(upbeat funky music)
I'm Sam Clark with Crimson Education
and a lot of you loyal subscribers
have asked us quite a few times to go to Cornell.
Well, we did it.
We're at Cornell.
We're super excited because it's a beautiful day,
which maybe it not usually is.
(laughs)
We're at Cornell University to ask some big questions.
Check it out, Crimson Education.
(upbeat funky music)
(jazz music)
- First question, what is the best thing about Cornell?
- The best thing about Cornell, I'd say the people.
I love all of the people I've met here.
I'm just a freshman, but so far so good.
- Heart thy heart.
- We're best friends.
We met over FaceTime and since day one,
we've gotten along very well.
So I'd say that it's a very friendly welcoming environment.
- Um ...
What is the best thing about Cornell?
- I think the people.
Cornell is huge, so there's lots of
different personalities here.
Like there's so many people,
you're gonna find your place here,
you're gonna find a community.
It's very easy to find your place here because
there's so many people.
So I guess, yeah, the people.
- I would say probably just chilling
on the arts quad like after class
when it's really nice weather out, it's really beautiful.
- Hanging out with friends, like Lily.
- Friendship!
- Great resources here, too.
- Yeah, amazing.
- I would say, besides the people,
my favorite part about Cornell is
the beautiful nature and the landscape.
There's so many waterfalls, different hikes to do on campus,
we even have a lake on campus.
And really, I would say that the topography here
is unmatched to any other campus that I've seen.
- Great use of topography, yeah.
In contrast, what's the worst thing about Cornell?
- Hm ...
Well, I don't ...
- Probably the winter.
It's true, it's quite cold.
- This is not typical, this.
- Not at all, that's why everyone's outside.
'Cause usually, I don't know where everyone goes
when it's cold out, but they're not here.
- Right, if this is how the weather was,
I would never leave.
But instead, I am going home this summer.
- Fair enough, fair enough.
- Okay here's something I hate about Cornell.
I don't like how everything is moving to technology,
and the campus is literally turning into a corporation.
- Of course the workload.
And I guess it varies from person to person,
but I think, yeah the workload,
and maybe the lack of resources for students
in terms of mental health.
You know, 'cause it does get serious.
And there are not adequate ways
students can express themselves
and express the troubles they're having.
- What would you say is the biggest misconception
about Cornell that you have found
is not true when you get here?
- That there are smart people here.
- Fair enough, fair enough.
- I would say that people think that it's just like
kind of miserable up here because it can get very cold.
But I'd say, I've had the best of year of my life,
which is very cliche, you come back from college
and people are just like, oh, it's the best thing ever.
But just like balance with the social life
and the people I've met here
and just taking advantage of learning to live alone
and starting to adult or whatever they call it.
It's been pretty amazing.
- Before coming here, I thought it would be very isolated,
just the way people talk about Ithaca and Cornell.
Like, oh you're in the middle of nowhere.
And obviously, it is kind of a bubble,
but it's not a bad thing.
I actually really like how
it's a very closed and close campus.
- It definitely feels like a tiny community.
You don't feel like you're in the middle of nowhere.
There's so many things to do here
that you never would've expected.
- I had the idea that people would be just kind of
(bleep) holes and pretty pretentious
and that it would be like a workaholic culture,
which in many ways that exists.
But I don't know, I live in a co-op of people
who are pretty amazing and challenge that.
There are definitely people, and there is a culture
of working really, really hard.
But I've been able to use that to just study what I want.
And so I'm happy to be doing it.
And then you know, you take a break and you come outside.
- What do you typically do on weekends here?
- I go to a lot of shows, like student group shows.
Like Lily, she's in acapella,
so go to acapella student groups,
dance shows, also just movies.
- Yeah, like Cornell Cinema has some great movies.
Some kind of indie movies that you usually don't see
at regular cinemas.
- Sure, yeah.
- It's really cool to see.
- Set up my hammock, fell asleep in the graveyard,
just a little bit earlier today in a hammock.
The gorges here are beautiful.
I'm part of some outdoor clubs, so we go on hikes
and typically the co-op has something going on.
We have some beer ball, water ball.
- Water, but nah it can be beer ball.
- We're in a sorority so we always usually have
sorority events whether it's like a charity event
or a mixer with other Greek organizations.
- Go to Wegmans and get some bananas.
- Get some bananas.
What did you write your application essays about
for Cornell?
- Okay, so I wrote about Nancy Drew.
She was my favorite mystery character.
And I talked about how she was like this really brave
heroine who I looked up to.
So she helped me, like be a role model,
and overcome some fears I had when I was dancing.
- Being super like psyched out about all the professors.
And thinking about all the different opportunities.
That's what my essay revolved around.
That's what I remember, but there probably was more,
but just really excited about the government department.
- Okay, I'm pretty sure mine for Cornell
was specifically about their
computer and information science program here.
'Cause I knew that was what I wanted to do,
and they have a really good program for that.
- To be honest, this was the only,
I applied to like 13 schools,
and this was the only school,
I wasn't gonna apply to it.
And then I had a party to go to,
and I called my brother who really wanted me to go here.
And I told him how I just wasn't into it.
It's too big of a school, I wasn't interested.
And he was just like, do it.
And so I had 45 minute and I wrote two essays.
And I genuinely don't know what they're about.
- Fair enough.
- So I wrote about my typical day in high school
and what it looks like, what kind of classes I would take,
what kind of organizations I was a part of,
and just kind of like the busy life,
and how I was hoping to translate
that kind of lifestyle to life at Cornell.
- Thank you guys so much.
Anything to add?
- I love it here, come.
- Do it!
- All right, thank you guys so much.
Have a good one.
(jazz music)
Major swamp.
Is really (bleep)ing hot.
Apparently that's not what it's like normally,
but I don't care 'cause I'm sweating buckets.
- I'm wearing shorts.
(jazz music)