Finding your people at Cornell?

[Anonymous]

OP, your son sounds so much like mine, who's still a junior.

May I ask what other schools you're looking at that feel more like where he could find his people? What schools has he visited that he has liked? thanks and sorry for the tangent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There used to be several fraternities for need types at Cornell. Not sure if they are still there. Ski team was also fun.

What’s that

A gross way of saying kids who can't afford full price tuition?

The state school kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster. My kid is also contemplating a Cornell ED. His high school is also a feeder and he has the grades/test scores and extracurriculars.

He is also apprehensive although he is probably looking for a slightly different crowd (although with some overlap as he is super social and has friends of all types.) He wants to join a fraternity and is very much a "guys guy" if that makes any sense.

Is there a niche for him as well? The kids on the tour this summer definitely read "mostly quirky, intense and super driven." It's so hard to figure this stuff out from afar.

Sounds like you should check out Duke. DS had super nice kids in his frat. No extreme drinking. Was Jewish frat.

I don't think my kid will get into Duke. Cornell is much easier from his school. He also likes Vanderbilt but again admission is harder than Cornell.

But, but, but…Cornell is an Ivy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, your son sounds so much like mine, who's still a junior.

May I ask what other schools you're looking at that feel more like where he could find his people? What schools has he visited that he has liked? thanks and sorry for the tangent.

He liked Georgetown, CMU (the business school in both cases), Rice, and U Chicago (but I don't know that he is up for committing to ED Chicago which takes it off the table).

I realize these schools are academically competitive, and he's a fairly driven kid who is willing to do tryouts for clubs and such. But I think having a "nerdy and nice" element is ideal. He/we associate fraternities with mean-ness, drunken stupidity, bad behavior towards women, that kind of thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is torn about whether to ED Cornell. He thinks he's a strong candidate for various reasons (attends a NY school that is a bit of a feeder, has ECs that Cornell seems to like, plus the requisite GPA + test scores). But he's a little nervous about the social scene and the reputation for being so fraternity-driven. He's a super social kid but would rather not join a frat. He's generally a nice, inclusive kid who does a lot of community building type stuff at his school. Thoughts?

He'd tempted to try for Dyson but will probably do Arts & Sciences as an econ major since Dyson has a 4% accept rate.

Cornell is a huge school.
But there are like 1000 clubs and student organizations there.
You'll find your tribe if you look.

[Anonymous]

Are all of the classes at Cornell huge?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are all of the classes at Cornell huge?

Some are and some are not. The intro courses like Micro and Macroeconomics will have several hundred students per class while the required first year writing seminar class will have around 18-20 students from what my DC is telling me.

[Anonymous]

My daughter just graduated from Arts and Sciences. Enjoyed it. Took a year to adjust to people and weather but eventually found her friend group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter just graduated from Arts and Sciences. Enjoyed it. Took a year to adjust to people and weather but eventually found her friend group.

Major?

My kid wants smaller classes and get to know professors. A&S humanities major.

[Anonymous]

My kid is there now. Loves it! He is very social, but not a partier. Plays intramural soccer which is tons of fun. Also on a project team, which is actually social too (team dinners, etc.). The marching band seems very social for those into music (he is not). Frats are there if you want them.