last choice ivy?

whitecadillac · 10-24-2009, 04:39 PM

personally, i think cornell might be my second choice ivy right now, and i don't mean any offense by this thread at all. but is cornell generally not someone's first-choice school? is its school pride/school spirit lower than the other ivies?

chendrix · 10-24-2009, 05:03 PM

our pride and school spirit are non-arguably the highest in the ivy league.

BrandNew70x7 · 10-24-2009, 05:21 PM

personally, i think you're their first choice applicant to reject, and i don't mean any offense by this post at all.

whitecadillac · 10-24-2009, 05:55 PM

very clever, brandnew. sorry that i want to take into consideration the overall spirit of a school. maybe that's not important to you, but it plays into a lot of people's choice of college if there are several colleges one is almost equally interested in. for example, if someone was accepted into usc and nyu (and liked both equally in regards to classes and all), and they wanted a school that was high in school spirit and the "ra-ra" atmosphere, they'd choose usc. if conversely they wanted to stay away from that and were burnt out on school spirit, they'd most likely choose nyu.

xAAAx · 10-24-2009, 06:02 PM

Big Red hockey kills the other Ivies every year

IBclass06 · 10-24-2009, 06:06 PM

Quote:

but is cornell generally not someone's first-choice school?

Considering that nearly 40% of enrolled students come from ED, I would say that for a hefty portion of the student body that is untrue.

It has been my experience that people tend to love whichever school they choose.

whitecadillac · 10-24-2009, 06:16 PM

so there is a considerable amount of school pride at cornell? that's good news cuz school spirit is just something i like in a school environment.

cs12345 · 10-24-2009, 07:22 PM

it's surprising that you don't know considering cornell is apparently your second choice.

whitecadillac · 10-24-2009, 07:57 PM

well, not my second choice school overall, just maybe my second choice ivy (from what i've found out about it so far). however, it might be tied with brown for second choice ivy. but before really saying it's my ___ choice school officially, i want to find out as much about it as i can. see, it was only recently that i began thinking "hey, maybe i COULD get into an ivy", so my research on the ivies has only begun recently. what i've found out so far about cornell definitely makes me want to apply, though.

roneald · 10-24-2009, 09:18 PM

You shouldn't think any school in the Ivy League is "elite" because it is an Ivy.
The statement, "hey, maybe i COULD get into an ivy" doesn't make a lot of sense to me, since there are arguably schools that as hard if not harder to get into than some Ivies and departments (eg. Penn CAS vs any small LAC, Caltech Engineering vs Yale Engineering, the list goes on).
What I'm saying is try and pick schools you geniuinly like, not schools that appeal the msot off of name to you. I understand that a school's name, and one given by the Ivy League, can have some logical merit (eg. more companies recruit at schools because they are Ivies), but try not to have that be your only median of measurement.

To your original question, I agree with Chendrix in saying that we have one of the largest levels of school of pride that I have seen. The reason? As some have already stated, a good portion of our admit class comes from ED. Even more than that however: because 1) Cornell is very isolated and 2) Some feel that Cornell is looked down upon as a "lower" level Ivy, you have to find a good reason for being here. I find that students that do come here almost fall in love with the school by default, because there is little else to do. It's hard not to fall with the enviroment that is set up for students here. Also, because there is no city to retreat to, if one wants to fill free time they do it with school events, which creates an even greater tie to the school.

Basically, don't worry about school spirit coming to Cornell. From what you've said, I think you already don't have a good grasp of what school spirit is. This isn't meant to be a shot at you; I didn't have a grasp of what it was in high school either. What I mean is that school spirit is a lot more than being proud of your school's football team; it's about actually loving where you go and being proud to be there. You won't find any shortage of that here.

Just for the record I typed this while wearing my Cornell sweater and sweatpants (non-intentional). =]

xAAAx · 10-24-2009, 09:21 PM

& just for the record, don't apply to an ivy just for the sake of applying to an ivy. Apply b/c you actually want to go there.

whitecadillac · 10-24-2009, 09:34 PM

1.) i'm not applying to cornell just cuz it's an ivy. i'm only applying to the ivies i genuinely like, which are yale, cornell, and brown. (possibly princeton but i need to do more research on that.) these ivies (from what i've researched so far) seem to offer the most of what i would personally like in a school. but also, the ivy name does carry with it more than just prestige, imo. it carries with it the distinction that the students are truly among the best and the brightest. so yeah, the ivy name is of course a merit, but definitely not the only reason i'm applying to cornell or any of the other ivies.

2.) i don't think school spirit is cheering for your school's football team. i have a lot of school spirit for my high school but i've never once attended one of my high school's football games. :P my definition of school spirit is a sense of camaraderie and connection among its students, the pride and love for the school that you mentioned, the involvement in campus events, and just an aura of enthusiasm and happiness that accompanies going to a school you truly love. of course, there's also practical aspects of school spirit -- alumni connections, etc. it's been frustrating for me at my high school cuz i seem to be one of the only ones with spirit. it's a little harder to get pumped about going to campus events when nobody else is interested in going (and barely anyone shows up), you know?

3.) thanks for the info on why cornell does in fact have a lot of school spirit. it's really good to hear!

morrismm · 10-24-2009, 10:09 PM

I think that your approach to selecting a school sounds very sound. Good luck to you.

As I think you may have deduced, Cornell students are not walking around w/ their heads hanging low thinking, "Oh crap, this is the only Ivy that accepted me."

Cornellians are proud. For many, this is their first choice school. Alumni are extremely loyal. I can attest to this personally.

Doby · 10-24-2009, 10:17 PM

For some, yes, Cornell would be their last choice school within the Ivy league. For myself, there is no other school within the Ivy league that I would rather have attended. Most others probably fall somewhere between the two.

And I can echo morrismm's sentiments. I am a proud Cornellian, it was my first choice school, and I am loyal to Cornell.

stixx · 10-24-2009, 10:39 PM

i love cornell.
it's not my last- choice ivy, but that doesn't mean that i won't be applying to others.