Last Wednesday I attended the café talk by Professor Daniel Schwartz on how to succeed in college. I was most impressed by his criticism of the Greek system, which I believe produces more negative than positive impact on college campuses. Greek life creates an environment of exclusivity that encourages discrimination towards those who do not fit society’s mold of elite, which is why the majority of people involved are white and upper-class. Faternities and sororities have been widely criticized for racially insensitive themed parties in which mostly white students participate in various forms of blackface and brownface. Because of the atmosphere of exclusivity, when new members are admitted they are encouraged to participate in acts of hazing because they want to be accepted by the majority. On college campuses across the nation, including Cornell, we have seen deaths of young students due to hazing in fraternities specifically. Fraternities are also where many cases of sexual assault occur. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 1 in 5 women are sexually assaulted while in college. It was also found that over 90% of sexual assault victims on college campuses don’t report the assault. At one university, of the men who self-reported rape or attempted rape, 63.3% also admitted to committing repeat rapes. In my opinion, the hypermasculinity present in fraternities coupled with a need to fit in and be accepted, create a very dangerous environment for women who enter those spaces. By allowing this to occur, and by not giving victims the needed support, administrators across the country have failed in keeping women safe on college campuses. Despite all the terrible aspects of Greek life, administrators are unwilling to deal with its consequences. This may be because of the potential backlash from alumni or because of the attention from the media that comes with every instance of discrimination, hazing, or sexual assault in the Greek system. One could make the case that fraternities and sororities do philanthropy work and they provide a social group for college students. However, there are many other organizations that do philanthropy work without those negative effects and the need for a safe campus is more important, in my opinion, than maintaining a social network that is rife with discrimination, hazing and sexual assault.

Last Wednesday I attended another Rose Cafe led by Professor Daniel Schwarz and he talked about a lot of aspects surrounding the topic of college. What I really liked was that Professor Schwarz talked about the entire college experience including getting into college, life during college, and the struggles that some people face once they leave college. Although I have already gone through the phase in my life of applying to college and the Professor’s advice didn’t directly affect me, I was still glad to hear him talk about it especially since I have a younger brother who has yet to go through the college application process. I also found it interesting when he spoke about the divide between socioeconomic classes when applying to college. The upper-middle class has an incredible amount of resources and can start preparing their children for the application process at a very young age, especially in private schools. However the lower-middle class doesn’t have access to these resources such as tutors and SAT prep classes, and are much less guided on what the application process is like. I went to a public school in Rochester that was actually quite helpful in helping me apply to college, and I now realize how lucky I was in going to a school that gave me access to many resources.

Another point that Professor Schwarz touched upon was the struggle that students face after they leave college, and specifically the first year out of college and in the real world. He mentioned how leaving college for the first time can be really difficult and quite lonely for many people because you’re in an entirely new location with no friends, and you’re struggling to find your place again. It’s much like attending college during the first semester of freshman year. Although I am only a sophomore, this is something that I have thought about quite a bit. In college it’s easy to make friends during freshman year because you live in dorms and attend classes with people your age. However outside of college there is no structure to meet people besides through your job.

This past Wednesday, I attended a talk by Daniel R. Schwarz providing a more distanced perspective of the college experience. He discussed major hurdles faced by students during each academic year, and told us about how we can personally make the most of our time in college.

One thing that hit home with me was something he said about the value of education in general. He said something to the effect that education teaches you how to listen to other people and formulate your own ideas, and while I desperately wish that were true, I’m not so sure it is. Majors outside the humanities do very little introspective thinking, and as a result, fail to cultivate their interpersonal communication skills. Although science produces brilliant minds, I firmly believe that not all issues can be resolved with cold hard facts, and a functioning member of society must be able to reason with those around them.

So yeah… I guess this biology major is making a case for the humanities.

Go take an English class or something.

Although Professor Schwarz’s book is titled How to Succeed in College and Beyond, the portion of his discussion that stuck out the most to me was his thoughts about succeeding before college; in particular, applying and getting accepted to a university. In one part of his discussion, Professor Schwarz talked about how private or upper-middle class schools tend to prepare kids for college from a young age by offering resources such as tutoring, advanced classes, etc. I went to a private middle school and I can attest that this is true; I remember doing a project in 7th grade in which I researched different universities and picked out the ones I most wanted to attend. Our curriculum was also more advanced in comparison to the public middle schools in the area.

After I graduated from this private middle school I went to a public high school in a middle-lower class town. Although I liked it better than my private school, there were some clear differences in the caliber of academics. Out of my entire graduating class of 550 students, I think only about 100 ended up going straight to four-year universities. I had friends at the private high school in the area, and if I recall correctly, 90% of the graduating class went straight to four-year colleges. There’s clearly a wide discrepancy here.

I think part of the reason for this discrepancy is that upper-class schools and families simply have more resources to prepare their children for college. Upper class students probably also feel more pressure to get good grades. However, I think the biggest reason is that lower-class students are discouraged from even applying because they think it’s unaffordable. I knew so many smart people with good grades who didn’t even apply for four-year colleges because they thought their family couldn’t afford it. When word got out that I was going to Cornell, countless people asked me how I was going to afford to pay the exorbitant $60,000 tuition. To be honest, I got a $45,000/year grant, and scholarships and loans covered the rest. My family paid very little out-of-pocket.

