<p>I'll be graduating from Cornell this year, and I posted something on another forum (not CC) about how if I were on an admissions committee and I had a 3.7 GPA community college graduate and a 3.6 Cornell graduate, based on GPA alone (if I had no other context) I would choose the 3.6 Cornell graduate.</p>
<p>That struck a chord with...everyone it seems. My topic became one of the most commented and viewed very quickly, and was closed by mods like 3 different times (and edited, a lot of juicy stuff was removed) because of the heated debate. Literally everyone on that board believe a community college education is equal to an Ivy League education. Many went as far as to say community college students are "smarter" since they didn't spend so much going to an Ivy League school..lol.</p>
<p>I've been called elitist and everything, just got defending my choice of going to Cornell after they jumped on me. Insane, yes? Sorry, just wanted to come here to rant a bit :P</p>
<p>Um, yes. lol. I wish you could have seen the thread. They just closed it due to the personal attacks that started. </p>
<p>It started with me simply frustrated - I was rejected from a graduate school and called to find out why. Turns out they received so many applications they decided to just pick those with the highest GPA. No reading essays, etc. I asked if they AT LEAST took school into account, the dept. chair said no, and that a 3.7 community college GPA would have priority over a 3.6 Cornell GPA (my stats). I was floored, so I posted my frustration on this other board (specific to the grad program I am applying to).</p>
<p>To my surprise, they didn’t think the school was wrong - just the opposite. They all began attacking me for thinking I am “superior” for going to an Ivy League and that a 3.7 community college is obviously better, etc. When I tried to defend myself, they said I had a horrible attitude and was an elitist, etc (all I said is that it is fairly obvious that an Ivy League provides a better education).</p>
<p>I don’t know which is more insane - the grad school or the idiots on the other board. One obviously uneducated woman tried to get under my skin by saying “I’ve never considered Cornell an Ivy League anyway…” I’m like…w t f woman, it’s a sports league, not an opinion-based designation…lol</p>
<p>Okay. I actually read through the entire thread, and honestly, OP, you did nothing wrong. I would have been angry too if I were in your shoes.</p>
<p>I just can’t believe there are people out there who think that community college students didn’t pick ivy league schools because they were smarter and chose to go to the cheaper one. HAHAHA. Funniest thing I’ve heard in weeks.</p>
<p>Not sure if Ivy League schools provide better education but I do know they are much tougher than community colleges. Obviously, the grad school did itself a disservice by being lazy with reviewing the applications. I personally would just move on.</p>
<p>Holy crap - how did you find the thread?? Haha. And thanks for your support, I was starting to think I was somehow wrong…</p>
<p>Norcalguy - yeah, it really sucks, but I’m super upset because this was really what I wanted to do post-Cornell. I only applied to one other school, and I hear back in 2 months.</p>
<p>For reference, after I simply said I thought my school should have been taken into account, the first person said:</p>
<p>“Community colleges are not necessarily easier, they are cheaper. Anatomy and Physiology is the same (or should be) at any school, no matter how much you paid. Just because you went to a more expensive school, why should you think you are better than community college applicants and want extra points for that? It actually seems to me that some of them were the smarter ones for not spending as much money on the exact same classes.”</p>
<p>Can you believe that? And 35 people “liked” her post, which is a huge number on that site.</p>
<p>Someone who went only to a community college wouldn’t have a bachelor’s degree and therefore wouldn’t be applying for graduate study. The very comparison is thus rendered specious.</p>
<p>Someone who started at a community college and then finished a bachelor’s degree at a quality university is not necessarily less well-prepared than someone from an Ivy.</p>
<p>That said, I agree that a straight-up GPA list is a really stupid way to select graduate students.</p>
<p>True, but this is for nursing - for me it’s a post-bach nursing, and for some they are applying from community college into a BSN nursing program. Same degree (nursing) different program - so lots of CC applicants and previous BS applicants.</p>
