What's the best thing about Ithaca?: the Professors - I like all of my professors, they're very nice and very very helpful when you need them

Is it too large or too small or just right?: I think it's just right, 6000 kids is a nice medium sized school - I still see new faces everyday

How do people react when you tell them you go to Ithaca?: They ask me about the movie Road Trip ... and I get angry with them. Or they make a comment about hippies. Or they say, "Oh, I hear it's gorges there!" - people think they're really clever

Where do you spend most of your time on campus?: in my room - sometimes I'll study with coffee in the pub, but since I have a desktop I have to do most of my work in my room. I recommend getting a laptop for college, it makes everything much easier.

What was the biggest recent controversy on campus?: There was an armed robbery in oe of the Circle apartments, that freaked everyone out a lot. Also, a bunch of kids at Cornell apparently have syphilis. We got an email alert, in case you went to any Cornell parties and slept with someone, you might have syphilis. That was pretty funny ... just because the subject of the email was SYPHILIS!

Is there a lot of school pride?: Yes, I think so. I have a bumper sticker on my car.

Is there anything unusual about Ithaca?: Yes, it's a cute hippie town in New York. It's lovely and very unusual. There's a coffee shop in the commons owned by a religious cult ... that's cool.

What's one experience you'll always remember?: I skipped class with three of my friends the one day when it was sunny, and we smoked a blunt down by Cayuga Lake. It was beautiful ... one of my best days at Ithaca so far.

What are the most frequent student complaints?: Hidden fees! Ithaca charges extra money for everything! They're bastards about it!

Do professors know your name?: yes - all of mine do

Tell us about your favorite class: My favorite class I've taken here was called Personal Essay. My professor was Bob Klier, who was really cool. The class taught you how to write personal essays, memiors, etc. It was interesting. I got to know the kids in the class pretty well. Taking writing classes, especially classes that focus on personal experience, really help you to get to know people. I don't really hang out with many of the people from my writing class, but I know all kinds of weird little details about their life. It's cool.

Least favorite?: I hate Italian. I'm not very good at languages. My Italian professor's name is Silvia Abbiati. She's adorable and wonderful, I just cannot get my brain around foreign languages.

How often do students study?: I don't study a lot, but I always have work to do. My roommate barely ever studies or does work until the day something is due and then she stays up all night ... I don't recommend this.

Is class participation common?: Yes

Do Ithaca students have intellectual conversations outside of class?: I do and I'm sure that most intelligent college students have intellectual conversations outside of class.

What's the most unique class you've taken?: My Intro to Creative Writing class is very unique. My professor is Gigi Marks and she's wonderful. We've done a lot of really interesting writing exercises in that class. She's just a really innovative professor.

Tell us about your major/department: I'm a Writing major and an English minor. I like all of the professors I've had in my writing classes. Some more than others, but I have yet to meet a writing professor I cannot stand. They're very good people, and they're willing to help if you just ask. I find some professors intimidating in class, but if you talk to them one on one, they are much more welcoming. Two of my writing classes last semester required conferences with my professor about each paper I wrote, so that was a good way of getting to know them and getting to talk to them. The writing department is very welcoming, I think, and filled with very interesting people. All of my professors and all the people I've met that are writing majors are either very cool or very eccentric. It's a good department.

The students at Ithaca come in a very different categories. There are all different racial groups represented at Ithaca, but the school is prodominantly white. I haven't heard anything negative about racial, religious, or sexual preferences on campus. Everyone here seems pretty open minded. I'm sure there is some sort of tension, but it's not prevalent or anything.

A lot of kids are from New York state or from the Northeast. I'm from Pennsylvania. But there are a lot of kids from all over the country and from other countries. I know a couple people from California, Georgia and Oklahoma and I also know a girl from South Africa.

Most of the kids at Ithaca are normal-ish. They're not too exagerated into any stereotype ... but there are a lot of different demographics of kids. There are the girls with Ugg boots and NorthFace jackets with dyed blonde hair ... they're probably the largest group on campus. Despite the number of hippie kids, there are a lot of jocks, which kind of surprised me. A lot of them have that asshole jock attitude ... but not the skills to back it up, really, since Ithaca is a D3 school.

A lot of kids are very politically active. There are often little exhibits going on for different issues. The entire campus is really into conservation and sustainability, so there are tons of clubs and activities applying to environmental issues.

Partying is pretty big at Ithaca. I'd say that most students go out at least Friday and Saturday night, if not more. There is a lot of drinking. There are parties off campus that are fun. I'm not too into partying myself, so it kind of sucks.

Last weekend I went to two different parties. I stayed at the first one with some friends until the cops came and then we walked to another party, where there for probably a half hour, and then the cops came to that party. Afterwards I got a cab back to school and hung out with some friends in a dorm room. This is usually how my Friday and Saturday nights go.

There are things to do if you don't want to drink, of course. There are two independent movie theaters in Ithaca, Cinemopolis and Fall Creek Pictures. Sometimes I'll go see a movie. Also, there's something called IC After Dark that has activities for kids who don't want to drink, but want something fun to do. Although ... I know of some kids who've gone to IC After Dark events drunk before, so I'm not sure it works.

Ithaca is supposed to be this very liberal town. It is a very liberal town. There are a lot of hippies, which might appeal to some people ... I like Ithaca though. It's a cool little town. There are some fun places to go. And it's beautiful. You should go to the gorges definitely. Another Ithaca stereotype is that everyone is a stoner ... which is true, i mean, it might not be entirely true, but a lot of ... most of the people I've met will smoke pot. So if you're into that, it's the place to be. :)

Yes, to a certain degree. I met this girl who was named like Moonshine or something and she had this stupid hippie skirt on and she told me, "My parents used to roll the joints for my parties in high school!" She was trying way too hard. There are a lot of legitimate hippie kids, but also tons of silly posers. Not everyone is a hippie also, there are plenty of asshole jocks at Ithaca too, which surprised me.

Making friends as a transfer student coming to Ithaca is a bitch. I've only transfered to Ithaca, and never to another college, so I don't know if it's just as hard at other schools. At Ithaca though, transfer students really aren't catered to. Coming in as a freshman, I would imagine things would be much easier. The Freshman attitude is "Make friends with everyone!" and everyone has that attitude because they're all in the same boat. But when you're a transfer, coming in during your sophomore or junior year, people tend to already have established groups of friends. It's not that people aren't nice or welcoming, it's just that it may be harder to make friends because by your second or third year of college, you're not really looking for new people.