<p>I've always been interested in Cornell, but the tuition is a bit iffy.
My dad says that if I apply to one the contract colleges (which cost 15k less), we can afford it.</p>
<p>So basically, the contract colleges don't interest me really. I want to do something in journalism, communications, sports, that kind of stuff. However, my dad is convinced that I can attend one of the cheaper parts of Cornell and major/minor in a field that is not available in whichever college I attend.
Is this true? Can I attend CALS, for instance, and not be interested in anything there?
Thanks.</p>
<p>I don’t see why you would want to go to a school for 4 years and be bored out of your mind, and have no interest in anything. The tuition, albeit cheaper, will be a waste of money if you’re not doing anything YOU want to do. I don’t want come off as mean, but your dad is not going to college, you are, and thus you should do what you want. And Cornell is all about fit, so if you can’t express any reason of fit/interest as to why you belong in your supplement/application, your chances of acceptances are really low. (Not that I would really know, since I’m applying this year, but this is what I have read on this forum)</p>
<p>@MT8989-There is only 1 major at ILR though…so if I apply/get accepted there, I have to major in that, right?</p>
<p>@superexcited-Perhaps I wasn’t clear, so that’s my bad. I love Ithaca and Cornell, but the contract colleges do not interest me. However, those are the parts of Cornell I can afford, since I’m a resident of NY and would pay a lot less for them. So I’m basically trying to determine if I could go to one of the contract colleges and not be interested in that college, but still be able to major/take classes in what I am interested in.</p>
<p>@cornell2011-Thanks for telling me that. What is information science, though?</p>
<p>Have you thought about financial aid yet? I wasn’t interested in going to Cornell until I found out I could go there for as much as a state school. I calculated my approximate financial aid package on the Cornell website and it calculated it to be a $48,700 grant my first year (My parents don’t make very much money).</p>
<p>Go look at the curriculum of ILR. You write a lot (writing seminars), you take a lot of interesting classes like collective bargaining (sports), and you get a practical education in case you don’t go to grad school.</p>
<p>Your dad is wrong. If you attend a college, your major has to be in that college. You can take outside courses and even do a minor/concentration (open to students from all colleges), but your degree has to come from the college you enroll in.</p>
<p>My D1 was accepted and graduated, in May, from a contract college. Her minor was information science which was not in her major college. (Information science is similar to computer science.)</p>
<p>You can take classes and minor in other colleges from the one you are majoring in. </p>
<p>If you are going for financial aid, our experience was, that because D1 was in a contract school, she was offered less financial aid compared to our other kids attending private schools w/ similar price tags to Cornell’s endowed colleges. So it seemed we were paying about the same to each of our kids schools regardless.</p>
<p>I second the suggestion to study Communication in CALS and take a minor in another school to focus it in whatever direction you want (journalism, PE, whatever).</p>
<p>cornell has no journalism major. many people who want to go into the field of journalism choose communication in CALS as their major - pretty sure that andrew ross sorkin was a comm major from cals… :)</p>
<p>I’d recommend talking to a financial aid officer about this.</p>
<p>I was in-state and went through the same debate. I started in A&S and transferred to Engineering. I didn’t expect to be able to afford it, but I was eligible for a $25,000 grant, which increased every year due to financial aid initiatives (5 person family income ~100k).</p>