After a long hiatus, our College of the Month feature is back! We are lucky enough to get to travel and visit amazing colleges and universities all across the country, meeting with students, professors and admission representatives so we can continue to bring that knowledge back here and share it with you.
And up first I present to you the College Admissions Partners’ June College of the Month: Cornell College.
I know what you are thinking, and no, I’m not talking about “that” Cornell, the Ivy tower out in Ithica, New York. I’m talking about Cornell College (not University-remember the distinction) in tiny Mount Vernon, Iowa.
So what makes this Cornell a stand out? I’m so glad you asked. Cornell runs on a block plan where students take one course at a time for 18 days. Following a rejuvenating four day break and it starts up all again. Another course. Another 18 days.
One of the many advantages to this system is that professors are also only teaching one class at a time. This leads to flexibility with class and lab times, study abroad and field trip opportunities, and a lack of competition for time and resources. At the end of each year you will have 8 classes under your belt, strong relationships with professors and classmates, and an engaged and rigorous education.
I appreciate that Cornell also explicitly caps their class sizes at 25. That means that unlike the vast majority of schools who tout small average classes sizes while you are sitting in a lecture hall with 70 other students in Bio 101, Cornell puts its money where its mouth is and remains deeply committed to small classes and individualized attention.
College Admissions Partners recently got the chance to visit Cornell and sit down with three professors and the VP of Enrollment and learned a few other facts you may be interested in. Cornell boasts a 77.6% med school acceptance rate and has a dedicated pre-med advising committee working with students comprehensively through the application process. And with this one class model you can take Organic Chemistry without worrying about neglecting all your other classes at the same time. Win win.
If that isn’t enough to convince you to give this little Iowa gem a look? Don’t take my word for it, Cornell is also one of an elite group of schools deemed “Colleges that Change Lives”.
I’m not going to lie, I left my visit feeling pretty excited about Cornell and the unique opportunities it could offer the right student. Could that student be you?
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