<p>I attended Cornell my first year. Many parents might remember me from a while back. Well, here are my dismal results. I had a 'rough' first semester (I perceived it that way) at least. I did fine academically (~3.6 gpa), and second semester, I really knocked it up a notch in terms of my performance (~3.95) in 5 courses. I really didn't like Cornell, and I did put in transfer applications. However, the results weren't that great. I basically got admitted to every school I got accepted to last year. I didn't get into one 'reach' school. I ended up with 2 waitlists at Duke and Columbia. And I got rejected at one of them the other day. I REALLY did not enjoy my experience at Cornell. It was a combo of Ithaca, the weather, and the intensity of the workload there. I feel like I need to be closer to a city. However, I am really NOT thrilled with my alternatives, which are still Northwestern, Wash U, U Chicago, and Rice. At this point, I am leaning towards NU, which I don't know is a smart thing to do. In fact, I feel like I am inclined to go here b/c it seems to offer a full collegeg experience, when I am probably a better fit for Chicago as a person. I have very mixed feelings. I really wanted to go to Penn, Duke, or Columbia, and not one of them came through, even though I made it to the waitlists at 2 of them (both took under 5 percent in competitive pools). What should I do? Is it worth transferring for the sake of transferring if Northwestern isn't really my dream school. Should I go back to Cornell and try next year, but apply to more reaches and less matches. After seeing the results of other CCs on the transfer board, I wish I had applied to Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, etc, since admissions are so random. I am so torn. By the way, I am a New Yorker, and I am in the college of arts/sci at cornell, and my parents and so do I think it is a waste of money to be paying so much to attend Cornell, when so many of my friends are paying about half. What can I do? Switch schools at cornell to study something I don't want to study? </p>
<p>I would appreciate any advice, as I am in a desperate situation right now.</p>
<p>What do you dislike about Cornell? Often freshman year takes a lot of adjustment including an adjustment of unrealistic expectations, and many students don't appreciate their colleges until they are sophs.</p>
<p>"also, am i hurting my future by leaving an ivy league college, that is getting more and more competitive each year."</p>
<p>-Yep. Northwestern, WASHU, and Chicago will give you a horrible education. You're ruining your life.... If only you were accepted to Penn or Columbia </p>
<p>Any of the schools to which you are considering transferring will give you a great education. The "Ivy" degree is over-rated. But it is not clear what about Cornell you do not like, so it's hard to suggest you should transfer. If it's the weather. that's not going to change. But Chicago weather is not great, either. If it's the isolated location, then Chicago and Northwestern have an edge; I'm told that Wash U's location is not great. If it's the academic or the social scene, you probably know best what you like or don't like.</p>
<p>You sound so miserable that I think transferring is probably a good idea. Maybe you'd love one of those other schools - and they are all good schools. Why not give it a shot? I would encourage you to NOT get hung up on the "Ivy" designation. Who cares?!</p>
<p>bball-- if it weren't for your interest in transferring, would you have had to work so hard? Sounds like you didn't make time to join groups, have friends, go to concerts or poetry readings or all those things that make Cornell worth what you're paying for.</p>
<p>If you were my kid I'd encourage you to go back; smell the roses a little and explore a little more while obsessing about grades a little less. In my family we have observed that one generally takes one's packets of sorrows with us.... you will find Northwestern, Wash U and Chicago just as intense and just as expensive; the weather by Lake Michigan is no better than Ithaca; why not try to extend yourself socially and see what happens?</p>
<p>There is no perfect college.... and why would you possibly think that you'd be better off at Dartmouth since there's even less to do in Hanover than there is in Ithaca?????</p>
<p>well---that's why i didnt apply to d-mouth, but i would rather be in a smaller school, if i were to stay in an isolating place</p>
<p>btw, i do have friends at cornell, and a few were upset when i proposed that i might be transferring....i just wasn't the most "social" kid there</p>
<p>Take a look at the 'what if they hate it' thread -- there are a couple of comments from students who had a bad experience their first year - and what they did about it. </p>
<p>For what it's worth - I don't think transfering to a school you feel lukewarm about is a good idea. And I don't think studying something you're not interested in is a good idea either. It sounds like you have a lot of questions & issues to sort through. Focus on making Cornell a better experience before you commit to transfering. Focus more on what YOU want to study rather than what your parents' opinion of "worth" is. (A business degree may not be "worth it" if you decide you will never go into business.) Above all, try to take it easy and take your time making decisions you feel good about.</p>
<p>that's why i was desperately trying to get into Columbia, b/c I absolutely love the school--it would have been a no-brainer</p>
<p>on the transfer board--there are a few cornell kids that are "transfering down" if you will. One transferred to bates and the other is transfering to Notre Dame. For some, Cornell isn't the greatest fit. It is a reallllllly rigorous place. Ithaca, is a small, isolated time in upstate new york. Also, it's a bit annoying to be at a school that has 1/3 of its students from a lil island, a.k.a. long island.</p>
<p>Just to look at the internal transfer option for a moment -- what were you studying in Arts and Sciences, and what might you study if you transferred to one of the statutory colleges at Cornell?</p>
<p>i don't want to transfer to one of the statutory colleges though---prob, the closest thing would be to my AS major (Govt) is PAM in HumEC. But i would rather stay in CAS though.....</p>
<p>I was just wondering; I thought you might be a bio major, in which case transferring within Cornell might make sense.</p>
<p>You did say that your parents were pressuring you to transfer within Cornell if you stayed there. Is this one of the reasons why you want to leave Cornell? After all, if you're at Northwestern, your parents can't pressure you to change your major to save money -- the tuition doesn't vary from school to school within the university, the way it does at Cornell. That could be an argument in favor of Northwestern.</p>
<p>But there's pressure at Northwestern, too. In some ways, it might be more intense than Cornell because of the trimester system (finals three times a year) rather than Cornell's semester system.</p>
<p>money isn't a big factor--my parents are paying for everything, no loans here, but i sense some pressure that staying in AS at cornell, isn't what they would like, i agree with them</p>
<p>why pay 45,000 for the same diploma versus 30,000</p>
<p>at least at NU, everyone is paying the same, or at least, expected to do so from the beginning minus FA</p>
<p>bball87-
You don't say why you were unhappy, but I too went through that freshman year. I did transfer to a totally different school and it was the best thing I ever did. Probably the deciding factor for me was the "what if" - yes leaving my established friends to go as a transfer to a school where I knew not even one person was scary, but I didn't want to tough it out through three more years and always wonder "what if" I had transferred. Worst case scenario, if you go to another school, could you feel less happy than you do at Cornell? Sometimes the fit just isn't right and there's no rational way of explaining that "I don't belong here" feeling.
