Hello!! This is my first ever post on CC because I truly am desperate for advice. All of my friends and family have been 50-50 about my decision for college next year and now I’m starting to panic because I only have another 17 days to decide.
The two colleges that I am deciding between are Cornell and the University of Virginia. My major will probably be economics starting out and I hope to go into a career in consulting in the future (though this is TBD).
So, about Cornell: I was only offered First Year Spring Admission (FYSA) for January 2020. This means that unlike starting in the Fall with the rest of the Class of 2023, I will be starting at the beginning of Spring Semester with only another 29 people in the College of Arts & Sciences at Cornell.
Now, about UVA: I was offered admission into its College of Arts & Sciences, but I plan to apply to UVA’s McIntire Commerce School and enroll in my 3rd and 4th years there.
Education: Both schools provide state-of-the-art educational opportunities, but I have a slight feeling that Cornell’s Ivy League brand name might make my education seem more valuable than if I were to go to UVA. Both are also located in non-urban areas (and in kind of isolated areas), so internship opportunities would not be near campus from my understanding (for either schools).
Financials: UVA is in-state for me and I most likely will not receive any aid from either schools, so Cornell would be about 40k more (per year) than UVA would be.
Social: Because I was only offered FYSA for Cornell, I think my social life at UVA would be much better because I start along with everyone first semester. This was one of my major concerns about Cornell because entering my second semester (not even my second year) is so unconventional.
If anyone has any advice on which college would be beneficial for my professional and personal needs, please reply to this thread or message me!!! Right now, I am not particularly leaning towards one college over the other, but I am making some school visits over this next week.
$40K a year is a lot of money. Will that strain your family’s finances at all?
At Cornell, joining a spring semester is not that uncommon. I don’t think that you will lack behind socially. Some people are roommates for a whole year, they still just barely get along. I believe you will find friends there. There are lot of opportunities for students in get to know one another in and outside classrooms. Socially should not be an issue.
If you area city person, you could be disappointed in Ithaca. It is a self college-centric small city. It has a lot of cultural and natural beauty to offer but is not Richmond or Boston. NYC is 4 hour away.
From what I have seen at Cornell, students go wherever get their internships including flying out to the west coast. I don’t think you will disappointed in either of your choice. I know very little about UVA.
My two cents (and son’s): UVA.
Transitioning to college is difficult and I can’t imagine starting mid-year at Cornell. My son visited both campuses and preferred UVA’s campus and town over Cornell, with its crazy hills. We didn’t get the same sense of spirit and pride at Cornell that we got at UVA – and people at Cornell weren’t as friendly or welcoming in our experience. That was just our experience and others may have experienced something different. My son was so turned off that he’s opted to not even apply to Cornell. He’s a more laid back guy so the cold town and community didn’t sit well with him.
Both schools are excellent academically, but there’s no reason to spend $40K more on Cornell. These days bachelor’s degree are a dime a dozen, so you will want to go to graduate school. I would worry about prestige (and accumulating debt) at the grad level…but not at undergrad and certainly not with two schools that are so close together academically.
FYI…according to recent rankings (Niche and USNWR), neither Cornell nor UVA are in the top ten. However, both are in the top 30 schools for econ with Cornell being only slightly ahead. Pretty much parity. I’m sure the lure of the ivy is tempting, so good luck with your choice. Honestly, you can’t go wrong either way unless you are the one accumulating all that debt. UVA in-state is a blessing!
If this is in any way a financial burden, then UVA is the obvious choice. UVA is plenty prestigious, and when you’re out in the world, working, you’ll wonder why you even cared so much about attending Cornell. Really. Adults don’t talk about where they went to school, and walk into just about any workplace, and you’ll see that people attended all sorts of colleges.
That said, if you or your family can attend either, then the choice is yours!
Virginia is a great university. Delayed entry and much higher cost ($40,000 per year), make Cornell an unattractive & unwise option.
Virginia places well in NYC, IB & MC if that concerns you.
Save the $160,000 for graduate school as most management consulting firms expect new hires to earn an MBA after three, four or five years with the MC firm.
Virginia has just developed a program in data analytics which may be of interest to you–it certainly is to employers.