One way to do this would be to put together a short video that attempts to channel all of the energy and diversity found at Cornell. I've found that one of the key challenges in communicating the 'Cornell experience' is that it is such a vast, heterogeneous school, that hardly anybody ever references both organic farmers and engineers, or polo players and Bhangra dancers, in the same breath, transcending all that Cornell has to offer. CornellCast, Day Hall's compilation of faculty lectures and athletic coach interviews, is sadly lacking in this category. The best it really features is Corey Earle's video exploring some popular topics in Cornell's history, which is pretty hokey. And the best I could find on YouTube was a valiant attempt by Emily Schneider '08 to document her 'Big Red Ambition':
But here's what I have visions of:
A gradual fade in, with a swirling helicopter shot starting on Cayuga Lake, following Fall Creek up past Ithaca Falls, zooming around the Suspension Bridge, before ushering the viewer to the Arts Quad and a panorama from the Slope. Then rapid cuts to some robo-soccer bots screaming in your face, Bhangra dancers chasing across the screen, Red Man dancing underneath the clocktower, and students studying in the A.D. White Library underneath the glow of a full moon. All the while a remixed techo-version of the 'Songs of Cornell' are playing in the background, with a gradual escalation of volume and pace, and then a quick (!) fade to black, followed with a kick-in to a double time 'Give My Regards To Davy' and Michael Kennedy's beak-away goal against Harvard in 2006. The crowd goes wild. Cut to white. And then in big bold carnellian letters: THIS IS CORNELL.
It certainly would be better than the snooze-fest that is the student-created "That's Why I Chose Yale" video, which somehow has garnered close to a million YouTube views:
So get to it, Cornell students. The University's acceptance rate is in your hands.
