Corn definitely responds well to nitrogen. You can almost watch it grow in real time if you side dress it after it gets 6"-12" tall provided there is adequate moisture. I would go with as high a nitrogen fertilizer as you can get or afford twice (once after it gets about a foot tall and once at about tasseling time). The good thing is that unlike tomatoes and many other veggies, the nitrogen doesn't make the plant bigger at the expense of a reduced yield.
As catman said, rotating beans, peas or other legumes with corn will help cut the amount of nitrogen you apply to the corn. Also, if you have a big enough place that you can rotate where you plant your corn patch and leave it fallow, sowing it with clover every other year will do the same thing.