Virtual College Tours: Cornell University

Webinar Transcription

2021-05-26 Virtual College Tours Cornell University

[00:00:00] Totally. Hey everyone. Welcome to the CollegeAdvisor’s webinar on Virtual College Tours Cornell University. To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’ll start off with a presentation. Then answer your questions in a live Q&A on the sidebar. You can download our slides and you can start submitting your questions in the Q&A tab.

Now let’s meet our panelists. Hi, I’m Mckenzie Murray. I am in the class of 2024, so I just finished my freshman year. Actually today technically two days ago, but today I finished my freshman year. So I’m now a sophomore and I’m a human development major. And I’m ready to tell you about Cornell.

Okay. So how would I describe my college application process? So the process overall, I’d say it was time consuming just because there was so many steps, like I’m sure most of you are starting to realize if you [00:01:00] haven’t gotten to it yet. There’s FAFSA CSS. If you’re going to Cornell, you have to do the CSS profile.

There’s the actual application and then there’s supplements depending on which school you’re going to in Cornell, you could have one or two. For me with the college of human ecology, I only had one supplement. So it wasn’t terribly time-consuming, but it was like the whole process as a whole was pretty time-consuming manageable because I had support from my advisor from an organization called thrive scholars, formerly known as SCS Noonan.

So that really helped. And then I also had my teachers reading over my essays and then. My mom and my dad helping me edit or read over it, or just calm me down when I’m freaking out. Frustrating because I wrote and rewrote my personal statement six times. So originally I was talking about how hard school was, but that didn’t really say anything about me.

And then I started talking about I think my hair, but that wasn’t really what I was trying to go for. And then I finally came to the conclusion [00:02:00] of writing about my college readiness club that I started in high school. If you’ve seen my passion project webinar that I did last week, I talked about it more.

But when I actually wrote that, that was easy, but I still wrote in rewrote that a bunch. So that was crazy. And since I was applying early decision, I had to have my stuff ready by the end of October. So that put an extra stress on me, but it was in the end, it got done optimistic, exciting, and scary.

This is like the real this is the first step towards your dreams towards this, your first big. The kid or adult decision. It’s really the time when you get to decide where you’re going to go, what you’re going to do. So I thought that was just so nice because I was finally close to what I wanted to do.

I was getting out of high school. I have liked high school hacked in, and I’d say ninth and 10th grade. I did not like high school, 11th and 12th grade were better minus COVID towards the end of 12th. But it was a crazy experience, but it was really fun in the end.[00:03:00] So what factors would matter the most when you’re making your college list?

The biggest thing that I would say is that this is your decision. So really pick something that you want, that you feel is going to help you get to where you want to be in the future, and that you feel has what you need and want right now, even if that may change in the future, which is okay, you can always change majors, change schools, et cetera.

It’s, this is really your decision. It’s your first big decision. So don’t worry so much about, your parents as much take their advice into consideration. Don’t worry about your teachers so much, or maybe your friends or anyone else, because this is really your decision. So if they’re being negative about a place that your heart is set on, just ignore them.

If they’re being supportive, take the support. But really this is your decision. So the main thing that’s a focus on when making your college list is academics, social, geographic, and financial. So with academics, that means like the majors offer, [00:04:00] you got to choose something that’s going to help get where you want to go programs they offer.

Do they have like pre-med or do they have what other types of programs are there? Like tutoring programs study abroad. Do you want to travel the world? Maybe this is college is the best time to travel because it’s cheapest you’re ever going to be able to travel to. Bunch of countryside recommend doing that.

Do they have programs? Like I know with Cornell, we have Cornell and Washington, so you get to go to DC travel, you get to go around the area and you study, but you also get to work. The, I want to go to the department of education. You get so work at the actual agencies and then you get to meet people there, you get to network.

They also have I know with Columbia, they have a program with Spelman where you get to travel between schools. So looking into little programs like that can really make a difference with this. Also with academics, think about do they offer tutoring programs? Do they have places that will help you with your writing?

So I know if you’re like, especially if you’re going to, if you feel this is going to be a rigorous school [00:05:00] and you’re worried about if you’ll be able to keep up with that. They, you want to make sure that a school offers programs to really help these? I am sorry. My wife is acting weird.

Okay. So you want to make sure that a school has those types of programs to help you if you really need academic support. So like with Cornell, we have the Knight Institute, which is a writing Institute. So your freshman year, you have to take one to two freshmen writing seminars, which is exactly what they sound like.

And then they have different people that’ll help with reading over your essays and reviewing it and learning how to write an academic level. And then they also have courses that literally teach you how to write, edit academic level. They’ll most of the courses already do that. Depending on which one you take.

And then we also have the tacked on center, which is on north campus, which is where the freshmen stay. And it has just a bunch of tutoring services. Also. Another areas to think about social. What types of friends will you make there? Do they have clubs? If you’re interested in Greek life is big on Cornell’s campus, depending on what [00:06:00] types of request you want to join.

They have a very diverse group of Greek life. Some of the groups are bigger than others depending. Other types of organizations or clubs. So like I’m in the Cornell fashion collective, which is the club that does the runway every year. So this year we didn’t really get to do the runway. We did like a virtual video, which I didn’t, I wasn’t on the right team.

And I don’t think it was that great this year, but usually the program does a really great run race show and it’s really fun, but I think next year I’m going to be a designer so I can design my wardrobe. And then I’m also so into students on to scholars, which is a educational outreach group that works with a local high schoolers to help them with the college admissions process, similar to what we do here at CollegeAdvisor.

Only that one is a little less it’s not as consistent as CollegeAdvisor because it’s free, but it’s still a good program. And I really like it. Also thinking about networking and internship opportunities. So this is not only looking at on campus. So like with Cornell, there are a million professors and researchers [00:07:00] and everybody else where you can roll it up.