<p>Actually, in that case I can understand where they’re coming from on that board. Many CCs have very high-quality nursing programs because of their vocational focus. The RN program at the CC I attended was impacted and had quite stringent admissions requirements.</p>
<p>Again, though, that doesn’t excuse the egregiously inflexible and impersonal graduate admissions process. I can understand having a clearly stated GPA baseline, like nobody below 3.5 gets considered… but after that, the other factors should come into play (experience, LORs, etc.)</p>
<p>DarkIce - you might consider taking a year off and reapplying rather than throwing yourself into a situation you don’t like. It’s never a bad thing to have some real world experience before diving into graduate school.</p>
<p>There’s a deep-seated antagonism against intellectual development in this country. If you work hard to make $10 million running a tow truck company, you’ll be a hero. If you work hard to get into and succeed at a difficult school, you will be an elitist who thinks you’re better than everyone else. You would never find this attitude in many eastern countries, which is why I think we’re slipping quickly on the world stage.</p>
<p>DarkIce I was reading through this thread just for fun bc
I experience situation with some striking parrelles. At my high school many of
the other students think I’m an elitist because I simply applied to Ivy League Schools.
They on the other hand couldn’t even name more than two and they think our flagship state school is similar in quality and that their education will be no different. It’s always just hard for me to fathom how my peers can be so niave and uninformed when it comes to their own educaiton and ultimately their own future.</p>
<p>@Dorkoa In all fairness, most sub-Top 20 schools’ educations are comparable to the state flagship, especially considering yours is Penn State, which is a phenomenal school, frankly. However, the schools above that rough threshold each provide their own unique form of education, and they are doing themselves a significant disservice by this ignorance. </p>
<p>However, I can easily see private schools like Tufts, Wake Forest, and BC being looked at as less than state schools. However, no state school has the opportunities or advantages that an Ivy League or comparable institution can confer.</p>
<p>Dorkoa - yeah, everyone in America sees themselves as Middle Class, and they resent other classes. They see lower classes as “less” than them, while simultaneously calling out anyone considered upper class as elitist and snobby, despite their actual characteristics. </p>
<p>And, due to the way Ivy Leagues are portrayed in our society… Ivy League = Upper Class = resentment</p>
<p>@bpsbgs
yeah i was not bashing state school educations at all I agree penn state does offer a good education (engineering espceially)
but what my friends fail to recognize are the oppurtunities & other perks offered by private universities (ivies in paticular) the jobs, interships, study abroad, alumni, career assistance, graduate school admission asistance, ect.</p>
<p>The sad part is many of them are qualified for top 20 colleges but simply dont want to apply bc they don’t see these huge advantages they only see that all their friends go to XYZ State & want to go there too</p>
<p>& @ Dark Ice i also encounter that stereotype that ivies are all country clubs which i rather resent bc ivies are a thousand fold more diverse in every way than the white suburban middle class which is 90% of schools like Penn State</p>
<p>Also, newsflash: white suburban middle class is 90% of college. Sad but true, it turns out that if you don’t put any money into inner-city urban schools, the poor black&brown kids don’t really learn or find school to be a valuable experience. Did you know some northern city school districts are actually more segregated than they were before Brown v Board of Ed?</p>
<p>If the people that were replying to your post have only attended a CC, how would they know that they might not be receiving the most rigorous education? They have nothing to compare it with. With this attitude they probably also don’t know very many people that attend either Ivy’s or other top ranked universities. My HS if full of kids that don’t really know much about college. I told a few friends that I recently found out I was admitted to UCLA engineering and they were like, “Uhm…like is that hard to get into?” They couldn’t even really congratulate me because they weren’t sure if it was good or bad. Needless to say, we went back to talking prom dresses.</p>
I can understand having a clearly stated GPA baseline, like nobody below 3.5 gets considered… but after that, the other factors should come into play (experience, LORs, etc.)</p>