<p>Cornell’s ECE department doesn’t teach the CS majors. The CS department does. </p>
<p>And your website only lists engineering students. The CS major is in Letters & Science, but is still taught by the EECS department. And since there were ~100 CS graduate in 2006, there is probably around ~400 students in total.</p>
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</p>
<p>A work-study is a good thing in this day and age. Employers are much more likely to hire people with work study. And trust me, you want to work.</p>
<p>Let’s see…</p>
<ol>
<li>Berkeley EECS department is one of the best ranked in the country. With the resources to match.</li>
<li>You’re Regents scholar…which has benefits.<br></li>
<li>It’s cheaper for you.</li>
<li>Silicon Valley’s numerous high tech employers recruit directly on campus (EECS career fair)…you’re in their backyard.</li>
<li>Pac-10 sports.</li>
<li>Dynamic San Francisco Bay Area.</li>
<li>Access to entire region via public transportation.</li>
</ol>
<p>Those reasons are hard to overlook, IMHO.</p>
<p>You also said in your first post you could graduate in 3 years potentially if you chose Berkeley…so that makes Cornell ~$56,000 more expensive. $56,000 additional debt at 5% interest paid over 10 years is ~$600/month!</p>
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So very true.</p>
<p>For me it would be a slam-dunk in favor of Cornell because I find Cornell to be so large (20,000 students!) as to be almost overwhelming, and that throws Berkeley right out of the equation. But when you factor the money in, that complicates things. Tell Cornell you want more money ;)</p>
<p>Work/study may or may not be good. All depends on the kind of work involved, and how much it detracts from or adds to the rest of your college experience.</p>
<p>D2, who isn’t on it, feels like work study people get first dibs on the better campus jobs. . A campus job can be beneficial socially, if you take a job that involves working with other people. It all depends on what job you wind up taking.</p>
<p>I was initially resentful when I started college that I had to spend a substantial number of hours per week working. But my college work experience really helped to differentiate me from some of my peers when I was applying for jobs later.</p>
<p>At Cornell, I had work study jobs (in order) as a garbage collector, writing parking tickets, and as an assistant to a famous professor. Stanford didn’t offer work-study when I was there, but the local job market was much better, and I found part-time work as editor-in-chief of a community newspaper, and as an assistant to a management consultant. </p>
<p>I took off a year between college and law school, partly to save money for law school, and worked as a paralegal, adjunct professor, and professional musician. I continued working as a professional musician throughout law school.</p>
<p>I’m convinced that even the last time I applied for jobs, the varied work experience I had as a student, helped make my resume stand out.</p>
<p>Is it possible to ask for more scholarship money once you accept their admission and send in your SIR?</p>
<p>Once you have accepted admission and sent in your SIR, you certainly lose leverage. How much is the deposit? I’ve heard of applicants using attractive offers elsewhere to bargain for improved offers but one has to be sure s/he’s an attractive candidate to even bother with this. Meanwhile, it would seem that time is running out now, no?</p>
<p>Yea, Im planning on sending in my SIR tomorrow, on the very last day. Thanks to all the comments by everyone here, but Ive decided to attend Cornell. It was a tough decision, but the things that really pushed me over the edge was that I want the resources and individual attention at a private school, and the fact that Cornell is in upstate New York will provide a nice change of scenery. Of course, in 4 years I would love to have the opportunity to choose Berkeley for grad school. I heard its grad offerings are A LOT better than its undergrad. </p>
<p>Im going to try and see if I can get more money from Cornell even after I send in the SIR. Who knows, they might give me more money, and if they dont, what’s the harm in trying. </p>
<p>Once again, thanks everyone. All of you have made significant suggestions that helped in my decision.</p>
<p>Good luck. I know these decisions can be really tough, I still remember D1 agonizing about hers, right down to the wire.</p>
<p>I hesitate to bring this up, since you say you’ve already decided.
