<p>First:
Hi everyone! I've been lurking these forums for a while, and I finally got an account so I can communicate too. </p>
<p>Second:
I can't decided between three schools, and I was wondering if you all could help me, or at least give some advice? Here's my situation: </p>
<p>OSU: Accepted at the honors college with a National Merit full tuition scholarship. I've got a lot of friends going there, and I like the variety, but the main attractor for me is that this one will cost significantly less than the other two schools. </p>
<p>NU: I'm really familiar with this place and I love it, having spent the last two summers there. However, the EFC from the financial aid is about 33k, and my parents have told me that they will have supreme difficulty meeting that. </p>
<p>Cornell: To be honest, I have little familiarity with this school, and haven't even heard back from financial aid either (I suspect it will be similar to NU). But the little that I do know is really appealing; I like the relatively isolated environment and the diversity there. </p>
<p>A major complicating factor in this is that I have virtually no idea what I want to do with my life. Med school and biology are pretty much ruled out, and engineering is too, but besides that I'm totally open to anything. </p>
<p>Please help? I'd appreciate any replies!
Thanks for your time!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend going to Ohio State just because it is cheaper. I feel too many people limit their potential future by doing so, when (based on the fact that you got into both Northwestern and Cornell) you are going to be successful in life and making up any debt shouldn’t be too much of an issue. I go to Northwestern and personally (not my parents) will accumulate about $35,000 in debt (and that’s graduating a year early). But I think coming from a smaller, more selective and academically competitive school gives you an edge for grad school. Keep in mind that if you’re a science major like me that grad schools pay you to go! (it’s basically free).</p>
<p>He said his parents will have “supreme difficulty” with the 33k EFC they received. This potentially leaves him with a large chunk to make up in loans. Not worth it.</p>
<p>OP, did your parents specify how much they are willing/able to pay?</p>
<p>So if Cornell’s package isn’t on par with Ohio State or does not prove supremely difficult then go to OSU. And NO your potential will not be “limited” by going there especially in the honors college. I know plenty of Buckeyes who walk the halls of top law, medical and grad schools all around the country.</p>
<p>Besides the obvious reason, “$$$”, I would definitely give tOSU a strong consideration especially when you are part of the academically well-regarded Honors Program. </p>
<p>As an honors student, you will most likely be living in Lincoln / Morrill Tower if not Taylor which are set to undergo renovation as do most of the campus dormitories. A ~$300 million campus-wide dormitory upgrade was outlined last year and will be completed in the next few years (on-going). Most dorms will now have AC with added privacy in terms of restrooms and fewer # of occupant per room (the plan called for double-occupancy per room at most as the ultimate goal). Know that I did not stay in the dorm back then, so I am not qualified to give you more insight on the dormitory issue.</p>
<p>I vividly recall that most honors classes have the designition of letter “H” in front of the course number and are mostly taught by Ohio State’s most accomplished professors and most have pre-requisites prior to registration, so you should definitely be challenged so far as the course requirements go. In addition, most hornors classes that I took had a much smaller class (~20 students) compared to some larger GEC courses (>200 students), the learning experience should be similar to NU and Cornell in that aspect I w’d say. Furthermore, hornors students are the ones who get to select classes before rest of the student body which IS also a huge plus, especially for a big school like Ohio State. </p>
<p>Not sure if you have gotten the chance to tour the school, but so far as I am concerned, the facilities in definitely on par with NU and Cornell. And since you are not certain of your major, tOSU has well over 160 majors to choose from, so you should be set down the road. As an alumnus, without a doubt, I am a homie with huge buckeye spirit!! Yet, the school is in my opinion, one of the most improved universities in variety of ways under the current leadership of President E. Gordon Gee (Ex-Chancellor of Vanderbilt & Brown). I read that the applications for tOSU had gone up ~30% this year (I do not know of any other Top-50 schools achieving similar % of applicant increase unless it’s the switching to Common Application, such as the case with U of Chicago). Therefore, if you are a huge fan of USNWR’s ranking game, as one of the Top-15 ‘UP-and-Coming’ universities, tOSU is currently tied with GW & Maryland for #53 = 2 spots away from cracking the Top-50, which in my opinion should happen this if not next year as the school continues to accelerate as planned. All in all, with friends at tOSU as you alluded, the transition to Columbus should be far more smooth and at ease compared to NU & Cornell. Unfortunately, I only deal with students from NU-Chicago campus on daily basis, and do not have much clue in regards to Cornell (besides a friend of mine who did his undergrad there, went on to HLS last year), so I will leave the floor to other CCers now. </p>
<p>Proposed Approach to Planning Efforts Requested by President Gee:</p>
<p>I just got the financial aid stuff from Cornell - The cost, not including loans, is about 31k, roughly on par with Northwestern. </p>
<p>As for Student247’s question, my parents told me that they would be able to pay 10-15k MAX, which is roughly equivalent to the EFC from OSU. </p>
<p>Given this amount, the rest of the 15k or so would probably become loans on top of what I’m already receiving. </p>
<p>Sparkeye7 and vociferous, I realize that OSU, especially the honors college, has a lot of students who end up doing well, but do you know any specific statistics or information on it? I realize that statistics aren’t that great of a tool for individuals, but I guess they would help to give a general picture. </p>
<p>Would the later graduate prospects be similar? I don’t intend to enter the workforce after my bachelor’s, so I guess it would be graduate school that matters more, right?</p>
<p>"Would the later graduate prospects be similar? I don’t intend to enter the workforce after my bachelor’s, so I guess it would be graduate school that matters more, right? "</p>
<p>If you do well academically yes they would be similar. It is about how well you do. Being in the honors college is nice. It is a matter of excelling, as I mentioned earlier I know many Ohio St grads who are in top notch grad programs.</p>