<p>How about doing the mature thing and give your parents a break financially. They're willing to finance your undergraduate and medical school. As a parent, I can tell you that parents only want the best for their kids but sometimes they need to think of the financial situation that they will be left in as they get older and their income decreases. You can still enjoy a social life at UCLA--it's a great school.</p>
<p>You mention that finances aren't a concern now, but might be later. Perhaps your parents aren't comfortable with you being so far away, and aren't being direct about the real reason?? You mention that they are aging and in deteriorating health.Just a thought. </p>
<p>As an East Coast parent, my kids know that going to school in California is not an option. There are enough great choices within a 4 hour (car ride) radius. Don't get me wrong, I think Cornell is a great school, and will be a very different experience than UCLA, I know what I would be thinking if I were your family.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision. They're both great schools.</p>
<p>Wow, arent you lucky. While Cornell was and is my first choice, UC Berkeley was very high on my list.... Lucky me, I was deferred from Cornell, only to be lucky, and I mean lucky, given the GT. I rejected with UCB. Now I have to wait a whole year to get to where I want to be, go to somewhere I dont want to be, just to get in where I want to be. I would give anything to have your problem.</p>
<p>That was to be .... 'reject from UCB"...</p>
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oh, and norcalguy, thanks for all the financial info, that will definitely help, especially since you have already progressed down the same track i am intending to go on.....just out of curiosity, did you receive any financial aid while at cornell?
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<p>Yes. That's why Cornell came out to be only 17k more than Berkeley. Cornell gave me grants. Berkeley gave me only loans. </p>
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also, norcalguy, why did you choose cornell over berkeley back when you made your decision? and how did you convince your parents it was the right choice?
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<p>I attended a top notch Norcal HS that sends forty students a year to Berkeley. For me, it was about getting away from what I was used to and gaining some new experiences. That meant leaving California. That meant going to a school where I didn't know anyone. That meant going to a school that didn't have 40% Asians. I went to Berkeley on Cal Day and just felt it was too big and too impersonal. I'm a big-school kinda guy so I could never go to a LAC but at the same time I felt Cornell would be a better compromise.</p>
<p>As for how I convinced my parents Cornell was the right choice: By graduating with a 3.93 GPA. By being really happy and taking advantage of all of the opportunities Cornell offered me. By getting into med school. I told my parents I would be more successful at a place that I liked and I backed it up with 4 years of success.</p>
<p>On a similar note, halfway through junior year, just a few months before I would've applied to med school, I told my parents I wanted to take a year off. That ****ed them off too because I had the stats to get into med school straight out of college. But, I wanted to do research full-time. So, I applied for and received a fellowship to do research at the NIH. I'm going to end up with at least one, possibly two publications, from my research project. And, I ended up interviewing at 6-7 out fo the Top 20 med schools in the country. </p>
<p>While I respect my parents' advice, they know the decision is ultimately mine. As long as I am successful and happy, my parents don't need much convincing :) Make your own decisions. But you need to take responsibility for them.</p>
<p>Are you willing to foot the extra $100,000/4yrs. so you can "experience new things"? Add the cost of books (approx. $1000/yr), travel, spending money, medical insurance, etc. Now, add the cost of medical school on top of that and you say that your parents are going to pay for that too. Well, while you're having your "new experiences" at Cornell, your parents will have a new experience too--debt for the rest of their lives. Enjoy.</p>
<p>^Who are you talking to? </p>
<p>The difference for me came out to only $17,000 and I'm paying back every penny of my loans, not my parents. In fact, my parents paid less for me to go to Cornell than Berkeley because Cornell calculated a lower EFC for them.</p>
<p>I stand by what I said earlier:</p>
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I don't know exactly how the finances will work out for the OP. If we're talking about 100k more in debt, then he should probably go to UCLA. But, if we're talking about the difference being 50k or less, then it's worth it to go to the school he likes more (assuming his reasons for liking Cornell are legitimate).
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Make your own decisions. But you need to take responsibility for them.
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<p>Chill out. If you don't want to pay for your kids' education, that's your business. Don't disparage my reasons for paying more for my own education. Maybe you should change your screen name to "nybitter."</p>
<p>sorry norcalguy, the post was for cuculici1. I commend you on what you've done. You made a wise choice based on the financial aid you were given and you took responsibility for the excess money needed with loans that you are paying for yourself. Bravo and you should feel pride in what you've done. Good job. My post was directed toward cuculici1 who feels justified in having her parents pay twice the money for her college education because she wants new experiences that she feels Cornell would give her over UCLA. Her trying to convince her parents that paying $50,000/yr as opposed to $25,000/yr of their income for her "experiences" just seemed rather shallow to me. Once again norcalguy, good job on your situation. Your parents must be very proud of your accomplishments. PS--and yes, we are gladly and willingly currently paying for 2 tuitions. Luckily both kids understand the value of a dollar and chose undergraduate schools that offered them merit scholarships to help bring the costs down.</p>
<p>Hey norcalguy: thanks the info on your previous financial situation. Although I think I'm leaving with more debt than you may have had it's nice to know you've been able to pay your loans on your salary. My gap year job is paying me around $30,000 and I was getting nervous about my ability to pay the debt.</p>
<p>To the OP: I know you want new experiences, but UCLA and Cornell are both awesome schools. And you should go for the college that will cost you less over the long run. Your parents have spent 18 years raising you and you should give them a financial break...use the savings for other things. </p>
<p>I got no financial aid from my SUNY school and with the way my FA worked out here I'm borrowing the same amount per year I'd have to borrow for my old college....that's the only reason I chose to come here when I was accepted for transfer.</p>
