Men's Basketball 67 Princeton 59

[Jim Hyla]

Does anyone know why our schedule changed this year? For as long as I can remember, we opened our Ivy season with a home-and-home series against Columbia on consecutive Saturdays. This year, we opened with a weekend series against Penn and Princeton. I actually like it better this way, but I was curious as to why the schedule was changed.

To accommodate Princeton's exam schedule, apparently.

Does anyone here understand why Princeton takes their exams a month after the semester is over besides the fact that they dont want to conform to what probably every other college in this country does? I would hate to have to take exams after winter break, no closure of the semester and you feel the need to have to study everyday on what is supposed to be winter break

Princeton really screwed up the women's basketball schedule, Cornell traveled to Princeton on 1/13 and then has to go back to Penn on 1/29

This is exactly how Cornell--and most if not all Ivies except, perhaps, Dartmouth and its quarterly semesters--scheduled semesters and exams back in the 60s.  Unlike others, Princeton retains that calendar.  Frankly, I preferred it.

Ditto.

I never liked it at the time, for exactly the reasons that phillysportsfan said. I never really did work over break, but felt the long break was not good for continuity. However I also never participated under the current plan, and have often wondered whether things seemed, or were, rushed at the end of the semester. I also don't know if I'd like to start school before Labor Day. My memory is poor on this, but I think we started afterwards. True?

[phillysportsfan]

Things were rushed at the end between finishing up final projects and taking finals but there was closure to the semester immediately. I would have hated to have to deal with having to work over break

[billhoward]

Holiday break, back for a bit of class, exams, another break, then spring semester starting late January made sense mostly if you lived nearby, not so good if you were from California. One reason for Cornell's switch in early 1970s was to avoid heating campus for 3-4 of the coldest months. (Except the first oil shock hit in 1973 and I think Cornell shifted a year or two before, so high energy prices weren't the intial trigger.) The Dartmouth quarterly plan still makes more sense since school can start after Labor Day yet you're done before Xmas, you're carring 3-4 not 4-5 courses, you get a spring break longer than a week, and you get to be in Ithaca in the summer when it's nicest. (Dartmouth requires you spend at least one summer semester there.) Quarterly plan also lets you increase enrollment by about 10% without adding more buildings. Not sure how the faculty likes year-round school; they probably have an opinion on it.

But the quarterly system doesn't seem to be catching on and at least one northeast school is switching back from quarterly to semesters.

Do students / alumni under 30 think it odd you have to start school in late August, or is that just the way it's always been?

[css228]

Holiday break, back for a bit of class, exams, another break, then spring semester starting late January made sense mostly if you lived nearby, not so good if you were from California. One reason for Cornell's switch in early 1970s was to avoid heating campus for 3-4 of the coldest months. (Except the first oil shock hit in 1973 and I think Cornell shifted a year or two before, so high energy prices weren't the intial trigger.) The Dartmouth quarterly plan still makes more sense since school can start after Labor Day yet you're done before Xmas, you're carring 3-4 not 4-5 courses, you get a spring break longer than a week, and you get to be in Ithaca in the summer when it's nicest. (Dartmouth requires you spend at least one summer semester there.) Quarterly plan also lets you increase enrollment by about 10% without adding more buildings. Not sure how the faculty likes year-round school; they probably have an opinion on it.

But the quarterly system doesn't seem to be catching on and at least one northeast school is switching back from quarterly to semesters.

Do students / alumni under 30 think it odd you have to start school in late August, or is that just the way it's always been?

Pretty much just the way it's been for us, but I like it. I'd much rather be done my exams and have nothing to worry about over break, unless I choose to take a winter session course.

[billhoward]

Pretty much just the way it's been for us, but I like it. I'd much rather be done my exams and have nothing to worry about over break, unless I choose to take a winter session course.

A month off lets you do an intersession course right after Christmas. Similarly, with school ending in mid-May, you can take a class or two in May-June and still have summer ahead of you. Some schools even urge you to do that to cut your courseload during the school year. Syracuse suggested to Class of 2015 admits that they take summer courses before starting their actual four years. No, you can't apply the school year tuition toward summer courses.

