<p>Considering the Ivy League is nothing more than an athletic conference, Cornell might be dropping out any way. Now that some of the other schools are offering free tuition to students, they are inadvertently defying the Ivy pact. </p>
<p>Before, Cornell could say they would match any financial package at any other school in the league for athletes. Now, with free tuition, Cornell can’t make that offer and is going to start losing athletes. Cornell will stop being able to compete while these other schools such as Harvard, and Harvard will be able to attract more and better student athletes. It may just be a matter of time.</p>
<p>But - many think the Ivy League has to do with some mythological academic royalty. In that regard, I don’t think anyone can claim Cornell as the “worst” anymore. Admission rates are an absurd stat. Harvard has far fewer slots for roughly the same number of applicants as Cornell gets. If Cornell got more applicants - qualified or not - they’d drop their admission below the current 18% and suddenly people would say “Oooh - look how selective Cornell is!” To compare what Cornell offers to what any other school offers is absurd. Only elitists who think they’re better than people who work with their hands and their minds look down on Cornell.</p>
<p>It’s an absurd game - go there if it’s right for you. Don’t if it’s not. Competition is a primitive value, anyway.</p>