Cornell - what makes it great?

[Anonymous]

DD just graduated from Cornell. Ithaca was perfect for her. She loved the beauty and did not find the cold that cold. Last few years have been low on snow. She started during covid so social was atypical. She was part of several diverse organizations (not greek) and had a good community. It is definitely a big place and you need to find your own way but that is a lesson too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD just graduated from Cornell. Ithaca was perfect for her. She loved the beauty and did not find the cold that cold. Last few years have been low on snow. She started during covid so social was atypical. She was part of several diverse organizations (not greek) and had a good community. It is definitely a big place and you need to find your own way but that is a lesson too.

Thank you!! What did she study?
Job placement/career services?

[Anonymous]

Cornell has one of the top Architecture schools in the country. The graduates are leaders in the field. Really, there is no comparison for the undergraduate program. The Cornell name in that field means a lot.

My son is there and has been able to get to know students from other majors, including many in CALS. Great experience for him.

He found such a sense of community and several different groups of friends around different interests. Very social, but not Greek. He prefers the larger school to a smaller, sleepy SLAC. But that is a personal preference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD just graduated from Cornell. Ithaca was perfect for her. She loved the beauty and did not find the cold that cold. Last few years have been low on snow. She started during covid so social was atypical. She was part of several diverse organizations (not greek) and had a good community. It is definitely a big place and you need to find your own way but that is a lesson too.

Thank you!! What did she study?
Job placement/career services?

She was a computer science major. She got an internship her sophomore summer which ended in a job offer at graduation. I cannot recall how she got that one but happily did not need to do a job search at graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have always heard negative stereotypes about Cornell but don't have firsthand knowledge. My dc is now looking at Cornell (CALS - wants to study fungal biology, plant science, environment & sustainability, etc). What makes someone choose Cornell over another top 25/top 50 school? She prefers the vibes at SLACs but is intrigued by all the course offerings and opportunities at Cornell. She does not mind the cold (we used to live in Vermont).

For my kid and some others from our school who visited: it seemed friendly, not intimidating, not pretentious, not snooty place with great academics for many subjects. my kid loved that professors and students stopped on their way to give directions, ask about his interests and suggested courses. another kid we know attended a class and loved the atmosphere.

if you are looking for preppy, cornell is not it (though there are preppy ones). if you are susceptible to snide remarks from other "ivy" peers, don't apply. but if you like a beautiful, diverse community with excellent academics, then do consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always heard negative stereotypes about Cornell but don't have firsthand knowledge. My dc is now looking at Cornell (CALS - wants to study fungal biology, plant science, environment & sustainability, etc). What makes someone choose Cornell over another top 25/top 50 school? She prefers the vibes at SLACs but is intrigued by all the course offerings and opportunities at Cornell. She does not mind the cold (we used to live in Vermont).

For my kid and some others from our school who visited: it seemed friendly, not intimidating, not pretentious, not snooty place with great academics for many subjects. my kid loved that professors and students stopped on their way to give directions, ask about his interests and suggested courses. another kid we know attended a class and loved the atmosphere.

if you are looking for preppy, cornell is not it (though there are preppy ones). if you are susceptible to snide remarks from other "ivy" peers, don't apply. but if you like a beautiful, diverse community with excellent academics, then do consider.

This is all so accurate and such a good description.
and its bc enough that you can find your people....a lot of different types of ppl coexist at Cornell.
Also, there are so many niche majors and interests here...more so than a lot of other schools. Cornell does look for fit though - so if all of the supplements aren't extremely well thought out, forget about it (kids who regularly get into Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Duke and Harvard are routinely rejected from Cornell from our HS bc their apps were prob not very authentic and they just weren't a good fit)....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Adults in their 30s or later who reference their “Ivy League” degree generate a lot more behind their back eye rolls than they think they do.

We have a friend who, in her late 40s, makes sure that everyone she meets knows within the hour that she went to Princeton. It is so embarrassing.

I don’t have the heart to tell her. She is an otherwise truly lovely and sociable woman. But so many from our circle avoid her because she can’t fathom that she is signaling a slavish devotion to brand names. She comes off like a logo whore in a sea of Loro Piana.

sheesh i hope it's not me

[Anonymous]

Striver college full of kids who wish they got into a real Ivy. Slightly better than Michigan and Georgetown, which are full of kids who didn’t get into any Ivies.

[Anonymous]

We just visited. My son had Cornell on his list and now he removed it after the visit. Said it felt like 'summer camp' and unserious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just visited. My son had Cornell on his list and now he removed it after the visit. Said it felt like 'summer camp' and unserious.

That is mighty odd. I have never heard of Cornell being referred to as “summer camp” and “unserious”. It is not for everyone that’s for sure but the above reasons just don’t make any sense

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just visited. My son had Cornell on his list and now he removed it after the visit. Said it felt like 'summer camp' and unserious.

That is mighty odd. I have never heard of Cornell being referred to as “summer camp” and “unserious”. It is not for everyone that’s for sure but the above reasons just don’t make any sense

+1. How can one of the largest global research universities (ranked 21 in the World by US News) be considered unserious?

If you literally just visited in the last week then yes there are academic camps and courses at Cornell during the summer for high school students that may have felt like summer camp. But that has nothing to do with the undergrad experience which is notoriously serious, particularly in STEM/Engineering

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t you spend some time exploring the Cornell website and see what you think of it?
Or take your kid there on a college tour.
It is a big school with a huge array of offerings. It is strong academically. You cannot compare it to a Slac as it is very different

Huge beautiful campus. Will not feel like you're in grade 13 prep school seeing the same small school students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Striver college full of kids who wish they got into a real Ivy. Slightly better than Michigan and Georgetown, which are full of kids who didn’t get into any Ivies.

Cornell over Michigan/UCLA/Georgetown any day of the week….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just visited. My son had Cornell on his list and now he removed it after the visit. Said it felt like 'summer camp' and unserious.

If you just visited then you visited after finals were over. Which, yes, kids are probably relaxing as much as they can after grinding for finals for the past 2 weeks.

[Anonymous]

May be great for some kids, not for others