I just got accepted off of the waitlist to Cornell as a part of the Spring 2016 class. This means that I would have to take a semester off before starting this coming January. I just visited Cornell today and could use others input in making my final decision. I have till June 2 to decide on the Cornell offer.
Cornell: Gorgeous campus, just blows Maryland away with the architecture and views. Academics are obviously outstanding, has everything else that comes along with an Ivy blah blah blah I don’t think I need to talk too much about prestige and that stuff, but it is a factor in deciding. It’s clearly a fantastic school. A concern that I have is starting Cornell a semester later than everyone else and integrating socially. I am not a shy person but I am also not super outgoing either. I would be hesitant to start a semester late with only 125 other FYSA students. Cornell also does not seem to have everything planed out in terms of housing and roommates for the Spring students, which would’ve been helpful to know at this point to be able to hang out with other FYSA students in a similar boat as me. I am looking to study Actuarial Science which Cornell has a good program in (not to the level of Penn, but quite good nonetheless), especially in Stats and as a Math major, including a class in intro to Actuarial Science. I would likely join a frat at Cornell as well. Ithaca is a superb college town and destroys Maryland in that aspect. Food is awesome here. Weather is a bit of a factor and Maryland clearly has the advantage there.
Maryland Honors College: Honors College is a great program that gives the experience of an LAC or even an Ivy and also a large D1 school at the same time. Lots of freedom in the academic curriculum structure and super interesting seminars to take. I like how the HC automatically creates a small community to connect with others in the living and learning communities (I’m in U Honors, the largest LLC). I am also a big sports fan and would get super into the D1 sports culture as a fan (esp. the bball team! How about that top 3 preseason ranking?) and plan to volunteer as a manager on the football team in my first year as well. Not as good for Actuarial Science as Cornell but they have a minor in Actuarial Math which is nice. Pretty crappy meal plans and dining in general and there aren’t a ton of options in College Park either, both of which are clear Pros that Cornell has.
Financial Aid: My family has a unique financial aid situation in that we own a business so it looks like we make about 60K more than we actually do or have available to use to pay for college. So, obviously we did not qualify for need-based financial aid at either school. Cornell gave me nothing and I would likely have to pay full-price unless a grandparent comes through or we can bargain down with financial aid office. Maryland gave me $12,000/year (48K total) of merit-based which brings the cost down to 32K a year. I will graduate debt-free from Maryland.
Thanks for the input and please let me know if you have anymore Q’s!
So, are you saying Cornell just has a single class that is an intro to actuarial science where Maryland has it as a minor?
No Cornell has a track within the math major to become an actuary which includes a class in actuarial science in addition to math,stats and Econ classes . Maryland just has a minor in actuarial math and it is mostly just certain math classes to take
I recently made a similar decision between Cornell w/ no aid (looking at like 60-70kish total debt) and UMD Honors with no loans and chose UMD. My big factors for choosing UMD were the money, the proximity to DC (I have an interest in polisci), and the school of music. However, as the last 2 are probably irrelevant to you, you might want to consider Cornell more strongly. I loved the whole living situation at Cornell and Ithaca is IMO a superior college town. Also, obviously, Cornell has a superior academic community across the board (as opposed to the smaller Honors college). Also, I don’t know where you live but I’m assuming you’re OOS so this probably won’t be much of a factor for you, but I liked that Cornell was something different than the last 18 years of my life (I’m Instate).
How much debt would you be looking at if you attended Cornell?
Thank you @Matt846 that is very helpful advice. Here is another thread with a lot more responses where I talk a lot about the debt and financial situation in the comments http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1778405-cornell-fysa-or-maryland-honors-college-p1.html
Also, just to add something: I have grown up in a college town in MA and found that Ithaca is similar to my hometown, so Maryland would be significantly different from the last 18 years but Cornell would still be different as well. Also, the proximity to DC is a pretty big plus for me, but for reasons other than polsci
The bottom line is that no matter which school you attend, what matters most is what you do when you get there. So, the question is, have you visited both campuses? If so, where did you feel like you fit in most - what was the most comfortable/felt like you belonged? It is going to be different for everyone and there is no right answer…only where you personally feel is the best “fit” for you.Best of luck in the decision process…
Another thing you might want to consider is the physical location of each school. When my son was visiting schools he too, as well as his mom and I, loved the Cornell campus, more so than College Park. Unfortunately, Ithaca is not the easiest place to drive to or fly into making travel to and from the university, particularly in the winter and/or around holiday times quite difficult. Although he was accepted into the COE at both Maryland and Cornell, he chose to attend another BigTen university (GoBlue) (graduated last week) because it just felt right to him. Cornell and Maryland are both excellent schools and as Maryversity said, it’s entirely up to the student to fully take advantage of everything each university offers
@PeterW I agree, Cornell has a much nicer campus than UMD (even when its covered in snow). I am actually in a pretty similar situation as your son was except for the fact that I was waitlisted by Michigan after they made an effort to combat their consistent over-enrollment of the freshmen class. I do really like Michigan, but their OOS financial aid is pretty terrible, so although I am still on the waitlist, it is unlikely I will end up there (and I won’t even hear back from them until mid-June). Everyone I know who goes/went to Mich or UMD loves it.
You can’t go wrong with Maryland
@saltydog97 What did you end up deciding?
Thanks for the advice everyone. I have chosen Maryland Honors College because we decided that we could not get substantial aid from Cornell and the cost in conjunction with the spring admission aspect was not worth it over Maryland, a place I know I’ll be happy at. @Matt846
Woo hoo! AWESOME choice!
Welcome to Terp Nation 
- you are gonna love it - best four years of your life!