Above is fantastic info with one small correction, Cornell now mandates living in dorms for first 2 years starting with Class of ‘25. (current freshmen). They can do it now as they opened 2 new dorms this year and a few (1? 2?) more are coming online next and following years.

Previously you could move off campus after first year. I view this change as a positive.

Anonymous wrote:Thank you so much for the detailed info! If kids get in CS of Arts & Science school, will they still have classes at the engineering quad?

I believe that almost all of the core CS courses will be on the engineering quad. A&S CS may have to take calculus via the math dept (vs. engr dept) which is on the arts quad. The non-CS courses/electives would most likely be on the arts quad.

I'm not really sure about the A&S degree requirements for CS. More info online:
https://www.cs.cornell.edu/undergrad/csmajor
https://www.cs.cornell.edu/undergrad/rulesandproceduresarts/artschecklist

Either way - most classes will be on/near the engineering quad or arts quad. If a student wants to take some crazy elective you may end up on another part of campus (Ag Quad) but the vast majority of time will be spent engineering quad & arts quad.

Thank you so much for the detailed info! If kids get in CS of Arts & Science school, will they still have classes at the engineering quad?

Disclaimer that some of this might be dated as it’s been a few years since I lived in Ithaca.

Ithaca is in the Finger Lakes region of NY state. It’s a rural area with farms, lakes, waterfalls, state parks, and wineries. It’s a popular tourist destination with lots of natural beauty and outdoor activities - boating, hiking, skiing. Great for outdoor enthusiasts.

Binghamton (45k people) & Syracuse (142k) are the closest small cities - each about an hour away. If you can’t find flights into Ithaca (small airport), Syracuse would be the next best option.

Ithaca is a great little town (20k). It more than doubles in size when students for Cornell (25k) and Ithaca College (6k) are in town. Very hippie. Lots of great restaurants, including Moosewood (famous vegetarian cookbooks). There is a downtown area, but it’s pretty far/steep walk so you’d want to bus/drive down there. There are grocery stores, theaters, music venues, and shopping down there too. There is a small mall nearby.

Cornell is up on a hilltop overlooking Cayuga Lake and the town. The campus is very large but broken into quads/areas. You will walk a lot, but most undergrad classes are concentrated in a few areas. There is also bus service or you can bike. Maybe e-scooters are a thing now?

Right on campus, there are two gorges and a lake. Great views of the lake/area. Freshman all live on North Campus (red circle on map below). Computer Science is down on the engineering quad (orange). Most of the other undergrad courses will be in Arts Quad or nearby (blue). The walk from the student union on North Campus (RPU) down to the Engineering Quad is ~1 mile / 20 min walk (black line). After freshman year, you could be living on-campus, off-campus, or fraternies/sororities in a few different areas (purple).

This orientation video seems like a good overview.
https://youtu.be/npfmldKU9rg

More videos that give other perspectives/info:
https://youtu.be/FoDyXbAcGCs
https://youtu.be/2K0NA1C1VK8
https://youtu.be/GuM8vTq0jd4

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else think Andy Bernard every time they see those thread topic? A rit dit do!

Yes yes yes!

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd... (my favorite Andy Bernard)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the love of God, it's Ivies, folks. Not Ivy's. Plural not possessive.

I'm also amazed by the sheer number of people who spell it's instead of its.

And it’s coming from posters who are disparaging a school they didn’t attend and likely attended “lower ranked” schools themselves!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which college/major, OP? We can share the areas where your DC will likely spend the most time.

comp science

Engineering or Arts & Science?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which college/major, OP? We can share the areas where your DC will likely spend the most time.

comp science

My kid is a sophomore comp sci major in the engineering school (comp sci is in arts and sciences too). The campus is large but as others have said, some of the largeness comes from the Ag school and the Arboretum (gorgeous). One does get their exercise in going up the slope (very large steep hill between West Campus (where sophomores live) and Central campus (where classes are). Ithaca offers plenty of shopping and places to eat as well as lovely area to hike and enjoy nature. Ask any specific questions. You child might want to find the class of 2026 Discord group.

As for visiting, we did not visit certain distant schools until we knew they were an option...kept costs lower.

Anonymous wrote:Which college/major, OP? We can share the areas where your DC will likely spend the most time.

comp science

Anonymous wrote:Cornell is extremely overrated. It would not be top 25 without the ivy tag.

https://news.cornell.edu/content/nobel-laureates-affiliated-cornell-university

Which college/major, OP? We can share the areas where your DC will likely spend the most time.

There seems to be a lot of people that didn’t go to Cornell with a lot of input. So I’d take that into consideration reading these replies OP.

My senior will do a campus visit if the return on his app goes well. I would go and look for yourself and decide if it is a good fit.

Anonymous wrote:Cornell is a lower level Ivy, certainly cannot be compared to other Ivy's. My DC got into Cornell engg as well as Georgia Tech 2 years ago, and decided to take Georgia tech to Cornell. He is very happy with his decision.
If Ivy brand is what you are looking for, Cornell may be your answer. If not, there are far better engg. schools

Some might say that Georgia Tech is lower ACC.

Georgia Tech engineering is great though. I wouldn’t hesitate to send my kid there or Cornell, depending on engineering discipline, career/grad school aspirations, and overall fit. Both are top engineering programs with great opportunities.

- Cornell engineer

Anonymous wrote:Cornell should realize it will never out preftige, out woke the rest of the ivies and completely lean the other way

Be the first Ivy to go no legacy and race blind.

Cornell has never been about “prestige”.

Anonymous wrote:For the love of God, it's Ivies, folks. Not Ivy's. Plural not possessive.

I'm also amazed by the sheer number of people who spell it's instead of its.