So anyways, I think the main reason why lower class students tend not to go to college is because they simply don’t know how much aid is available to them. Of course they know financial aid exists, but I don’t think they know quite how much a school can offer them. Professor Schwarz briefly touched upon this lower/upper class divide in his talk, but from firsthand experience I think the reasons for this divide are a lot more than a lack of resources. If lower class high schoolers simply realized that it is possible for college to be affordable, I think they would try harder to get good grades and apply to universities.

Last wednesday I attended Dr. Schwarz’s talk on his book “How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning.”

I felt like there was a some very good advice, but also some aspects of his talk that I did not agree with. He covered the general topics of the book in chronological order, starting with getting into colleges, and finishing with ‘success’ beyond college.

The advice about getting into college and the freshman year did not really apply to me as a sophomore, but he aknowledged that most of the audience was sophomore or above, and hurried through those sections. One thing he said about freshman year was that the first 6-12 weeks was the “red zone” by which he meant that most bad things happen. Although I found the first 12 weeks at Cornell to be the hardest, I found that most of my freshman year was extremely challenging.

Another thing that he talked about was diversifying the student body of top notch universities. He talked about the some of the challenges that low income students face. I am do not fit the mold of the typical Cornell student, and especially in my first year in engineering, I found it very difficult to keep up with students who had already been exposed to a lot of the coursework. Though this was one of my major struggles in adapting to the Cornell environment, I feel that Dr. Schwarz did not give the issue much attention. He seemed to have focused his advice to appeal to majors in the College of Arts and Sciences where this is not as much of an issue.

Another piece of advice that I think did not translate as well to the engineering curriculum, was to choose courses with great, caring, passionate professors. The engineering curriculum does not offer very much flexibility, so choosing a professor is often not an option. If it was plausible, I could see how that advice would be very useful.

Dr. Schwarz implied that Ivy League institutions such as Cornell often inflate grades. I also have not seen this to be true in the engineering department. Large survey courses in math and science especially tend to have long hard exams, and come out with a bell distribution which is curved usually to a B or B-. I think that this often does not reflect the abilities or the learning of a student very accurately, but not because it is an inflated representation.

Overall I thought the talk was very engaging and that Dr. Schwarz is a very interesting individual and most likely a fantastic professor, but that is advice was not particularly well suited for engineering students.

Prof. Schwartz was an incredibly engaging speaker. Although none of the people in the audience were freshmen, he spoke on a wide range of college-related topics that applied to all of us in some way: financial aid, study abroad, Greek life, and much more.

One of the most interesting things that Prof. Schwartz mentioned was taking classes for the professor, not the topic. Unfortunately, many of us won’t be able to do much about that until junior or senior year (when we get out of core/major/prerequisite classes). Even so, many of the classes in my major are huge, and people fight for spots during pre-enroll and add/drop. As a result, it is difficult to get to know the professors on a personal level because they are so busy tending to a massive number of other students. I feel like Prof. Schwartz’s advice would be more applicable to humanities students; their classes tend to be smaller/more intimate, which translates to more opportunities to get to know the professors.

Nevertheless, I’ve never really thought about the “taking teachers” approach before – now that I think about it, I definitely would much rather hear a great professor talk about something mildly interesting than take a fascinating class with an absolutely horrible professor.

Last week Wednesday, I attended the Rose Cafe with guest speaker Dan Schwarz. Dan Schwarz is a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences here at Cornell. The talk focused on Professor Schwarz’s book How to Succeed in College and Beyond. Professor Schwarz gave tips on how to be a good student as well as how to navigate college life.

One of the topics that he touched on was the Cornell Greek life. Professor Schwarz believes that fraternities create a type of ‘hive mind mentality’ within the fraternity. What I mean by this is that whenever there is an opinion, everyone in the fraternity agrees with that opinion because no one wants to go against the grain. Personally, I think that this is just a generalization about fraternity life. There are both pros and cons when joining a fraternity and each person just has to weigh them accordingly. I chose not to join a fraternity here at Cornell because I am on a varsity sports team and all my extra time outside of class goes to playing tennis. I also really enjoy the privacy that west campus gives me.

Another topic that Professor Schwarz talked about was choosing classes based on Professors rather than topics. What he means is that he suggests that you take classes from really good professors. Professor Schwarz said that the really good professors will be the ones who will care about you and will be the ones who will be able to write you good letters of recommendation if they are asked to. Being a junior, I have taken classes with professors who care about you and classes with professors who do not really care about you and I can tell you that it makes a huge difference. Having interesting professors makes you look forward to going to class and look forward to talking with them outside of class.

For last week’s Becker Rose Café, Professor Daniel Schwarz came to give a talk about college success and what we can do to maximize our benefits at school. However, I feel that while the advice was useful, it was slightly difficult to apply. For instance, Professor Schwarz emphasized that we should pick professors who care about the students and know how to teach. And while there are friends or websites that give professors rating, it all depends on whether or not the class is full, or if you have other conflicting courses that stop you from going to one professor.

