http://www.studentsreview.com/NY/CORU_comments.html Life at Cornell - Comments en http://www.studentsreview.com/NY/CORU_comments.html If you plan to be a lawyer, doctor, politician or someone who wants/would benefit from social connections in the Northeast then Cornell is for you. If you plan to be a regular, hard worker, elsewhere... Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:21:35 GMT StudentsReview 940-60806 Copyright 2009 StudentsReview, Ecliptical Technologies, Inc. 940-60806 940 42 Anthropology Female Undergraduate Class 2002 3rd Year Neutral If you plan to be a lawyer, doctor, politician or someone who wants/would benefit from social connections in the Northeast then Cornell is for you. If you plan to be a regular, hard worker, elsewhere in the country, then the tutition alone is not worth it. Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:21:35 GMT http://www.studentsreview.com/NY/CORU_comments.html http://www.studentsreview.com/NY/CORU_comments.html I graduated from cornell in '84 and I originally came here from westchester community college as a transfer. I must say first off, it doesn't matter where you get your degree. Ivy league means nothing... Sun, 17 May 2009 03:20:33 GMT StudentsReview 940-60362 Copyright 2009 StudentsReview, Ecliptical Technologies, Inc. 940-60362 940 12 Computer Science Male Undergraduate Class 1984 2nd Year Advice I graduated from cornell in '84 and I originally came here from westchester community college as a transfer. I must say first off, it doesn't matter where you get your degree. Ivy league means nothing, it doesn't gaurantee you a job after graduation, it doesn't get you any father then the kid up went to a tier 3 school. What really matters in a school is how well it fits you, how you UTILIZE! your environment/setting and how you make the best of your academics.

The classes were graded on a bell curve when I went and about 40% of the kids failed the course and the other passed. They might not do this anymore but it was brutal when I went.

As for professors, I had a professor who worked on the manhattan project and he was my physics professor. The majority of the kids failed the class because the problems on the board were basically the same physic problems used on the manhattan project. Yes it is cool to think back my professor had this opportunity and shared this with his students but it doesn't mean I was able to grasp the concepts of physics like I was suppost to.

I ended up going on to get a PhD. in computer science and work at wyeth now but I might get laid off in the summer because of the economy and I am an IT.

It really doesn't matter where you get your degree, when you decide to go to cornell, you are guarranteed a few things, 100K in debt and a well-known name on a piece of paper. If I had to do it all over again I probably wouldn't of gone to cornell. It really doesn't matter where you go and I will press this on anyone, even my daughter when she looks at schools someday.

Education is an investment. Be wise and really think about what you get yourself into. Ask questions, talk to students, even get in contact with alumni and see where they are at.

If you think cornell is your dream school I hope it is because the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Sun, 17 May 2009 03:20:33 GMT http://www.studentsreview.com/NY/CORU_comments.html http://www.studentsreview.com/NY/CORU_comments.html Best decision I ever made. Amazing alumni resources as well.... Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:09:47 GMT StudentsReview 940-59799 Copyright 2009 StudentsReview, Ecliptical Technologies, Inc. 940-59799 940 53 Other Female Undergraduate Class 2006 3rd Year Neutral Best decision I ever made. Amazing alumni resources as well. Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:09:47 GMT http://www.studentsreview.com/NY/CORU_comments.html http://www.studentsreview.com/NY/CORU_comments.html I loved my time at Cornell. The campus is beautiful, and the population is large enough that you can find all different personalities of people. It is easy to find people with similar interests as w... Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT StudentsReview 940-59187 Copyright 2009 StudentsReview, Ecliptical Technologies, Inc. 940-59187 940 61 Engineering Department Female Undergraduate Class 2008 4th Year Positive I loved my time at Cornell. The campus is beautiful, and the population is large enough that you can find all different personalities of people. It is easy to find people with similar interests as well as people who enjoy holding thoughtful discussion. People are generally socially conscious and take an active role in changing things for the better. The opportunities for activism, community involvement, and extracurriculars are endless.

I studied Biological and Environmental Engineering in both the College of Engineering and the College of Agriculture and Life Science. While it is true that Cornell's engineering programs are incredibly rigorous, again, the campus is so large and diverse that it is easy to have a life outside of coursework. I had ample time for elective courses in the Arts college. You can find electives about nearly any topic at Cornell.

Ithaca is a lovely city with lots of personality. It might be smaller than what many people are used to, but I continued to find new things every weekend at Ithaca, and I don't think I ever discovered everything there is to do there. You just have to look. I can't say enough for the aesthetics of the campus. It is breathtaking.

