Today was Cornell. Very nice campus, and it seems like they have exactly the same programs I'm looking for. They have a lot of technology classes through the college of arts and sciences, along with the music classes, which are open to anyone in any major. It was gray, foggy, and a balmy 40 degrees today, perfect for a walking tour of campus. We started the day at the College of Arts and Sciences information meeting, then we visited the music department and took a tour of the freshman housing. Also ate lunch at one of the dining places in the North Capus freshman dorms. Heh... all you can eat buffet, picking and choosing from choices including Kosher, Vegan, Pizza, Grill, Ethnic, and probably a dozen others. Good food, too!

To save you some time, here are some interesting points of the Cornell visit:

College of Arts and Sciences

990 Freshmen, 1100 Seniors

25% of students Double Major

Major is declared between frosh orientation and end of sophomore year

AP credits count for graduation, not for major, use the AP tests to test out of intro level classes

Writing seminar classes emphasized as part of liberal arts

Honors programs available, writing is very important

All courses taught by faculty, only writing seminars taught by PhD students

Admissions

Admissions Requirements fit with Skyview grad req's

28% of Applicants are admitted

Roughly 30% admitted are early decision

Mid-range SAT 1450

Essay, written application portions essential

Need based financial aid, no merit scholarships

Housing Tour

All Freshmen live in North Campus residence halls

Single, double, triple, and quad rooms available

Rooms have TV hookup, internet jacks, desks and beds

All you can eat buffet option for meals, also cafes and other restaraunts on campus

Rec rooms throughout residence halls for study, TV breaks

Most of campus is covered with wireless internet

Music Department

All programs and classes open to non-majors

Less than 50 music majors, more than 10 faculty

Practice rooms, storage lockers in Lincoln Hall music building

Jazz bands, wind ensembles, marching bands, choirs...


So there you have it. Cornell. Actually, it's the only place I've visited so far that hasn't managed to elimanate itself. (NYU had the overwhelming city, Ithaca didn't have the coursework or the programs I was looking for.) Right now, the only real drawback Cornell has is the location. Ithaca is a long way from home, 7 or 8 hours by airplane and bus. I guess it's also quite cold here in the winter, which apparently includes the month of April. Someone yelled "ITS COLD HERE ALL THE TIME" during our tour. Oh well, cold isn't so bad. Still have a few colleges to look at, then I still have to apply and get accepted.

After all the tours, we went back to the room and rested up. Afterwards, we went out and explored Collegetown and the Ithaca area. There are about two blocks of the "Ithaca Commons" which make up downtown Ithaca, with pizza places, ethnic and vegan food. (Sound familiar? This is Upstate New York, one of the most liberal areas in the country, other than the good old Northwest.) Drove along the shore of the big lake nearby, but it was getting very hazy and almost misting. Still quite cold, meh... no sun today. We had dinner at a little pizza place in the commons, it wasn't quite as good as the NYC pizza. (No surprise there!) Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 7 for a 10:00 flight out of Syracuse to Manchester, by way of New Jersey. From Manchester, we'll rent a car and drive 45 minutes or so to Dartmouth. We have a hotel on campus, not sure if we'll have internet or not. If so, expect more posts soon. If not, I'll backdate my posts when I get home. Be home Saturday afternoon!