Cornell University

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Cornell University Introduction

Whenever my schedule got way too crazy and it seemed like I wasn’t going to make it, I took the time to put everything in perspective. Sitting at the top of Libe Slope and taking in the breathtaking view of Ithaca and Cayuga Lake, or standing in the middle of the suspension bridge and jumping up and down to make the whole thing shake while watching water cascade over the falls, was the best cure for anything that was getting you down.

When the name Cornell comes up in conversation, people who’ve been there usually exclaim, “It’s so pretty there,” and after a visit, it is easy to agree. Cornell sits on founder Ezra Cornell’s farm, overlooking Cayuga Lake, in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. The campus covers 745 acres with classic ivy-covered buildings and contemporary research labs. Ezra Cornell’s educational philosophy, “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study,” is the guiding force throughout campus where any person is free to found any organization, play any sport, practice any religion, and do just about anything they want without too much trouble.

Cornell students are proud of the fact that the university has been open to all kinds of students from the beginning. By 1870, Cornell was the first major university in the eastern United States to admit women. And Cornell led the way in welcoming students of varying ethnic backgrounds as well. The nation’s first African-American fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, was founded at Cornell in 1906. In addition, Ezra Cornell was determined that Cornell graduates would enter the world both well educated and useful, accounting for the university’s emphasis on a superb liberal arts program and equally outstanding applied programs in areas such as engineering, business, and agriculture.

In fact, Cornell offers seven undergraduate colleges: the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; the College of Architecture, Art and Planning; the College of Arts and Sciences (the traditional liberal arts college); the College of Engineering, the School of Hotel Administration; the College of Human Ecology; and the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Students in all the colleges come from a wide range of backgrounds, and from all fifty states and more than 120 countries. It’s a high energy, eclectic mix that gives Cornell its distinctive flavor.

Libraries

The twenty on-campus libraries provide the best places for studying in whatever kind of atmosphere suits you best. The two most popular libraries are Mann and Uris. Mann is located on the Ag quad and is most frequented by students in Ag and Hum Ec. Uris Library is located on the corner of the Arts quad looking down the hill, affectionately known as Libe Slope. Uris can get pretty social at night, but within the library, the A.D. White Library, with its balconies and alcoves, provides a classic academic aura for studying. It’s nice and quiet studying among the books in the stacks. The best-known spots in Uris are the Fishbowl and the Cocktail Lounge where wine isn’t served, but wines may be studied.

Cornell Library Treasures

• A copy of the Gettysburg Address handwritten by Abraham Lincoln in 1864, one of only five copies in existence.
• A vellum copy of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, signed by Abraham Lincoln and members of the Senate and House who voted for the joint resolution, one of three copies known to exist.
• A complete set of the Shakespeare folios.
• The “Jade Book” of the second Manchu emperor K’ang-hsi (reigned 1662–1722), inscribed in Chinese and Manchu in blue and gold on ten tablets of solid jade.
• A witchcraft collection containing 3,000 books and manuscripts, one of the most comprehensive collections available for the study of European witchcraft.
• Five manuscript volumes of the famous Chinese fifth-century encyclopedia, Yung-lo ta-tien.
• Cornell’s Human Sexuality Collection, established in 1988 to record and preserve the cultural and political aspects of sexuality, one of the few collections of its kind.

Seven undergraduate colleges; 4,000 courses to choose from; more than eighty majors. After four years at Cornell, anyone is prepared to be a success in the real world. With the help of faculty and your fellow students, you’ll find yourself evolving intellectually and personally throughout your years at the university into a person ready to take on any challenge. You may travel far after graduation, but you will always be a member of the Cornell family. The opportunities provided to you on 745 beautiful acres are unique and unlike those available anywhere else. Cornell has been called by more than one Cornellian, “the best place on earth to be.”

Cornell gave me three priceless things. First, I got an amazing education. Second, I had a broad range of experiences that helped me grow into an independent adult. And finally, Cornell gave me an incredible bridge to the future. I will always look back on my days at Cornell with fondness and pride.

Cornell University Academics

Regardless of which undergraduate college you technically enrolled in, you can take classes from every school on campus, and there’s no need to search in order to find the popular ones. The legendary Psych 101, incessantly discussed in tours and information sessions, is held in Cornell’s biggest classroom, Bailey Hall, with a mere 2,000 of your closest friends. Despite its size, Psych 101 is educational and interesting. Offered only in the fall, one class in the semester is a live demonstration of a psychic telling one student everything about his or her life.

