<p>listen OP, at the end of the day your future employers aren't really going to care how happy or sad you were at college. Cornell is an ivy therefore it is one of the best schools in the world. People who go there usually end up getting a high-paying job. If you are willing to be unhappy for 4 years, then the rest of your life will be a bliss because you will know that you got an Ivy education which means that you also know that you matter in this world. and as others have said give it time to adjust. don't throw good future jobs away by transferring to an inferior school.</p>
<p>supindy you are so out of touch with reality its funny</p>
<p>Sorry, but I saw this post, and I had to respond after being away from CC for so long. To the OP, I agree that you should give it some time. Stick out the rest of the semester or year, and try to be more positive. You are at one of the world's most acclaimed schools, and you are obviously very intelligent if you were admitted. Explore the city, join the school's poetry journal (assuming there is one) or try for the newspaper staff to make new friends; in short, make things happen. I understand you feel isolated from everything that makes you feel at home, but you have a great opportunity to make a new home for yourself, one that will allow you to expand your horizons and grow as a person.
That being said, if you simply can't adjust, (which could be the case) don't be ashamed to go home. Remember that everything may not be the same as you left it because you have spent time away, but sometimes, moving away so suddenly can be too difficult.</p>
<p>"=) I don't plan on living in my parent's basement..I would still dorm at this new school but I would be able to come home every weekend..</p>
<p>(give me some credit, I did get into cornell)"</p>
<p>Wow. Condescending much?</p>
<p>ok sstory, care to explain why? and Lumine, i don't see how that is necessarily condescending...</p>
<p>"If you are willing to be unhappy for 4 years, then the rest of your life will be a bliss"
--This is a ridiculous statement. I have a cousin that graduated from Princeton a little over a year ago who is still hasn't found employment, but he does still have almost 200k debt for that diploma. Bliss huh?
"because you will know that you got an Ivy education which means that you also know that you matter in this world"
--do I even have to elaborate on this?</p>
<p>You don't see how that would be condescending to people who either didn't "get into Cornell" (is that supposed to imply maturity?) or who have to/want to live with their parents for whatever reason?</p>
<p>Lumine that isnt condescending because people who get into Cornell are just (90% of the time) inherently better and worth more in this world so it sucks for people who don't go there. </p>
<p>sstory, in a year your cousin will get a job that pays over 200k a year so that is not an issue.</p>
<p>so OP go to Cornell instead of trying to go to an inferior school (meaning less than top 25) and degrading yourself.</p>
<p>Haha, supindy... you are utterly stupid</p>
<p>To the OP & others who are lonely ... this is VERY common at this point freshman year. Honest. I went through it, too, and I am here 30 years later to tell you that it not only got better for me ... but it was the best experience of my life. Believe me, I was crying and wondering if it would ever get better at this point in the year. </p>
<p>That said, there are times it does not get better. You may make friends but still feel lonely ... or like you made a mistake for some other reason (there are many legitimate reasons to not like a particular school ... <em>even</em> an ivy). If you get to spring & still feel you'd rather not return next year, then transfer may well be an option. Start thinking about where you want to be & apply. You don't have to decide yet ... so you'll have time to give to your present school (just in case it does work out for you). DON'T make another mistake, though! Make sure you have good reasons for the school you choose. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to live near your home. Many people live near their families all their lives & consider it a life well spent. Some want to wander, others want to stick close to home. There is no absolute right or wrong in this case. It differs for each of us. </p>
<p>For many who feel like they made a wrong decision, the spring will find you feeling differently. For others, a transfer will be the best choice. Listen to your own heart.</p>
<p>OK. I understand how you feel. I went to boarding school for high school, and you can imagine how homesick I was as a immature, idiotic fourteen year old. But, after sticking it out, I went through four unbelievable years, and am now at MIT. Now at MIT, I feel the same way - except not for home. I wanted my highschool friends again, the familiarity with campus, the one on one contact with teachers. However, after 2 and a half weeks here, I've come to realize that it isn't that bad. You will never experience Cornell if you don't give it a chance. </p>