In addition, Professor Schwarz also gave his views about financial aid and fraternities. One of the biggest benefits of attending an Ivy League is that all of them are need-blind. This means that low-income families have the same chance of attending the school compared to higher-income families. He also mentioned that children from low-income families had the same IQ as kids that were had a better educational background. I feel that while this may be true, one of the harder issues is giving the advantage in academic preparation now that the college admissions process is getting more competitive. Many children may not be able to afford tutoring or extracurricular activities that help make students and their profiles stand out among others.

Lastly, Professor Schwarz talked briefly about fraternities and how they are catered towards people who have the same mindset, similar to a cult. He argued that because of this, there is actually less diversity in these groups since people who join fraternities are similar to each other. Personally, I haven’t had any interest in joining fraternities, but it was nice to hear about his view as compared to student views.

I feel like Professor Schwarz lecture  should have been called how to succeed in the College of Arts and Sciences. Don’t get me wrong, his advice sounded good and I’m sure a lot of people found it beneficial, but specifically I didn’t think a lot of it would be useful or easily applied in my case.

One thing he said that sounded great was to take a class based off of the professor and find good professors for your classes.  I wish I could do this but as an engineering student the majority of my classes are major required with only one lecture option for the semester I have to take them, so I really can’t take a class for the professor. This is great advice I hope to apply to my liberal arts requirements, I’m just remarking on how for the vast majority of my classes, at least at the moment, I can’t apply this advice.

He also commented about grade inflation is a problem at the school. Again I don’t think I really see this in my engineering classes but maybe I’m wrong.  I have had professors who curve the class to a B-. I had professors freshmen year said that only 5% of the class will get an A as a final grade.  I’m sure some of my other classes did have some inflation going around but I do think that it isn’t as significant of a problem in the College of Engineering.

There was definitely a lot of good in the talk and I found Professor Schwarz to be a funny and entertaining speaker who was fun to listen to and really passionate about the topic.  Even if I felt I couldn’t use some of the great advice he gave, I’m glad I went to talk because he was fun to listen to.

Last week’s Rose Cafe speaker, Daniel Schwarz, brought up many key points about the college journey and gave a variety of good advice relating to entering and experiencing college. However, I feel as though he was speaking to the wrong audience, or at least that some of his advice was misdirected, as a I am not able to follow the advice pertaining to first entering college, as that time period has passed and my mistakes have already been made.

That being said, I will make the most out of my remaining years here, so his tips are not completely lost on me.

Professor Schwarz gave a very interesting talk about college life at Cornell, based on his book How To Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning. As a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, he himself has witnessed the stress students feel of getting in to such a prestigious school to dealing with schoolwork during their four years and pursuing a major they are genuinely interested in. One of the things that Professor Schwarz said that resonated with me the most was to choose classes according to the professor. As a premed student, I know my choice of core science classes is limited but my HD major allows me this flexibility. I think that this is something I will apply in the future and for the rest of my college career. It’s important to choose professors that care to teach. I know that in my time at Cornell, I have taken notice that some professors are more invested in their own research than their students. I think it’s important for professors who have an interest in their students doing well and it definitely shows in their lectures.

Schwarz also gave interesting details about student life at Cornell. He talked about financial aid, and how about half of Cornell students receive some type of financial aid. He also talked about studying abroad and how students always come back with knowledge of different cultures and become more tolerant of other cultures. This is definitely something I have noticed myself, hearing stories from older students.

One thing that didn’t really settle with me was hearing Professor Schwarz talk negatively about Greek life, stating that fraternizes and sororities conform people to a certain culture. Personally, joining Greek life has given me the chance to interact and meet people that as a transfer, I never would have gotten the chance to meet. I feel that people should not focus about the way the fraternity/sorority is perceived by others, but rather if they see themselves fitting in to the house. I know that I could act as myself and tell my sisters about anything. Moreover, I think it’s great to have a support system that always looks after for your well-being.

I attended Daniel Schwarz lecture for the Rose Cafe Series for the 2nd time and I found myself yet again wishing I knew all the advice he gave my freshman year or before in college because sometimes, like for myself, it is too late to take up some of the advice he gives. I really wish I had planned out since freshman year a time for me to figure out when to go abroad and schedule my courses better so that I could have done it. I am unable to do so now because I did not plan out my course load properly enough ahead of time and will not be able to take time off of Cornell for study abroad.

I also really want to emphasize that you should take courses for the professors rather than the class. There are classes that I was looking forward to that were completely miserable experiences because going to class felt like torture because the professors were either not a good speaker, very mean, or not helpful when asked for help. There are also classes that I dreaded but loved because the professor was incredible and made it worth it and enjoyable, even if it was hard.

Finally, to a point he made about Greek life not fostering diversity, there are a few Cornell fraternities that are taking great strides to take down the barriers for students of color or low income have the opportunity to join the brotherhood, such as removing the rush process Beta Theta Pi so superficial reasons do not get assessed but rather just personality, and they were pretty successful in having a really diverse pledge class.

For this cafe, Professor Schwarz gave a talk on his book about moving from high school to college and the few years post college.

Schwarz assessment of the senior year in high school and first few months in college really resonated with me. The frenzy of college admissions from the test scores to the actual application process was a fairly accurate portrayal of my experience. More importantly, he discussion of the first months in college made me wish I heard his talk a two years ago. The first few months at Cornell are so full of different obligations and opportunities that it is very easy to get overwhelmed. It is important to teach freshmen to take it slow and to not fear getting lost in the process.

