Cornell University

Cornell is a private research university in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. The university is organized into 7 undergraduate colleges and 7 graduate divisions. Cornell also has satellite medical campuses located in New York City and Qatar. Cornell has over 245 000 alumni, including 41 Nobel laureates and 28 Rhodes Scholars. Nearly 14 000 undergraduate and 7000 graduate students attend Cornell, coming from 122 countries and all 50 American states.

 

History

Cornell University was founded on April 27th, 1865, and was officially inaugurated on October 7th, 1868. It was founded because of a New York State Senate bill which named the school as the state’s land grant institution. Ezra Cornell, who was a Senator at the time, offered $500 000 of his own fortune and his personal farm in Ithaca as initial endowment for the university. In 1883, Cornell used electricity generated from a water powered dynamo to light the grounds, making it one of the first universities to use electricity. Cornell expanded significantly following World War II, and today the university has approximately 20 000 students and over 3400 faculty members. Its graduate schools include the highly ranked College of Engineering, Weill Cornell Medical College, Law School and College of Veterinary.

cornell

 

Programs

The College of Engineering is considered to be the best in the Ivy League. It has many different departments and programs, including Biomedical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Engineering Management, and Systems Engineering. It has 11 departments overall, providing unique undergraduate opportunities for students. The College also has 3 graduate degree programs: the professional focused Master of Engineering, which is designed for those who plan to pursue engineering management or applied engineering, and the research focused Ph.D. and Master of Science. Cornell also has one of the most respected architecture schools in the country. The Department of Architecture offers an intensive, 5 year undergraduate architecture program which prepares students for a career or graduate school. According to the DesignIntelligence annual survey, Cornell has the number 1 undergraduate architecture program in the United States. Cornell also offers a graduate program for students who are interested in teaching architecture or specializing in a certain area. Architecture students have the opportunity to study in Rome for a semester and experience extraordinary architecture firsthand through a study abroad program. Cornell was the first university to offer a collegiate program in hospitality management. Today, the Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration is regarded worldwide as the best in its field. Students are able to learn in classrooms, in the on-campus hotel, and in other industry settings worldwide. The School of Hotel Administration offers four academic programs: Bachelor of Science in Hotel Administration, Master of Management in Hospitality, and Master of Science and Ph.D. Degrees in Hotel Administration.

Cornell University

 

Pros & Cons

Cornell is one of the top universities in the country, ranking 15th in the U.S. News rankings. The freshman students live together on campus, which provides the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends, and take part in any of the 500 student organizations and clubs on campus. Cornell also has an excellent Greek life, with approximately 70 fraternity and sorority chapters on campus. The student-faculty ratio is 9:1, which is excellent, and over half the classes have less than 20 students. It has an acceptance rate of 18.0%, which is low but not as low as other Ivy League schools like Columbia and Brown. Like all Ivy League institutions, however, it is expensive to attend. Tuition is approximately $43 000 while room and board costs over $13 000. Over half of undergraduates receive financial aid. Ithaca is located in the middle of New York State and only has a population of 30 000. Unlike other Ivy League schools, which are located close to Boston or New York, Cornell is not located close to a thriving metropolitan city.