Cornell Worth the Debt?

<p>Transfer:</p>

<p>There is still a lot of sarcasm coming from you. I'll "calm down" if you can stop being so sarcastic in your posts. Quote: "eternity_hope2005, if you are as hardassed as the Cornell student body.."</p>

<p>If your going to insult me, than keep your comments on me - no need for your to direct your comments on the "cornell student body". This will only bring much more trouble onto this thread. </p>

<p>Quote: "Oh yeah, we don't have gorges to jump off and kill yourself. So take that into consideration... "</p>

<p>The rumor of Cornell's high suicide rate is not necessarily true - look at this website: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell#Suicides%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell#Suicides&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Comparing the Cornell average suicide rate to the average national suicide rate is pointless because the national suicide rate is a skewed statistical number. Many schools don't actually submit their national averages and because of this, there is lot of bias in the data that statisticians have regarding suicide. Why is this important? Well, this means that we don't really know if Cornell has a high suicide rate, average suicide rate, or a low suicide rate because the average that your comparing it to inself is a skewed value.
Because of this, everybody has to make their own conclusions regarding Cornell's suicide rate.</p>

<p>Quote: "I didn't mean to offend or make you type a thesis explaining an OBVIOUS point."</p>

<p>I've already posted a note earlier explaining why whatever I said (the statements referring to as so "obvious") should deserve a little bit more respect from people like you. I will not waste my time posting the same explanation again.</p>

<p>The only real mistake I made here is that I did not acknowledge Madison to be such a nice place as it seems to be. This isn't really a big deal because like I said, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I personally think Ithaca has the edge but you on the other hand think that Madison is better which is NOT a big deal.</p>

<p>Also, I know that you think Cornell is pretty. Squirzle is the one I wanted to challenge when he said that Ithaca was boring. And Squirzle, I'm more of a Mid-Westerner than what you called me in your previous post: "East Coaster."</p>

<p>also ithaca is not boring. it's no cultural mecca like NYC but it's no less boring than a place like yale</p>

<p>well... we can agree on that! New Haven is slightly lame/unsafe :)</p>

<p>Does anyone have any thoughts that might help me make a decision? I'm still on the fence, and by the way, my debt was reduced to 70,000. I want to go so badly, but taking on debt is such a huge risk. But if I get a degree from Cornell, I'll be able to pick a job that I want more and have a better chance of getting it, and maybe even make more money. You can see how this decision can go in circles! Things I'm looking for are mainly how happy you were at Cornell. Not whether or not you think the school has a lot of prestige, but if you think the education was great, or the people were great, or the overall experience was great.</p>

<p>if ur in the engineering school, 70,000 i think is worth it. Like I would probably advise against it if you were going to be a history major. But Cornell is CORNELL buddy, and the engineering school is phenomenal. Like someone who wants to do engineering will go to Cornell over Harvard or Yale, it's that simple.</p>

<p>No offense but you would have to be an idiot to give up Cornell over Colorado. Especially if your debt at Cornell for 4 years accumulates to 70K, that means your taking an annual debt of 17,500$. This is not an abnormal amount of debt. You will be able to pay it off without too much pain in the future; especially if your graduating from Cornell with a Master's in Engineering. That degree will get you management positions.</p>

<p>So don't give up this opportunity because you will regret it later if you do. Also, like eternity_hope said earlier, opportunity knocks once in a lifetime. The only problem I can see for you attending Cornell instead of Colorado is that you may get homesick considering you'll be very far away from your family. That is something you may (and probably will) have a tough time adjusting too.</p>

<p>I e-mailed one of staff members at the career center in Cornell Engineering. His name is Al Center and he handles issues with Master of Engineering students. I asked him what kind of jobs to students who graduate with a degree in Master's in engineering get their first year out of college. I cut and posted the content in his reply e-mail to me:</p>

<p>"Our M. Eng.[Master's degree in Engineering] students usually start out at some entry level or slightly higher level job, and then frequently move on to the management of technologies and people. I would guess that after five years or so, most of them are on the management ladder."</p>

<p>AMC</p>

<p>your answer is easy enough. you said "i want to go so badly." so go. you have to take a leap sometimes.
what's the worse that could happen anyways?</p>

<p>i'm not as gong-ho about going to cornell as you, but that's just my personal preference. i didn't feel that it was all that spectacular while i was there..and i heard from a chem. e prof. himself that madison would offer me as good an education in chem. engineering as cornell. the only difference for me would be the reputation and how certain people would treat me differently knowing I came from an ivy.</p>

<p>but the point is..my heart was just not into it and yours is. so do yourself the favor and listen to that tiny little voice screaming in your head. life's too short to live in fear.</p>

<p>Squirgle and freeskier,</p>

<p>Squirgle mentioned earlier that he was in a very "similar" position as freeskier. Though it may seem like this at first, this is simply not true. I just don't want freeskier to be confused about this and base his decision as to how Squirgle based his ultimate decision. Here's why:</p>

<p>freeskeir is NOT in the same position as Squirzle. Comparing Cornell with Colorado is NOT like comparing Cornell with Madison.</p>

