Junior Margaux Neiderbach, an information specialist with Campus Information and Visitor Relations, speaks to touring visitors on Ho Plaza during Cornell Days April 7. Charles Harrington/University Photography
The Statler Hotel isn't the only place taking overnight reservations this month. It's Cornell Days!
More than 1,400 potential members of next year's freshman class are expected to participate in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions' biggest event of the year, April 7-21. Students admitted to any of the seven undergraduate colleges come from near and far to explore Cornell.
During Cornell Days, high school seniors have a chance to "kick the tires" of their would-be alma mater and find out more about what it means to be a Cornellian. Students can stay overnight in the residence halls, attend classes in nearly any subject, take campus tours, taste dining hall food and see just what it feels like to be at Cornell -- at least for a day or two.
"I'm trying to see all of the campus, especially the residence halls," said high school senior Brian Kuzma, who drove seven hours from Pittsburgh with his mother last Friday.
Like others, Kuzma recently visited other campuses, including Duke, the University of Illinois and Penn State University. "I like Cornell's waterfalls," said Kuzma, who has been admitted to the College of Engineering.
Between the time admission offers are mailed in early April and the freshman enrollment deadline May 1, thousands of students will decide whether to accept Cornell's offer of admission.
Coordinating Cornell Days takes cooperation and hard work in dozens of offices across campus, including the admissions offices in Cornell's seven undergraduate schools and colleges, the Office of Financial Aid and Student Employment, Campus Life and the Information and Referral Center.
The nerve center of Cornell Days is the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, where student staff and volunteers mastermind the logistics of finding housing, and the answers to questions, for these important guests.
"It's more than a full-time job," said Sarah Toll, a junior studying neurobiology and behavior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and co-chair of Cornell Days. "Right now, I'm working about 50 hours a week on Cornell Days."
Toll fondly remembers her own Cornell Days in 1995. "I was sorting out academic programs and meeting faculty members," she said. "I remember just how big Cornell seemed back then. I try to make it more personal for everyone who's visiting today."
Cornell Days started in the late 1970s and has steadily grown in participation level. This year, more than a quarter of all the students admitted in the regular decision pool are expected on campus.
"It's become a tradition," said Nancy Hargrave Meislahn, director of undergraduate admissions. "Students who learned about Cornell through Cornell Days when they were in high school are among our most enthusiastic hosts. This is particularly exciting because Cornell Days is a completely student-run event that involves our whole community." More than 450 volunteer hosts will open up their residence hall rooms to overnight guests. Faculty, student ambassadors and administrators from all of the schools and colleges will run panel discussions, meet with students and help them navigate the campus.
Prospective students visit Cornell throughout the year, but according to tour guide Heather Kirby, there's no other time of year that people ask such exacting questions.
Cornell Days co-chair Matt Goldman, a senior biology major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said the most popular questions are about how to spend their precious few hours on campus. "They ask if it's possible to do everything on the Cornell Days schedule without missing out," Goldman said. "Once they realize that's not possible, they've realized what Cornell is all about."
| Cornell Chronicle Front Page | | Table of Contents | | Cornell News Service Home Page |