When I took Psych 101, Professors Bem and Maas selected Mindy from the class for their demonstration. Four years later, I would still hear people say, “There’s that girl from Psych 101.” In a class of 2,000, who says you don’t get to know your classmates? Interested? It’s offered Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 10:10 A.M.

Other popular classes, though smaller in size, are Human Sexuality offered in Human Ecology, and Introduction to Wines in the Hotel School, which once a week offers an hour of tasting wines from around the world.

I would always see people carrying around these little black cases on Wednesdays. It seemed like they were everywhere. I had no idea what they were used for until one day, a senior opened up her case and I saw the three nicely packed wine glasses. From that moment on, I couldn’t wait to have my own little black box.

Class Size

Cornell is big, and you have to accept this fact to be happy there. Classes vary in size, but in freshman year, you will most likely have a couple of classes with at least 200 people. Depending on what you are studying though, it is possible that you may never have a class bigger than fifty people. Popular intro classes, such as Government 111 and Chemistry 207, can easily have 400 or more students in the class, but, as you move into upper-level classes, the numbers get much smaller. Language classes and first-year writing seminars usually aren’t much bigger than twenty students per section. Most large intro classes will also have a mandatory discussion section held during the week, led by a TA (teaching assistant) or the professor, with many fewer students, rarely over twenty-five per section. These sections provide students with a time to ask questions and get to know the teaching assistants. TAs can be very helpful and are usually very willing to meet with and help the students in their section. Being nice to your TA will come in very handy when you need help on papers or problem sets. Faculty are accessible and friendly too if you make the effort to get to know them. Don’t be shy!

Degrees

There are seemingly, to quote late Cornell professor Carl Sagan, “billions and billions” of programs of study at Cornell. There are more than eighty majors at the university, and you can graduate with a B.A., a B.S., a B. Arch, or a B.F.A., or any combination. Bachelor’s degrees are awarded to any field from animal science, and operations research, to ancient civilizations, textiles and apparel, and mechanical engineering. The largest enrollments (by major) are in biological sciences, applied economics, and engineering.

Believe it—you can major in anything and any combination of things you can find. Friends of mine had majors in classic civilizations, historic preserva- tion, and linguistics and psychology.

Clearly, there are no boundaries to what you can study, even if it includes subjects that have never been put together as a formal major or your areas of interest are in more than one at Cornell college. That’s one of the benefits of going to a school with a great deal of academic flexibility.

Required Courses

As for what’s actually required of all students, the list is pretty short. Entering freshmen must take and pass the swim test, take two semesters of first-year writing seminars and two semesters of physical education. Now, there’s no need to worry about these three requirements in the least. Seminars offered across the curriculum by the award-winning Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines are as varied as majors. Writing seminars are offered on such topics as:

• African-American Women Writers
• The Personal Essay
• From Fairy Tales to the Uncanny
• Contemporary Moral Problems

There are just as many phys ed classes to choose from to fulfill that requirement including the (extremely popular) ballroom dancing, tae kwon do, rock climbing, intro to ice skating, badminton, squash, Swedish massage, yoga, scuba diving, running, skiing, golf, and riflery.

Study Away

Getting tired of being on campus but think transferring is a little too drastic? It’s easy to study somewhere off campus and still graduate on time. You can study abroad in more than fifty countries, such as Spain, Sweden, Australia, and France. Engineers can take part in a co-op program and spend a semester and a summer earning some serious money in real-world work experiences. The Cornell in Washington program gives students in any college the opportunity to live inside the beltway at Dupont Circle in the Cornell Center (a four-story building with three floors of apartments and one of classrooms and a computer lab), take classes with Cornell faculty and visiting professors, and have an internship in the nation’s capital. Urban Semester gives students a chance to spend a semester in New York City working and studying.

One friend of mine spent a semester in Sweden and traveled all around eastern Europe. Four days after she got back for the summer, she headed to D.C. for an internship and stayed at the Cornell Center. I spent a fall semester with the Cornell in Washington program, and interned at PBS Online. Being from Maine, it was my first time living and working in a big city. I took the Metro to work and experienced what rush hour traffic really meant! Other cool D.C. experiences were seeing the lighting of the Christmas tree, watching Bobby McFerrin conduct the National Symphony Orchestra, seeing the AIDS Quilt laid out in its entirety on the Mall, and spending an afternoon at the Supreme Court talking with Cornell alum and Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

You can also spend a summer at Shoals Marine Lab on Appledore Island off the coast of Maine. Undergraduate students can earn a semester’s worth of credit studying topics related to marine biology and ocean ecology, and participate in research projects—sometimes on the station’s research vessel. Adventurous Cornellians also take part in archeological digs around the world and more locally in New York State.

