Being recruited must’ve been such a fun position to be in. That’s definitely not the case here! But, D has worked hard at her various activities, so like I said, it’s a reach but worth a shot. Without a doubt, if she were accepted we would figure out a way to make it work-
I did see a video that had some shots of the dorms, they certainly weren’t going to get on the “top college dorms list” but are they horrible or just very dated?
It sounds as if lots of kids opt to stick around their schools, so I’m sure she’d have a friend or two to hang out with. I just hate to think of her, or any college student, alone over the holidays.
They’re not horrible just in need of some updating and adding more housing. Last year’s housing was clean and nothing was in disrepair. He quite enjoyed it. This year he’s still in campus housing and it’s fine. It’s an older building but again there’s nothing in disrepair and the size of his double room is a bit larger than last year’s room. It’s a typical college dorm room IMO.
Cornell has so many clubs to get in involved with and with the student body being large, there are many opportunities to make friends.
Re: changing terminals at Newark
I think she did have to change terminals but I’m pretty sure she didn’t have to go through security. She has complained (not in a big way just an annoyed way) about changing terminals in Chicago but I still book her through there sometimes.
My D does not attend Cornell but we have 4 years experience with boarding school in New England and now a year under our belts with a distant college, regional airports on both ends of the treks. We’re just used to it.
I do bring D home for Thanksgiving because we see so little of her as it is and have to share her with her dad when she’s home. She has a full week off and with the two weekends that’s 9 days. Of course then she goes back to school for about two weeks before Christmas break. Grrrr. $$$$$
She could stay at school, there are lots of international students who do. Since her closest friends are international students, she doesn’t have any good prospects for going home with someone, but we want to see her anyway.
D1’s best friend in college lived in Seattle. She went home for all major breaks (Thanksgiving, Winter, Spring). After the first year, she figured out if she could take few extra days before or after break to give herself a bit more time for traveling. Most students live off campus after first year, so they do not need to worry about dorm closing.
There are numerous dormitory buildings, built at various times, and undoubtedly variable as to when they were last renovated. The dorm rooms I’ve seen were fine. Not any different really from what my kids had elsewhere.
The one my D2 lived in was in an old building but obviously had a recent enough renovation. It was one of the better dorm rooms I’ve seen.
Cornell will spend about $12M renovating the fine arts library to be opened Fall 2019. I wish this money would have been earmarked for housing before the library reno:
“The fine arts collection at Cornell ranks among the best circulating collection of its kind. The collection serves all visual and design disciplines at Cornell University, from the history of art to classics to landscape architecture to fiber science to the fine arts. By investing in books — not instead of digital resources but in addition to — Cornell is staking out increasingly rare territory in defense of the physical artifact as a durable and irreplaceable academic and creative resource in the visual arts.”
I think an alum donated $6M for this project, not sure where the rest of the funds came from. It looks beautiful though!
Wow. My D would be a Fine Arts major, if accepted, so I’ll let her know about this renovation. One more thing for her to drool over. She took the SAT today, keeping fingers crossed she scores well enough to get out of the “reach” zone!
I hear you and I’m hoping a wealthy alum will find it in his or her heart and wallet to donate funds to the gothic buildings in west campus. Those are in serious need of updating!
Yes, that’d be great. Gothic architecture is beautiful but gothic plumbing not so much. (Not sure if that’s the issue but it was what came to mind when I read “gothic” and updating in the same sentence.)
Mimi2018 that was supposed to be a google image of the Gothic Buildings in West Campus dorms at Cornell. The plumbing sure could use updating as one of the toilets seems to be perpetually clogged!
Ha! Love it! Was second guessing dropping 3K to visit, but now we have to come. If for no other reason than my seeing what the heck is happening with all the buildings there. I bet the campus is stunning in the Fall when the leaves change color.
I agree with the previous posters that the dorm situation could be improved. My D is a freshman there, and was put in Balch (the all-girls dorm) even though she and her roommate requested co-ed. The room itself is tiny (about 11x12) and there is literally no floor space at all in between the furniture. To top it off, there are only 2 electrical outlets in the entire room, as the building was built in 1929 and it seems that very little has been updated… Also, no AC and it’s a 5th floor walk-up. Some of the dorms are nice, but many are not. Despite that, she is having the time of her life, and the only one upset about the dorm situation seems to be me!
@patatty I believe most kids aren’t bothered but the parents are bothered about the dorm situation because we’re the ones paying for it, not the kids. And if a family is paying full price for tuition plus cost of housing and meal plan, it’s not unreasonable to expect better dorm conditions. I am not bashing Cornell, but they really should have put renovating the old dorms a priority before anything else like renovating libraries. I’m not even talking about fancy things, just adding a/c and elevators; bringing electrical up to code…things of that nature.
. Absent this thread I really haven’t read much in the way of complaints about the dorms .
I agree that antiquated facilities should be renovated, if they need it. The ones you guys are voicing complaints about, Balch and the Baker dorms (“gothics”) are among the oldest dorms on campus, I imagine. Maybe these particular dorms need some attention, at this point. But I don’t think there is any big problem with the university’s dorms overall. amost all of them are much newer than those mentioned. And they certainly do renovate them. As I said, my D2 was in an old dorm that had certainly been renovated. I read about them renovating Dickson (IIC) a while ago.
It wasn’t that long ago that the university tore down all the west campus “U-Hall” dorms, such as the one that I lived in, and replaced practically the entire West campus. They probably didn’t mess with the Baker dorms because those buildings are so gorgeous. Same goes for Balch, IMO. But of course those particular dorms should be (re?-)updated, if they need it now. Does not mean there is any systematic problem.
@monydad those dorms you mention are exactly the ones to which I’m referring. They did not refurbish the old Baker dorms/Gothics and while I don’t expect the Gothics to change exterior wise, it would be nice and equitable to match the interior amenities of at least the u-hall dorms. It’s not fair when in the lottery system kids have to vie for the newer buildings in west campus and those who aren’t lucky get stuck in the Gothics. I think it diminishes the experience of being in this wonderful living-learning environment. My S has experienced pretty much one working toilet (the other is clogged most of the time) to share with half the floor, open windows that let bugs and such in because there is no a/c and fans alone don’t cut it. He’s not complaining but I needed to get the reality because we do pay for this ‘experience’ for him to live in west campus. I’m happy he got west campus this year and despite these concerns with his dorm, I appreciate him having access to a house dean and graduate resident fellows; the house chef (farm to table food), the Wednesday night house dinners, the seminars and coordinated trips that all come with living there. Maybe Gothics are already planned to update, I can only hope.
You aren’t going to find A/C in most dorms in the Northeast.
As far as I know, none of my kids, at any of their various schools, stayed in a dorm that had A/C.
It would be nice for the first few weeks, but after that it would be pointless.
We did a Cornell Adult University program (which are great, BTW) one summer, and they put us up in Donlon. Without A/C, of course. We brought a fan. It wasn’t that bad.