I was born and raised in Southern California. I definitely prefer CA to NY, but there’s other things involved here too. The primary reason I chose Cornell is because I have family in upstate New York and because my twin brother committed here for sports (he’s my roommate). I always felt pressured to choose Cornell because it would be easier for my parents to have both of us at the same school, and I figured I would fall in love with Cornell the same way I fell in love with Stanford, Cal, and USC. That just isn’t the case. Cal and Stanford were always my top picks, but because my brother committed for sports, my parents pushed for me to apply ED.