Cornell University Top Questions

I absolutely love Cornell. I have had so many doors opened for me by coming here. There are innumerable activities, students groups, and organizations to get involved with on campus, and the fact that it is a fairly large, reputable university (13,500 undergrads) means that we get a lot of prominent speakers, professors, and groups to lecture, teach, and perform on campus. Cornell is a research university, so it is a great environment for aspiring academics and researchers. Due to Cornell's focus on research, I was able to get inside the "research world" as a freshman, and I am so grateful for that opportunity. Also, the alumni network at Cornell is amazing - often prospective students don't think about this, but there are a lot of successful Cornell alumni out in the world who are willing, even eager, to mentor and advise the career choices of the undergrads. Honestly, I feel like I'm a part of some huge family. One of the most fortuitous things about going to Cornell is the weight of the name. Especially as a science major (and for those in engineering), having a B.A./B.S. from Cornell means a lot. Most of the time I get impressed looks from people when I tell them that I'm from Cornell and am studying physics. Unfortunately, part of the down-to-earth personality of our campus is a lack of emphasis on increasing the prestige of a Cornell degree, so many people you run into on the street have no idea that Cornell even exists, let alone that it's in the Ivy league. Nevertheless, the people who hire people know what's up, and so the Cornell name does wind up helping you out.

I think the biggest problem with Cornell is that the social scene can sometimes get very monotonous. The Greek scene basically dominates social life on campus and sometimes there's nothing else for underclassmen to do on the weekend except go to frat parties. A lot of people are turned off by Cornell because we're located "in the middle of nowhere." I think that makes us a very tight-knit campus, though, despite our size. One of my favorite memories of this year was when Cornell Men's Basketball clinched the Ivy League title. The stadium was completely packed and when the game ended everyone rushed the court together. Everyone was jumping up and down and hugging each other---I think it really proved our unity and team spirit.

I would decrease the class sizes just because we cannot be competitive with all the other Ivys if our numbers are skewed by the fact that we have almost 3 times as many students. People usually react favorably or impressively when I tell them I go to Cornell. I would like for Cornell to institute a better financial aid policy as many of the other Ivys have done so, we are not the most generous in terms of providing aid. I understand that we have more students to accommodate, but this goes back to the fact that we should reduce our class sizes, which would also help out with problems like housing for undergraduates. I feel there is a decent amount of school pride on campus.

The best thing about Cornell is the people. The majority of students are great with an occasional jackass, but that is commonplace. Diversity plays a big part in the Cornell community. Although, there are some instances where groups of people are largely homogeneous. The most common reaction I receive when I say I go to Cornell is, "that's a good school." Cornell's administration is like any other college administration bureaucratic. The most recent controversy is an alleged rape of a girl tripped out on ecstasy and the alleged ambivalence of the administration when it was reported to them by the victim. School pride is a big thing at Cornell. Hockey games are the prime example where throwing newspapers and fish onto the ice is commonplace. The one experience I'll remember is when Cornell got into the NCAA basketball tournament. The greatest gripe with Cornell is the weather: always rain and snow.

i do overall love cornell- the gorgeous campus is the most amazing thing about the school, but it's really only enjoyable in the spring. the winter absolutely sucks. people aren't as crazy here overall as you'd think they are. i think cornell's size is perfect. while i have a lot of school pride, its not dominanct feeling on campus.

Gorgeous campus. Was my first choice school, but after coming here I realized how hilly it was haha. I spend most of my time in Collegetown, since that's where most of my friends live. I love that there are so many things that you can study...I'm packing my schedule full because there are so many courses I want to take! (yeah maybe I am a nerd :P). You really can do anything you want here, and you WILL get support from people.

The size of the students population is just right. Collegetown and the entire city of Ithaca are the ideal place to go to school (unless for some odd reason you want to live in a big city and not enjoy the beauty of our nation).

I'm really glad I did Arts and Sciences instead of one of the other colleges, because I wanted to get a liberal arts education, and I'm happy that I had the requirements I did, because I would not have taken certain classes otherwise--which I ended up being happy to take. In terms of academics, therefore, I am completely satisfied with Cornell. This is an education you could not get anywhere else. In terms of the social life, I was a little less satisfied. The Greek system is very big here, and it can feel like you have to do it if you want to have any friends. I think it actually ends up limiting you, instead of opening up your circle.

The best thing about Cornell is the spring time - when the weather is absolutely (excuse the pun) Gorge-ous. At the beginning of the fall semester and at the end of the spring semester, you have the opportunity to go gorge jumping, lay out in the gorges (to sunbathe or explore the waterfalls). Also, the restaurants here at Cornell are great. This is the perfect environment to work and play. One thing that I'd change is the amount of work and the way that the Cornell grading system works. I've taken a lot of big lecture classes and they purposely make the tests difficult to pull the mean down. I took a class where they purposely made up questions so that the mean on the test wold be low. The work is also a lot, but if you time-manage, you will be able to do anything. The school population sounds like its huge (over 3,000 per class!) but as you start joining organizations (i.e. sorority or fraternity, sports teams etc) you begin to find out that Cornell isn't such a large school after all. People think its great that I'm at an Ivy League school (when I tell them I go to Cornell). I spend a lot of time at the Big Red Barn, Mann Library (best coffee and cafe ever!), the Arts Quad, the Slope, and the various gyms (Helen Newman, Teagle, Noyes). I also tend to visit Collegetown a lot because of the great restaurants and people living there. Collegetown is where most of the upper classmen (after freshman year) live - there are a TON of great restaurants of various cuisines and apartments and places to just chill (Starbucks, Collegetown Bagels). The Schwartz center is also in collegetown, where a lot of plays, dance performances, and various arts groups perform. If you are involved in an organization, you will definitely have a lot of school pride. I know that my sorority is involved in playing in intramurals and philanthropy and in attending various sporting events (i.e. Basketball was AMAZING this past season). Students complain a LOT about the weather here - the weather is generally unpredictable and you tend to get a lot of rain. And you have one of the longest winters ever (luckily, winter break is a month long so you avoid a lot of the winter).

While Cornell is pretty big, different organizations you can get involved in definitely make the school feel a lot smaller :)