Questions for Justin (or others)

hereticalsaint
Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:14:13 +0000

Hi nyjetsfan, a good friend of mine goes to Cornell, so I might be able to compare our experiences.

Both of us are involved in greek life, though neither of us really saw ourselves going in that direction. Both schools have a noticeable greek presence. (Lafayette’s is a little more low-key, and because Cornell’s bigger it might be easier to avoid. They have a lot more people, and also a lot more frats.) Some parts of it are stereotypical at Lafayette, depending on where you go. My house, for example, has a wide range of personalities–some are pretty academic, others are a little more "frat"ish. Some of the houses on our campus are really diverse, and most (if not all) have higher GPAs than the campus average. I’m told that Cornell’s frat life is similar to Lafayette’s, though I’ve also heard that they party harder. As far as whether Greek life is worth joining, you should check it out if you think it’s for you, but plenty of people are also perfectly happy never even thinking about it.

Something I find interesting about everyone wondering how preppy Lafayette is, is that each year there seem to be more people who come to Lafayette with that worry, and so each year the crowds seem less preppier. There’s a lot of outlets for political or artistic expression, and it gets more diverse (both ethnically and economically) every year. Cornell’s probably the preppiest Ivy from what I’ve heard, but it’s also large and elite enough where you can find your own niche. It’s also less diverse than the other Ivies, but it seems to be trying to change that with each incoming class.

Yeah, Easton is boring. Ithaca can also be pretty boring, Easton’s much worse. Both have more to do on campus.

As far as academics goes, the difference really is in size. Cornell has a lot more “famous” professors and alumni (my friend there once got a visit from Bill Nye in his chemistry lab). Lafayette doesn’t really have that, but professors here are a lot more accessible than at Cornell, which is huge, and sometimes it’s hard for professors to remember their students. Classes are also smaller here, too. Academically, I think the difference in education is between depth and exposure; both small and big schools have their ups and downs. Our biz/econ department is one of our strongest here; Standard and Poor recently ranked us at third for undergrads who become top officials in million-dollar businesses, and friends of mine with that major are arranging internships at the heritage foundation and goldman sachs. Career services was my deciding factor for applying to Lafayette (I’m prelaw); they do a lot of advising with grad schools, and have connections in pretty high places (I was accepted to an internship with Joe Biden; his chief of staff is a Lafayette alum).
I hope this helps; good luck deciding!

-Kyle