Cornell and Ithaca

Gorgeous Ithaca
Ithaca offers all the necessities of college life (nineteen movie screens, many new and used bookstores, bars, restaurants, and coffeehouses), several Asian groceries, a large natural foods cooperative, a thriving Farmers’ Market, the yearly Ithaca Festival (complete with parade), museums, theaters, and shopping. With a cosmopolitan atmosphere and large international community, Ithaca is a comfortable and affordable place to live and work.

The hills surrounding Ithaca are gouged with steep gorges and spectacular waterfalls, some of which form the focus of several state parks. Cornell and the Ithaca area are a haven for those who love to be outdoors year-round. There is cross-country and downhill skiing, ice climbing, skating, and hiking in snowshoes. With the coming of spring, many enjoy walking, jogging, and biking along country roads, or swimming, boating, hiking, picnicking, and camping in nearby national forests.

In Ithaca, you can walk out of your front door and be on a golf course in five minutes. You can take a short stroll and swim beneath a waterfall. You can go to school where other people take their vacations.

Urbane Ithaca
Ithaca is a lively and sometimes rambunctious little town with more than its share of culture. It happens to be the seat of Tompkins County (population 96,000). What Cornell and neighboring Ithaca College do not supply in the way of music, theater and the other performing arts, the downtown arts scene provides.

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, in a building designed by I.M. Pei, houses more than 30,000 works of art. Its outstanding collections include East Asian and European old master prints, from Durers to Rembrandt. At the other end of campus is the Center for Theatre Arts, designed by James Stirling and Michael Wilford. It presents six to 10 productions a year in its 471-seat Proscenium Theatre, two flexible theatres, and three dance spaces.

In Ithaca, you find a uniquely vibrant city that still retains its small-town charm. If you need an intellectually and culturally stimulating area, and especially if you enjoy the outdoors, Ithaca is the perfect place for you to spend your time during graduate study.