Undergraduate Research

Cornell is one of the top research universities in the world, and hundreds of undergraduates participate in faculty research projects every year. It isn’t hard to find a project. It can be as easy as talking with a faculty member after class about getting involved in his or her research. There are also structured undergraduate research programs on campus, such as the Hughes Program in biology or the research teams (such as Robocup) in the engineering college. Some students even get their names on research papers and present their results at conferences. It’s a wonderful way to meet professors and other student researchers, and it looks great on your résumé!

Cornell Firsts

• Cornell’s chimes, dedicated in 1868, were the first to peal over an American university.
• Cornell awarded the first Bachelor of Veterinary Science in 1871, the first Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in the United States in 1876, and the first DVM degree to a woman in 1910.
• Cornell granted the first Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree in 1871.
• Cornell appointed the first professor of American history in an American university in 1881.
• Cornell endowed the nation’s first chair in American literature.
• Sigma Xi, the national science honor society, was founded at Cornell in 1886.
• Alpha Phi Alpha, the nation’s first black fraternity, was founded at Cornell in 1906.
• Cornell offered the first college-level course in hotel administration in 1922.
• Cornell established the first four-year school of Industrial and Labor Relations in 1945.
• Cornell developed CUinfo, the first campus-wide information system, in 1986.

Cornell University Admissions

Here’s what it boils down to: If Cornell accepts you, you can make it. Every fall, thousands of applications pour into the Admissions Office. Over 28,000 students apply for admission to one of the seven colleges. The Undergraduate Admissions Office collects and keeps track of all the applications and, once they are complete, funnels the applications to admissions offices in each college for decisions. The Common Application and short Cornell Supplement are used in all the colleges (interviews and portfolios are required for some). An applicant’s first encounter with the uniqueness of Cornell’s colleges is at this stage when applicants must decide which of the colleges to apply to. For example, one can major in biology in both the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the Ag school, bio focuses on the natural world. In Arts and Sciences, biology can be studied with anything from classic civilizations to anthropology to linguistics. (Don’t worry—internal transfer between schools is possible if you decide you don’t want to study biology and want to try meteorology or theater arts instead.)

Requirements for admission vary by school and program, but basically excelling in any college preparatory course load in high school is a step in the right direction. The SAT or ACT with writing is required. SAT Subject tests are specified by college and division. AP credits are accepted but will count differently depending on your major and score, so don’t think you’re home free just because you got a 5. Applicants who go to small high schools that don’t offer AP classes shouldn’t be concerned about being at a disadvantage. Some freshmen arrive with fifteen to twenty AP credits under their belt, and yes, they will probably be able to start out in higher level classes or maybe finish a semester early, but the majority of students have only a few, if any, AP credits and still graduate in good standing after four years.

The transition to Cornell was not easy. I knew that my classes were going to be much more difficult than in high school. For the first semester, I struggled a little and did my best. A number of my friends also found the course work challenging, but we stuck together and gave each other confidence. The foundation of support has led to great friendships, and these friendships are what make the Cornell experience so great.

Important Factors

One of the best things about Cornell admissions is that they look beyond the numbers. Special talents and leadership records are just as important as your SAT scores. Three percent of incoming students with an exemplary leadership record in high school are selected as Meinig Family Cornell National Scholars. Students who held jobs during their high school academic year may be selected as Cornell Tradition Fellows, an undergraduate loan replacement fellowship. In order to continue to be a Fellow, students must work, keep a certain GPA, and be involved in public service activities. Upperclassmen can apply to be Cornell Tradition Fellows in the spring of each year. The Hunter R. Rowlings III Cornell Presidential Research Scholars program is designed to recognize, reward, and encourage students who have demonstrated academic excellence and true intellectual curiosity. These scholars are assigned a faculty mentor in freshman year and are given special opportunities (some paid) to participate in research as undergraduates.

Interviews

Regardless of whether the college you’re applying to at Cornell requires an interview or not, the Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network offers the opportunity for applicants to meet with alumni in their local area for a casual exchange of information. The most important thing to remember is that if you get accepted to Cornell, the people who read the application believe you can make it and be a success. There’s no need to change from the person you were in high school. Your record there led admissions officers to believe you would be a success at Cornell, too.

Cornell University Financial Aid

Cornell’s need-based admissions policy makes it affordable to attend. Paying for college is often a burden for a family, and Cornell’s philosophy is that the burden shouldn’t be one that kills you. About sixty-five percent of Cornell undergrads receive some form of financial aid. Students always gripe about financial aid, but on the whole, Cornell assists those families who really need help paying for college. There are also plenty of on campus and off campus jobs to be had as well as temporary jobs for crunch times.

