Cornell University

Date: Feb 26 2009
Major: Architecture (This Major's Salary over time)
The ratings I gave above do not paint a good picture of Cornell. Into my fourth year I have to say that about 75% of the time I love the architecture department. We have some very bright, friendly, open, and exciting professors who I have loved getting to know. The small setting allows you to create meaningful relationships. The university bureaucracy, however, is awful.

While in your own department people will treat you like a student, a human being who has worked very hard to get into the university and will appreciate your efforts if you are working hard—the university sees students as a money making machine. I've lost count of the number of I have been yelled at, demeaned, ignored, and just generally disrespected by University staff. This has occurred most often with the registrar offices (both in my own college and the university administration level) and especially with the bursar. Every semester it is the same cycle with administration, I really think Cornell should just admit that they are run like a large corporation—and a bad one at that like Walmart as opposed to a good model like Google (the other Ivy Leagues tend to fall into the latter category).

Considering that Cornell is far from a major city and lacks the pretige/networks of other schools at the same level I would at least expect the university to compensate by keeping a professional demeanor and nurture students to succeed. This work, however, is all left to individual professors, who while well meaning are seriously under funded, under paid, and treated just as badly as students are. Only a few of the star professors are treated well and those are the ones that bring in funding to the university.