Cornell University

After Cornell I studied at Yale and Harvard as a graduate student . Cornell is completely outside of the experience at those 2 schools, especially Harvard. Cornell offers no student guidance, no intellectual atmosphere and instruction is poor with huge callses and no access to professors with severe grading on a C curve that is very low compared with Harvard or Yale. Student advising is almost non existent, social life is based on sex and drinking. Fraternities are a horror, compare the college system at Yale or Harvard and you'll see what I mean. Cornell is not an Ivy League school except for CAS, and that's a very samll fraction of the undergraduate population. I would never think of recommending Cornell for anyone except undegraduate Architecture perhaps.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

Although this college is ivy league, don't expect the high level academics. In reality, it is just a school for the rich. I am smart myself and I did well, but other ivy leagues are simply better. Don't get me wrong, it is not the easiest school, but Cornell definitely should not be in the ivy league.

4th Year Female -- Class 2017

I chose Cornell over my state college because of its prestige in CS. Boy did I make the biggest mistake of my life. The program is so big, all the grading is done by TA's who often mess up and will give you 0's when you should have gotten full points on a particular question (happened to me on multiple occasions. I learned first semester that it is really up to you to make sure you get the grade you deserve.

Furthermore, the social life here sucks. I made the biggest mistake of not joining a sorority since I'm not that in to drinking. However, all the clubs here seem either too big, or too exclusive. If you're not extremely talented at anything besides myself, it is near impossible to get into a club.

Lastly, this school is cold and depressing and in the middle of nowhere. Everyone says Ithaca is poppin' but downtown Ithaca has almost nothing to do. If you are from the city as I am, make sure that you are prepared for this transition. I am finding every day that it is not one that I was prepared for. The one thing I was banking on was its lush environment for hiking, rock climbing and such. However, it turns out you can't even count on that, since Ithaca has had a drought for 5 months. I will say that Cornell has really helped my career though. I was able to get multiple job offers as a freshman at top companies. Nonetheless, I constantly question myself if another 3 years of this depressing bullshit is worth it or not.

1st Year Female -- Class 2019

Perceived Campus Safety: A+, Collaboration/Competitive: F