There are all types of people at Cornell--from ultra-studious to flippant, conservative to progressive, closed-minded to open-minded, outgoing to reserved. Everyone can find like-minded people if they look. Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:00:00 GMT http://www.studentsreview.com/NY/CORU_comments.html http://www.studentsreview.com/NY/CORU_comments.html I was very naive when I first decided to go to college. I thought that if I graduated from an Ivy League school, regardless of my major, that I would be hired into a top position at the company of my ... Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:15:26 GMT StudentsReview 940-58823 Copyright 2009 StudentsReview, Ecliptical Technologies, Inc. 940-58823 940 54 Communications Female Undergraduate Alumna Class 2000 Negative I was very naive when I first decided to go to college. I thought that if I graduated from an Ivy League school, regardless of my major, that I would be hired into a top position at the company of my choice. My parents and other family members had not attended college in the U.S. before. I had no real career guidance from family members or high school advisors.

Majoring in Communication was a huge mistake. The Communication major at Cornell is a complete waste of time and money. You will not learn anything you don't already know. There is NOTHING you can do with the so-called information and theories you study in that major. They are all common sense stuff you'd already know from being a human. I had about three to five classes that stressed the freaking definition of Communication even! How stupid! They broke it down to a sender sending a message to a receiver and how the message is not complete until the receiver gives feedback of receipt back to the sender. Duh! Do we really need to go over that? Anyway, going into that major was my mistake. They certainly beat a dead horse with all those useless, pointless Communication major classes. Heck, I learned to communicate, as if I didn't know that already. I didn't know how horrible the major was though, until I tried to get a decent job after college. I realized how unprepared I was and how skill-less I was after graduation, after 7 years of bad jobs in NYC.

Also the biology, chemistry, and psychology 101 classes that are required with the major are taught breezily in the classrooms, but the tests hit you like a punch in the face (usually the exams are all multiple choice too). You look at 50% of the exams and wonder--was this ever even mentioned? The biology and chemistry exams were graded on a curve because so many people did so badly on those exams. The teachers in these classes did not really help me learn the material. It was all do it yourself. They assign chapters to read, give their breezy lectures (during which you have to take notes like mad because there are no handouts), and then hit you with this in-depth test that covers a lot of material you don't even remember hearing or reading about. There is no homework to help you learn the material and of course no study guides. The exams at this school were usually a bad surprise most of the time, especially in the bio, chem, and psych classes. And I had a very minimal social life and studied most of the time too. It's not as if I wasn't working hard. I got only As and Bs in all my classes, but still feel I learned very little.

At the university I now attend, a small, career-focused school, where I'm studying pre-health classes for entry into a nursing program (yeah, an actual specific career that will actually pay me a decent salary), the teachers really help me learn the material and teach more slowly. They offer study guides before exams, homework, quizzes, and the class sizes are much smaller. I'm actually learning something useful at my current school, which makes Cornell look all the more unhelpful. Cornell does have some useful degrees such as Accounting, however, considering the mad-pace and lack of learning tools offered in my bio, chem, and psych classes, (i.e., the hard sciences) I would be afraid to take a serious major at that school. You'd probably leave the school knowing much less than someone who studied at a smaller school where the teachers put more effort in helping students learn. I felt some of the classes were taught (such as my Music 105 class that I dropped or my Logic class) as if you already knew the material and were just being given a review of it. If I already knew it, why would I pay so much money for you to teach it to me? Is it all just so I can get that name on my diploma? I actually wanted to learn more and understand why the Ivy League is considered to offer such a great education. I've learned more from my local community college. Notice that Jeopardy champions are hardly ever Ivy League students. That's no accident. If people from the Ivy League seem smart, it's because they were smart before they got there. The Ivy League, at least from my experience, did not make me any smarter. It in fact hurt me and delayed me. Looking back, it seemed like a lot of smoke and mirrors. Though I admit, many of my teachers you can tell had a very high IQ, but they didn't all teach me better. That is, the star athlete doesn't necessarily make the best coach.

Good points: My English classes were all quite impressive, I must say. All the English professors I had at Cornell went a bit more out of their way to help me improve my writing. Even in a big Great Books class, the teacher took time to meet with me to help me improve my paper. I was impressed! Also the pre-calculus math class is very well taught during the lab classes by the TAs. It's not all bad, but my major was HORRIBLE. That was probably the biggest reason I was so disappointed. Had I majored in something else, I would probably have liked the school much more, but I still am a bit doubtful of that. Avoid majoring in Communication like the plague (no matter what school you decide on). Ccommunication is a useless major that leads to no career prospects no matter where you study it.

Another plus: Cornell has to be the most beautiful campus in the world. I just wish I didn't have to cross a bridge every time I go to class. A beautiful place, but I wouldn't want to study there. Go to a more career-focused school with smaller class sizes. That's my recommendation. It's NOT the school name that matters (unless you're going to be a lawyer or the President), it's what you will actually learn from the school. Cornell hardly taught me anything useful and the pace of the classes is much too fast. It's a do it yourself school that makes you pay big bucks. Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:15:26 GMT http://www.studentsreview.com/NY/CORU_comments.html