For Cornell, I interviewed with Grace! She is an amazing person and definitely passionate about sharing her experiences and knowledge with others! Thank you, Grace, for your beautiful responses!
What makes Cornell so special to you? Was it your first choice and your dream school?
"It was not originally my first choice, and to be quite frank, not my second either. But now that I’ve been on campus for a semester, I can safely say it IS the school that I was dreaming of, even if I didn’t know it at the time of applying. First, the campus my sanctuary. It’s its own little bubble atop the hill, and when you’re on campus, you truly feel like you are At College and not just going to college. It’s a strange distinction, but hopefully that makes sense. The scenery here is also amazing—I walk past a waterfall on my way to class every morning, and I’m sometimes lucky enough to catch the sunset behind the falls too. It’s a beautiful, serene place to study, and the people are just so collaborative too. I haven’t met anyone who wasn’t willing to help me along, and I know I have friends that I can depend on. I’ve even grown to love the winters, with snow sitting atop the bare branches and glistening in the sun. There’s a subtle beauty to being at Cornell, in both the people and the scenery. I don’t think I really saw it the first time I visited, but I’m glad I’ve slowly fallen in love with it. (In like, a romantic and not-Stockholm-Syndrome-y way). Sorry I wrote wayyyy too much but honestly I could wax poetry about campus for hours. TL; DR: it’s beautiful inside and out."
Were you awarded financial aid? If yes, how would you rate the financial aid package given? Was it able to remove some financial pressure?
"Oh Man! Financial aid is such an interesting thing. I was awarded financial aid, but I rate it only a 5/10. It was a fair amount, in the sense that my family can afford to cover what aid didn’t provide, and the amount of my personal student loans isn’t crushingly bad. However, because Cornell is entirely need-based, the amount of aid I was given was still kinda disappointing. I’m in that weird middle category where my family is well-off enough to seem like we don’t need much aid on paper, but still not wealthy enough to actually be comfortable paying the amount that we are (but then again, with the absurd costs of college today, who is?). I had better offers financially, but weighing the job prospectives/salaries of a Cornell degree compared to my other offers, the meager financial aid was not something that was a complete deal-breaker. Overall though, I’d say Cornell is good about creating opportunities for students who might otherwise not have the opportunity to attend college to go to university and broaden their horizons, but they care a little less about those who can afford it/are able to take out loans."
What’s your favorite class?
"That’s a good question. I struggled a bit, bc I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tell u about classes with a lot of practical life applications or ones that I just enjoyed bc of the discussions we have in it. I find that Cornell does a good job of teaching both conceptual ideas (good for grad school/research/smart people) and applicable ideas (good for, yknow, life), and making both of them interesting for you to learn. There’s so many classes to fit all kinds of people/interests, so it’s hard to pick a single one for sure. I think my favorite applicable class is Spreadsheet Modeling, bc it gave me everything I could possibly need to know about Excel in the context of financial analysis (which relates to my major/career ambitions). The teacher also has fun excel competitions that force me to learn the class material in order to win prizes (not to flex, but I’m the proud owner of “Business Analytics Expert” sunglasses!). My fave conceptual class is Roman Law. I was a Latin student in high school, so this just feeds into my love of the classics. Did you know that if you call someone to witness in court and they were too old/disabled, you had to provide them a means of transportation? That seems like a normal, fair law until you get to the second part of law, which states that you were not obligated to provide them with a really nice/fancy carriage if you didn’t want to. Makes you think why they specifically included that line hahaha."
How big are your classes?
"Cornell classes start off huge, but become smaller as you progress through college. I know my first lecture had over 150 students and I was completely blindsided. I come from a small school with a graduating class of 38, so the classroom had more students than were present in my entire high school, and I was definitely intimidated at first. It took me a long while to adjust and feel confident enough to speak up. The good news is that even though there are big classes, there are never situations where the teacher won’t remember you if you’ve made an effort. In those big classrooms, almost no one engages with the teacher bc they all think that they’ll be lost in the crowd. So if you just make a point to ask questions every once in a while, go to one or two office hours, and shoot the teacher an email every so often, they will remember you. And in small classrooms, ofc, the teacher will know most students by name by the end of the semester. So you can always stand out if you try :)"
WOw! 150 students? never knew how big it was!
How would you describe the weather at Cornell? Does it frequently snow? What would advise students to bring when coming to Cornell?
"ahahaha yeah I had one lecture that was 200+ and it was absolutely CRAZY. I was honestly so scared at first."
"Cornell weather is kinda bipolar. We’re right by the finger lakes, so lake effect snow coupled w the fact that we’re p far up north, the weather is Not Always Fun. I think it’s good to invest in a feather/down blanket (or a heated blanket if you’re against using animal products), and a down jacket/ski jacket/some kind of super warm coat (I personally got super lucky and thrifted an Oakley ski jacket for $20, but do research to find one that fits your price range/beliefs/comfort zone). I also recommend Doc Martens as a winter boot, bc they’re warm, waterproof, stylish, and good for all seasons. Aside from the essential boots/coat, I think you can honestly thrift/buy a lot here in Ithaca. There’s several thrift stores accessible by bus/ubering, and that’s how I supplemented a lot of my winter wardrobe. But I’m also from Syracuse in upstate NY, so I’m somewhat used to the cold and also hate wearing hats/gloves/scarves/snow pants. If you’re not from the north, you might want to consider the last few items as well hahaha."