<p>maybe they'll have a fun book!
but I doubt it. other schools have really neat books compared to Lincoln at Gettysburg which we weren't supposed to enjoy, we were supposed to learn from. (as I understand it.)</p>
<p>^^it just wasnt fair, though, when the class of 2011 found out that c/o 2010 had to read the great gatsby and we had to read a horrible book</p>
<p>cornell donated a lot of copies of the pickup to my high school so every AP Lit kid had to read the pickup for our summer reading the summer going into senior year. so i had it really bad. i had to read the pickup AND lincoln at gettysburg.</p>
<p>i honestly couldn't say which was worse :(</p>
<p>If they give us twilight, im withdrawing my app and demanding my 400 dollars back</p>
<ol>
<li><p>it's A book, meaning ONE book. They aren't asking for a Phd level thesis or an art portfolio. it's an interesting book and regardless of what you are studying, it should be not an issue at all for a prospective cornellian (if it is, you're in for a surprise), regardless of whether the cornellian is a literature major in arts or an engineer or an architect or hotelie. </p></li>
<li><p>you don't have to do it. i kind of, quite embarrassingly, was enthusiastic about the essay, and after putting more care into than i probably should have, i missed the orientation thing for it and never turned it in. they haven't canceled my enrollment or penalized me in any other way. if you really are so sickened by the notion of reading it, don't. no harm in doing so.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Guys, its a book!</p>
<p>You don't have to read it, write the essay, and I know of one kid who didn't even go to the seminar and I don't think anything happened to him. I read Lincoln in Gettysburg, wrote the essay, and went to the seminar, and I didn't find it that worthwhile but since they separated the seminar groups by dorming assignments, I found it helped a bit when everyone said their name in a circle before we started discussing the book.</p>
<p>Out of ~20 people in my group discussion, maybe 10-12 read the book and 3-4 wrote an essay. Don't worry about it.</p>