<p>Cornell19, I did visit Cornell, and I picked it over other ivies because of its stronger physical sciences programs. </p>
<p>@Sorool what did you decide? I think you should keep your app in. When I was personally weighing the pros and cons of applying early, I figured if I do get accepted, great! I love Cornell like no other and I would be more than estatic to attend. However, if I get denied I know it isn’t the end of the world, there are other colleges I also would be glad to attend (and some are more than one hundred thousand dollars cheaper so that can’t hurt either). So unless there is another school you have absolutely fallen in love with and would way rather go to, I say keep your application in. Also knowing early December is a pretty sweet deal!</p>
<p>re my prior post #14, I neglected to mention some of the benefits associated with Cornell’s diversity; why many ultimately find this beneficial.</p>
<p>The most obvious is the social broadening due to interaction with so many kids of people.
But for me the key advantage is academic.
The presence of the five colleges leads to familiarity with a number of areas that you would rarely be exposed to at an institution that is solely an Arts & sciences college. The various colleges may offer courses that relate to your ultimate field of interest. Or just different courses that you wind up wanting to take anyway. Many students wind up taking courses at multiple colleges within the university.</p>
<p>For example, a science major within the College of Arts & Sciences may wind up being interested in some related courses in the College of engineering, or the ag school, or human develoment in Hum Ec. Or some completely “just for fun/interest” courses in one of the other colleges as an elective or two.</p>
<p>You might be surprised by what, down the road, you may ultimately become interested in, once the university’s whole course catalog is available to you. And that catalog is immense!</p>
<p>@monydad – love your post above and all of your consistently helpful advice, but just wanted to correct you to say that there are seven U/G colleges at Cornell: Arts & Science; Ag & Life Sciences; Arch, Art & Planning; Engineering; Hotel Administration; Human Ecology, and Industrial & Labor Relations. I managed to take classes in five before I ran out of time.</p>
<p>U/Gs can sometimes take courses in the grad schools also.</p>
<p>"…just wanted to correct you to say that there are seven U/G colleges at Cornell…"</p>
<p>Senility will come to many of you too, eventually.</p>
<p>I sense glimpse of it already….</p>
<p>Thanks for all your advice. I’ve come to decide to keep my application in, mainly because of Cornell’s seemingly accommodative student life. </p>
<p>OP - I’m a freshman at Cornell and “anti-intellectual” is the exact term I’ve been using to describe why I’m transferring to a state school next semester. I know this is probably too late, but I was also in a similar situation where I only went there because of the ranking and didn’t really bother to look into the philosophy of the school (I also got accepted to UChi and regret not going every single day). Just wanted to put my two cents in.</p>
<p>coralqueen, you are leaving Cornell for a state school? I hope your decision is based on not wanting to spend so much to go to a school you don’t view as intellectual. You are not apt to find a more intellectual climate at most state schools.</p>
<p>It’s very possible to perceive the place that way, freshman year, depending on who you wind up living with, randomly, in the freshman dorms. Freshman year can be the worst of it, for many. At any diverse university, not just this one. Because you can’t control who you are thrust in living with. Life there looks very different as an upperclassman, living off-campus with a selected group of like-minded individuals. Away from the frats, assuming you are not into that. And into your major. Somebody who came in considering a science major would not be complaining about the intellectuality of their fellow major cohort, come junior year.</p>
<p>The ironic thing is, some people experience the worst of the place, freshman year, and leave then. Not appreciating the point that it might be much different, and much better, later on. </p>
<p>I’ve seen some cases where they leave for an LAC that offers only a poor selection of courses in their major in the upperclass years,. In which case they wind up experiencing the worst of both worlds.</p>
<p>As for “philosophy of the school”- the “philosophy” of majors in the physics department and the “philosophy” of art students in AARP, etc, were not the same, in my experience. The “school” is not one “school”. There is not one “philosophy” that pertains to all its students. Whatever your “philosophy” may be, there are probably many individuals there who share it. IMO best to make some effort to find them, rather than prematurely bailing out.</p>
<p>But if you need everybody there to be the same as you, Cornell is not the best choice. I’m guessing most of the others on OPs list aren’t either.</p>
<p>Eh, I say let them be. No amount of convincing will change someone’s perspective on an issue if they feel strongly enough about it. In fact, I’m willing to bet that the students who feel really shaky about attending Cornell (but are eventually convinced to go) are often the ones who end up the most unhappy. The location, climate, and other factors definitely make it an institution that’s not for everyone, and prospective students should address this when they’re deciding whether or not to matriculate. </p>
<p>Honestly, if you don’t like Cornell, then you don’t have to go. From what you’ve said here, I hope you’ll decide to push your application to RD (but you probably won’t). And for what it’s worth, the atmosphere at UChicago is perhaps more intellectual, but it also has * the * most insecure and self-loathing student population out of all those I’ve encountered…Hey, wasn’t that broad, sweeping generalization a little offensive and frankly misguided? Yeah. You’re going to find people from all backgrounds with different personalities and life stories. That’s not Cornell, that’s college, that’s * life*. </p>
<p>Best of luck to you both, and hopefully you’ll be able to find grass the perfect shade of green on the other side. </p>
<p>Anti-intellectual is hardly a descriptor I’d use for Cornell. I’m a freshman right now, and literally just a couple nights before Thanksgiving break started, I was up in the library doing work, then got spontaneously engaged in a 6 hour philosophical discussion on biotechnology, politics, and ethics with two other kids who were in the same study room as me. You’ll find tons of opportunities for that here. Honestly, the diversity of the people here (look at all the majors we have, for example – even within biology, 9 autonomous departments!) really fosters that. </p>