<p>Madison is ranked #15 in the best engineering schools in the country. Cornell is ranked #12. They are almost the same ranking and prestige. Colorado lags both these universities significantly - its ranking is a far 33. Madison is far better than Colorado and almost as good as Cornell.</p>

<p>Furthermore, freeskier doesn't get a full ride scholarship at Colorado like you would be getting at Madison. He has to pay regardless of what school he goes to - the only difference is that he pays more to attend Cornell. Personally, I think it would be a very smart decision for freeskeir to attend Cornell. </p>

<p>For Squirzle, I think it was a smart move to go for Madison. A full ride scholarship to attend a school just as excellent but not as popular as Cornell (hint: Madison) is obviously smarter than choosing Cornell and taking 120,000 dollars in debt when you could have gone to the other school for free!</p>

<p>Squirzle, I came up with this specific debt amount because of the info you gave earlier in your posts: you said your parents take a 20K loan for 4 years and you take a 10K loan.</p>

<p>freeskier has also grown up and spent all his life in Colorado - I really think it would mentally benefit him to experience a sorroundings change.</p>

<p>This is rough, because my parents are so dead set against it. They don't want to cosign the loan, which would mean I couldn't go. I'm distraught, because CU is a good school and I would get a good degree, but I don't think I'd be too happy.</p>

<p>That really blows. Maybe you should have told us this before.</p>

<p>I thought you clearly had the option of going to Cornell. </p>

<p>It seems you never really did have that option because your parents were never going to cosign that loan.</p>

<p>How old are you anyway? If your over 18 years of age, you can actually go to banks and request a loan. I'm sure a lot of banks will give you the money to go to Cornell. They do have a specialized interest rate for college students even though it is a bit higher than FAFSA will charge had you have taken the loan from FAFSA.</p>

<p>You have more options than you think. Your parents don't control your life (only if your above 18); check out these banks.</p>

<p>BTW, there has been so much talk about the PHENOMENON of Cornell Engineering. Does this apply to CAS Physics degrees, or should I go AEP. They are very similar. There is little difference except for the college and its requirements.</p>

<p>I assume that when you say "AEP"; your talking about Applied engineering physics. As a matter of fact, I don't think it matters if your at Cornell.</p>

<p>It's time to ask yourself what your really want with physics: 1) practical applications in engineering or 2) pure science study and research.</p>

<p>If your interested in the second option, go with CAS. Otherwise, go with AEP.</p>

<p>I personally think you would have a lot more fun if you went to CAS than if you studied AEP. Also, the recognition for a physics degree would be great from either area but as I side earlier, certain AEP's and CAS's physics' departments will train you with different focuses.</p>

<p>The only difference is that AEP will be more difficult because it involves certain rigorous engineering courses that CAS won't require you to do.</p>

<p>I personally would choose CAS. Why?</p>

<p>1) CAS will enable you to have a great social life while AEP will eat away at a greater part of your time.
2) I think pure physics is more interesting than applied physics.
3) There are probably many more beautiful and HOT women at CAS than at the AEP program.</p>

<p>Ha, nice logic on the women! I saw intense similarities between the two, but yes, CAS is more flexible. I guess I just don't know which is a better fit. I 'll find out soon.</p>

<p>****, can't go. Parents wouldn't cosign, so I'm stuck at CU. On the other hand, Cornell might have been a bad decision. I would have been locked into a 20 year loan at 8,000 dollars a year, which means I would have to be an engineer the rest of my life. If I changed my mind, or found a new interest, I would have been totally screwed and forced into staying at a job that I didn't like for 20 years. Yes, Cornell would have been more fun and a better experience for 3 years, but it's just not possible for someone to sell their lives away like that.</p>

<p>Actually, you have great career opportunities from Colorado as well. Do well at your school and have fun. Don't regret Cornell now.</p>

<p>excellent question ... as a Cornell grad I certainly think it is a great school and worth going into <em>some</em> debt to attend ... but not $30,000/yr. I would not recommend going into that much debt for any school. $30,000 total ... OK I'll go for that ... instead of buying a fancy new car after graduation pay off the $30k and get a cheap used car. (FYI - there are probably another 50 terrific schools for which I'd go $30k into debt to attend)</p>

<p>Yeah, I'm not going to regret it now. If I get involved in activities and clubs at CU, and keep my GPA high, I should be able to go where I want for grad school (maybe not Caltech or MIT, but probably Cornell). And I realize now that I can still have a lot of fun at CU, and there's no reason for me to dwell on not going to Cornell. My new mission is to fix the college financial aid system, so that the government can actually give some money to people to go to college. Right now it's a joke, if you can get in to an Ivy League school, you should be able to go no matter what.</p>

<p>Ithaca is gorges.</p>

<p>...sorry, it had to be said sometime.</p>

<p>You can actually do more things in Boulder than Ithaca. You can go skiing, rock climbing, rafting, hiking, and tons of other things. Many athletes around the world come to Boulder to train.</p>

<p>Boulder's real estate is rapidly increasing in price because more and more people want to live here. It is already one of the more expensive non-coastal cities to live in.</p>