Good luck, you have GREAT schools to choose from. Are there any recent grads from your high school who are at the schools you are considering who could give you some honest insight into the schools?</p>
<p>You won't be doing yourself any dire harm if you do transfer to Northwestern. It's a very good school. </p>
<p>But if you decide to spend another year at Cornell, may I suggest that it might make sense to focus just a little on making your Cornell experience better, rather than just focusing on transferring out. Of course you should fill out those transfer applications. (It's always a good idea to give yourself options.) But consider the possibility that Cornell might get better, too.</p>
<p>Next year's Cornell won't be exactly the same as last year's Cornell. For one thing, you won't be living in the North Campus freshman zoo anymore. Whatever your living situation, it will be different from last year's. It might turn out to be better. </p>
<p>Academics will be different, too. You've already taken a couple of the big, impersonal introductory courses in the Government department, right? That means that you can take smaller, upper-level courses now. You might like the more personal environment (with maybe even some discussions led by the professor rather than a TA). </p>
<p>Also, sometime during your sophomore year, you would be getting an actual major advisor in your actual major department. This makes a big difference. You would be able to talk to that person about academic opportunities for government majors at Cornell. Maybe you might like to do some undergraduate research? Or take a small seminar course? Or maybe you could check out the possibility of doing the Washington semester? Or doing the International Relations concentration? Your new advisor can help you explore these sorts of opportunities (unlike your former advisor, Professor Cardsigner from the Department of Something Else, who was probably mostly useless last year).</p>
<p>On the other hand, you may have just read what I wrote and thought, "No. None of that stuff is going to make any difference. I really, truly do not like Cornell and I don't want to go back there." In that case, listen to your gut and leave. It's your life, and you only get to live it once.</p>
<p>I had a feeling that you were having a trouble with your decision since you didnt answer my question about where you will be attending this fall. My heart is breaking for you because I have followed your saga this past year. When the transfer decisions came out, I was rooting for you to get into one of your dream schools, and I am sorry that you didnt. College admissions is not a science, but you certainly worked hard and were well qualified to get into a myriad of competitive schools. </p>
<p>If I were to respond to the current posting alone, I would probably advise you to stick it out at Cornell for another year, and only apply to dream schools for transfer for your Junior year. But after re-reading your posts from December, I think I would agree with Weenie and others that it might be time for a change. Dont worry about the Ivy prestige. Ivy schmivy! Its all about fit and you need to find some time for happiness. Remember the CC poster Evilrobot that gave up a spot at Yale for a free ride at Vanderbilt and is so happy there? It seems to me that you spend too much time analyzing and not enough time to enjoy life. Youre a 19 year old lighten up a bit! The only problem with Northwestern is that you will probably start behind a few credits due to the quarter system, so that might stress you out a bit. </p>
<p>You have great choices and a long and hopefully fulfilled life ahead of you. You can make any college work for you, I have a lot of faith in you! If you decide to stay at Cornell...it's Cornell's gain and Northwestern's loss!</p>
<p>Hi... this is some wise advise from evil_robot.</p>
<h1>9</h1>
<p>evil_robot
Junior Member</p>
<p>Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 99
tlaktan - </p>
<p>Hey,</p>
<p>I went to Vandy this year from Orange County, after spending a LONG TIME deliberating, with assistance from the parents in the Parents Forum. I'm not so much the partying type and/or the elitist rich white type (more of a nerdy academic type) so I thought that I might have been in for a world of pain coming to Vandy (which has that reputation), but I was incredibly wrong.</p>
<p>Everything, and I mean everything, (well excepting the one time the guy threw up on the bathroom door) has been absolutely wonderful. I've made a core group of like-minded friends and we do stuff pretty much every day, the work load isn't too overwhelming (even though I took 16 hours last semester and got on the Dean's List with a 3.925 GPA - A- = 3.7 ), I've found a nice girlfriend, etc, etc.</p>
<p>Yes there is a partying scene/some elitist students, but once you get to a certain point, you realize that they are a small minority of the student body. The campus is beautiful, the students are extremely intelligent, the girls are beautiful (well, the guys are too if you're a girl), the facilities are wonderful (we took over a lecture hall at night to watch movies! and then took over a conference room during finals to study ), the teachers are excellent (great advice, and my advisor has been wonderful in helping me find classes that I'd be interested in). I've gone to the Nashville Symphony twice, attended art openings, gone out to movies, and generally enjoyed the fact that we -are- in a relatively large city. Of course there are bums, and some nights you just really need to do work (it is college after all), and the food is not great (it is not terrible either - except never touch anything at Chef James!), and sometimes my TV blows up (true story), but I've been having the time of my life and am in fact quite bored to be home.</p>
<p>PM me or e-mail me if you have any questions.</p>