But just one caution, regarding “individual attention” one thing I’d like to make clear,do not expect that professors at cornell will be calling you at home and bringing you milk and cookies either. Nobody will confuse Cornell’s engineering school with a liberal arts college, nor should you. I cannot compare it to Berkeley, since I never went there, I would have to defer to jamescchen for that. As a relative matter it may well be preferable to your alternative, but as an absolute matter “individual attention” would probably not be one of the first descriptors that would come out of a Cornell engineer’s mouth.</p>
<p>Thanks monydad. I am not expecting to be craddled and cuddled, but i do expect that if I need to talk to someone for advice i will find someone. I am the type of student that loves to establish good connections with my teachers and i think that with the smaller class sizes at Cornell, I will have a great opportunity to do so. The bottom line is, I want to be an individual to make my own choices but at the same time have some sort of system to prevent me from falling flat on my face.</p>
<p>I think you made a great decision. You will definitely get more guidance at Cornell and you don’t run the risk of feeling like just a number. I’d go to a private school if the opportunity presented itself. Btw, you have a slimmer chance of getting into a graduate school if you attend that same college for undergrad, colleges really don’t like applicants from their own school. So if you want to go to Berkeley for grad school (which I recommend over their undergraduate education) than that’s definitely another great reason for choosing Cornell. Just be ready for the frigged cold winters 
Congratulations, you had some really good options.</p>
<p>They will let you fall on your face there.
It may be better than berkeley, I don’t know, but just saying.
I’m not trying to be Mr, Downer here, but I don’t want you to get there and think you’ve been hoodwinked.</p>
<p>Meh, Im not too worried monydad. I think Im independent enough to be able to watch out for myself. </p>
<p>It’s so surreal. Im filling out the paperwork as Im typing this and its just sunk in: Im going to Cornell! :D</p>
<p>You’re a lucky guy. best wishes.</p>
<p>Potentially spending $50,000 more for some smaller classes and “more attention” (which I don’t believe Cornell ECE offers over Berkeley EECS)…not to mention increased travel expenses (cross-country flights are expensive and tiring) is IMO a huge mistake given your Berkeley EECS Regents alternative. Your plans are to go to medical school. I would have saved the money for that.</p>
<p>With your AP credits, you would have avoided most of the large general math and science courses at Berkeley. As monydad said, don’t expect Cornell to shower you with more resources than Berkeley EECS. </p>
<p>I think you’ve been too influenced by the negative rhetoric about Berkeley (that did not apply to your major).</p>
<p>"As monydad said, don’t expect Cornell to shower you with more resources than Berkeley EECS. "</p>
<p>Actually my comments were regarding levels of indidual attention, and were not comparative at all. I am not qualified to compare the level of individual attention one might expect at Cornell to the situation at Berkeley EECS, having never even set foot there. </p>
<p>The comparison of available resources was made by jamescchen who is an alum of both schools. He said Cornell provided more resources. I defer to him, in this instance.</p>
<p>If you want an on-campus job at Cornell ECE, start checking the on-line job listings this summer. I had two concurrent campus jobs at Cornell ECE, one as a TA for the Engineering Physics instrumentation class and one as an RA in the Plasma Physics lab. Early bird gets the plum TA and RA jobs. Don’t hestitate to contact professors over the summer to express interest in undergrad RA or TA positions.</p>
<p>I had two summer internships, one at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and one at Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puero Rico. You will have to initiate the process in a timely manner to get good summer internships.</p>
<p>Hope you have a great experience. Be ready for endless problem sets and intensive group projects.</p>
<p>Consider buying a bicycle in Ithaca for those treks from freshman dorms to engineering quad.</p>
<p>Greater individual attention implies more resources. I regret if I mis-stated your claims.</p>
<p>Jameschen also said Berkeley is riding on its reputation. That’s definitely not true.</p>
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Riding a bike in 0 degree wind chill…fun!</p>