GradJen

There are several small computer labs on campus and then all the libraries have computers and printers. Unfortunately it is not free - I think it was 5 or 10 cents / page for black and white and then 25 cents for color (which you can put on your bursar bill), but there are no limitations on numbers of pages or anything. There may be printers available to you with free printing from your department though. Hope this helps!

Hello and yay for Cornell!! What department are you in? Depending on where your classes/work will be, where you should live to avoid the big hills will be different. However, as my friends and I used to joke about in undergrad - at Cornell you walk uphill in the snow both ways to get to/from class. It usually isnt possible to avoid all hills. Motorists are pretty good on campus, because they know students are likely to jump into the streets at any time to cross, and the roads will be fine in the summer and part of the fall, but I really would not recommend relying on a bike the full year. While the streets are well plowed in the winter, there is always some slush and often poor visibility so I would consider it too dangerous to ride during those months. If you are looking at lower-collegetown, there is a very decent bus system (tcatbus.com) that could be used when the weather gets bad.

Hi Snowy! I worked in two labs as an undergrad - one in neuroscience and the other in animal science. The neuro lab had a somewhat tense working culture but the animal one was very relaxed and I didn`t get any sort of bad competition vibes from it. I think what it comes down to is the PI. If he or she is really tense or competitive, the students in it will become so too. This is partially why I like the rotation-system idea, because it will give us the chance to see first-hand which labs have the kind of working environment that suit us best. I don`t have any experience in genetics-oriented labs at Cornell, but I visited and met with the people in two other labs through the veterinary school during the interview visit and they also seemed friendly and relaxed (One lab just found out a post-doc candidate they wanted was accepting, and the PI was all excited that his `team` was coming together for next year). If there was a sense of competition in them, it was the good kind. Sorry I can`t be of more help. Do you know what lab or labs you want to work in? I look forward to meeting you this fall! -Jen

Hello all! I did my undergrad at Cornell as well, and I didn't think the on-campus graduate housing that I saw was all that bad - though it is expensive compared to off-campus housing (exe: I'll be living in a large 4-bdrm, 2-bath house about 5 min from campus for $375/mo - versus University housing of between 4-600/mo) . Though I am not choosing university housing myself next year, I can see the community and convenience benefits. I also agree that Craigslist for housing is not bad at all. Feel free to contact me with questions about the Cornell/Ithaca area. And I can't wait to meet you all next year! Anyone else in biomedical sciences?