<p>I recently got into CALS and I’m trying to make a decision about which college I want to go. Currently, I’m basically deciding between Rice, Carnegie Mellon, and Cornell. I hear so many good things about Cornell, but to help me decide more easily, I’d like to know some of the negative aspects about Cornell. Basically, what are some of the negative characteristics of Cornell? (other than obvious ones such as cold winters / isolation)</p>
<p>Oh, and one more thing. At CALS, I’ll be doing biological engineering. How stressful / demanding do you think the workload will be? </p>
<p>The biggest negative aspect about Cornell is that nobody will be there to hold your hand for you. Nobody will tell you what elective courses to take. Or what student clubs to join. Or how to spend your weekends. You will be on your own.</p>
<p>For most students this is a benefit, because they will quickly devour the Courses of Study and visit the Student Activities Fair and start figuring out what is best for them. For some students, without the initiative, they’ll find themselves unengaged and a bit lost.</p>
<p>Either way, it’s how the real world works. So best to loon sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>the only thing i really don’t like is that cornell charges you for everything. bus pass after the first semester, printing, parking, etc. it’s probably like this at other privates though.</p>
<p>“Isolation” was not an obvious one to me. I loved Ithaca, and Cornell. I found plenty to do there. Took a few roadtrips as well.</p>
<p>It was a lot of work, and I did not always do well. (I liked it better when I did). And sometimes my social situation was better than at other times. When it was better, I liked it better. But that was a long time ago and I am not you anyway.</p>
<p>However demanding it may be, do not imagine that you are going to be floating through Rice or Carnegie Mellon in the alternative. There is no free lunch, IMO, to a degree that means something, in these types of areas.</p>
<p>I could never understand this complaint. If Cornell didn’t charge you for these things, it would just be higher tuition. I see a lot of these costs as good because it curbs unwanted outcomes: Paper costs money and hurts trees. Parking causes a lot of congestion on campus. </p>
<p>There are plenty of things that Cornell doesn’t charge you for that plenty of other institutions do. Like enrolling in more than 18 credits a semester. The pool is free to use. Or requesting your transcript. TOr accessing peer-reviewed journals as an alum. Even today I can have 10 transcripts mailed to my house for free. Doesn’t that seem like an awesome service?</p>
<p>I feel like a lot of students don’t get it now…but they will soon enough! It’s certainly been a blessing for me since I have multiple transcripts out there. We also have free access to our enrollment record with the National Student Clearinghouse, unlike many other schools…certainly came in handy when I needed to verify my enrollment to keep my health insurance through the parents.</p>
<p>Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour isn’t stopping here! :(</p>
<p>I sometimes wish I was nearer to a bigger city. That would help our chances with Gaga but it would also offer more cool places to see and do. Ithaca gets slightly repetitive (even though I love it for what it is.)</p>
<p>Also, in response to other previous posts: are other schools actually telling students what to take for electives? Or directing their extracurriculars? I got a hint of that when I visited a smaller college with a sibling earlier in the year. From my Cornell perspective I felt like if I were at that school I’d be telling people to back off all the time.</p>
<p>Well one is an alumnus hopefully a lot longer than a student or a or transcript-seeker, and as an alum I am very happy. People who don’t know me presume that I am smart (how misguided can they be!) In every city I’ve live in away from NY there has been an active Cornell club that has been a source of activities and lectures; even a couple dates, when I was a young guy. And here, back in NYC vicinity the amount they have going on is awesome. I’m pretty sure I got my investment banking job because of my undergrad school, since most people from my MBA program could not get in the door in that department at that firm.</p>
<p>Oh wait- these are supposed to be negative aspects. sorry.</p>
<p>I wish more of my college friends had stuck around closer so I could have seen them more over the years. People, including me, scattered to the four corners. Now a number of them have come to NY, one way or the other, but too much time has elapsed and we are no longer close. That’s negative, ok?</p>
<p>cayuga - maybe it’s just because i came from a school where most of those things were free that i find it difficult to adjust to always having to pay for things <em>shrug</em>. you do have a point about it just being in tuition though, so i guess they might as well just charge us for what we use.</p>
<p>Have you been able to visit? I think that makes a huge difference. Many students seem to need to see it to make a choice. I have a child at Cornell, a pre-med. The advising seems very good and they provide what seems to me to be plenty of access to local hospitals, Weill Cornell in NYC, and research opportunities for an appropriate “pre med” experience (I’m an MD and faculty in a med school). My daughter loves it. My mother in law taught at Rice for years. Both are great schools, but there are obvious differences in the cultures and climates of the two locations, and it is not necessarily the snow. Some people don’t like the sub-tropical climate in Houston.</p>
<p>Do you really trust those guides, campussci? Do you really trust them more than what NorCalGuy or myself have to say?</p>
<p>Whoever wrote those guides don’t really know what they are talking about. They barely bother to mention Collegetown’s legendary house parties. Or the parties at Risley, Telluride, etc. They don’t even mention Slope Day.</p>
<p>How Brown can get a B+ and Cornell get a C is beyond me. Consider the following passages:</p>