[David Harding]

Pretty much just the way it's been for us, but I like it. I'd much rather be done my exams and have nothing to worry about over break, unless I choose to take a winter session course.

A month off lets you do an intersession course right after Christmas. Similarly, with school ending in mid-May, you can take a class or two in May-June and still have summer ahead of you. Some schools even urge you to do that to cut your course load during the school year. Syracuse suggested to Class of 2015 admits that they take summer courses before starting their actual four years. No, you can't apply the school year tuition toward summer courses.

There are several Cornell summer courses aimed at rising freshman.  http://www.sce.cornell.edu/ss/courses/courses.php?action=roster&f=so&v=1

[billhoward]

Doesn't (didn't?) Cornell lean on some rising freshmen with special circumstances such as a family with no previous college history, or a HS with a minority of graduates going to college, to use the summer before for a transition-to-Cornell experience. That seems a good thing. Ditto for getting ahead in general. Maybe I read the Syracuse letter wrong when our son showed it to us, but the intent seemed more along the lines of, "Wouldn't it be nice if you could sail through freshmen year taking 12 credits each semester ... 'course, you'll owe us an extra six grand for the summer school courses." There ought to be a discount for time-shifting your coursework.

[Swampy]

Doesn't (didn't?) Cornell lean on some rising freshmen with special circumstances such as a family with no previous college history, or a HS with a minority of graduates going to college, to use the summer before for a transition-to-Cornell experience. That seems a good thing. Ditto for getting ahead in general. Maybe I read the Syracuse letter wrong when our son showed it to us, but the intent seemed more along the lines of, "Wouldn't it be nice if you could sail through freshmen year taking 12 credits each semester ... 'course, you'll owe us an extra six grand for the summer school courses." There ought to be a discount for time-shifting your coursework.

The idea of taking 2 courses before freshman year to cut the load from 10 to 8 courses during the academic year is a good one, if it does not cost extra. It fits in with other policies designed to make the transition easier (no rush in Fall Semester, no cars for frosh, etc.). If faculty members could also teach two courses each per summer as an elected part of their normal teaching duties and then devote a full semester during the academic year to research, it could be win-win.

These days colleges are trying to find revenue everywhere. The Syracuse summer program and most of the courses offered by Cornell seem more oriented to generating income than to helping high-school to college transition.

But students can also game the system. Take 5 courses over two summers for $15K, graduate in 3.5 years, and save half a year in tuition & fees. An ever more cost-effective strategy is to take the summer courses at the local community college or public university while living at home. Your grades will probably be higher than in courses offered at Cornell, and the cost will be much lower. Very few employers or graduate schools will ever care, much less know, that 1/8 of your credits for your Cornell degree were taken elsewhere.

Of course the quality of the courses is another matter. Better not take them in required prerequisites.

[ugarte]

I'm sure it is expensive to take summer classes if you take them at Syracuse but you don't have to. You can save money by taking a few summer classes at a community college or state school in your hometown. I took my ILR writing requirement over the summer at Queens College.

[ugarte]

I'm not starting a thread to say that Cornell can play defense but can't shoot worth a damn. Lost to Columbia tonight in NYC.

[mountainred]

I'm not starting a thread to say that Cornell can play defense but can't shoot worth a damn. Lost to Columbia tonight in NYC.

That's not the whole story.  They also can't rebound worth a damn either.

[billhoward]

I'm sure it is expensive to take summer classes if you take them at Syracuse but you don't have to. You can save money by taking a few summer classes at a community college or state school in your hometown. I took my ILR writing requirement over the summer at Queens College.

You may have to. OUr son's college in Virginia says if you want to take, say, intro to macro economics in the May-June quickie semester, it can't be offered by the college at the same time. Let's hope that rule doesn't spread.

[dag14]

And there is at least one endowed college at Cornell that won't accept community college courses taken during the summer.