What is Cornell like?

Question

What is the campus and area like? I'm considering trying to transfer there. What's it like?

Answer 1

Well it depends on what you like. I'm there right now and I think it is crazy hard but I came from a less qualified high school, and I'm in engineering. The area is nice and there is a fairly large town right next to the campus. The campus is huge and has many great teachers who do lots of research and stuff. Maybe just think about the fact that everyone else worries about passing tests the whole time.

Answer 2

The campus is great for walking despite the sometimes steep hills. One gets used to it soon enough. There are grassy areas all over campus, with the stereotypical students reclining under trees during periods of nice weather. It's a very safe area and there are blue light telephones to call for help if needed. Getting to campus can be difficult because Syracuse is the closest major airport (it's an hour away). But the transportation system in Ithaca is superb, especially since all first-year students (freshmen AND transfers) get a free bus pass their first year at Cornell.

There are trails for hiking and the natural beauty in the area is astounding. Near the campus is an area called Collegetown, where there are apartments, shops, and restaurants. Although small, Ithaca is by no means a backwards town. It has the typical stores at the Pyramid Mall, featuring Target, Old Navy, Best Buy, Borders, and other well-known vendors.

Answer 3

If you can, go visit in person and participate in some activities while there. Make sure the campus life and town fits with your personality or you may be miserable.

The area is beautiful, but isolated, as the previous person said.

If you like nature, hiking, and peace and quiet, you will enjoy it. Ithaca is a quaint small town, and the finger lakes area is beautiful. I just got back from a vacation there.

I really need to live in a city now that I am out of school, but when I was in college, I rarely set foot off campus, so it really could have been in Siberia and I wouldn't know the difference. When people ask about Boston, I can't really tell them very much.

Answer 4

You can get virtual tours of the campus on the school's website at http://www.cornell.edu/tours/tour_home.html. Ithaca is a pretty area; some people love it, while others find it impossible isolated and remote for their tastes. I was there a couple of years ago for a job interview, and was startled by the number of times that the conversation among faculty and administrators turned to goats - goat feed, new goats, how to keep goats warm in winter, etc. I left there worried that if I went there, I would have to buy goats in order to fit in - something this city girl has never had any desire to do!