Making Cornell Easier with the Strong Triadic Closure Property
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/pros-cons-taking-class-with-friends
Cornell is known for many great things: campus life, scenic gorges, and the great tasting ice cream. However, Cornell is also infamously known for the tough classes and difficult majors. In effort to make the challenging course load easier, students try to strategically choose their class schedules, specifically pertaining to having class with friends. There are a lot of factors that determine a class’s difficulty, such as the professor, material, or credit hours, but having someone you know in the class usually only makes the class better. Furthermore, with Cornell’s long add/drop period, a lot of relationships change to model the principles we’ve discussed in class.
One limitation to applying these relationships to topics from class is that some classes are major requirements and can not be avoided. However, for liberal studies, students have a lot more leeway in their choices and often follow the Strong Triadic Closure Principle.
When a student enjoys a class ( a strong tie exists between the student and the class) he or she will probably recommend it to a friend. There are many reasons to want your friend to be in class with you. As the article states, you may want someone to work on homework or study with, you can keep track of assignments and deadlines easier, or you may just want someone to joke around in lecture. Since you and the class have a strong tie and you and your friend have a strong tie, it is very beneficial for you to complete the triangle and get your friend to join the class (creating an edge between the two). Another situation is if you and a stranger both enjoy the same class. There exists a strong tie between you and the class and between the class and the stranger. No edge exists between you and the stranger, but as the close goes on you will probably become connected with another. If you and the stranger both enjoy the class, you may partner in a group, work on homework together, or even become TAs together. Eventually, a tie will form between you two, completing the triangle.
The relationship between students and class will also most likely be balanced. As already described above, there can exist three positive edges between two friends taking the same class. One situation not described yet is if two students both dislike the same class. If the two students are already friends with another, then the triangle is balanced since there is two negative edges and one positive. However, if the two students are not already friends, they may be likely to form a positive relationship with another. Tough classes require much collaboration to understand the material or finish assignments. In this process, students who are struggling may often reach out to other students for help or simply to “share the pain”. Some classes are so tough, the only way to get through it is to joke about how hard it is. In this way, you form a positive relationship with another student, as you share the mutual dislike for the class.
The scenarios listed above definitely don’t occur for every class, student, or situation. Large class sizes could be a main reason for students in the same class to never meet, but for smaller classes, the relationships have a high chance of following the principles of class, namely the Strong Triadic Closure Property and balanced trees.