<p>MIT was not my first choice at all, so when I decided to come here, to be honest, I was saying "Why the hell am I going here..." And that attitude carried into orientation, and I was very reluctant to meet new people as I assured myself they would suck and not be as much fun as my friends from high school. So please, just give it a chance. Cornell is an amazing opportunity and foundation for the rest of your life. </p>
<p>And, even after that, you have to learn to live on your own. What are you going to do - live at home your entire life? Take a dare, you'll learn a lot about yourself and you'll change a lot - maybe for the better. I came into high school as a "ghetto asian baller" and left a much more mature (or I would like to think) individual. Not that being a "ghetto asian baller" is bad, but I realized that my reasons for being one were silly. I grew up so much, and I would never trade living away from home during high school - as much as I love my parents - for anything in the world. I feel like I am so freakin' ready to get out into the world and do whatever I am meant to do. Don't give up. Apply for transfer - I am too - but try to enjoy it while you're there. And seriosuly try, because I told myself all summer that I would try to like MIT, but I still had a negative mentality. It's going to be hard, but please try for your own sake.</p>
<p>I transferred out of Cornell CAS last year and I'm at Georgetown now. I mean, your issues sound more like general homesick issues. That being said, being in the middle of nowhere with nothing to distract you might heighten your homesickness. Anyway, to answer your question, yes people transfer from Cornell and from all the ivies. And many of them are very happy with the decision. Give it time, but keep the door open for transfer if youre still unhappy after the first semester.</p>
<p>I think you should think back and remember what drove you to apply for Cornell, to most people its a dream and would give anything to break into the ivy league; you obviously must be smart enough and overcame the challenges to get in. Homesickness tends to get in the way though sometimes and makes you doubt yourself e.g. money situations, friend situations, work situations but don't let it get you down; stick it out and try to enjoy yourself</p>
<p>It's true that it's early and that it can take at least a semester to adjust, and that the symptoms you are describing are probably normal at this stage in the game. I'm not sure anyone mentioned this, but do visit the counseling center. I would help you just to chat about this with someone other than your family, and it would help your family to know that you are being helped there. You may come to like Cornell and still want to be closer to home. Nothing wrong with leaving Cornell and nothing wrong with wanting to be closer to home. My daughter is in a similar position as a freshman 500 miles from home, in another region. Miserable. It's very difficult. I send you a mother hug.</p>
<p>Wow, I almost thought that I made this thread for a second, but then I remembered I haven't made any threads lately. But yeah, this is almost exactly how I feel. I'm at Cornell as well, and I'm a freshman. I've been going home every weekend, and I feel very homesick when I'm at Cornell (Miss my parents, my house, my bed). Cornell is a great university, but I don't think it is the right one for me, mainly because of location. The problem is that it takes about 8 hours (including traffic, waiting time, etc.) for me to get home, and since I am not a person who enjoys traveling for long distances as it is, I am getting frustrated by this. </p>
<p>I am keeping my options open, and I plan on transferring to a university that is closer to home if my feelings do not improve. The thing that worries me is that it is going to be really hard to keep a good GPA in engineering, but you need a good GPA to be able to transfer to the university I am looking at. Sigh.</p>
<p>Well I just wanted to post so you would know there is at least one other person in the same university that feels like you (As I now know). This thread was very helpful to read because I am basically in the same situation, so thanks for the all the posts (And thank you muffin17 for posting this thread). Good luck to us all and I hope for the best. I hope things improve for us and that we make the right decisions.</p>
<p>Lots and lots of clubs, distract yourself from your thoughts.
Exercise to distract yourself more when you have free time before or after classes.
Change your major if you're not really fond of it (you already seem to have predicted a bleak future).</p>
<p>Oh and watch The Office, Andy is is a Cornell grad and he seems well off :)</p>
<p>Definitely give it time.
While I didn't suffer from homesickness so much, I wanted to transfer out of my college for other reasons.
