Cornell FYSA or UT Dallas NMS scholarship program

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

FYSA- freshman year spring admit

NMS- National Merit Scholarship

Hi everyone! Thanks in advance for your time.
In the next eight days (in order to register early for classes at UTD), I need to make my desicion between these two offers.

Cornell
At Cornell, I have been admitted to CALS for the spring semester and would have to make plans for the first semester. I am recieving minimal financial aid and will have to pay near-full tuiton to attend Cornell. While my parents have said that they would be willing to meet these costs it would put them under financial strain.

UT Dallas
UTD has offered to meet the full cost of tuiton, fees, board and will provide me with a six thousand dollar study abroad stipend. I would also have access to benefits like honors societies, research opportunities, and early registration. I have been accepted as a Microbiology student into the college. Another consideration for UTD is that Texas medical schools accept a high percentage of Texas residents to their medical schools.

My parents have suggested that if I choose to attend UTD, they can pay for graduate or medical school. I currently think that I will pursue either a graduate program in the life sciences or medical school but ultimately I am not sure what I want to do yet.

I would like your opinions on what the value of a Cornell education would be over a UT Dallas degree. It is clear that I would recieve lots of personal attention at UTD and the idea of leaving graduate/med school debt-free is very enticing.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks again!

2

I say follow the money!

3

I went to Cornell for undergrad and am at UT Austin for a Ph.D. program. I was in a similar situation- I could have saved a bunch of money by going somewhere other than Cornell. I wouldn’t change that decision for the world. The undergraduate experience is really phenomenal, in terms of the faculty, on and off campus extracurricular activities, and the people in your class. In terms of graduate eduction opportunities, Cornell’s name is respected worldwide. There are abundant opportunities to conduct research as an undergrad- pretty much everyone I knew who was premed did. They send a lot of kids to med schools and Ph.D. programs. If you’re interested in going to a science Ph.D. program you’ll probably be funded anyway, med school you’ll obviously have to pay for.

4

Well my parents essentially told me they can not afford Cornell upon further inspection. I will be attending UT Dallas in the fall.

Thank you for everyone who read this thread!