Ingenuity Curriculum
Ingenuity: equal parts creative, clever, inventive, resourceful, and adaptable
Our ingenuity curriculum, the pace of your study at Cornell, was built to work One Course At A Time. In your first two years on campus Ingenuity guides you through the building blocks you'll need to excel in your studies at the college level and introduces you to the strengths of a liberal arts education. In Block 1 you learn the rhythm of learning on the block system. Each block after that your education builds on what you learned the block before. Your portfolio will help you to visualize those connections and use them as a springboard for what you'll do next.
Once your foundation is set, Ingenuity in Action opens you up to further exploration. You don't have to limit yourself to one internship or one study abroad experience for a whole semester. Every semester at Cornell you have four separate opportunities to fully explore courses and experiences, one each block. And your two required Ingenuity in Action experiences will be considered for funding by the college, ensuring equal access to resume building experiences for all Cornellians.
Cornell’s Ingenuity curriculum is the power behind the problem-solving abilities of Cornellians. It manifests the academic flexibility and hands-on preparedness you get studying One Course At A Time.
One Course At A Time + Ingenuity = Flexibility
The rhythm of the block plan gives you the opportunity to dive deep into fields of study and explore widely as your curiosity dictates. You can study off-campus, pursue an internship, conduct research, and still have time to be an athlete, a performer, a volunteer, or all of the above.
Foundations
You’ll take three Foundations seminars (discussion-oriented classes) in your first two years that prepare the groundwork for exploration and essential skill-building.
Common First-year Seminar [Year 1, Block 1]
All of your peers will be taking this class too, in sections of 25 students across campus. Learn the ropes of studying on the block plan while you dive into an eclectic mix of materials and fields of study. Make connections you might not notice at first glance of the syllabus. At the end of the seminar, you’ll reflect on the entire experience, noting your thoughts in your Ingenuity Portfolio, which will become a touchstone during your time at Cornell as you track your college story from beginning to end.
First-year Writing Seminar [Year 1, Block 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8]
Get on the same page as all other Cornellians by refining your ability to express your thoughts. Your subject matter might focus on how marketing impacts the pharmaceutical industry, on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, or on Bob Dylan and the language of protest but no matter which field of study interests you, you’ll become an experienced college writer.
Second-year Seminar: Citizenship in Practice [Year 2]
You’re going to remember this hands-on experience long after you’ve completed it. You might work on an interdisciplinary project focused on social and environmental sustainability or a sociological approach to combating homelessness. Through community engagement, service-learning, field trips, off-campus study, simulations, performances, installations, exhibits, lab work, or a combination, you’ll be practicing your creative problem-solving skills.
Explorations
Do you know what sparks creative thinking across fields? Exposure to diverse modes of thinking and an exploration of different ways of seeing the world.
You’ll take Explorations courses anytime during your four years to train you to see through different lenses. Your curriculum will take you on a journey through the fine arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. Many courses at Cornell are interdisciplinary and you might choose a course that combines several of these academic fields of study in one course. It’s up to you to personalize the path you want to take.
Building Essential Abilities
When you build up your essential abilities, solving problems (which is what the world of work is all about) becomes exponentially easier.
Building Essential Abilities courses happen throughout your education and bring you closer and closer to being a reliable problem-solver one 18-day block at a time. Some of these courses overlap with the Explorations courses and some will count toward your major(s) or minor(s). How many credits and courses you take depends on you, and what courses you select. They’ll include courses in writing, quantitative reasoning, intercultural literacy, and foreign language. Once you’ve made your way through them, you’ll have earned anywhere between four to 10 credits towards graduation.
Cornellians are resourceful because of real-world experiences
True preparedness for a career requires experiences that you can refer back to and rely on as informative resources for future projects. That’s why you’ll take on the concept of Ingenuity in a practical way. You’ll get out of the theoretical space (unless your internship or research is heavily based in theory) and apply everything you’ve learned.
Your experiences are supported by college funding
Two Ingenuity in Action experiences are a part of your graduation requirement, and funding is available to all students to help pay for those experiences. You might choose to study abroad with your professor for a block (global connections). Maybe you'll take on an off-campus internship where you're treated like a full-time employee (professional exploration). Or you might conduct research at a Chicago museum on Latina artists and present your findings at a symposium (which you might count as an experience in global connections, leadership, professional exploration, or research). If it fits the qualifying criteria, Cornell will provide funding towards helping you make it happen.
What will you do? You'll choose from experiences in:
Along your Ingenuity journey, you’ll pause to reflect on what you’ve learned and the experiences you’ve had. Through the mental exercise of creating your story in your Ingenuity Portfolio, you’ll build up the critical thinking skills necessary to be an adaptable decision-maker. In your career, you’ll need to make many decisions, small and big. Writing is an enactment of your mind on the page and once you’ve learned the ability to reflect backward, you can look ahead with greater confidence and make smart decisions.
Your Ingenuity Portfolio will also prepare you to share your Cornell story with future employers and graduate programs. Pair your portfolio with resources and coaching from the Berry Career Institute to feel prepared and confident in your interviews, essays, and applications.