Get some connections. So like I found out about students on to scholars, through my yoga teacher, which was Ren and it was my substitute yoga teacher. She just happened to be in charge of that program. So she was the one that really got me into it and into education. So little connections like that. What else different professors that may be, have research that you want to get on that will look good for your resume, or just get you into the field that you want to go into.

You want to look into that, and then I’m also looking at the surrounding areas off campus. So whether or not you’re going to be in a big city or a little city. So like Cornell is a big city at all it, because not literally half of Ethica, but it’s, there are different research opportunities and connections you can go to off-campus.

So that’s also something I want to look.

[00:08:00] Geographics. So especially if you’re going there differences or the geographic landscaping differences. So like with Cornell, the weather is similar to Georgia where I’m from, but. Sorry. Whether it’s similar, but it’s a lot more extreme, I’d say so like winters here code, but it, because worse because it’s up.

So like it’s a wet winter, which means there’s snow. There’s rain. It’s windy. There was one day on my first day of classes when I was walking across campus and my hands were freezing cold, but I didn’t have time to put on my gloves. And then I looked at my phone and I was wondering why my hands were burning.

It was because it was two degrees outside. So that’s something you really want to consider. You want to consider how the weather is going to change. Cornell has a lot of Hills. They tell you, you will get Cornell calves. And I have, because you’re walking up Hills all day. There are bus systems, but you’re going to have to walk a lot and there are a lot of Hills.

So that’s something to consider, especially if you’re coming from a flat area, like Kansas or something. What else? The wind. Something at [00:09:00] Cornell. I don’t know why. Also with out of state, this sorta deals with financial too, but thinking about travel. So I know coming from Georgia, I drove my parents drove me up there.

When I was first going there, which was an 18 hour drive and it was fun because it was both of my parents and, last day yeah. There and stuff. But that drive is not something you want to do often. And then also thinking about like how much flights are going to, cause there are some programs that’ll help cover cost of flights, but it may not always be guaranteed.

So that’s something to consider how long it’s going to take to travel. How many flights you’re going to have to take. Like I had to take a flight at six o’clock two days ago and I didn’t get home until 11 because I had a layover in Philadelphia. And then also with storage, you have to have someplace to put your stuff.

So if you’re in state you’ll, you can just put your stuff at home, but if you’re out of state, I had to get a storage unit or you have to call it a shipping company or yet to mail stuff. And mailing stuff is a lot more expensive than I thought. Cause I was going to do that originally. And then I realized it would cost [00:10:00] $50 a box and I had six boxes, so it wasn’t worth it.

And so those are things to consider and then also thinks do so like city versus rural Cornell is a city. A suburb and a rural area all in, within a three. That’s interesting, but it’s all something consider how much stuff you get to do. So if you’re in New York city, you’ll have a lot of stuff to do all the time, but if you’re in someplace more rural, it may not be all that exciting lights and stuff.

So then financial aid Cornell is a need-based school. So that means whatever they determine your financial need is based on your FAFSA and your CSS will determine how much financial aid you get. So that’s really good. But so getting into the school is mostly based on like your grades, your holistic view and stuff.

But then your financial aid is based on your parents and your financial situation. Whereas like other schools, I know a lot of HBCU they’re merit-based so that means you have to have the test scores, even though a lot of schools are going. [00:11:00] Test exempt for those schools that are merit based. You still may have to take like your sat act just because their financial aid is heavily based on it.

So that’s something to consider then also out of state costs. So like he comes to the college of human ecology, you get to pay the in-state tuition, which is great. It’s way cheaper than if you go to cows on campus because they have to pay the out of state tuition. So that’s a cool thing about college of human ecology, where the BA that’s college on campus.

What else? Okay. So why did I choose Cornell? So I picked the college of humanity.

So I was action also. So when I actually got into those schools, I had to deny Howard and come to Cornell because it’s a binding contract. But the reason I was willing to do the binding contract was because the college of human ecology had everything that I wanted to study. There are nine majors in it.

There’s like the golden public health science, [00:12:00] which was my original major human development, which is my major now policy analysis and management, which is my minor. And then they have health policy. They have HBH, as they have fashion design majors, they have everything. Was really not worried if I didn’t like my major, I could just switch eight more times and I did.

So if I don’t like human development in the end, I will switch to probably policy or the passionate design who knows. And the big thing, the reason it’s called the college of human ecology is because it looks at how humans interact with the environment and racks with that.

What with us and to see how to improve our lives, what’s making our lives a little worse. So there’s like the design major where you can look into how, like the actual literal buildings are in effect you day to day and how schools can be improved or healthcare facilities can be improved. The policy analysis and management, which looks at how policies affect our day to day.

You may not think policies are that big, but there are a lot of policies that will affect your day to day life. So that’s something important. And then there’s like the nutritional science, what we eat, how [00:13:00] that affects us, because food is something in healthcare that isn’t talked about a lot, but food determines a lot of different healthcare issues like diabetes or obesity, or those are the main two that we talked about, but there are other things that come with it.

So that’s something interesting. I really liked it. And then it’s very humanities focused, whereas like I’m a biology major or a chem major may just be focused on the natural sciences, human human ecology is focused on the humanities. So the humanistic, the people, the writing, the speaking the psychology which I really enjoy because I’m a humanities nerd.

And then there’s still the natural science aspects. So a lot of pre-meds. A lot of pre-meds pre-loss and prevents comments, all the pre people come to you to college, you for the most part, if they don’t go to cows and it’s just a really good program, because it really gives you a holistic view of education.

So when I toured campus back in October, 2019, it was fall. So I was already in love with all the leaves. Like you can see in the picture and the [00:14:00] background is so pretty. Like what the waterfalls and the landscape. It was the most aesthetically pleasing place in the world. Every aspect of it was perfect.

So I was already in love and fall was my favorite season. So it just really drew me in and then So of course the views. And then, but when I actually went to tore the buildings for the college of human ecology, and I met the people in charge of different departments, they were just so nice and so passionate and they were just explaining every major, just sounded so good that it really just drew me in.