Another topic I enjoyed was his defense of the American higher educational system. The system is often criticized, but such a large system will of course have places for improvement. However, it is important to recognize what is being done correctly. Moreover, the critiques can often be contradictory. “Allow more access to college, but also limit college debt” or “Increase mental health services, but also decrease tuition costs”.  People want goals that go against each other to be completed.

Last week, Professor Schwarz came to the Rose Scholars Cafe to talk about his novel and go through some of the topics that he writes about. Interestingly enough, I am a mentor that suggests tips on how to survive high school and it was nice to hear about how to survive college. I enjoyed hearing his narratives and how every student differently depending at what level they are in their career.

I really enjoyed how much I could relate to what he was saying. The transition to college isn’t easy but it gets easier with time. Each year in college also gets better in some regard and each year is definitely more knowledgeable than the last in terms of knowing yourself. I’ve always viewed education a self-discovery journey; we learn who we are, what e can handle and who we want to be. From freshman year not having a clue to sophomore year feeling more comfortable, then junior year securing opportunities and then senior year having to say “hello” to a new chapter in our lives, college is certainly a journey. Even after college the learning continues and we become real adults.

At the end of the day, it really isn’t about your GPA; it’s about what experiences you’ve had that shaped you and make you stand out and I honestly enjoyed this talk!

Last Wednesday’s Rose Café focused on how to navigate through college, some facts about endowments and also included some tips for succeeding in college. The most important thing that I took from the lecture was just to take classes that have great professors because they can make the material interesting to you. I think that this is great advice but it is not something that can be done all the time because there are some required courses that are taught by the same professor in the fall and spring. When it does work it’s great. I’ve had friends tell me, “You should take that class in the spring case it’s easier”

I thought that the part of the lecture that focused on the finances behind college was interesting. I learned that Cornell has a $6 billion endowment and in one particular year Harvard’s endowment increased by the total value of Cornell’s endowment. I also learned that although colleges with higher endowments have higher cost of attendance than public colleges, they actually turn out to be cheaper. Prior to coming to Cornell I used to think that international students won scholarships from their respective countries and that’s how they were able to afford studying in the US. At the Rose Café event I learned that is not the case and that a lot of international students come from pretty wealthy and powerful families.

Last week Professor Schwarz came to the Rose Scholars Cafe to talk about his novel and go through the topics that he mentions throughout it. I recall last semester when he came to speak to us about how to survive college in general, so this time it was interesting to hear about the components of his novel and how we can apply it to where we are currently in our college experience. I really appreciated how he took the time to address how each circumstance that he mentions would affect every student differently depending at what level they are in their career.

For instance, during freshmen year, it is easy to immerse oneself into what they think college is supposed to be like and get lost along the way. Over-working and over-stressing comes easily because so many factors have changed; responsibility, work ethic, and relationships to mention a few. Sophomore year feels more comfortable, and students enter it with a steadier foot, looking forward to joining their friends and starting the semester with less nerves then before. Junior year comes with its own pressures, because the reality of needing to find a good internship that could potentially lead to one’s future career is at hand. However the classes one enrolls in are a lot more interesting and provide a better idea of what their career path may consist of. Some believe education ends with one’s senior year in college, but from there begins a whole new chapter in every students life. New jobs, new places, more opportunities, the ability to apply one’s skills to make a difference however small.

That is the part that stuck with me the most, knowing that at some point in everyone’s life, they will have the chance to make a difference in other peoples’ lives, in their families lives, and ultimately in their own. One never stops learning, but the knowledge that they have attained thus far can be used to help others and begin to pass down what they know to future generations. More obstacles appear as well, but the sense of achievement and progress gets stronger with each coming year. It was great to hear about Schwarz’s outlook on various situations, especially understanding how it changes with students from different cultural and economic backgrounds. At the end of the day, what matters is not necessarily the grade one gets but the experiences gained along the way and proving to oneself that they are capable of much more then they realize.

Professor Schwarz gave a lecture about his book How To Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of  Learning. He spoke about the difficulties of going through the application trials, dream schools, rejections, finding the right fit. It brought me back to the panic of my late high school years. Applying to college, doing extracurriculars, AP tests, the ACT, etc, etc.

This made me think about what I would tell myself if I had the chance to go back and have a conversation with my seventeen-year-old self. The most important piece of advice I would give myself is  to take more risks. As a junior in high school, I did not think I had the credentials to be accepted into a prestigious school like Cornell. I also had many other reservations about applying to a school that is thousands of miles away from home. I would definitely miss my family and friends, I would be in a completely new place that I have never been before, and I would not have my brothers to guide me. However, upon applying and being accepted I found out that I have potential.

Even being a sophomore at Cornell I have often questioned myself and my abilities. There have been many difficult times these past two years that have tested my resilience and fortitude. Looking back, with the support of friends and family, I was able to get through them. For the most part, I have never regretted taking the risks I have taken so far. In fact, I have shown myself that I am able to handle whatever comes my way.

I realized that applying to colleges showed me to take risks, and this motto is applicable to life in general. Little did I realize that the college application process was the beginning of the things that the college experience has taught me: time management, critical thinking, and taking risks outside of your comfort zone. I appreciated what Professor Schwarz had to say because he seemed to have substantial advice for people who are in college or applying, and his lecture made me reflect on my own experiences.