<p>I'm doing a fellowship so I am elegible for deferral. In fact, my parents encouraged me to defer my loans because they didn't think I could pay them off on my salary. But, once again, I proved them wrong :)</p>
<p>Keep in mind, you'll have a 6 or 9 month grace period (depending on the loan) so you should be able to save up some money before you even start paying. Although, my monthly salary barely covers my expenses now, I was able to save up $3000 at the beginning of my fellowship that I can always dip into in case I run over.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info...sadly, I'm not doing a fellowship....just gonna be a lab rat at a medical school.</p>
<p>I'm lucky in that my parents are letting me move back in with them for the year I'm home...although I have to help pay for food. But I should be able to save a substantial sum....or so I hope!</p>
<p>well, norcalguy, what you have said definitely makes sense. it sounded like the decision to choose cornell over berkeley ended up working out for you, and I applaud that. once again, I am not trying to go to cornell just for "new experiences". UCLA is 20-30 minutes from my house, so that's why i brought it up. i'm just merely asking for quality of school arguments, because at this point I know Cornell is where I want to be. there are a lot of other reasons for this, but I won't go into them. all that really needs to be known is that cornell is my first choice, and that is that.........i was just wondering if there are any compelling arguments to go to cornell over ucla, and if so, what they are. My parents are willing to do it, but I can't just tell them "because I liked it better".</p>
<p>I guess if you're looking to study a unique major that UCLA doesn't offer...Cornell would be a good choice.</p>
<p>Your proximity to UCLA makes this decision tough, but I tend to side more with those in favor of UCLA. I am a grad and H is on the faculty of UCLA, and we probably live closer to campus than you do, yet our S chose Cornell over UCLA for many of the same reasons you stated. However, unlike you he is not aiming for med or any other post-grad school, at least not now. IMO, the anticipated cost of med school for most families is a strong tipping factor in favor of UCLA or another UC, especially in the current financial environment where there is good reason to worry about jobs, family budgets, nest eggs and the cost of health care. </p>
<p>If you attend UCLA, will you live on campus your freshman year, and thereafter go Greek or move off-campus like most students? Can you gracefully avoid going home except for quarter breaks? Live your own life during the school year? If so, you would basically the same independence and opportunity for personal growth as Cornell would offer, but without the financial burden, weather problems, travel expense and inconvenience.</p>
<p>Of course, there are plenty of reasons to attend Cornell, otherwise S wouldn't be there. I do see 2 basic problems with the UC system in general, and especially at UCLA. First, it can be difficult to finish your degree within 4years because many classes required for your major (especially prerequisites)are oversubscribed, in which case you would need to factor in a 5th year or summer school. Second, with the budget cuts over the last few years, UC is having a tougher time recruiting and retaining professors (thereby making classes even more overcrowded and hard to enroll in), maintaining its physical plant in decent condition, etc., and one can't help but wonder whether, in 10 or 20 years, UCLA will have the same fine reputation as it does now. </p>
<p>You can't go wrong either way academically, and I'm sure you'll try to do right for yourself and your family. If you think you might be angry or bitter over having to "settle" for UCLA, then that's something to consider too. When I was in high school I turned down the Ivy League for UCLA because of financial concerns - we weren't eligible for financial aid or willing to take on debt; but I don't think my life would have been any better had I gone back East. Different maybe, but not better. Yet there are students elsewhere on CC (not many, but a few) who regret their decision not to attend their first choice, and that regret is coloring their entire college experience. Best of luck with your decision.</p>
<p>To the OP:
As far as academics (both prestige and educational quality), there is no absolutely no comparison between UCLA and Cornell. Cornell is an Ivy League school known internationally as an academic powerhouse. It's class rigor and stress experienced as a result are legendary. So many famous people in academia and other professional positions have come from Cornell. </p>
<p>UCLA has a great basketball team and hot girls. I've always considered it a party school and I'm mot employers/med schools will as well. It's not even close to best in the UC system alone. Berkeley is far better.</p>
<p>dontno:</p>
<p>your post is beyond rediculous, and is absolutely no value to the OP. Prestige among top 20 schools means nothing to med schools -- it's all gpa + test scores; think about it -- med schools KNOW that two of the most 'prestigious' (to use your term) are known for grade inflation (S & H). Do you have any real PROOF that med schools parse degrees that finely?</p>
<p>dontno: </p>
<p>My point of view may be limited, but in education-conscious Korea, UCLA is considered to be one of the best universites in the US. So UCLA does have international recognition.
Your post is ridiculous because you actually believe that people out of CC give a s*** about what college you go to.</p>
<p>norcalguy: "If we're talking about 100k more in debt, then he should probably go to UCLA."</p>
<p>We are.</p>
<p>The OP never provided an exact number.</p>
<p>Meh. Might as well go to Cornell. The experience of a new state and a new place has to be worth something, to say nothing of the more attention and resources you can receive at Cornell. I would be extremely wary of attending a UC these days, with the California state budget currently in the process of blowing up.</p>
<p>Plus, it's not like the country isn't already absolutely drowning in debt. So you might as well have fun while it lasts. And anybody who doesn't think that a national health care scheme in one way or another isn't going to be here in another 3-4 years is blind, so maybe health care costs shouldn't be taken into consideration.</p>
<p>100 years ago half of us wouldn't last past the age of five.</p>
<p>The OP expressed that the difference in tuition is 100k. But, that doesn't prove anything. Cornell might offer more grants in the FA package. The OP's parents might have some extra money to defray some of that extra cost. I don't know. But, the OP was unclear in how much extra Cornell would cost him and/or his parents. </p>
<p>Like I said, I was in the same situation as the OP: Berkeley vs. Cornell and Cornell came out to be only $17,000 more. It would be easier to advise if the OP would clarify the specific costs of each school.</p>