And I felt like I was really welcomed and they really want it to hear my opinion, like Darrell Scott, who was in charge of the careers department and human ecology, I believe. He was we were in a tour and he was just asking everybody around different questions. And then he just asked me why I wanted to he asked me why I want to study what I want to study or something.

And I just gave him my answer and the way he like responded to me and was just able to draw more out was just so nice. And it was. He just had, it was [00:15:00] like, he knew me already pretty much. And I really enjoyed that. So that really drew me in. And then another thing with tours is like a big there’s like urban legend on campus that whenever there’s a tour going on, the weather is perfect.

Just so it really draws you in just don’t tour in winter because well, actually maybe torn winter so you can really see what Ethica is like most of the year, but when, if you tour in fall, your fall in love. Okay. We’re gonna do a poll. So it’s asking, are you planning on applying to Cornell?

We get to see the answers to the pool.

Yes. If you go to the polls tab. Okay. So we’re having, let’s see 15 people 16, so far 1750. One has said no, which is sad. Nine have said not sure. If you’re not sure, let me try and convince you. And if [00:16:00] you said, no, I will change your mind by the end of this. Okay. So going on to our next part. So the libraries, okay.

So there are a million libraries on campus, and I unfortunately did not really get to tour that many when I was there. Just because with COVID restrictions, you had to make a lot of reservations just to go in. And that it was just very time consuming and tedious in my opinion. But I did get to see up a few of them.

And then, so like in this video, I believe it was like Olin and another one, Olin and yours. I think I’m still learning the names, but in the different libraries, there are a bunch of study spaces. There are cafes, like in this one right here, there’s actually a Starbucks which we, it, there is a Starbucks in there and it is.

There’s a bunch of Starbucks on campus. So if you have a coffee addiction, you can really get your fix on campus, but there’s a bunch of study spaces that are really good to study with friends or just to hang out at. And then there’s really, [00:17:00] it’s a really big campus, like it was built for studying and students and steps.

Cause they really knew how to make the spaces work. They have like rooms where you can have a little group meeting, they have boards on it. They have rooms with computers in it. They have just quiet spaces. They didn’t have those little egg shell pot things and around campus where you could just get to be in a pod.

So that’s interesting. Then there’s also the Harry Potter library, which I didn’t actually get to see. I believe it’s at Olin. I want to say. And it’s called the Harry Potter library just because it looks like Harry Potter theme. I don’t know if there’s any flying books in there, but it’s just a really cool design.

You can look up the pictures of it and then What should we call it? They have a lot of great people at their libraries. That’ll help you with research. If you need answers to questions or you need to find stuff. And then Cornell also has the oldest and largest witchcraft witchcraft, like volumes, what do I want to say?

Like the collection, there we go. Which cuff collection. So if you want to learn witchcraft, you [00:18:00] can you can actually check out those books, but you can look at them. And then there’s also the cafes, like I said, in the study spaces. And we’ll talk more about like cafes places to eat on campus in the next slide, I believe.

And yes. Okay. So the dining hall, so there’s north campus, west campus, and then the cafes around campus. So on north campus, that’s where the freshmen was staying. So that’s where y’all be staying. If you decide to come it’s on north campus, there is RPC also known as RPM, but most people just call it RPC.

It is the best dining hall, just because I work there. So if you go there, you’ll see me there actually next year, you won’t see me there because that dining hall is getting closed because we’re opening, they’re building two new dorm facilities and one of them has a dining hall. So you will see me at the new dining hall on north campus next year.

Which McCall it. What else there is west campus, which has a few dining halls. Oh, and also on north campus. There’s the north star, which is the other one. It’s the bougie or one, I’d [00:19:00] say dining hall on north campus. And then there’s Risley hall, which is the actual dormitory, but it also has a dining hall in it.

They make some pretty unique foods and I think the architecture. Gorgeous like it, the paintings on the wall of stare at you, but it’s a really pretty building. And then there’s west campus, which has dining halls that I haven’t seen yet, but a bunch of people say it’s the best on campus. I don’t know yet, honestly, dining this year.

Wasn’t that great because of COVID restrictions, but usually it’s amazing. Every senior in upperclassmen was telling me while I was working and serving people, how great everything used to be. And it was making me really sad, but apparently there was waffles fresh-made and I’m just hoping we get back to that soon, but you will see me there next year, so well, or in the coming years.

And then there’s also the cafes on campus. So there’s like the bus stop. They go shop. There is. Different cafes. Starbucks, it’s really, there’s a whole app for it. So when you get to campus, you just download the eatery app. I believe it’s called and it’ll show you what all is [00:20:00] open, what all they have, all the menus, and then you also need to get app, which you’ll use.

What’s your BRBs and your meal sweats. So BRBs are big, right? Big red bucks. It’s like dollars, but it’s, you can’t use it anywhere, but Cornell. And those will go, you go through those quickly because honestly, wherever you can spend, bear bees is the best food on campus. So like they have Which I’m gonna call it Trillium, which is the best that incumbent.

You have to go there. They have the terrorist, which is the, at the Statler hotel, which is the fancy food and they make the best burritos. Then you have all the cafes where you use your BRBs and then there’s also different grocery stores where you can get snacks from meals, swipes use at the dining halls, and then you can also use it to at the satellite dinners, which is like these little box dinners that they make.

They’re okay. If you’re in like a rush I’d recommend us going, using your BRBs or just going to a dining hall. Cause it’s better. Again, I work there, so that’s why it’s better. And then the cheese cake at north and RPC is so good. I pretty [00:21:00] sure I’m going to get sick of eating cheesecake. Cause I get it every single time.

It’s the best cheesecake for no reason. There’s a whole bunch of dessert. There’s fried chicken Sundays. I’d recommend getting there early because we won’t run out within the first two hours, but then there’s always a line at the end. So that’s a tip come early if you want chicken. And then the best food on campus I would say is between terrorists and Trillium.

