<p>Fendrock, just for clarification, Carleton College IS a very highly ranked (e.g. ranked 8th in U.S. liberal arts college category by USNWR), tier one school. It had a 30% acceptance rate last year.</p>
<p>Cornell, inferior? What rot.</p>
<p>I’m not a Cornell graduate, but full disclosure, I am friendly with a handlful of Cornell alumni. They all are quite satisfied with their Cornell experiences and each is an ordinary, personable and quite successful undividual. I might add that each came from modest backgrounds, which they’ve certainlly surpassed in their professional lives.</p>
<p>I’m not the expert but yes, parts of Cornell university are essentially “state supported.” I’m told that admission to those departments and programs is quite competitive.</p>
<p>Don’t take the bait from Madame - search her posts - she loves to stir the pot.</p>
<p>Not as competitive as many non Ivies.</p>
<p>Cliffy love, the sleuth! Congrats!</p>
<p>My son fell into the category of attending WNHOI University (“Where? Never heard of it”). He got lots of merit money there, but that was MY reason for liking it, not his. We had seen lots of schools, including Brown, Rice, CMU, MIT, etc…, but his body language was different from the moment he alighted from the car at his choice. I knew driving home that it was the one. The reasons (totally apart from the money) were: the fantastic honors program, the well-regarded major, and the fact that the school wanted him and made no bones about it. They thought he would probably be attracted elsewhere and really made him feel recruited. That made a huge difference, almost reversing the college/applicant relationship.</p>
<p>My D picked a lower ranked school because it’s one of the only schools with her major. The major gets lots of attention and support at the school, so D thought it would be the place for her. Tured out she was right. Her better acceptances were smaller schools and D is definitely a big school girl.</p>
<p>Calling Cornell the crappy ivy is a oxymoron because all of the Ivies are excellent schools</p>
<p>Yes. My daughter narrowed her choices down to Columbia University and Thomas Aquinas College–and chose TAC. Her reasons were primarily educational. She is deeply committed to pursuing a classical, Great Books education, and the quality of the program at TAC is exceptional. She also fell in love with the campus, the faith community, and the social environment.</p>
<p>D3 was debating between a more prestigious music school and the one where she eventually ended up right up to the deadline. Finances were a big part of her decision, but so was the professor who she would be working with. </p>
<p>She had an interesting conversation with several professional musicians a few days before the decision deadline. The older ones all told her to go for the higher prestige school, while the younger ones (still paying off their student loans?) steered her towards the best financial package.</p>
<p>Several years ago, my D had to turn down a Top 20 first choice school due to a financial aid package that met need … but with too much in loans. She debated between a lesser ranked school & another Top 20 school down to the May 1 wire, choosing the lesser ranked school for reasons other than financial (the two schools were essentially the same cost to us after scholarships/aid). She decided to transfer to the Top 20 school sophomore year for various reasons. She is VERY happy with the switch for many reasons. WE are very happy with the switch for financial reasons. She has top notch grades there, and each year she gets more & more aid. In the end, it cost us much less for the Top 20 than the LAC would have cost us.</p>
<p>Why D switched: She switched educational goals from hard science to social science & felt the Top 20 offered more variety for her in this area. She ended up majoring in something not offered at the LAC. In addition, she decided she wanted to be a part of the music community that was offered in the Top 20’s urban location. She wanted to be on the music board at school, do a radio show, and intern in the music industry. She has done all of these things, and she will hopefully have a job in the industry after graduation. She would not have had these opportunities at the LAC … so change in direction was what led her back to the higher ranked school.</p>
<p>I’ll preface this story by saying Cornell is a great school and would be happy if any of children where admitted.</p>
<p>I was visiting my college roommate this past week, we graduated from William and Mary a long time ago. She was talking about colleges with my oldest and said she was the only one in her family who did not attend Cornell. Both parents, sister and several other relatives attended. She was forced by her parents to apply, so she did, but left the essay blank. Welcome to William and Mary.
I guess I’ll be checking my sons applications.</p>
<p>I’ll add D to the chorus. She is attending her “safety” school because she loved it the most upon visiting and it seemed to meet her particular criteria (urban, good business school, no big-time sports). She was also looking for a group of quirky, non-competitve students who shared her eclectic (weird?) interests. Honestly, she applied to other more prestigious schools, was accepted to some, but they were never really in the running.</p>
<p>She has changed a lot since her decision 3 years ago, but she still loves her school and the opportunitities it seems to provide. (It remains a good match.) She also loves being on such good terms with her professors and being in the top of her class. No regrets.</p>
<p>I love this thread (not the silly Cornell-bashing)-- but I’m kind of expecting to find myself in Neonzeus’ shoes in a few years. The highest-ranked school on D’s list is one of her lower choices and I know she is going to pick the one that seems strongest for her major and feels most natural and friendly to her. Of course, I encourage this! But some small part of me is thinking-- wow, you worked for all those grades etc. and now you’re not even going to get to brag? Well, I resolve to shrink that part of me even further in the coming year!</p>
<p>Mom24boys-- I too have known kids who sabotaged their own apps and in one case just lied, saying they didn’t get into the prestige school the parents were set on. Sometimes it takes extreme measures…</p>
<p>One of my nephews turned down Cornell for Purdue. When he visited Cornell, he decided the buildings were “too old.” I am not making this up, LOL. He is very happy at Purdue, from what I hear.</p>
<p>DS has not yet heard from UNC Chapel Hill, but, assuming he gets in (we’re in-state, he’s a NMSF, and his stats are good), he <em>may</em> turn it down for UNC Asheville or even for the Honors College at Western Carolina. He likes the mountains. 
For us, though, money is very definitely a HUGE factor, so we don’t fit the OP profile. OTOH, all the UNC-system schools are comparably priced…but amount of merit aid will play a deciding role.</p>
<p>
I had pretty much the same reaction after touring Cornell, so it’s not just him.</p>
<p>Daughter turned down Yale for a school that had a better program in her desired major. It was a very hard decision but she has never looked back. My husband, on the other hand, still aches from time to time!</p>
<p>Son turned down Cornell for a lower ranked school. Their “Accepted Student” days are the absolute worst of any school we have visited. Last year their accepted students were invited to an information session led by the Director of Security and a Freshman student. Where were their admissions people? Anyone who could answer questions? The information packet provided lists of cafeterias but most were closed. The buildings were dimly light. This visit was actually better than three years previous. We were greeted by an admissions person who told us that Cornell wasn’t that great. We still hold that campus visit as our most memorable. </p>
<p>We know many outstanding Cornell Alum. Cornell has an outstanding reputation as an academic institution. Cornell does nothing to impress its potential students.</p>
<p>Madame… I assumed you were a student based on your post and that you were either rejected by Cornell during admissions or you come from a region of the country that is unfamilar with the outstanding education, opportunities, and beauty that is not matched by many of the other highly ranked schools. My son graduated from MIT this past May and compares his MIT education only to Cornell. My other two sons will graduate from Cornell this coming May, and one is leaving for a wonderful job abroad and the other has been working on a start up that has already provided him with great satisfaction and the potential for earning a very good living. The students at Cornell are probably the least pretentious of all the Ivy’s and are extremely talented. You are right that some of the schools are landgrant colleges but this does not detract from the competitiveness or the value of the Cornell degree. I understand that some people hear things from others and take it as the truth, but unless you spend time on this amazing campus you really have no idea what you are talking about. Is it possible you have Cornell University confused with Cornell College, which is a much smaller school that is not in the top tier of universities? Even so the term “armpit” is indeed off putting.</p>