Cornell University Top Questions

What's the most frustrating thing about your school?

Naa Shidaa

THE SIZE! Especially the fact that I am a biomajor-premed person. Half the school is as well! Hence, the competition for pre-med rrequirement classes is so high that many people drop is for other majors, then again, it helps them decide what they really want in life, which may be a good thing. However, there are many opportunities and resources available, even though that gets icredibly overwlehming, its good to have a guide to steer you in the write direction.

Darron

The freshman dorms are a great distance from the actual classes. So, if you plan on taking the bus make sure you are early, or individuals need to plan ahead if they choose to walk.

Alyssa

Honestly, the most frustrating part of Cornell is the amount of Sexual Assault. There are MANY incidents of rape unreported that occur through fraternities. Just be careful. and if anything does happen, report it to the Police.

Janette

The weather is very intimidating, especially if a student is from a warm-climate region, but it creates such a beautiful atmosphere during the winter.

ivan

It get pretty cold up here. My face is usually numb after coming back to my dorm.

Katherine

The name Cornell is something of a paradox. Being from Texas, I only knew of Cornell University through my mother, who is a College Professor. It's frustrating that the only people that really know about Cornell are those that are from the East Coast. I feel if the name were spread better throughout the country, prestige and honor would be allocated in a more efficient manner.

Olivia

It be very overwhelming with the amount of work in a class that is only 2 credits. It is not a college town either so there are not many popular stores around.

Josephine

There are pros and cons about a more rural school. Some of the cons are that there are less activities to do outside of the school, creating a more insular environment, which means that the students can't readily experience the real world.

Daniel

One of the most frustrating things about the engineering program at Cornell is how the professors purposely make the exams way too hard. I am not trying to sound like a lazy student but some of the course averages for my exams were in the 50's and 40's. That is very discouraging to a student like me because i work as hard as i possibly can. To put so much effort into homework and studying and then getting a low score is very frustrating but i know I have to keep going and try my best.

Kaylie

The most frustrating thing about my school is that everything you may need to take care of: registration, financial aid disbursement, housing, dining, etc. is all in a different area. Often times it is very difficult to get a straight answer because one department/office does not know what the other department is doing. There are many contradictions in the answers you will get!

Whitney

Cornell is a big school - that is easy to see. This is both a wonderful thing - potential to meet a multitude of different kinds of people - but it also can be a bit daunting. There is more than enough assistance for those who feel lost or out of place - you just have to seek it out. This enormity can be frustrating in that you might spend a while trying to find friends, but once you find them, they aren't the type that are easily forgotten.

Eric

I think the weather is quite upsetting it snows too much. It gets cold very early in the season, and remains that way late into the school year. I think most people dislike this about the school, since we do not get snow days.

Deanna

The most frustrating thing about Cornell is the adjustment to the weather. I am a born and raised California girl, and going to school in New York was a huge change. I had never lived in snow before. It makes it difficult to travel and get to class. It takes a lot of perseverance and motivation to get out of bed and walk a mile and a half in snow to get to a 9 am lecture. But I will say, the Cornell campus is beautiful when it's covered in snow.

Julien

There is a lack of centralization.

Ashlee

The most frustrating thing about Cornell is its location. There's not much for a young adult, away from home for the first time, to do.

Kathryn

The fact that you can put in an incredible amount of work and effort into your classes and have a pretty mediocre GPA.

Travis

Impossible prelims and prerequisites to weed out Freshman

Caitlyn

The workload, every professor wants you to do a lot of work.

Alison

Sometimes it is easy to get lost in the crowd. I would suggest joining clubs to meet people in smaller groups.

Richard

How it's in the middle of nowhere. How it's so competitive. How it's so expensive.

Chris

The lack of diversity in the form of culture. There are very few venues where people of different tastes than the usual party scene can go.

Josh

The lack of entertainment that doesn't involve alcohol.

Diana

Can seem too big at first. Just ask around and explore your interests.

rob

It's a little too far away from the east coast to easily find good summer internships unless you have a large travel budget and lots of free time.

Lillie

It is the place where your best isn't enough since 1865.

Karli

Strict Core Courses, not able to explore other schools enough

Krista

The competitive atmosphere

Janene

When you fall behind in your school work, it's almost impossible to catch up.

Josh

The pricing on the food and drinks at the dining halls.

Joshua

The weather can get very harsh in the winter. Also in the winter, the days are extremely short, which can get depressing.

Kian

Snow. So much goddamned snow. All the time.

Jaclyn

Lack of socioeconomic diversity.

Madeline

Lots of really rich people

Johnny

HOMEWORKS!

Yenifer

The academic pressure is fustrating but also a great challenge.

anita

bureacratic and sometimes hard to access the many resources that are availible

Jordan

The most frustrating thing about my school is how much i have to pay.

Joy

Working so hard and sometimes not improving in test scores. Being side-casted because of not understanding a particular topic.

Carla

Too focused on research-- classes are huge, TAs do most of the real teaching, and profs tend to be aloof, at least in much of the bio dept. There is a definite feeling of elitism-- if you are not one of the few students working in research, faculty has little use for you

Alexander

Cornell provides "program housing" for students from similar backgrounds. Despite their best intentions, the unintended consequence is segregation. Students of African or Latin decent often live in a facility separate from most freshmen. Therefore, random housing isn't random and segregation is inevitable. Freshman year is when students decided where to live and who to spend time with for the rest of their college career. Because of this segregation, the mainstream Greek system and social scene is disproportionally white and students who lived in program houses tend to stick together and join a "multicultural fraternal organization," further racially segregating campus.

Jonathan

Although Cornell provides many resources for students, many time they are divided all over campus which can sometimes lead to you not finding what your looking for. It is not very centralized.

Chrisa

The financial aid that is given is not sufficient and it is very expensive to luive and go top school there. Often professors assign books that arer too expensive to buy and i can often not afford them. Also coming from a big city (NYC) I often find it boring in Ithaca, and find it hard to socialize with sme of my peers especially when it comes to dating.

Matt

Getting work done and managing time freshman year...you're kind of thrown into it (despite the orientation programs) and understand how the system works takes time, but it is totally do-able when you understand what is expected of you...I love Cornell!

Elena

They make it a point to promote things like cultural diversity and environmentally freindly lifestyles but the school still has a lot of work to do to live up to how advanced they claim to be n these areas.