Professor Schwarz discussed his new book, How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning, last Wednesday. It was an interesting talk, because he discussed the chapters of his book through chronological order and the chapters happened to be congruous to the stages of life. Dr. Schwarz, began by discussing the last years of high school, and the turmoil and trials of applying to college. He then advanced to the challenges we face through each of our four years of college, and then discussed the challenges that follow college.

It was interesting to hear about the college application process in such a professional manner after having participated, and survived, through the process. What seems like the most important decision of a lifetime precollege, seems quite petty after the fact. Dream schools and reach schools and safety schools sound very unimportant once you’ve tried to get employed, earn money, pay rent, network with real people in industry.

Professor Schwarz talk made me realize the importance of perspective and embracing the fact that we as humans need to change and grow. Because our brains are able to constantly rewire, we are able to grow at an exponential rate and understand new circumstances, and places ourselves in increasingly complicated ones. Dr. Schwarz mentioned the most important traits a successful person embodies; The three Rs: resourcefulness, resolve, and resilience. These three r’s allow us to maintain a dynamic life and constantly grow to fit different circumstances and stages of life. Essentially, as long as we embody the three Rs, we are capable of anything.

Last Wednesday, the Rose Café speaker was professor Daniel Schwarz who discussed his latest book How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning. I thought it was interesting that he came to speak to us as the semester is coming to an end and final exams are just around the corner. Just a coincidence. Anyway, One key takeaway from Schwarz’s discussion was to try and take classes with the best professors. This is something that I myself have come two realize in my almost two years of college even at different universities (transferred from Fordham University this last Fall). A good professor, even if the subject matter is dull, can make a class more interesting resulting in more intrigue in the class and a better overall experience. One critique of the lecture, however, is that Schwarz at one point spent a lot of time talking about different admissions statistics and the process of getting into a good college. We’re already in a pretty good college and I don’t think we want to hear about SAT scores any more. Overall it was a very informative lecture that provided insight on how you should approach your college experience.

The Rose Cafe last Wednesday featured Professor Daniel Schwarz, who has taught at Cornell since 1968. His seminar focused on his most recent book, How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning. Of the many topics discussed, the two that I found the most interesting were on diversity and school resources. The topic of diversity was centered around greek life. Dr. Schwarz made the case that, for the most part, those in greek life seek to surround themselves with like-minded and overall similar individuals. Through this, it makes sense that there would be a stunning lack of diversity within some greek organizations on campus and around the country. To pinpoint a specific area, Dr. Schwarz highlighted a lack in socioeconomic diversity among members of these groups. Given that joining and maintaining membership in traditional greek organizations is generally expensive, this point would also make sense. If one is unable to join any organizations due to some financial constraint, those organizations automatically lose and discourage members who otherwise could’ve made great members if their financial situations had been different.

The other area of interest that was discussed involved the constant allocation of school funds worth millions of dollars towards different projects all over campus. As examples, different projects around West campus were mentioned, including the general initial construction and long-term maintenance of West campus. Although I don’t recall the figures exactly, the overall costs ranged from the millions to (if I remember correctly) billions of dollars. Because the amounts are so high, it’s difficult to wrap one’s mind around spending that much to construct and maintain a few buildings, although it makes sense that all of the smaller costs add up to such high figures. I think it’s interesting how we sometimes forget the vast amount of resources and energy that must have went into building and continue to go into maintaining such an important part of Cornell. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for the infrastructure and architecture of Cornell.

I attended the Rose Café which featured Professor Dan Schwartz, who discussed and provided various pieces of advice that originated from his new book How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning. I thought that talk was highly interesting and filled with many insights. My favorite piece of advice that he gave us was to “take teachers”. Professor Schwartz vouched for the idea that building relationships with teachers who truly care can greatly improve one’s educational and college experience. As someone majoring in computer science, almost all computer science courses are becoming more and more oversubscribed due to the explosion of interest in the major. Unfortunately, this means that our class sizes make it difficult for teachers and students to develop any deeper relationships or connections. However, going forward, even if developing these relationships in computer science courses is somewhat tough, I can certainly attempt to take courses in areas such as the humanities, where class sizes are generally smaller and these relationships are easier to build.

I also thought the professor’s remarks on greek life were quite insightful. He criticized the system by arguing that diversity doesn’t really exist in the system. Each fraternity generally has a narrow set of beliefs and perspectives that are only reinforced in the presence of other like-minded individuals. Thus, the professor states that individuals miss out on an opportunity to expand their horizons, which is generally a large benefit of college.

While I agreed with the professor on most of his viewpoints, I also believe that each person seeks to obtain certain and different experiences out of their time in college, and thus, there truly is no one right path to succeed.

Daniel R. Schwarz, an English professor at our university since 1968, spoke and shared about a topic relatable in all of our lives: how to succeed in college and beyond.

His book is a sort of guide book for students or parents of any age, containing parts on preparing for college, choosing the right one, the college experience, and even essentials like choosing classes, the Greek system, and more.