It’s just really good. And then there’s also snacks at the different grocery stores. So if you need just something quick to eat, use your BRBs go get a snack though. It does get quite expensive, but since it’s not real money, technically you might as well just spend it. But if you want to save money, then you go to target or Walmart and just stock up on them.

Okay. So the forum, so north campus is where freshmen stay and then there’s there’s a bunch of dorms on campus, actually. So this is my dorm, this it wasn’t the prettiest at the time, I was just recording. So my parents could see[00:22:00] dorms do like medicine and this, I promise. Most of the times come with their own closet, dresser, bed, the usual stuff I had a walk-in closet.

So that was the best feature of my own room. Everything else was crappy. My heater was broken for the first part of winter. I was freezing cold, but then they actually got it fixed pretty quickly. They fixed it in five minutes. I was in McClue, which is in Clara Dickson. And I was on the first floor.

So I was in the basement with the laundry room, which was convenient because I didn’t have to go up the stairs with my laundry, but it was inconvenient because everybody had to come down there for laundry. And I just did not like it. But McCool is one of the program housing, which you can stay in. So there’s McClue Ooma, which is the Africana.

Then they have the loving house, which is for LGBTQ I a plus. What else do they have? They have jam, which is the. Just music, something like that. There’s a bunch of different program houses that you can join. And those are the only ones that you get to choose your but if you don’t choose any of the program, [00:23:00] housing would you have to apply to by the way, and you have to get accepted.

Then you get put into a dorm wherever on Kim, wherever on north campus. And the way that goes is you get to decide if you want a single or if you want to double, which is one roommate, a triple, which nobody wants. And then quad, which is with three other people, which is better than a triple it’s somehow.

I don’t know how, but it is. So if you pick that, usually you rank it in order that you want. And usually there are enough singles if you want a single available. But if you choose anything with a roommate it costs less, but You could end up in a forced, triple, not with COVID though, but that does usually happen, but they’re building more dorms so that you shouldn’t have to worry about that.

So really when you’re applying for schools and you’re trying to decide if you want a roommate or not really think about all the little details about having a roommate. I did not have a roommate because I like my privacy. So like thinking about if you want to have people over, if you listen to music at night, when you’re filling out the application, you’ll describe how you are as a person, what your sleep schedule is, how messy you [00:24:00] are and all those little details.

And they’ll try and match you with someone that’s gonna fit fit what you best. And usually you can make good friends out of that. That, that, that is a good thing. But if you aren’t comfortable with being with somebody all the time and you just need a minute to yourself, you may want to consider getting a single though.

It does cost more again. But that is something to consider. That’s something to really look into and that’s something you have to decide for yourself. And you can ask around people what their experiences were with. Okay. So my favorite place is off campus. So there’s the comments, college town Wafa frolic and Luna’s.

So the comments is like the city area of Ithaca and it is the prettiest place. Most of the time it’s various statically pleasing. Especially if you go at golden hour and then there’s like different shops, different thrift stores, they have different places to eat. It’s really nice. And it does give you that city vibe, if you’re looking for that or you’re missing that it is not a big city, but it’s enough to get by.

And then when they had the lights on and they’re doing different events, [00:25:00] like they had apple best, and then they have the chili Fest when COVID isn’t happening. It’s a really nice area to be in. And then they also have college town, which is. It’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s where all the college students stay.

It’s the best where the best departments are. It’s, there’s a bunch of food there to eat and then they also have an insomnia cookie. So if you need snacks or sweets and stuff, that is the place to go. They have a bunch of Boba places and dessert shops and just different little places to eat at. They have a million Starbucks again.

It’s just a really fun place to go, hang out, go get snacks. And me and my best friend actually went and got desserts there for our two year best friend aversary. So that was really cute. And then also walk will probably is the best breakfast place to get. They have the best waffles in town, but you have to get there before 3:00 PM and they’re not open on Tuesdays and Mondays and some other random day, their hours are so weird because they’re just so good.

They don’t need to be open all the time. So you have to really plan [00:26:00] when you want to go to waffle frolic. Lunas is Luna’s inspired street food. It’s street food made fancy pretty much. And they have some really good food. Like they have this one dish, that’s orange, chicken, and a pineapple. And it’s very interesting, but you really just have to go there and look at the menu to find what you want.

So that was, those are my favorite places off campus. Okay. So the most beautiful places on campus. So of course watching the sunset on the slope is just the most iconic thing. That’s the next slide, but it’s the prettiest view? The sunset golden hour is perfect. If you want pictures, that is the time to go and the place to be the waterfalls.

Four or five on campus, I believe. And you really just have to look around and find them. Some are easier to find than others. There are some hidden ones, which I will not tell you about because you have to find them yourself. And it’s just the prettiest views. It’s really relaxing. You can just listen to the water forever.

And then the funny thing, the funniest [00:27:00] thing that I thought when winter hit the water froze over. So the waterfall was frozen for a few months and I thought that was just the funniest thing. What else there’s also the trails. So there’s a lot of wildlife. And so this is me and my best friend. We were going on a trail together and we saw deer.

And this was just so funny to me because we both had never seen a deer. So close cause usually in Georgia, they run away from us because deers don’t exactly farewell in Georgia, but all of the animals, they’re not scared of people. So you can just walk up to them. I don’t recommend petting them, but you can walk up to them and they’re just so cute.

And there are a million squirrels on campus and they’ll just sit there. I’ve seen so many squirrels just eating like there, people like one school was eating a pizza, like literally holding it, eating a pizza. And I should’ve put that video on site. Cause that was hilarious. It’s just a funny thing. And then the botanical gardens is also really cool.

So the most iconic places is of course the clock tower, [00:28:00] endless slope. So the slope is literally just a big hill, but the clock tower is on central campus and it is, it plays music every hour. Yeah. Every hour it plays different music. So one day they were playing Backstreet boys. So that was fun. And then you can usually, they have concerts there so you can request songs to play and then they’ll just play different songs on the different times.