The simplest way to think about it is this: If Cornell accepts you, they will find a way for you to meet your financial obligations. Financial aid packages are usually made up of some combination of grants, loan, and work study. Adjustments can also be made to your financial aid package during the school year if your family’s financial situation changes.

Cornell’s financial aid system is 100% need based. Cornell (and all other schools in the Ivy League) doesn’t give merit or athletic scholarships. Cornell is also 100% need-blind when it comes to admission. Your need for financial aid does not influence your admission decision at all at Cornell.

The most important thing to remember is that paying for college isn’t meant to be easy. It can put a strain on your resources. But you will receive a top-quality education, and as alums will tell you, the name alone will take you far in life.

My financial aid package was excellent. I was a Cornell National Scholar and came out owing only $5,000. But my parents made sacrifices and so did I. My mother went to work while I was in school to help pay for my college. (She hadn’t worked before.) Yes, I was in debt. My take on it is this: Education’s supposed to be hard; not impossible, but not a free ride.

Need-based aid also gives Cornell the kind of diverse community it needs to be a great institution. The mix of income levels and socioeconomic backgrounds at the university makes it a truly interesting and stimulating place.

Work-Study

When parents think about paying for college, work-study is always on the top of their lists. Work-study is a great thing. Your employer only has to pay half of your wage; the other half is paid by the government. Therefore, employers LOVE work-study students, and there are usually enough jobs to go around. Granted, it may not be your dream job, but in most jobs, there is plenty of room for advancement, and your salary usually advances, too. If the job is in research or something related to your major, it gives you additional experience that makes you even more marketable once you leave. There’s a student employment office to help you out, and job postings on CUinfo, Cornell’s computer information system.

When I first started hunting for a job, it was the worst. Every place I inquired at was full and none of the available jobs fit in with my class schedule. It seemed hopeless. I called my mother in tears and told her I didn’t want to be on work-study anymore. Then I found a job at the Undergraduate Admissions Office as an administrative assistant. The job had great (and flexible hours), and an understanding staff. I stayed there for the rest of my four years, became a student personnel assistant—which meant I hired and coordinated all the students for the building—and still had a job after taking a semester off to go to Washington. The job gave me excellent experience that I put to good use after I left Cornell.

During the senior class campaign, I found that many of my friends on financial aid were much more willing to donate to the university and to the scholarship our class was establishing than those students who weren’t. Financial aid recipients are thankful for the assistance they received to come to Cornell and were willing to give back to Cornell at the drop of a hat.

Cornell University Students

Housing

All freshmen have a similar first-year housing experience, living together in residence halls located on North Campus. Some returning students elect to live in residence halls on West Campus, but about half of Cornell students live off campus in sorority or fraternity houses, in Collegetown, and in the surrounding areas. There are a variety of off-campus options to choose from, from high-tech (and expensive) apartment buildings to three-story Victorian houses with six apartments that include oddities like oval windows, sinks in hallways, and sit-down showers.

I guess I was a little naive about housing because I had never really looked into it—I just assumed everyone lived in dorms for all four years. Once one person mentioned apartment hunting, the race began. Those of us not living in fraternities and sororities started finding roommates and looking for apartments. As I look back, I’m now thankful for the chance to live off campus. My folks helped out with the bills, since they weren’t paying for Cornell housing, but I got a sense of what it was going to be like after graduation. Off-campus living was one of the most practical experiences I had at Cornell, which successfully prepared me for the real world of bills, rent, and late fees.

Parties

The university offers a lot of music, theater, dance, and films, but if you’re looking for other social activities, trust me, you’ll find plenty. As each weekend approaches, one is faced with an immense variety of choices. Since one-third of the campus is Greek (fraternities and sororities), there are always a collection of fraternity open parties, crush parties, after hours, and formals to attend. Fraternities are housed both off and on campus in just about every direction, so there is bound to be one nearby. Many other options exist outside of the Greek realm and cater to many different interests. Cornell supports more than 600 student organizations and clubs—and if you can’t find one you want to join, you can create your own! In addition, Cornell’s very extensive intramural sports programs will help you let off steam in competitions involving everything from giant slalom skiing to inner tube water polo.