The part that especially stood out to me as I approach the end of my Sophomore year of college is chapter five: 19 Suggestions for College Sophomores. There is a lot of information beneath each point which I recommend for anyone interested, but to get a glimpse, here are SOME of Schwarz’ 19 suggestions. (not all 19 so that you are enticed to read it! 🙂

1. Sophomore year is a time to think about the future– whether it be employment or further education or a combination of both.
2. Think of your career plans or even your choice of major not in terms of future earnings but in terms of future satisfaction.
3. If you are in the wrong program, think about changing it rather than investing even more time and energy into that program.
4. If  possible, take at least one course far afield from your prospective major with the goal of expanding your interests.
5. Make an effort to know your professors, in part to cultivate potential references,  but also to take advantage of being around interesting minds.
6. Take classes from the BEST professors, who may also be the most demanding and not the easiest graders.
7. Look for professors who are interested in students as people and want to know about you progress in college and your future plans.
8. Stay physically fit; if you are not fit, make that a high priority by choosing some physically demanding activities.
9. Use the campus cultural resources: theater, music, arts, and museums.

This past Wednesday I attended the Rose Café by Dan Schwartz about his new book, How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning, as well as the college experience in general. Professor Schwartz covered a lot of topics through the course of his talk, but one that stood out to me the most was his discussion of some of the myths surrounding the college process. He mentioned that despite the anxiety surrounding college admissions and the declining admissions rates of some of the top U.S. colleges, the nationwide average for college admissions rates has remained steady at around 65% and most students get in to a school that suits their ability relatively well. Furthermore, he added that most of the declining admissions rates are due to a simple increase in the number of applications students can send out using the common application. He also dispelled some of the fear around rising college cost, mentioning that students nowadays are able to pay back their loans faster than ever before and that the financial rewards of a college education continue to increase every year. Additionally, he noted that although the demographics for most colleges are still skewed towards the wealthy, the rising tuition costs have largely help to reduce the imbalance by acting as a progressive taxation on wealthy students to provide for poor students. Overall I found that Professor Schwartz’s insights to be very revealing of the overhype created by the media around about colleges and was glad to hear a measured voice of reason discuss the topic.

This week was a great discussion. Initially I thought this was only going to cover the basics of getting into college which we already went through, so I did not think it would be beneficial. I was very wrong. Professor Schwarz started to talk about the culture of sororities and fraternities at Cornell and how they limit diversity on campus because of their exclusivity, including socio-economic exclusivity. Then he went on to talk about the importance in an abroad experience and the value that brings by exposing us to a new ideas and norms aside from the ones we are used to at Cornell. I thought that I was going to spend all four year at Cornell, but I woke up the next morning and the first thing I wanted to do was make an appointment with the abroad office. I love being at Cornell, however I underestimated the value having an abroad experience. Besides gaining exposure to new places, people, and ideas, I also want to understand how companies manage to conduct business in other countries and how marketing information related to food products is passed down to consumers. There is more outside of Ithaca. Also, when in life do we get another opportunity to go somewhere and become completely immersed in another culture. There are many places I would like to visit one day but I think I want to go to Barcelona. I am so happy that I went to this lecture because it made me realize how much I want to study abroad. New situations make me feel nervous because it is difficult to step out into the unknown, but they are also the experiences that make me grow as a person and that I appreciate and look back on the most. College is not just about getting good grades and graduating with a degree, but it also includes growing as a person, and experiencing different things in life that make us question, learn, and expand our ideas.

We were lucky to have Professor Shwarz come in again to speak to us! I attended this event last year, but it was refreshing to hear some of the things he said again. There were also some things that stood out to me during this talk, like when Professor Shwarz mentioned that the biggest issue on campus regarding diversity is socioeconomic diversity. He thinks it’s an issue that there is such a big socioeconomic gap in the Cornell population, which I completely agree with! There was an instance where an advisee of his had a group of friends who wanted to go on a trip, but she could not go simply because she could not afford it. And the issue with this is that many people who come from higher socioeconomic status don’t realize that other people may not have the same financial abilities. My experience with this is similar! I went out to eat often with my friends, but I just could not keep up with them in terms of paying for the meals, so oftentimes, I wasn’t able to go with them.

Another big thing he mentioned was that students are not putting as much time into studying as they should be! Traditionally, there should be 2 hours of studying for each credit. A recent study shows that students are spending much less time than they should be on studying, but they are spending the time that they are not using to study on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter. Since social media itself is a fairly recent thing, it’s so hard to find ways to combat these trends! I have to admit that I often fall victim to social media or online games/entertainment instead of doing work, but that’s why we need to be aware of it! So that we can realize it and try to keep ourselves on track.

Professor Shwarz also mentioned that we aren’t putting as much work into school now because of technology. Traditional English majors used to have to go to the library and search for hours to find what they were looking for, but now that they have the Internet and search engines, looking up information is extremely easy now. Also, it saves A LOT of time just being able to type up essays instead of typewriting or handwriting them… Which makes me wonder how much more technology will advance in the next couple of decades. Maybe we will enter an era where obtaining knowledge will be 10 times faster than it is now, but at this point, it’s extremely hard to imagine!

This past Wednesday, Professor Daniel Schwarz spoke about his new book, How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning, which outlines his advice to getting the most of the college experience. His book goes over everything from the College Olympics (the process of finding the right college) to the impact of the Greek system on self-development.

