<p>doesn’t cornell NOT allow a change of colleges?- like out of engineering? i think it requires another application process. i think that cornell would be out if he is thinking of changing majors to another college in cornell.</p>
<p>With roughly similar good reputations in chemical engineering, Illinois free is certainly a better deal than Cornell at list price. Duke does not even have an ABET accredited chemical engineering degree program.</p>
<p>Have not yet read what the applicant feels about these options. Can see & read a LOT of good reasons to choose UI and convince him/her why it is an excellent choice.</p>
<p>To be honest tho, we DID allow our S to opt out of going to a U where he would have gotten a full-ride to go to a U where he got 50% merit tuition award instead. He REALLY objected to the full-ride U and was enthusiastic about the 50% tuition U, where he did matriculate & is now working at an excellent job with his EE degree in hand. He did discard all acceptances where he didn’t get significant merit awards. I had secretly hoped S would at least give serious consideration to the full-ride U but he REALLY was NOT interested (tho he did investigate it but refused to visit).</p>
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<p>Cornell has an internal transfer process. You have to apply, but they don’t deliberately make it hard on you. </p>
<p>Although it’s possible that some types of transfers are difficult or impossible, transferring from Engineering to Arts and Sciences usually is pretty simple because the student is transferring from a more structured program to a less structured one. It’s usually not difficult for the student to plan a schedule that fulfills the new graduation requirements. I know of two kids who attempted it in recent years, and both were successful.</p>
<p>Another point: How did your son react when he got the merit scholarship at U of I? Was he thrilled? Or was he horrified at the possibility that you and your spouse might now pressure him to attend that school instead of Cornell? Is he secretly wishing now that he had chosen a safety school that’s less generous with the merit money?</p>
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<p>This is ridiculous. Plenty of people are well off enough to have the ability to pay for college by choosing to spend that money on tuition instead of new cars, a second home, early retirement, etc. You don’t have to be rich enough that money does not matter to give up a free ride.</p>
<p>UIUC is a particularly strong school for engineering and it should be hard to turn down at a free ride. The fact that the OP got no aid at Cornell and Duke tells us that the family has considerable income and assets. Not being an engineering maven, it would seem the only clear choice here is to downgrade Duke which is not ABET accredited in the student’s current field of interest.</p>
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<p>Since others have not brought this up, I’ll add my 2 cents. How much of a possibility is this? My oldest son is a junior in ChemE and I cannot emphasize how incredibly hard he works, it is a tough, tough major. Even within the engineering school it is considered the hardest of all the engineering majors. Is your son possibly not interested in pursuing engineering at all? There are some pretty bleak statistics about engineering majors who switch out of engineering their first year.</p>
<p>If you think he might switch to liberal arts, then Duke or Cornell might offer more than U of I liberal arts. I do agree with everyone else though, that a U of I engineering degree for ‘free’ is an incredible deal, and if you think he’s going to last in engineering, that’s the way to go.</p>
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<p>Perhaps, but it depends on which liberal arts. UIUC is still very good in many liberal arts, and it would still be questionable whether Cornell is worth $220,000 or so more. (Duke should not be in the finalists if it does not even have the student’s current intended major if there is a significant chance of the student staying in that major.)</p>
<p>^^ I assumed the U of I scholarship wouldn’t continue if the student switched out of engineering.</p>