Campus Activities

Just glance at the Daily Sunon Friday and you’ll find a plethora of activities going on all over campus. On any given weekend, you can attend a concert, a varsity sporting event, intramural games, an ethnic festival, or listen to a speaker. Because of its size, there are always lots of people at whatever event you attend, and you’ll definitely meet someone with interests similar to yours:

• Diwali, a celebration of the Indian New Year—“the festival of lights”—takes place every fall. It’s put on by the Society for India and the Cornell Indian Association and features traditional Indian food and a performance of skits, traditional and modern dance, and instrumental music.
• In the spring, the Festival of Black Gospel brings famous gospel singers to campus and unites regional gospel choirs, like Cornell’s own Pamoja Ni, in song and spirit.
• One weekend in every year, Lynah Rink is packed solid to watch the hockey team play their biggest rival, Harvard. Smuggled in under jackets and in shirts, fish of every size and color as well as some frozen fish sticks and lobsters become airborne when Harvard players skate onto the ice.
• Some years, Bailey Hall is packed with over 1,800 a cappellafans for Fall Tonic, the all-male Hangovers annual concert. Visiting a cappellagroups who perform during Fall Tonic are undoubtedly amazed at the number of people at the concert and often mention that there are more people in the audience than students at their own school. We are dedicated fans and strongly support the groups or teams we enjoy!

Volunteering

Volunteerism runs like a raging river through Cornell as thousands of Cornellians find extra time in their crazy schedules to help others. The Public Service Center, mobilizes over 3,000 student volunteers each year in both one-time and ongoing projects. That’s over 170,000 hours each year of service to the community. During Into the Streets, a national day of service, there are close to 500 volunteers who work with thirty local agencies. On that one Saturday alone, Cornellians do over 2,500 hours of service in the greater Ithaca area. Cornell’s record of public service is one of the things that Cornell’s president admires most about the university.

Movies

In the evening and weekends, Cornell Cinema offers at least four different films, playing either in the theater at the Straight (Willard Straight Hall, the student union) or in Uris Auditorium. Both are on central campus and are a short walk from any dorm or apartment. The movies can be classics that you never thought you would see on the big screen, movies that have just left theaters across the country, and foreign films. Every so often, the student film classes show their own interesting (and often experimental) work.

Cornell University Athletics

Sports at Cornell may not draw the television coverage of the Big Ten, but there are many teams doing an excellent job representing Cornell, and you have to admire student athletes for their hard work and hectic schedules. Hockey tickets are the only tickets that aren’t free to students, and many games sell out. Cornell has varsity teams in basketball, cross-country, indoor and outdoor track, soccer, squash, tennis, polo, lacrosse, field hockey, rowing, gymnastics, and hockey. Known as the Big Red, Cornell teams are of championship quality.

Cornell University Alumni

Friends who have had long hair since freshman year are getting haircuts and buying suits. Résumés are spilling off printers everywhere, and reality is starting to set in. What time is it? It’s the fall of senior year, and recruiters are swarming over the campus. There are job fairs and information sessions every week, and everyone is talking about how to survive an interview. Cornell brings in recruiters from more than 700 nationally prominent companies and 160 grad and professional schools each year.

Of those who aren’t interviewing for jobs, many of them are interviewing for graduate school. People are leaving left and right to go to med school, grad school, and vet school interviews—senior year of high school all over again, except much more intense. There’s a breather after all the applications and interviews are over, but the decision letters start coming in the spring. There will be much rejoicing, but there may be disappointment, too.

In addition to the main Career Services Office, each of the undergraduate colleges also has a career services center where students can go for career planning and information, job search strategies, and advising. Cornell alumni around the world network with current students to help them find jobs and offer externships to sophomores, juniors, and seniors who want to experience the real world of work. Placement rates into medical, veterinary, and law schools are considerably higher at Cornell than the national average for other colleges and universities. Cornellians are definitely successful, and their years of hard work pay off well when they go job hunting.

Public Service Continues After Graduation

Cornell’s record of public service holds true after graduation as well as during the undergraduate years. Cornell traditionally ranks in the top ten schools nationally in the number of alumni who are accepted into Peace Corps training. Many more work with AmeriCorps and VISTA in their postgraduate years. There are thousands of opportunities out there, and Cornellians are experiencing them every day.

Prominent Grads

• Adolph Coors, ’07, Beer Baron
• E.B. White, ’21, Author
• Allen Funt, ’34, TVPersonality
• Harry Heimlich, ’41, Developed the Heimlich Maneuver
• Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., ’44, Author
• James McLarmore, ’47, Burger King Founder
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ’54, Supreme Court Justice
• Toni Morrison, ’55, Author, Nobel Prize Winner
• Janet Reno, ’60, Former U.S. Attorney General
• Lee Teng-Hui, ’68, Former President of Taiwan
• Christopher Reeve, ’74, actor
• Pablo Morales, ’94, Olympic Medalist