However, I met some great people in college and there's no other place I want to be at!</p>
<p>One thing that you may want to consider is moving to a new room/dorm, and possibly getting a single. When I came to Cornell, I was put in a dorm with a roommate who, although nice enough (but not really friendly--he literally spent every waking hour studying, never wanted to hang out), was loud when I was trying to sleep or study, etc. I also didn't make friends with any of our neighbors, most of whom were international students and only wanted to spend time with other international students. This made me very sad and feel like there was something wrong with me for failing to make friends, and that led to a lot of homesickness and questioning of whether I should have gone away to Cornell at all.</p>
<p>At the beginning of spring semester, I finally looked into moving into a single on another floor of the same dorm. It turned the world around for me. I was immensely happier living in a single where I could sleep and study more effectively, and my neighbors were great people whom I easily befriended, and who remained my core group of friends through graduation.</p>
<p>So if you're not comfortable at home because of loudness etc. and you don't seem to be getting to know your neighbors very well, you may want to talk to your RHD or the housing people in RPU about moving. They'll discourage it at first, but if you're insistent they'll let you do it. I think they charge you a couple hundred dollars (a drop in the bucket of your tuition money) as a penalty for switching rooms, but it's well worth it if it helps you sleep and study better and gives you a new set of people to hang out with. No one is going to be very happy if she doesn't have a comfortable place to go home to at the end of the day and good friends to hang out with.</p>
<p>If you do decide after a fair trial period that Cornell is just not for you, don't hesitate to go to a different school because you think that it will prevent you from getting into a good graduate program. Despite what a lot of the rich elitist kids at Cornell (who pick easy classes so that they can get high GPAs and go work in some fancy bank for the rest of their lives) might tell you, graduate admissions are a lot more about your personal work than the name on your undergraduate degree. Cornell academics are great, but so are those of a lot of other schools, as long as you have the motivation to apply yourself. I'm in a PhD program now at one of the top programs in the country in my field, and while a lot of the students did come from Ivies, others came from lesser-known private schools, and a few even from state schools. As long as you work hard in your field of interest as an undergrad and form strong relationships with the faculty in your department (whose recommendation letters are important, and much more effective when the professors didn't just have you in lecture but actually know you), you should be competitive when applying to graduate programs no matter where you did undergrad.</p>
<p>I read through this whole thread and reading each reply made me wonder what were the (much mentioned) OP's obvious reasons for hating Cornell * here. Finally, on the third page, Elgguj said what I as well had in mind - general homesickness issues.
From what you, muffin17, said about your experience in France, it seems like you have problems with leaving home and simply being away (*Even when I found cool people to hang out with it did not make me want to go home any less. I am convinced it will be the same here.) and your roommate issues are not specific only to Cornell, they're common to all freshmen around the world. As you said, your negative attitude will leave you miserable at any college that's far from home regardless of the prestige, quality and peers (whom you still didn't try to befriend).
If there are particular reasons you don't like Cornell as an institution (Impersonal classes? No peers you "click" with? - provided that you actually try to meet them- , It doesn't allow you to pursue major you wanted?, Climate doesn't suit you?, etc.) please do tell us, because the way you put it, it just sounds like you're having a hard time transitioning to college and being away from home in general, not to Cornell itself.</p>
<p>So far, I think username88 gave the best advice. Besides what he (she?) said, I agree with the others who suggest you try to remind yourself why you chose your school in the first place, and give it a shot. I know it's easier said than done, but try to change your attitude and instead of thinking "this will suck, I know it", try to at least think "I don't have to like it, but if I'll give it a shot so I can say that I did my best before I gave up on it". I don't know Cornell and I don't attend a US college but when I went on a high school exchange to US, my organization strongly encouraged us to get involved in activities we like so as to stop us from thinking too much about homesickness. And they were right, activities help you make new friends, use your time constructively and enjoy it, and on top of that, you don't have too much time to waste on negative thoughts. Since Cornell is such a big school, I'm sure you won't have problems finding something to do.</p>
<p>It's still too early to tell, so good luck and don't give up before you give it a shot! :)</p>
<p>Hm, I suppose the heading "I hate Cornell" was not quite what I meant to express. I do not hate Cornell in the least. I hate being at Cornel because of my own personal "issues." Cornell is a fantastic school. I'm the problem, not Cornell.</p>