My girlfriend has been accepted to Cornell, UCLA, and Berkeley (With full ride) amongst others as a Biology major. She also has enough scholarships to pretty much cover all tuition at any University she chooses so cost isn’t an issue.
Since I currently go to UCLA and the community college she transferring from is urging her to go Cornell, I feel like we need some outside perspective. Of course, I want her to come to UCLA but her mentors at CC keep saying not going to Cornell would be “the biggest mistake of her life.” She’s convinced the connections she makes at Cornell will be unlike any other at other Universities. I try to make her understand that Berkeley, UCLA and Cornell are almost on the same playing field. There is no wrong choice and that she will land her dream job at a world renowned researching facility no matter which path she takes. She has already interned at the University of Southern Carolina in the past and would be going back to research at NIH this summer.
Am I wrong to tell her that the key difference is basically the environment around the campus (City life vs rural, Sunny vs snowy, etc.)? She’s personally not a fan of cold weather but she’s drawn to the prestige of Cornell. Knowing her, I know she wouldn’t be happy at Cornell as much as she would be at Berkeley or UCLA.
What do you guys suggest?
I’d appreciate it if you can try to make your opinions unbiased.
If she’s from California the community college probably has few Ivy League admits. And the uc schools being so near and with so many students that it’s not as special as the rest of the world sees it.
Yes Berkeley and UCLA are top schools . UCB has a better reputation outside of the us than almost any other school. UCLA has fine weather. All of these things are true.
Cornell is an Ivy so there’s hundreds of years of conditioning going into their public image and prestige. It’s reslly very impressive to the population at large.
Would someone be making the mistake of a lifetime going to Berkeley or UCLA instead. Hardly.
Would Cornell be a difference maker in her career. Perhaps.
Should she choose a college to be near you. Absolutely not. And I am sure you are a terrific boyfriend. But if you are meant to be it will survive two years of college
It’s hard to say. Obviously you have reason to be biased. So, however, do the counselors at her CC, who want to be able to say they sent a student to Cornell.
If this were freshman admissions, I’d tend to lean Cornell, because the competition for resources and faculty attention is so much stiffer at the UC’s. But the difference probably isn’t as significant in the last two years as in the first two.
A Cornell education/degree for nearly-free isn’t anything to sneeze at. But can she get terrific research opportunities and launch a great career at UCB or UCLA? Of course.
Sounds like grad school is a near-certainty for her, so… I guess I would research grad school admissions stats for her field at all three schools and see if there’s a difference. If Cornell would give her a big edge at getting into a top fully-funded PhD program, then two years there could be worth the geographic transition. It’s only two years. But is there a difference in that regard? I don’t know. Cornell’s med school acceptance rates are far better (around 75% vs. closer to 50% for UCB and UCLA) so if she were premed I’d tend to recommend Cornell. But I don’t know if that trend carries over to other grad programs, or not.
If she really wants to end up at a particular UC for grad school, also look into whether that UC accepts its own undergrads to her desired program. Some either do not, or at least make it more difficult… so she should make sure she doesn’t disadvantage herself at her most-desired grad program(s) if that’s something she can anticipate.
Not sure if that helps - good luck with a tough decision!