After his talk, I searched for his posts on the Huffington Post. I came across one of his blogs entitled Nineteen Suggestions for College Sophomores. As a sophomore, it seemed appropriate to click. Some of my favorite tips I got from the post were:

• Declare your major and start thinking about future options.
• Choose future satisfaction over future earnings.
• Choose an advisor who is interested in you, and meet with them more than the minimum required.
• Take classes from amazing professors, not for the easiest grade.
• Develop leadership skills through extracurricular involvement.

As I’m finishing up my sophomore year, I can attest that these points are really valid. I also found a blog of the Professor’s entitled Suggestions for College Juniors: Balancing the Joy and Practicality of Learning. This is some of his advice:

• Study abroad or in Washington D.C. (like Cornell in Washington) for a term
• Think about a concentration within your major.
• Think about independent research or an Honors thesis.

According to the Professor’s blog, I’m relatively on track in thinking and planning for the future, so that’s comforting! I really enjoyed his insight and advice.

I encourage everyone to skim through his blogs on the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-r-schwarz/

This week’s Rose cafe focused on how to succeed in life, before, during, and after college. Professor Schwartz began with some common themes, about taking the right classes and doing the right things to get into college. I found the more interesting part to be the discussion on what to do in college. I thought the most valuable piece of advice given was to pick classes based on teachers, not subjects. I already try to do this, but Professor Schwartz’s explanation was extremely convincing.

I also found the discussion on greek life to be fascinating. As a student who does not participate in greek life, I fundamentally agree with a lot of the things he was saying. I also think greek life prevents diversity, and promotes one way of thinking. I am glad that the Professor brought it up, because it often seems like everyone on campus is pro greek life. It was nice to learn that only 35 percent of students actually participate in the greek life, and that the negatives associated with it are recognized.

The Rose Café last night was about “how to succeed in college and beyond.” It was an interesting talk because it is very relevant for me as a college student. It was also slightly overwhelming to digest all of the information presented by the speaker. Nevertheless, his enthusiasm of the topic kept the audience engaged throughout.

I do not think that current college Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors is the perfect audience for the talk because some of the talk focused on what do to before college in order to prepare. This discussion was interesting, but not very relevant for me because I have already gone through high school and the college admission process. If I was still in high school, I think this portion of the lecture would have been extremely helpful. In the future I will recommend the speakers book to any high school students asking for college advice.

I was surprised that the speaker did not define what he meant by “success.” I was not sure if his advice was focused on getting a good job, getting good grades, meeting good friends, or being a protective member of society. It would have been helpful if he had talked about what “success” means to different people. This could change the type of advice that would be needed to help someone succeed. For example, if getting good grades was a measure of “success” for one person then the best advice would be to study a lot. But for another person who’s goal is to meet good friends this would not be good advice.

Even after seeing the talk twice I was still glad that I attended. I think this is a testament to the quality of the speaker and the importance of the topic that he presented about. Unfortunately, I did not win the raffle so I will return next year to try to win.

Maybe it’s just me, but yesterday, when Professor Dan Schwarz came to speak in the Rose Cafe, I got a very paternal vibe from him. It could just be because I haven’t seen my dad since January and I’m missing him something serious or it could be because the speaker actually reminded me so much of any caring father. His book How to Succeed in College, from what I could tell, seemed like such a comprehensive piece on a subject that so many find so important. And even though I had to leave the talk early, he covered so much information in the time that I was there that I’m tempted to buy the book from the Cornell Store just so that I can read more of his advice for myself.

The first thing he discussed was senior year in high school and how choosing the right school and letting the right school “choose” you was so important to the rest of one’s life. That part clearly didn’t apply to many of us in the room, but as an older sister to a senior in high school, I felt that the tips that he gave were very relevant to my own brother’s college selection process. Something that Professor Schwarz said, though, that I found so surprising was the statistic that the Ivy Leagues, because they’re need-blind institutions, may actually cost less than some of the much smaller state schools. In fact, at Cornell, between 45 and 50% of students receive scholarships of over $35,000. I knew the financial aid packages here were super generous, but I never knew just how generous, and it made me so proud to know that I attend a school that makes the financial burden of attending such an elite institution as this easy (or easier) for over half of the student population.

Another thing that Professor Schwarz brought to my attention that I hadn’t previously realized was the concept of the “Red Zone.” According to him, this is an 8- to 12-week period at the beginning of freshman year where 3/8 of incidences such as sexual abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, and/or depression occur in a student’s life. Though an unfortunate statistic, this was a very important point that he brought up; especially to those of us who are still in school (even if we’re no longer freshmen) and to those of us who have younger siblings, cousins, and/or friends heading to college next fall.

After this, Professor Schwarz touched on the sophomore year for a moment before discussing the junior year abroad and how important he thought it to be for students to gain invaluable experience living with another culture and gaining independence. Even though I’m not going abroad, I couldn’t have agreed with him more.

Overall, I’m glad that I was able to hear all the good things Professor Schwarz had to say, and I’m glad that, in the process, it made me think of my own dad and how I only have 4 weeks left until I see him!

Tonight at the Rose café, Professor Schwarz from the English department gave a talk about his recent book “How to Succeed in College and Beyond.” In his talk he provided a broad summary of his advice for high school students up through college graduates, but I still gained many insights that are applicable to me as a sophomore.

