Academy Diploma

From 1853 until 1923 Cornell was more than a college; it was a high school as well. There was a practical necessity in this: Before Cornell, the only educational options in the Mount Vernon area were one-room schoolhouses and private tutoring. Cornell needed a high school to prepare students for college-level work. And the preparation was solid—the courses were taught in the same buildings, and often by the same instructors, as the college courses.