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Inside Scoop

Quick Stats

School Slang
  • 15 Day Drop: This refers to the withdrawal from a course on the 15th day of the block.
  • Accommodations : This refers to when students are able to add classes to their schedule for terms they were unable to get into during the normal registration period.
  • Bidding: Students use points to “bid” on courses that may fill up during registration. Generally, students have a total of 10 points per number of terms for which they are registering.
  • Block: Also known as a term, this refers to the three and a half weeks scheduled for each course.
  • The Commons: Cornell’s Student Center—the main hub of campus.
  • CR: Cedar Rapids—located just 20 minutes away.
  • IC: Iowa City—located just 30 minutes away.
  • Kiosk: Three cement pillars located outside of Bowman-Carter facing The Commons. These are painted by students to advertise for events and send messages to friends and are one of two places on campus it is legal to graffiti.
  • NSO: New Student Orientation
  • OC: Orange Carpet—located on the second floor of The Commons.
  • OCAAT: One Course At A Time, also known as "the block plan."
  • PA: Peer Advisor, a person who helps lead new students during NSO.
  • PAAC: Performing Arts and Activities Council—plans activities like comedians and bands for the student body.
  • RA: Resident Assistant—there is typically one per floor in each residence hall.
  • RATT: The Rathskeller—The café on the second floor of The Commons, and the only other place to eat on campus besides the dining hall.
  • Scramble: The area in Sodexho where food is served. There are no lines and don't even think about using a tray.
  • Sodexho: The dining service provider at Cornell —also refers to the dining hall or cafeteria in The Commons.
  • Validation: The process for handling all enrollment details for incoming students in one place, at one time, and without long lines.
Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming To School
  • Mount Vernon is the quintessential small town. There's no public transportation, and most mainstream amenities are at least a 20-minute drive away.
  • One Course At A Time is still a lot of work. You could end up reading five books and writing several papers in just one block.
  • The food in the dining hall is not five-star restaurant cuisine.
  • You are automatically put on the 20 meal/week plan, but you can change it the first two weeks of each semester.
Tips to Succeed
  • Always go to class. With only 18 days in a block, missing one day of class at Cornell is like missing a week of class on the semester plan.
  • Get involved. Find a campus organization or two that you are interested in—you never know what opportunities may present themselves.
  • Get your general education requirements out of the way your freshman year. You don't want to be that lame senior in an intro-level course.
  • Keep partying for the weekends. Missing just one night's homework can put you way behind.
  • Learn good time management skills and find a balance between class work and a social life. It's easy to focus on one and let the other go, but both are necessary to have a fulfilling college experience.
  • Take classes that sound interesting, even if you have no experience in that department or subject area. You may stumble across something you're truly passionate about.
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Cornell College Student ReviewsWhat's This?

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Inside Scoop at Cornell College

tperson

Kinesiology and Exercise Science '15

N/A

Block Plan

My school's block program is amazing. The block program offers one class every three weeks and it helps students really focus on that specific class. Plus it has great study abroad programs, and some classes even offer studies in other places, like a psychology course is offered to study in Costa Rica. The opportunities are endless and I love it.

Dec 29, 2011

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Inside Scoop at Cornell College

aflor

Foreign Language Teacher Education '12

1.9
C-

OCCAT

oh, occat. There is something fantastic about only doing one class at a time, but it speeds up life. It isn't that the course work is harder per say, but the pace will make everything seem like the end of the world. The students while insane are generally some of the nicest people you will ever meet. Just be aware that when they listed it in the top 100 schools that change lives, change is a neutral word.

Sep 16, 2011

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Inside Scoop at Cornell College

eguida15

International Relations and National Security Studies '15

3.1
B-

OCATT, Weight Room, Organic Foods

One Course At A Time allows you to focus all of your knowledge on that course for 3.5 weeks and then you move to another course. They had a brand new weight room that is off the chain where you can literally attach weighted chains on ur lifts like the olimpic trainers. What I like a lot is the use of oraganic food in their dishes.

Sep 14, 2011

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Page 1 of 5
User rating for Cornell College - Inside Scoop is 4.6 out of 5 based on 13 user reviews.

Facts

Traditions
  • The Moose on the Wall: A resident of Law Hall since 1925, the stuffed moose head on the wall presides over a student lounge which bears its name—Moosehead—and has been known to receive postcards from admirers.
  • Move-in day: The first day of NSO, Cornell's fall athletes and student leaders gather to help new students move in to the residence halls. That's right—you won't have to carry all your things up to that fourth floor room, but you will have to move it all out in the spring.
  • The Rock: Since first coming to campus in 1889 by horse and wagon, this 5,000-pound granite boulder has been relocated, painted, burned, buried, and a lot more. Today, the Rock resides behind Old Sem and is fair game for anyone with a can of paint.
  • Toilet Paper Toss: Cornell’s rivalry with Coe College in Cedar Rapids is the oldest athletic rivalry west of the Mississippi and has led to a few interesting traditions. For instance, each year, Ram fans celebrate the men’s basketball team’s first home basket of the year against Coe by filling the court with toilet paper streamers.
Urban Legends
  • Bowman-Carter (the oldest all-women's dorm west of the Mississippi) is haunted.
  • If you sit under the ginkgo tree in the President's yard and look into a mirror at midnight when there is a full moon, you will see the face of the person you will marry.

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Name
Erin McNeill
Hometown
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Major
Sociology/Anthropology, English

College Prowler is seeking talented student authors to assist with writing and updating the College Prowler guides to their schools. This is a great opportunity for a student to gain experience and tremendous exposure, utilize new media techniques, and share advice with high school students about what life is really like at your college.

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How do we get our information? Find out here or report an error here. The statistics on our site are from the National Center for Education Statistics IPEDS database.
We update this information twice annually, most recently in May 2012, but it may not be the most recent information available for a particular school.
For additional information we encourage you to visit school websites or contact the schools directly.