Students from La Salle’s class of 2015 traveled all over the country to attend fine universities, but of these, one university stands out: Cornell. Located in Ithaca, New York, Cornell University is an Ivy League school and is one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, with a 14% acceptance rate. Tyler Nierstedt, class of 2015, is now a freshman at Cornell, majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Business and Statistical Sciences.

While at La Salle, Tyler recorded a 4.0 cumulative GPA, was part of the Speech and Debate Team, National Honors Society and was a Student Ambassador. He took a total of 6 AP classes, including AP Physics and AP Computer Science. Tyler also received the AP Scholar with Distinction Award, and the Economics Department Award.

Tyler has enjoyed his first term at Cornell, but says the university is very challenging. Although he says that all the classes at Cornell are difficult, Tyler believes his math class stands out as the hardest. “Math at Cornell is vicious,” he says. “I took Engineer Calculus this semester; my class was filled with students who had already taken AP AB and BC Calculus in high school, yet a majority of them were failing the class.”

College life at Cornell has been very different than life at La Salle for Tyler. He says that the classes are broken up into lectures and discussions. “Lectures are very different from what you’ll experience at La Salle,” he said. “Typically you’re in an auditorium with 400-500 students, so you’ll need to get used to a formal and less personal learning environment. That being said, if you want to goof off on your laptop during a lecture, no one will stop you.” However, most lecture classes also have discussion sections as well, and Neirstedt says that these discussions “tend to be beneficial, because they can be more personalized.”

Not only are the classes different from La Salle, but the social environment at Cornell is very different. Nierstedt says that the environment is much more complex than high school, with an undergraduate enrollment of more than 14,000 students. “There are people from every creed, socioeconomic background, country, and sexual identity, all interacting on a daily basis. The opportunities for exposure are nearly endless,” he says.

Neirstedt says that “Cornell is a very rewarding and prestigious university,” and he has had a very positive experience there. However, Neirstedt also says that students currently applying for college should “remember that prestige isn’t everything. Sometimes it can feel like the end of the world if you don’t get into your first choice college, but the truth is if you work hard, no matter where you attend, you can succeed.”