Cornell Profile

Cornell College is a nationally acclaimed private liberal arts college in scenic Mount Vernon, Iowa. Founded in 1853, the college operates on a distinctive block plan calendar, known as One Course At A Time, that allows students to devote themselves to just one academic discipline during each of nine blocks.

National Recognition
For the second year in a row, Cornell College was named one of the 24 "Best Buy Schools”  among private colleges in the 2011 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges. The U.S. News and World Report ranked Cornell 9th on its 2009 “Schools to Watch” list, and in 2010 they ranked Cornell 85th among national liberal arts colleges and 26th on “Great Schools, Great Prices.” In 2009 Forbes ranked Cornell College 105th among all colleges and universities and first in Iowa for the second year in a row. 

Cornell was recently featured in The New York Times as one of 20 "stealth powerhouse" colleges and as one of 40 Colleges that Change Lives by Loren Pope. Cornell is one of only 270 colleges in the United States to host an active chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest scholastic honorary society. More about our rankings...

Location
The college is located on a wooded, 129-acre hilltop in Mount Vernon, Iowa, a charming town in the heart of Iowa's thriving Cultural Corridor. Cornell's was the first college campus to be listed entirely on the National Register of Historic Places. The campus is less than 20 minutes from Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, and four hours from Chicago.

Academic Structure
Under the unique One Course At A Time system, Cornell students immerse themselves in just one academic discipline per three-and-a-half-week course term. Each term, students choose from about 60 course offerings, ranging from on-campus classes to off-site internships and international study trips.

Programs of Study
The college offers more than 40 academic majors and pre-professional programs. Students also may design their own major.

Faculty
Cornell professors are accomplished researchers, scholars, and above all, mentors. Ninety-seven percent of the college's tenure-track faculty hold the highest degree in their field. The student-faculty ratio is 11:1, and many students work closely with faculty members on research or other projects.

Students
Cornell's student body includes nearly 1,200 men and women from almost all 50 states and two dozen nations. Ninety percent of students live on campus. Of those students who graduate from Cornell, 92 percent do so in four years or less, and almost two-thirds have a double major or a major and a minor. More about our student body...

Class Size
The average class has 17 students, though many upper-level courses are significantly smaller. Most classes are capped at 25 students.

Facilities
While the entire campus is listed on the National Historic Register, Cornell's facilities range from conveniently functional to cutting edge. Science facilities include a cadaver lab, a geographic information systems lab, and a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer. A new theater boasts the most current production technology. And the campus is fully wired, with Internet access from every residence hall room and dozens of "smart" classrooms. 

Affiliation
Cornell is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, but the college welcomes people from all religious traditions and from all non-religious perspectives. Cornell values spiritual diversity as an integral component of preparing students for global citizenship

Campus Life
Life at Cornell is active and diverse. Students participate in more than 100 clubs, organizations, and special-interest groups ranging from the Film Club to the Mountaineering Club. About one-third of students join non-national Greek groups. Housing options include first-year theme floors, Living & Learning communities, and suite-style halls.

Athletics
Cornell competes in 19 sports as part of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference of NCAA Division III. Cornell ranks among the top 15 Division III schools for the number of Postgraduate Scholars, a scholarship for academic and athletic achievement. Students also participate in nearly 40 intramural sports.

Admission
Admission to Cornell is very selective and based on academic ability and preparedness, personal character, and meaningful extracurricular involvement. The 2009 incoming class had an average high school GPA of 3.5, average ACT score of 26.5, and average SAT combined score of 1240.

Costs & Financial Aid
Tuition, fees, room, and board charges for 2009-2010 total $37,080. Cornell is committed to helping students afford a great education, and a majority of our students receive need-based financial assistance in the form of grants, loans, and jobs. Scholarships are awarded, regardless of need, to students with high academic ability or special talents in music, theatre or art.

More About Cornell on U-CAN
Learn more about Cornell College on the University & College Accountability Network (U-CAN), a Web-based project launched in 2007 to help prospective students and their families judge the quality of higher education institutions. As of September 2008, U-CAN included information and comparison data on more than 700 colleges and universities and had received more than 350,000 visits.