<p>here is how it is.
My parents definitely can not apply for financial aid. My parents put 250k in an account and said to spend it how I want to.
I really want to go to Cornell, but I dont want to waste all my funding for just undergraduate (50k X 4).
I am a hard working student and I want to go to Cornell, but is it really worth it is just for undergraduate? How can I ever pay for grad school if I want to go somewhere prestigious? Should I just go to a state school and graduate from a top school.</p>
<p>Sometimes employers cover the cost of graduate school.</p>
<p>Depending on how well you think you can do in college, you can go to a good state school and transfer into Cornell Jr. Year. If you can get into Cornell, you can also probably get into somewhere like Berkeley or UCLA or UVA, go to those schools instead if you REALLY want to save money, honestly the education isn’t that much worse and with a degree from those schools you will probably get the same calibre of job and advantage post graduation that any joe from Cornell will have. (Plus a few thousand in your pockets)</p>
<p>Or you can get a merit scholarship which is guaranteed and go to a lower tier school where you only have to pay for R and B. Then use the money to go to graduate school.</p>
<p>It really depends what you want to do after UG. If you want to go to medical school, you maybe better off in going to a lower tier school, get very high GPA and apply to a medical school. If you want to get a job after UG, especially finance, it pays to be at a target school. One thing I do tell people now is to check out school’s career center to see what firms come on campus to recruit. My daughter has 8 interviews this week with all major firms she is interested in. Only one or two came from personal connection, most of them were all through Cornell’s career center. A parent on CC was complaining a top LAC, like Pomona, provided very little in terms of career consulting. His son, after over a year is still unemployed. The alumni network is not as available due to the size of school. Some of those state schools, many firms don’t even go recruit from. </p>
<p>You are not eligible for FA, no matter which school you apply to. You would only be eligible for merit aid, which would mean stepping down on “ranking” which often could translate into job/grad school opportunities. State schools maybe less expensive, but depending on which state you are from, it may take you longer to graduate (5-6 years) due to availability of classes.</p>
<p>What is your home state? What do you want to study? Someone mentioned banking I think? If you are thinking of getting an MBA, most schools want work experience before MBA grad school, and going to a “better” undergrad school might help you get a “better” job out of undergrad. It really depends what you want to do. Many people say it’s your grad school that will be looked at more closely/remembered rather than undergrad…but…if you need to work right after undergrad to gain experience then going to a more prestigious undergrad might help you with that. It is a confusing thing. What you should do is apply to many types of schools…your state school(s), schools where you could most likely get merit money, schools that will be more expensive for you but that you feel would be “worth the cost” ,etc. Then you see where you get in, how much they all cost, and try to make an educated decision. I would not recommend applying ED for someone in your position. I would think you would want to compare everything before making a decision.</p>