<p>Hi All,</p>
<p>Adcoms and faculty generally always glaze over all good things about Cornell.</p>
<p>As the decision time draws near, I would like to have a perspective without bias, on what students do not like about Cornell.</p>
<p>If you are a current Cornell student, or graduated from Cornell, or transferred out of Cornell, please add your comments.</p>
<p>This will be vastly helpful for those who have multiple acceptances to make decisions.</p>
<p>I went to Cornell a long time ago, but all four of the things I'm about to list are still true today:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Traveling by mass transit from Ithaca to anywhere other than New York City is tedious. It usually involves changing from one type of transportation to another (e.g., shuttle to Syracuse and then a plane to somewhere else or bus to New York and then a bus or train to somewhere else), and all such changes usually involve periods of waiting around.</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell does not guarantee on-campus housing for all four years.</p></li>
<li><p>There are some subjects in which it is not possible to earn a secondary school teaching certificate at Cornell.</p></li>
<li><p>(Arts and Sciences only) The foreign language requirement in Arts and Sciences is structured in such a way that no matter how many years of foreign language you've studied, you can't place out of the requirement. You must take at least one more course. This is not the case at many of Cornell's peer institutions.</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>Although I'm very close to my professors, other students and advisors, there's still sometimes that stupid "administration" feel from the university ... like no matter what, if you're car is parked someplace for 2 minutes to drop something off, you'll still get a $25 parking ticket almost instantly. This goes along with the idea that everything has a charge to it. </p></li>
<li><p>Students who don't realize how good they have it. I hear people complain about the food (Cornell's food is fabulous, especially compared to every other school out there ... trust me), or the weather (a kid was whining today about snow in april not realizing the nor'easter that hit the entire east coast of the united states), or the town of Ithaca (as they sit in their dorm room playing video games).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>On a day like today I'm tempted to say the weather but it usually doesn't bother me very much (and this is speaking from a Californian's point of view). Here are some things I don't't like:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>CAS' ridiculously complex requirements</p></li>
<li><p>The fact that the bus costs $1.50 a ride; apparently, they now give out bus passes for free to incoming classes so I guess that's no longer an issue</p></li>
<li><p>The fact Cornell gives out A+'s. They're nice to get and they inflate your GPA. Sometimes I go out of my way to get them. But, in the end, med schools convert them back to A's and your GPA drops like a stone.</p></li>
<li><p>Free parking or lack thereof</p></li>
<li><p>Math professors with unintelligible accents (although this seems to be a problem everywhere)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Ya weather is horrible everywhere in the northeast right now. I'm up near Boston and when I look out in the window in front of me I see torrential rainfall that's blowing intensly across campus...W/ students like running into their dorms n such. My umbrella broke because it was so windy! So ya don't worry Cornellians, it's bad everywhere right now haha.</p>
<ol>
<li>The disproportionately high amount of girls with boyfriends here (and not even Cornell boyfriends, boyfriends from all over the place)</li>
<li>The stupid lazy mentality a lot of the dining staff have, because apparently if breakfast closes at 10:30 and you are on the breakfast line at 10:27 it's already closed.</li>
<li>The fact that people get offended too easily by jokes</li>
<li>Classes with professors that have no idea how to explain things and make ridiculously hard tests (I know it's supposed to be hard but at least give good explanations so we can have a shot at the questions).</li>
</ol>
<p>Even though I don't go to Cornell, I am from NY (and visit Ithaca a lot) and I can tell you that the winters get really nasty up there. When I tell this to people, they tend to say, "But I don't care about the weather." Actually, weather can be an important factor and if you're deciding between Cornell and some other school that's in a pretty nice place, you might want to skip this frozen option. (However, fall is gorgeous up there)</p>
<p>To tell u the truth Cornell could be in winter the whole year and I would still go there. But thank god it's not ;) . Turning down an absolutely amazing school for weather just isn't an option in my book. All of the Ivys are in the northeast anyway...so...it seems like lots of people accept the weather in order to go to these amazing schools.</p>
<p>Madden, are you referring to the racially themed parties or the Antman comics, or something else?</p>
<p>The biggest turn off is the location. Some other negatives are bad weather, prelims (exams) during the night, and walking up libe slope.</p>
<p>My biggest pain point is limited direct flight services (or competiton) from Ithaca airport. </p>
<p>The on-campus parking is a lesser issue as long as one shells out $600+tax for an annual spot.</p>
<p>Actually, I'm soooo thankful prelims are at night. I'm not much of a morning person so having prelims at night gives me time to relax, study, and mentally prepare myself for the test.</p>
<p>Wow, I'm unnerved by the large and varying response of dislikes. Yikes!</p>
<p>well, everyone's bothered by something or other. cornell isn't heaven. and if there was nothing to complain about, then there would be nothing to laugh about with your friends. I remember the best conversation starter freshmen year was how much we all hated the freshmen reading project. made alot of friends that way. overall, there's alot more things that I like about cornell than dislike, which is probably why I'm on this forum. Most of my friends would say the same thing. But because dislikes is the topic, I'll throw in one:
The lack of integration between campus groups, whether they be ethnic, religious, or something else.</p>
<p>"Wow, I'm unnerved by the large and varying response of dislikes. Yikes!"</p>
<p>why? The thread asked for what people don't like about the university. Pick it on what YOU like, not what a few others dislike. </p>
<p>Regardless, most of the reasons listed here are quite minor ... dining hall staff closing up 3 minutes early, weather (which, is equal to that of the vast majority of NE cities), and the number of girls with boyfriends. If these unnerve you about Cornell, get ready for one heck of a time at a university that has real problems.</p>
<p>Well I guess I was unnerved because the only other place I've seen a thread like this is in the UNC-CH forum. Where the immediate response was "It's proximity to Duke!" :]</p>
<p>I agree, though, at least these issues are quite minor.</p>
<p>nobody has something that they don't dislike about any university - I think Cornell is excellent, the OP just asked for things we're not too fond of. You'll get plenty of responces on any other college thread. Be unnerved if the title of the thread was "things that make you want to leave Cornell". </p>
<p>Also, I'd feel better if the scope of 'dislikes' is wide and varied - they seem more personal vs. things that are consistently brought up time after time.</p>
<p>Slush is bad, but that goes for all of the north. </p>
<p>The fact that it takes 15 minutes to get to class from north campus some days. </p>
<p>That we have to pay for nearly everything.</p>
<p>the paying thing seems like it sucks. but it sounds good that next year we get free bus passes.</p>
<p>I don't think you get free bus passes. The free bus passes was from a compromise involve the redbuds forest. Cornell wanted to build a parking lot in the place of the forest and there was a protest and everything. Anyway, it happened two years ago and I think the agreement was that the school would pay for bus passes for incoming freshmen for the next two years. It might be different from what I remembered, but this is the second year that they offered the free bus passes to the freshmen.</p>
<p>the free bus pass for new incomming students is still in effect for next year, i just checked online</p>