Cornell University

What is the history of Cornell University?

Cornell University was founded in 1865 in Ithaca, New York, by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White. It opened in 1868 as a nonsectarian, coeducational university with an unusually broad academic mission for its time: combining liberal studies with practical fields and research.

Cornell is New York's federal land-grant university, a designation tied to education, research, and public service. That role helps explain its combination of privately endowed colleges and state-supported contract colleges. Later developments broadened the institution beyond Ithaca, including its medical school in New York City and Cornell Tech's Roosevelt Island campus, which opened in 2017. Those locations are part of Cornell, but their programs and student experience differ from those of Ithaca undergraduates.

What are the faculties and departments at Cornell University?

Cornell organizes undergraduate study across colleges and schools rather than offering every major through one general admissions pool. Applicants ordinarily apply to a particular college or school, making academic fit important even before they choose a major.

Its undergraduate units include the College of Arts and Sciences; College of Engineering; College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; College of Human Ecology; College of Architecture, Art, and Planning; School of Industrial and Labor Relations; Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy; and the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and Nolan School of Hotel Administration within the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. Programs span fields such as biology, computer science, architecture, public policy, labor relations, hospitality, and agricultural sciences. The university also offers graduate and professional education through units including the Graduate School, Law School, College of Veterinary Medicine, and Weill Cornell Medicine.

College-specific curricula can affect required courses, portfolio expectations, and how easily a student changes programs. Prospective applicants should examine the requirements of their intended Cornell college, not just the university-wide list of majors.

What is the location of Cornell University?

Cornell's main campus is in Ithaca, a small city in New York's Finger Lakes region. Its setting combines a substantial residential university with a downtown community, steep terrain, and a climate that includes cold, snowy winters.

Students can use local bus service to travel between campus, downtown Ithaca, shopping areas, and nearby neighborhoods. Walking and cycling are options, although hills and winter weather matter when choosing housing. Ithaca Tompkins International Airport is the closer airport; Syracuse Hancock International Airport, farther away, may offer additional flight choices. Cornell also operates programs in New York City, but admission to an Ithaca undergraduate college should not be mistaken for enrollment at Cornell Tech or Weill Cornell Medicine.

What is the mission and vision of Cornell University?

Cornell describes its purpose through teaching, research, and public engagement. Its founding ideal - an institution where "any person can find instruction in any study" - expresses an ambition to offer broad access to fields of knowledge, not a promise that every applicant can enroll or that every course is open without prerequisites.

Its land-grant responsibilities place particular emphasis on applying scholarship beyond the campus, including through extension and community partnerships. Cornell is nonsectarian. The founding ideal and the university's stated priorities describe its educational philosophy; applicants should evaluate how particular programs, costs, and support services match their own goals.