I am having a real tough choice decide where I should go. I was accepted to transfer at both schools. I am a non traditional student. My primary concerns are resources offered s far as careers, networking, grad school prep, research, internships, that type of stuff. Anyway I am a Political Science Major if that makes a difference. The location of both schools/weather patterns also make no difference to me.
The vibe I get from Pomona is that students are generally happier. They genuinely seem to care about you there and they seem really relaxed and that isn’t a vibe I get from Cornell. Cornell seems more serious and competitive. I can deal with both environments, but prefer to be more relaxed and chill. At the same time I do believe competition breed excellence. Also, with my financial aid package at Pomona id graduate debt free. With my financial aid package at Cornell id have a little debt but not much. That Is assuming I get the same financial aid for all three years I am there.
Another thing, COVID will have an economic impact on both schools. Who knows how financial aid will look, not to mention the other resources. Pomona has 1500 students and a 2 billion dollar endowment. Cornell has 15000 undergrads alone with a 7 billion dollar endowment. Pomona has more money per capita so it may seem like the better option, but there is no telling how much money each school really has because endowments aren’t like savings accounts they can’t just spend that money freely.
Pomona is small and has no grad students so the opportunities for research and building relationships with your professors I feel may be better than Cornell. This is important for graduate school. I feel Cornell offers better course options (yes I’ve looked through the 5c catalog not just Pomona.) Even still, Pomona just feels right. I don’t know if its because I received there offer of acceptance about 2-3 weeks before Cornell so I had time to “fall for them” or what but regardless something feels right about them. In my mind however, Cornell seems like the logical choice. Send Help.
so to summarize:
I want to go to the school that offers the better resources in terms of career trajectory and who will be less affected by COVID 19. I also want to be adequately prepared for graduate school. Period. Nothing else matters. Feel free to mention any other factors that I am failing to consider.
Both of these are fine for your goals. If you like Pomona better for costs and weather, that’s perfectly OK. If you like Cornell better despite the weather, that’s OK too.
When you say Cornell would leave you with some debt, what do you mean? Just the standard federal student loans ($6,500 sophomore year, $7,500 junior year, $7,500 senior year) or are they also including the additional $4,000 each year as an independent student?
If you were a traditional transfer I’d say Pomona for the small classes and close-knit education. (Not to mention that small classes makes it easy to earn great recs from the Profs for grad school.) Graduating debt free is a big plus.
But as a non-trad, I assume that you are older and you will find more of your peeps in Ithaca as Cornell has thousands of grad students.
@happymomof1 to be honest I have not received a financial aid offer yet they are still working on it. I used their Financial aid calculator on their website. The plan is to use my GI bill for grad school seeing as it is a much bigger expense. To keep things in perspective, even if I end up with 50k of debt (just a hypothetical random number) I feel that it isn’t bad when most students would have significantly more debt after going to school for a bachelors then a masters.
@bluebayou I appreciate the feedback. I am only 23 so I am not significantly older than the other students by any means. I am just not overly concerned with the college experience as maybe a traditional student would be. Of course, I am open to trying new things, clubs /organizations, etc but my priorities lie on the side of academics and opportunities.
I should update with this: While Pomona has generous financial aid, the money still isn’t as big as a factor. If Cornell has better resources than Pomona then I think of the money spent as an investment for my future. My biggest fear is that I will go to Pomona and not have the same leverage in the job market that I might have if I went to Cornell either due to lack of opportunity, or maybe even college name (Brand). I am sure that sounds ridiculous because Pomona is a GREAT school in its own right, but my family swears by Cornell.
@bluebayou Pomona is within the extended LA metropolitan area, so it isn’t like one of the LACs in rural areas. There is a very extensive social scene around Claremont which doesn’t include 18 year old undergraduates
@TequilaFeels I would actually recommend Pomona. If you were looking at Engineering or some other STEM fields, Cornell would be the obvious choice, but I think that Pomona may have an edge ion some social sciences.
However, as others have written - you have no wrong choice. Both are amazing colleges, and there will be no difference in your chances to achieve your future goals at either.