Campus visited: Cornell University
Location: Ithaca, N.Y.
Distance from Chicago: 681 miles
Number of undergraduate students: 13,562
2008-09 tuition: Roughly $36,500 per year. New York residents pay an average of $20,000 per year.
What I saw: Besides being academically enriching, Cornell’s campus is simply breathtaking. Ithaca would surely be a change of pace for any Chicagoan. Despite the fact that Ithaca is a bit small compared to Chicago, everyone at the campus seemed content to be at Cornell. Cornell is simply a mini-community within Ithaca. The campus is huge and libraries are splattered all over the grounds to fit students’ needs.
What I liked: I love Cornell’s emphasis on building the students’ community. The university seeks to bring students together because they believe that college is not only about what you study, but also about those with whom you interact. One initiative that I loved was the New Student Reading Project. Every year, the university selects a book for the entire freshmen class to read. The book is mailed to all freshmen in the summer before they arrive at Cornell. Once they get to campus, students are invited to all sorts of events and seminars where they can gather to discuss the book. Recent titles have included “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe and “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
This school might be good for you if … You want to be academically challenged. Cornell is surely not for everyone. It demands a commitment to education that not everyone wants to make. Cornell is definitely not a party school, so don’t expect the campus to be alive with parties every night. Expect to be taken out of your comfort zone at Cornell, as there are people from all 50 states and from all over the world.
Overall impression: Cornell is not my ideal school, simply because of the enormity of the campus. However, Cornell is still a top-notch school. Some famous alumni from Cornell include Bill Nye, host of “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” and E.B. White, who wrote “Charlotte’s Web.” Cornell also has one of the best financial aid packages in the country. If your family makes under $60,000 per year, your parents don’t have to pay a cent. Cornell is definitely a school to look into for continuing studies.
Cornell University. PHOTO COURTESY OF LYNDA LOPEZ