And then every hour though, when you get used to being on campus, you’ll get, you’ll know when it’s been 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45, and then the hour, because they have different times for it. So that’s a really good way to keep track of what time it is. And it’s just really. So this is the slope and and this is at sunset.

I am very proud of my videography here. So yeah, it’s even better in person, but I think the videos are just as great. And yeah.[00:29:00]

okay. So my best memory is, so the first one is the boat yard trip. So the boat yard is a seafood restaurant and it is just the prettiest place. The everything is better at go to now is to just go everywhere. I go to an hour except for waffle product, cause there’ll be closed. But it was just, it’s a seafood place it’s on the river.

So you can get a really nice view. You can eat outside or inside. You have to get there like an hour before you are going to get hungry because the weight is so crazy and you can’t call and make a reservation. Apparently. So the boat yard trip was the first week of school. Me and my best friend, me and him were going to go to the boat yard for his birthday because he hadn’t been, and I hadn’t been on my.

Campus tour with my dad. But when we were going, we got on the bus and we had been in quarantine for two weeks. So we were really excited to finally go. And then we were on the bus, we were getting there and then we were on the bus and the sun was setting and it was [00:30:00] getting really pretty. And we were looking around at everything and we were still in the boat.

And we were just loading the bus for a very long time. And then we weren’t in Ithaca anymore. I don’t know where we were, but we weren’t in Ethica anymore. And pretty much we got lost and the bus driver had to ask where we were trying to go because we were the last two people on the bus. And we were just sitting there, looking around, we’re trying to get there at the sunset so we could watch it as we ate for his birthday and we completely missed it.

And then, so we just ended up driving back and I’m pretty sure we ended up getting Lunas. But that was just such a funny memory. And then the same thing happened a few days ago when we were going to get our storage unit and we got lost on the bus. We were stranded in another area outside. I don’t know.

You would think we would know by now. So another best memory anywhere I’m eating with my best friend. Cause it’s just fun. And then getting my first apartment. Personally, I did not enjoy the dorms. So I just had to get an apartment off campus. And so the best memory was [00:31:00] actually being able to save up money, working at the dining halls and doing this job and being able to put my security deposit down to get my first apartment.

And so it was the largest check. It was my first check, but it was the largest amount of money that I’ve ever paid. And it was just a great experience just because I really feel like an adult now. So that was one of my best memories. And that’s just something you can look into if you’re considering maybe you don’t like the dorms, there are a lot of places on campus to consider and they’re pretty affordable.

You can live with friends, you can live alone. It’s really, it really just depends on you. This is just a fun time to really do like adult things without all the adult consequences yet. So yeah. Okay. Where are you in the college application process?

Okay. A lot of people are creating their lists. That’s the fun part, honestly. Cause we really just it’s like shopping almost. Whenever you get through your list, I’ll have to say when you’re getting through your list, [00:32:00] if a bunch of schools or maybe two schools are just seeming completely perfect.

I’d recommend looking into those really small details. Like I was saying earlier with the social academic and stuff, looking for those little programs, like which one just happens to have one more professor that’s more interesting or one more Which McCullough one more summer opportunity that you can do.

Which one has just one more course, that just sounds more interesting. That’s really, what’s going to make the ultimate difference in the end. If two schools are seeming really great, if money is a big concern for you, watch my choosing between schools video, but if money is a big concern, I’d say that is probably the least important factor for the most part, but really looking into which one’s going to be, make you the happiest is really going to make the big difference when you’re just going through your creating your list.

Okay. What are my favorite things about Cornell? Okay. So as I said before, the people that are just really passionate and kind, so it’s like, everybody’s just really into what they’re doing there. So many people [00:33:00] studying so many different things and it’s just everybody’s just so into what they’re doing.

And then the kind people, everyone is so nice. Like you go to an Ivy league because Cornell is an Ivy league, which I didn’t know originally, but it’s like, you think it’s going to be like cutthroat, everybody’s like hating each other or trying to climb on top of each other or something, but it’s really.

It isn’t really like that for the most part. Most people are actually going to try and help you. If you’re struggling in a class, there’s probably somebody else struggling and then y’all will become best friends with that struggle. Everybody’s really nice. There are a bunch of meme pages, even the engineering school, as they may seem very cutthroat and closed off from the world, they’re actually pretty chill people.

And then they’re like all struggling together and like happy bliss. I don’t know. It’s people are way nicer there than you would think. And one example of that. When I was my first semester I was, this is a sad story, but I was like really sad. And I had went on a walk at night [00:34:00] and then, so I just said I was by myself.

I just sat on the ground and I was just done. I was just like to myself. And then I was sitting there for about 10, 15 minutes and then a girl walked up to me and she just tapped my shoulder. It was like, Hey, are you okay? And stuff. And then she was like, I’m in this apartment over here. Do you want to come in?

Maybe I have ice cream and stuff. And then she was just trying to console me. And then she called her friend over and her friend was doing the same thing. And then they just sat there and talked with me for a whole hour until I felt better. And then we just went on a walk until I was fine. And then we saw animals, we saw a cat, so we were just playing with the cat apparently.

Then they drove me back to my dorm and they were just so nice. And it was just like, they didn’t know me. I didn’t know them. They were seniors. And then it was just really nice moment and really helped me in that time. And then few months later, the crazy thing is in that same spot where I was sad and moping to myself, it was the same location where I ended up getting my first apartment.

So it was literally the same spot where I [00:35:00] paid my check for my apartment. So it came full circle and I ended up contacting the girl and asking her about the apartment. Cause she actually stayed there until she told me about it. And it was really nice and it was just like, it was like this full circle moment.

So it’s like Cornell is really a movie for me. The people are really nice and then the professors too, like all of my writing professors, if you want a really good class take humor humor. I can’t say the full title humor in the Holocaust is really what the course is about. The title sounds crazy, but it’s a really good course.

