<p>Hey everybody
I got accepted into Cornell, UVA, Berkeley, and a few other schools and although I’m leaning towards Cornell I’m still not sure. You might be thinking I’m insane to not jump at Cornell but I’m nervous about a few things:</p>
<li><p>I’m pretty sensative to the weather and I’ve heard rumours that it’s terrible in Ithica, although I’ve also heard it’s not so bad. I’m mostly worried about not getting enough sun.</p></li>
<li><p>The first thing I ever heard about Cornell was that it was the easiest Ivy to get into but the one with the most work. I want to study hard, but not too hard and I’m worried about being swamped with too much work. Also related to this, I understand Cornell doesn’t inflate grades as much as other schools, which I’m afraid will turn into a lot of hard work resulting in Bs, making it harder to get into grad school.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Basically the way I see it Berkeley or UVA would solve the issue I have with the sun and would probably be more easy going, although Berkeley is a huge school and I’m afraid of getting lost and UVA might not fit my off beat liberal style. Plus of course Cornell beats both UVA and Berkeley in reputation.</p>
<p>Help?</p>
<p>1) The weather is not as bad as you make it out to be. Its cold in the winter...wel it is upstate NY...but i don't think that should bother you much.</p>
<p>2) Cornell is not the easiest Ivy to get into. It had an acceptance rate of 21% this year(including ED)...which considering the number of places on offer, is darn good. For Engineering its numero uno. The workload is hard...no kidding. You will have to work hard. But, You will still have time to chill aka relax aka party. Infact, there will be days when you won't have anything to do atall. But all said, Cornell is tough, which pro'lly why its degree is so respected.</p>
<p>3) This thread should have been over at the Cornell University forum, not Class of 2010 forum.</p>
<p>thanks for the info</p>
<p>I'm not sure if you've made up your mind yet but I just came back from a weekend visiting Berkeley and I have decided in the end to go to Cornell.</p>
<p>While Berkeley does have superior weather and a more central, urban location in the heart of the Bay Area, it does have its downsides. For starters, budget cuts are always threatening important programs and will cause tuition to rise annually. For example, I spoke to a junior who complained about the nonstop rise in housing fees. Another professor complained about the loss of an architectural study abroad opportunity to Denmark "due to the budget cuts".
Second, Berkeley has much bigger class sizes than Cornell on the whole. Some of the intro classes range from 125-750 students!
Third, housing at Berkeley is awful. There is a constant feeling that you will be sacrificing something. The Unit dorms are very small and cramped, but are only a block away from campus and main buildings like Dwinelle and Wheeler. Clark Kerr and Foothill are much roomier and provide better housing opportunities, but are in turn much further from campus.
Lastly, you will not get the advising that you will get at Cornell. An advisor will help you out in the beginning of freshman year, but it is up to you to seek them out if you need help for the rest of your time at Berkeley.
This is all coming from a kid who up until this past weekend had his heart set on Berkeley and was pretty sure he was going to end up there. Unfortunately I don't know much about UVA considering I didn't apply there, but you should seriously reconsider Berkeley and ask yourself if it is worth it to give up so much just to be in the Bay Area. Considering that you, like me, are an out of stater, it will cost you slightly less than Cornell to attend Cal, but you will be missing a lot of the benefits of a private university for around the same price as one.</p>
<p>Why worry about the weather?</p>
<p>(of course, I lived in MA for 6 years) :P</p>
<p>Go to CORNELL!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>