Cornell College

Date: Jul 17 2003
Major: Psychology (This Major's Salary over time)
My college experience at Cornell College has been very positive. The college is one of three schools in the United States that offers the One-Course-At-A-Time block plan. That means our academic calendar translates to basically nine "J-Terms" for you university folks out there. At Cornell you learn how to write at the graduate level by your second year and you should have excellent journal and grant writting skills/experience by your third and fourth years. Those Cornell students who have taken the GRE have almost always recieved high scores in the analytical writting section. All classes cap at 25 students, which enables close faculty-student relationships. No class is taught by T.A. ever and all proffessors hold a Ph.D in their respective field; they also are all respected researchers in their field. Additonally, our social scene is great. We have social groups (fraternities and sororities), however there are no houses. Regardless, even if one is not into pledging a fraternity/sorority, there are many things to do. Mount Vernon (home of the college) has bars, video rental stores, pizza places, tatoo shops, and fine resturants. Fifteen minutes away is Cedar Rapids which has many malls and clubs and a Half-Hour away is Iowa City (home of the university of Iowa) where it is a typical big city with a very small-town friendly feeling.

Some downsides to Cornell are that all students (with a few small exceptions) are required to live on campus. Ten percent of the senior class is allowed to live off campus in the apartments of Mount Vernon. Additonally, our calendar requires (and demands) the ability to juggle your time effectively. Many Freshman students simply can not handle the busy One-Course-At-A-Time schedule and end up transfering after one semester. Furthermore, because of our schedule, it is very difficult to transfer to a semester university after you have completed three semesters at Cornell - though it can be done. Currently, our food is not very good, but no college food is excellent. Cornell realizes this and starting in the 2003-2004 school year, Cornell has hired a health professional to review menus and various health aspects.

In short, many students agree that the actual education and learning experience is amazing, but Cornell's politics (i.e. off campus living, etc.) isn't always appreciated.