P.S. in a couple of weeks school will just have started so that may be a weird time to do a visit as your expectations may be high but the campus vibe will be somewhat off with classes just starting
See environs:
State parks (esp Upper Treman, also lower Treman,Taughannock Falls, Buttermilk
Botanic Gardens
Farmer’s Market (if weekend), take boat ride on Cayuga Lake from there
Ithaca commons
Collegetown
Campus:
Quads and buildings for whatever subjects interest you
Dorm areas- North campus, West campus
Cornell Dairy Bar, Stocking Hall (eat good ice cream)
^^ great suggestions!
I’d add:
-eat where the kids like to eat on campus so try the Terrace in Statler (I hear the wraps are delicious)
-Or Trillium in the new Ag quad
-Bear Necessities (aka “Nasties”) in RPCC a popular spot for freshmen to eat grilled sandwiches and other junk food
suggest check to make sure that the on-campus food suggestions are actually in operation when you will be visiting.
re#7: “…there are better things to eat on a tour than greasy fast food!”
May well be true as it pertains to “Nasties”, I don’t know. But , to be clear, with respect to another important part of the Cornell experience, suis at Shortstop (or better yet the Hot Truck, if you can catch it when it is open) there are other opinions: See this thread, particularly post #10 for background: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/662319-whats-better-than-a-half-sui-p1.html
Keep in mind OP that you will likely only live on campus one or two years. As you get on, the off-campus experience will likely play an increasingly large role in your out-of-classroom life. So suggest don’t just look at the campus, look at some or all of that other stuff I posted too.
Great advice above but you can also schedule a private tour. I can’t rememver the cost but they matched us with a student in my daughter’s intended major and she tailored the tour to her interests. We did it through the admissions office.
Great, thanks everyone for the advice! I will be making a list of all the places you guys have mentioned to check out.
@CALSmom I like the pocketsights idea! I think I might use that. Also, thanks for the suggestion of contacting the department/admissions directly. I will send an email to them to see if there are any options I can take advantage of
@momofsenior1 Really? That’s interesting. I will definitely look into that as an option so long as its not too much money!
OP - We toured two years ago and the private tours weren’t advertised but something that was offered when we called admission and told them we couldn’t make it on a regular tour date. If I recall, it was under $80 and lasted for longer than it was supposed to because the guide was eager to show my daughter her lab and some other areas of interest.
This applies to any prospective student preparing to tour the campus, self-guided or otherwise:
If you tour the entire campus indiscriminately, at first introduction you may perceive it to be huge.
That’s, IMO, a problem with their generic campus tour. It is not college-specific, so it has to cover the whole academic campus for all of the colleges.
.But you should keep in mind that a given student is not attending all of the colleges.Depending on your academic interests and social preferences, there are vast areas of the campus where you may rarely set foot, if ever.
When my daughter was thinking of applying, she expressed concern about the size, based on her brief prior exposure. So I printed out the campus map (had to scotch tape two pieces together), and then went over it with her, ripping off every area that would likely be of little consequence to her.
Not interested in :agriculture, human ecology, labor relations, hotel administration? rip, rip, rip (BTW the ag quad is huge; I almost never went up there). What about engineering, no? rip.
Not interested in living in sororities, or going to fraternity parties? Rip, rip
What was left, after I was done ripping, looked a lot more manageable.
She wound up actually utilizing more of the whole place than I ever did. But once you are there, after a short while the size is not at all overwhelming . (Which is not to say you won’t walk a lot…)
I really like @monydad’s approach to personalize each Cornell ‘s college. I often read that people are intimidated or overwhelmed by the vast space the whole Cornell campus occupies. In general, kids hang out in their own quads. Also, nothing wrong with walking 15-20 minutes to classes. Good exercise, good for your health.
@astromae2001 - hope you will have the tour that is worth your trip. I would love to hear your report afterward.