One of his pieces of advice that especially resonated with me was the importance of choosing classes based primarily on the professors teaching them. In his opinion, the most important aspect of a class is whether the professor really cares about the students’ success and actively engages with them. He also recommended seeking out discussion-based classes whenever possible to optimize the opportunities to interact directly with professors and trying to build a close relationship with at least one professor per semester. My favorite classes at Cornell so far have definitely been the ones where I was able to get to know my professors, so this advice made a lot of sense to me.

As an American studies major I also was very interested in Professor Schwarz’s discussion of the importance of the humanities. He noted that the study of the humanities teaches students how to effectively read and analyze complex ideas and theories, and pointed out that these skills could be applied to multiple future occupations. In addition to these practical advantages, however, he also highlighted the joy that comes from engaging with these ideas in the midst of a diverse community of students and professors. As final papers and exams approach, I hope to be able to keep in mind the importance of this joy of learning.

Tonight’s Cafe series was a preview of professor Daniel Schwarz’s new book, “How to Succeed in College and Beyond.” It was interesting to hear the advice that professor Schwarz had regarding preparations for college admissions and the first year of the college experience. As a junior, I was able to reflect on my experiences and relate them to the new advice that I was receiving. Professor Schwarz seemed to have combined information on the college experience from his own personal knowledge, his students’ experiences, and from research on higher education. It also seems like he was able to use a unique interaction with people leaving comments on his Huffington Post pieces to refine his arguments. The talk also touched upon the positive aspects of tuition and the negative aspects of Greek life (both of which are quite seldom heard on campus); hearing these comments was quite refreshing, as either they resonated with some personal beliefs or simply were new arguments that caused some personal reevaluation of certain beliefs. Overall, this was another interesting talk from professor Schwarz, and now I have one more book for my bookshelf.

Tonight I had the pleasure of listening to the very enthusiastic Professor Daniel Schwarz. He has written numerous books about various subjects and is the winner of the Russell Distinguished Teaching Award in the College of Arts. He discussed his new book, How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning.

Beginning with the crucial freshman year of college and continuing through the senior year, he discussed that his book offers suggestions on how to negotiate the challenges of each year as well as suggestions about specific issues such as time management and whether to study abroad for a term or even a year. In specific chapters he addresses how to choose classes, why the humanities are essential, and how to prepare for the future after graduation.

One section that I found most interesting was about the suggestion for college juniors to study abroad. Having lived abroad in Finland as an exchange student before coming to Cornell, I feel that I have experienced some of the points he made and could not agree more.

Schwarz stated, “ If at all possible, take a junior term or year abroad and participate in the Global Village.”

I feel that going abroad made me a better citizen by offering me a more cosmopolitan perspective on how the world works than I could have gotten at home. Some of this came from meeting students from other countries. By encountering new challenges, I learned more about myself. Schwarz stated that students usually return with greater self-confidence, poise, and maturity. Nothing teaches you how to think better and at a higher level than new experiences and new situations.

Living in a different culture outside my comfort zone, my learning took new forms. I was not simply reading history, but I was immersing myself in another culture. My assumptions about how the world is organized politically and socially were challenged. I discovered that many of the truths that I was taught and take for granted were questioned.

Learning about other cultures and languages is best done, in my judgment, through travel. Students from other countries need to visit the US and we need to visit other countries. Travelling is education by life experience and complements education by books and professors. While abroad, students should travel as much as possible. Be sure to visit as many countries as you can and to see as much of your host country as you can. My year abroad turned me into a lifetime traveller.

Tonight I had the chance to listen to Professor Daniel Schwarz share life advice and talk about his book How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning. A great deal of the advice that Professor Schwarz shared was about how to succeed in the early years of college – tips such as taking classes with professors that care about the students, building relationships with professors, taking a wide variety of classes, and going abroad. Unfortunately, I am a senior about to graduate, so I won’t be able to put much of his advice to use.

Professor Schwarz also shared his (unfavorable) opinion toward the Greek system, prefacing it by saying that he knows his opinion is a controversial one. He said he feels that the Greek system is toxic, and that people in the Greek system – especially in fraternities – all seem to have the same set of beliefs, which cuts down on cultural discourse. I am not in the Greek system, but many of my friends are, and every one of my Greek friends is incredibly kind, intelligent, caring, and open to learning about other cultures and beliefs. I agree that the Greek system does have many flaws that need to be addressed, but I think it is unfair to make the generalization that every person in the Greek system is single-minded and judgmental.

Another statement of Professor Schwarz’s, that sororities are problematic because most victims of sexual abuse are in sororities, struck me as completely off-base. This idea is basically victim-blaming; it implies that women in sororities bring the sexual abuse upon themselves. This is completely outrageous – the blame for such a crime lies solely with the person who actually committed it. Additionally, the idea that abolishing sororities would help stop sexual abuse is problematically narrow-minded in that it fails to acknowledge or stop sexual abuse that happens to girls who are not in sororities.

Of course, the corollary argument that Professor Schwarz seemed to be implying was that most perpetrators of sexual abuse are in fraternities. But of course, the issue is not that simple. There are many fraternity men who do not commit sexual abuse, and there are many non-fraternity men who do. The issue of stopping sexual abuse should not be equated with just stopping fraternity members from doing it; it should be equated with stopping all men from doing it.