So I’d recommend that one because professor Bernadetta is really cool. And then fairy tales which is in the German studies department. I forgot the name of the professor, but that course is really cool. So I’d recommend that they’re really nice professors and then they’ll really help you with your writing.

Mental health and wellbeing services. So they have a lot of they have nutritionists on campus. Like I went to nutritionists, you just make your appointment. They had different counselors. If you need to talk to anyone with [00:36:00] the caps program, they have programs for everything from body positivity, to eating disorders, to mental health awareness, just anything that you can need.

And then it’s really, you just make an appointment. You don’t, there are some programs where you don’t even need to make an appointment. You can just call them cause they have the 24 hour hotlines for different things. If you just need someone to talk to. So I think that’s really important and that’s really good.

It’s a really good program that they have lots of schools have that. So really look into that. That is important. Even if you don’t feel like you’re going to need it, I’d say, just look into seeing what your school is, have wellbeing services. So they have the different PE courses too. So I’ll talk a little bit about that.

So I took aerials, which is a circus class where you’re on those little. What are those little strap things and you’re swinging around. So I’d recommend that it’s PE 1600. I believe it is the best class in the world. It fills up really quickly. So you really have to get it quickly, but it’s so fun.

You’re just swinging the air and it feels like you’re flying and it’s a lot of upper body strength, but it’s really fun. So I’d recommend that course to anybody and [00:37:00] everybody, they have a lot of good yoga classes that are just chill and calm. They have mostly yoga classes. If you get the right one, they’ll just let you sleep.

There some classes just on wellbeing. So you learn how to meditate. You learn how to stretch. You learn how to distress yourself, especially in times of COVID but then testing. Also, those are really good courses to take. I recommend taking them all, they have classes on how to do a massage, so they really know how to do some wellbeing and mental health and everything.

So I also loved the freedom to explore different interests inside and outside of the classroom. So With credits, you have to have 120 credits to graduate. That’s something you don’t need to worry about right now. Don’t even think about it. But pretty much you need only 40 something. I know at least in human ecology, 40 something for your actual major.

And then the rest is just do whatever you want. You can do minors. So I have three minors. You can just take courses just for fun. They actually have some requirements where you have to take courses outside of your major. So like I’ve been able to explore my [00:38:00] interest in education, which is actually what I ended up switching to.

I’ve been able to explore policy interests at the neighborhoods, still keep my public health interests. There are fashion design classes that I want to take. It’s just a really good place. Like when I say any person, any study, they literally need study anything you want. Like even my writing class, like here in the Holocaust who put those two things together.

So that’s just something really interesting you get to do. And then you have a lot of room to really look into all your interests. So even if you’re like, I’m a biology major, you can still see an explore interest in like English or an art or in whatever dance. Even they have a lot of good courses. They have some production courses.

You can take acting classes. I’d really recommend when you come here, really do your requirements that you can graduate and get your degree, but just really explore everything. Even wherever college you go to, they have room for it. Just explore because that’s really, what’s going to determine maybe I’m [00:39:00] interested in something else for a career.

Maybe I want to do a different major. That’s really gonna be the thing to help figure out who you are, what you want to do, where you want to go. So I love the country and city vibe. So I’m from Georgia. So I am used to the country. Actually I live in the suburbs, but I consider myself country because my mom’s from Mississippi.

So that’s as country as it gets for me. So I really liked that it still has those rural aspects, so I can still feel at home and it’s their cows and different animals. It’s so cute. People have chickens which McCall that, and then the city vibes and the comments. So I still feel like I’m doing something interesting, not just seeing cows all day and then they have a suburban area, but I don’t really go there cause I don’t need to go there.

But then also the college vibe so being around college, students, doing all the fun college things it’s just, you really get a taste of everything and then if you get bored of it, because there are buses to New York city, Syracuse and everywhere else that you can really explore And then what my story with my senior friends there [00:40:00] there’s always a helping hand on campus.

Even if you’re struggling in a really hard class, there’s someone to help study with. There’s somebody that’s just there to talk to. It’s everybody’s just, it’s really a community. Like it’s a huge school, but it does still have that community feel.

Least favorite things. Okay. The Hills, just because it’s tiring. So I take the bus as much as I can the weather because it’s cold and I’m not used to the car. I prefer a solid, the fall weather is perfect. If fall could be the weather everywhere all year round, I would be fine. Every other time of year is too hot, too cold, too windy, too rainy fall is perfect.

Chem 20, 70, and weed out courses. So chem 2070, if you are on a pre-med track, that is the class you are going to have to take. You don’t have to take your first year, but I’d recommend taking it your first year. It’s what we call the weed-out course. And a lot of colleges do have these courses for the pre-meds the pre laws just to see what students are [00:41:00] gonna, really make it through.

Honestly, these courses, like even though they’re called weed-out courses or they are more rigorous, if you don’t do so great in them, don’t worry about it. Medical schools and law schools are looking at your whole student experience, as long as you pick it back up. And you’re still taking all the courses and getting all the requirements and getting all the experiences you need.

You’re going to look good to any medical school, but that’s way in the future. But these courses chem 2070, for me, it was hard one because the class is just hard and the professor was, he created the AP chem exam. So if you’ve taken that, he was the reason. And then his dad also helped create the nuclear bomb.

So that’s pretty much what the rigor of Cornell is. So it’s, it was a hard course just because it was a hard course in general. And then also I’m not really a science person. Like I said, I’m more humanities. So I also just did not like the course at all. And it had nothing to do with anything I was interested in.

And it wasn’t the main reason I switched out of pre-med [00:42:00] because I was. I realized my heart really wasn’t in medicine. I want it to help people, but it wasn’t that wasn’t the way I want to tell people. I want to help people with education, more so in policy, but I still want to keep my public health because public health and medicine similar but different.

I prefer public health. But chem 2070 was the straw that broke the camel’s back at this point, because that cost is hard, but everybody knows that class is hard. So you really get the community feel out of it. Like I said, with all the other courses, there are a bunch of study groups.

They have a bunch of TAs and tutors for that class. It’s really about using your resources and leaning on your friends and doing the best you can. That’s really all I can say. You just have to do the best you can. Whatever score you get is the best you could do. That’s all you can do and it’s once you get through it, you’re great for the rest of college life.

That is the hardest course. You’ll probably take in my opinion.

What do I want people to know? So it really is any person, [00:43:00] any study, you can literally study anything. Like I was talking to one student about he wanted to study neuro law, which I had never heard of before. I didn’t know that was a thing, but it’s combining neuroscience and law deciding like how people’s behaviors and how their mind works to determine how law should be made.

So if people are predisposed or something with their brain to act a certain way, then we should adjust laws to accommodate for that. So people aren’t just going to jail or something for something that people naturally do, that’s pretty much what neuro law was. And I didn’t know that was something that could be done.

But he surprised me with that one. And then, so when I was looking into court now for different ways to incorporate that, cause it isn’t actual major. They actually have, they did a research study. The neuroscience Institute is actually in my major. We have the neuroscience Institute. Different research.

There’s a neuroscience major. There’s prelaunch. There’s like a bunch of different things you can combine together to really make your major work [00:44:00] or just your interest or anything work. It doesn’t even need to come up to be a major in the end. It’s literally, you can study whatever you want. And then there’s also a cheese tasting class.

So like it’s a dairy school. So you get to taste cheese. It’s just explores my point. Don’t be afraid to that’s my next. Don’t be afraid to try new something new and explore all the opportunities and classes they offer. There’s the Dyson school and the Statler hotel. Those two schools are like trade schools and it’s like, you can learn some really cool business courses like I’m interested in the real estate course, so I can learn how to sew housing and become rich on the side.

And then they also have the Statler hotel, which is, you can learn how to run a hotel. That’s just a fun class to take. It’s just learning how to do hospitality. It’s, there’s enough room at Cornell for you to explore these things. So I’d recommend just doing it going outside of your comfort zone.

Even if you’re not say you’re not interested in something where you are, you just interested in one thing, I’d still say, explore [00:45:00] other things just so you can really get a feel for it and just get the full experience use the resources they have. There are a million resources on campus it’s honestly overwhelming, just because there’s so much you can do.

And so many people you can ask for help. And so many places you can go for help. It gets overwhelming. It’s literally, if you have a problem, just ask somebody has an answer or just Google it at this point. And don’t worry so much about what others are doing. This is your college experience. So sometimes it may feel like, oh, this person’s taking a million classes this semester and they’re still ahead.

They’re going to graduate early. This, person’s doing this research study, this person’s going on to this country. It may feel like that because everybody’s doing their own thing, but really their experience. Isn’t going to affect you so much. It’s really about what you can do for yourself to make you the happiest, to get all the experiences that you want and need.

Just exploring things. Don’t worry if you’re behind or anything, you’re on your own track. So you’re on time. You’re going to graduate regardless. [00:46:00] It’s just take your time, enjoy what you want to enjoy, because if you try and keep up with somebody else to do what somebody else is doing, you may not enjoy it.

You may get overwhelmed if they’re taking a million classes that once, or you may just not like what they’re doing. So really just focus on what you do.

Okay. Questions and answers. Okay. Yes. So this is the end of the presentation. Part of the webinar. Moving on to the ER. Also you can download the slides from the link in the handouts tab, moving on to the live Q and a read through the questions you submitted in the Q and a tab, paste them in the public chat.

So you can see and then read them out loud before our panelists gives you an answer as a heads up, if your Q and a tab, isn’t letting you submit question questions. Double-check you joined the webinar through the custom link in your email and not the webinar landing page. Okay. So I think we may have to do a speed round on some of these so let’s get started.

The first question is what is this CSS pro process? [00:47:00] So when you’re on the common application there’s no, that’s fine. When you’re on college board the actual website, they have the common application and then they have the CSS profile. So the common application is where you’re going to be filling out your applications.

CSS profile is where you’re going to be sure. That’s right. CSS profiles through college board. It’s where you build out your financial aid information in more detail than FAFSA. So facet is the federal government money that you get from the president. We’ll just keep it in those simple terms. And then CSS profile is how you get money from your actual school.

Not every school needs it. Like I know a lot of in-state schools only ask for your FAFSA. Especially if you’re in a single parent household, you may only need just one Bassa CSS profile Cornell asked for it. So you do have to do it for Cornell. The school will tell you if you were required to do it.

And if they don’t have a CSS profile set up, then you actually have to fill out the school’s application. Cause they may have their own process, [00:48:00] but a lot of schools that don’t have either just ask for passes. So that’s just an extra step in financial aid pretty much. And it’s more detailed than FAFSA.

Our next question is what was it like to be a first-year student there? It was, that’s a loaded question for me. I feel like first semester was bad. Not some, it was bad socially and academically, as I said before, social academic, geographic, everything. Socially, just because I was having a hard time with meeting people because of COVID and being online and then.

I’m extroverted, but I’m not that extrovert to just go up to somebody and talk to them. So that was hard, even though I had my best friend at school at me from high school, I was still having a hard time with social life, so that wasn’t so fun. And then academically I loved my public health class and my policy class, and I liked my freshman writing seminar, but chem [00:49:00] 2070 really was stressing me out to the point where I wasn’t enjoying school as a whole, just because of that one class.

That’s just me personally. Cause I also just don’t like science. So don’t mind the rigor. It’s literally, I don’t like science at all, so that really affected it too. It was just a lot going on and then transitioning into college, trying to figure out how to take care of myself. I had to call, I had to make my own doctor’s appointments.

It was just a lot. So first semester was just stressful. Second semester was amazing because I got my first job working at the dining halls. I got my second job here. I was doing an internship with another organization. I started taking my education class. I switched my major and I was just so much happier.

And I actually just got nominated and finished my application for this writing award or my freshman writing seminar because my professor said my writing was great and I was writing at a graduate level. So that’s pretty much my first year experience. It was terrible. And then it became great.

And now I have my own apartment and I’m happy. [00:50:00] Okay, our next question is what would you recommend for someone applying to Cornell to do an advanced before applying and while applying? So writing essays, interview application itself, et cetera. In other words, what makes a student stand out? What Cornell is looking for? I think my professor, my, for my art of teaching CrossFit as well, Cornell students are passionate with an edge.

So it’s like you can be passionate wherever. Like a lot of schools have passionate people, but Cornell students are passing it with an EDS because there’s just a little extra, I can’t tell you how to have that. They just can see it through your application process. When you’re writing your applications, really thinking about something that just really.

We really need to do a webinar on like personal statements. Cause I can really go into details. But really writing about something that really gets you like mad or upset or really excited and happy. Like I wrote about my college readiness club, that was something I was really passionate about. So with regards to the application, your personal statement is going to be the strongest points.

I’d say start [00:51:00] working on it as soon as possible. But if you’re as soon as possible, it means like junior year going into senior year, that summer is early. You do not need to start writing it in 10th grade year. Cause he may change as a person. As he got older, start writing it early for senior year, but not early, literally freshman year or something.

And then also getting your resume together. Cause you can submit your resume on your application. That’s also something that can help because you may not be able to bring up everything in your application. So if you have your resume ready with all the things you did no more than two pages though. All the things that you’ve done in high schools, but out really nicely in descriptive.

That’s a really strong point and it’s just an extra really making connections with people in your town, like your teachers, people outside of your school. Local organizations, if you watched my creating a passion project webinar, or I went into detail this really making connections with people that can give you a good recommendation is going to be important.

So those are like the main things you can do. Really just doing something that you like in high school, it’s all you really need to worry about right now. Like you [00:52:00] don’t need to go out and do a big goal, a project or anything, even though I talked about a passion project, you don’t need to do anything like out of your means pretty much to stand out.

It’s really just about how you can market yourself, how you’ve grown, what your thought processes are, who you are as a person, pretty much. That’s, what’s really gonna make you a good Cornell student. Just like you’re you just have something about you. I can’t really tell you how to do it cause I’m not be fake.

Our next question is how many hours on average of studying each night?

Depends on what major you’re doing. So I’m a human major, honestly. I don’t think it requires that much studying for me. And it depends on you as a person, what courses you’re taking. So when you’re actually applying to school, there’s like classes that are one credit to credit, three credit, four credit, and then there are ones with more, but those are usually like independent study type [00:53:00] classes.

So those are way later. But your one credits are your PE, so those don’t matter to credits or like seminars. So those don’t really have homework. You’re just sitting in a lecture. Three and four credits are where the hours are going to come in. So your three credit hours could mean like you have between three hours to five hours of homework a week, your four credit classes mean you’re going to have a little bit more.

It’s really about how well you manage your time and how you plan out your schedules. Because this is really when you get to the side, how many classes I’m going to have this day? Like I personally had it too. I only had my writing seminar and then my yoga class on Mondays. And that ended all at 11. So from one o’clock until eight o’clock.

I just had time to do my homework for the whole week. So that was literally my homework day. And then the rest of the week, I was good. I didn’t have to do any extra studying. Then again, I didn’t have that hard of a course load this semester, but with chem 2070, they tell you on the first day that it’s going to be the actual course.

So the lectures are like two hours [00:54:00] a week. Cause they’re one hours each and you have to do two lectures. Then you have pre lecture work, which is like an hour to an hour 30 minutes. Then you have after lecture work, then you have tutoring and then you have actual homework. So for Ken 20, 70, you’re putting in and then you have labs.

So you’re putting in about 10 hours for Kevin, 20, 70 alone. So it really.

Okay, real quick. I want to let everyone know what they can do if they’d like to work with us at CollegeAdvisor. So if you want to work one-on-one with an advisor from our team of over 155 advisors and admissions officers, then you can sign up for a free consultation with us by going to CollegeAdvisor.com and clicking the green chat button in the bottom, right of the screen from there, just write in consultation and a live team member will get back to you to help coordinate the free consultation with us.

Okay. I think we’re going to do one more question which will be.[00:55:00]

W what happens if you apply to a scope school, early decision, but you can’t afford the financial aid package offered. Are you still required to enroll? That’s an, it depends question because with early decision financial aid is the only way you can get out of the binding contract, but it has to be like you, you would live like you have to explain to the school how bad and debt you will be because the financial aid is bad, but you can also appeal to get more like even not even early decision, just in general, any school you’re applying to.

Once you get in, if you want to go there, but they don’t give you enough, you can always appeal. You just have to fill out an application and then send them something. To any most schools will give you more money, especially if they’re need-based And they have a good endowment, like Cornell is like $2 billion, so you can appeal.

But with that, if you have to explain to them why you can’t afford it, otherwise you’re going to be stuck in it. That’s why it’s really important to look at all your options. See if they’re [00:56:00] need-based, if they’re merit-based, unless they’re really just the best school and he know you have all the qualifications to get the money you need.

I don’t recommend doing early decision. If financial aid is going to be an issue for you. But if it’s need-based, I’d say it’s a little safer just because they usually have more money and they usually are better with financial aid. But you can get out of it. It’s just another application process to get out of it.

Otherwise you’re stuck.

Awesome. Thank you. This is the end of the Q and a thank you so much, everyone for coming out tonight and thank you McKenzie so much for presenting. If you have any more questions, you can just email me. Let me see if I can put in the chat. My email is Murray, M U R a Y at join CollegeAdvisor com. You can just email me your questions and I’ll try and get back as quick as possible.[00:57:00]

Thank you everyone so much. Thank you, Mackenzie. We added a wonderful time telling you about Cornell university and here’s the rest of our may series. So this is the end of the webinar and I’ll be closing it out now. Thanks everyone. Have a great night.