<p>So the other day, a parent came up to me and congratulated me on my acceptance to Cornell. I said, "thank you," with a big smile on my face, thinking that it was going to be one of those, "oh, I'm sure you're going to love it there, that school is such a good fit for you, you're going to learn so much," kind of things, but I was wrong. Instead, she said something along the lines of, "Don't worry about it. Cornell's ranked 12th, but you'll get a great experience because you'll be at the top of your class. Then maybe for grad school you'll be able to study at a better school." She was serious... I felt myself on the verge of flipping, so I walked away, looking confused, pretending to understand. </p>
<p>Maybe she meant that in good faith but didn't articulate well? Or maybe it was because her kid got into a higher ranking school? It's probably not worth my time and energy to worry about these things, but this was one situation in which I couldn't help but feel offended. And that an adult would say something like this, I thought, was a little weird. (My friends later noted that Cornell totally kicks @$$ in engineering.) :-D </p>
<p>But anyway, I feel extremely proud and fortunate to be given the opportunity to attend my dream school, and I look forward to August. End venting.</p>
<p>She is just rude. One of those people who has something missing in her own life so tries to compensate by trying to belittle others acheivements. Don't blame you for needing to vent. Now just forget about her - she is not worth worrying about. Congratulations on your acceptance.</p>
<p>The only people who really say things like that are those that were either rejected or are very insecure about themselves and need little boosters like that to feed off of for good feelings. </p>
<p>You'll see the validity of my statement when you're looking at grad schools or at jobs.</p>
<p>More like 99% easily. Getting an engineering degree from Cornell is even better than one from any other ivy! You are going to an absolutely amazing school and she is probably just jealous! </p>
<p>I actually had a jealous parent respond once like that. His daughter was going to the state school 70% of the students go to (including almost everyone else at the grad party - not to be conceded or anything but the next best school someone went to behind me out of my entire school was in the 50s of US News and that's that one person) [which is why I think it was jealousy cuz he is usually a nice guy and I don't get y else he would say that, and he was serious] and when he found out I was going to Cornell he made a comment about it being the easiest Ivy to get into. I imagined many mean things to say back but I was good friends with his daughter so I just walked away. You just gotta ignore haters...</p>
<p>Gomestar is right. During one Summer I took a course at my cousin's college cuz she liked it so much (Marist) and we went to the NYSE to walk around and talk to some guy. The guy acted completely conceded to us and acted like he was so much better than us (the guy who had us at a meeting). Then a few grad students came in and he asked where they were from and they said things like Brown and Northwestern and he smiled for the first time and acted like THEY were suitable for his highness. Biggest @$$hole i've ever met!</p>
<p>I hate that sort of tthing! My gym teacher asked the other day where I was going to school (yea...go figure..) and when I told him I espected the usual annoying kudos that people usually overdo...but then he asks, "you're goin there? I thought you were applying to a good school!?"
He didn't even know it was an ivy. When I tell many of my classmates in the hallways (and, though I may sound like an ass, I gotta admit the majority who respond this way are in mostly regents/regular classes), the #1 responses I get are somewhere along the lines of "there? I thought you were goin to Haaahhvaahd?" or "why did you choose there? couldnt get into HYP?"</p>
<p>But in terms of real rankings, Cornell trumps many top schools, including dartmouth and brown. Cornell CONSISTANTLY is placed in the top 20 or so in WORLD rankings of colleges. The key is worldwide consistancy. Brown may rank high in the happy US of A because of the endowment it plops its ass on, but in most of the other world rankings, it can be in the 50's and even towards lower 100. I've seen other ivies not even make top world 100 lists. Check out the Times (UK times, i mean) college rankings. US news is a novelty baby thing. Times is the real *****. And cornell is perhaps much better than even more than 99% of the worlds colleges. For christ sake, there are less than 20 schools dubbed better than the place in most ranking systems, and there are tens of thousands of schools in the world. You know, US news tiers 1 2 and 3 are not the only places in the US, let alone the world, to go to college. Cornell, and most of the top 20's that are top 20's in MANY rankings (not just US news) can be considered among the BEST of the BEST in the world. And when you really get to that level, you simply can't compare schools.</p>
<p>lol wow those people are obviously insane. Luckily it only happened one time with me. Everyone else is always REALLY REALLY impressed (which is sometimes embarrassing lol)</p>
<p>I can't believe anyone would say that ! Thats ridiculous. But this is how the conversation should go.
Ignorant Person: Cornell sucks, its only 12th.
You: So where did you go to school?
Ignorant Person: [place crappy state school]
You: Then I guess you have no basis of comparison and don't know what you're talking about, dumb@$$.</p>
<p>i've been lucky i guess... i go to an international private school (see the name) and everyone i've told has been extremely impressed... it seems that the obsession with us news rankings is borne out of the white/ suburban/ overcrowded us high school- type people... but those who really know their stuff (like my headmaster) know how great cornell is...</p>
<p>My God. What a stupid thing she said. I'm so embarrassed for her. You deserve to rant. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard anybody say. You said her daughter got into a higher ranking school? Then the parent was really trying to rub your face in it. Welcome to the world of "passive-aggressive."</p>
<p>She is incredibly stupid to have said that. Any one of the top schools may well be the very best for a particular student. </p>
<p>The woman is sad, and if it's any consolation, you can be sure that she knows it, deep down inside. Otherwise, she'd never feel the need to score such pathetically cheap "points". </p>
<p>haha steve I’ll definitely use that format if and when I encounter an “ignorant” person!!! But I have gotten really positive reactions so far…a lot of wows… although, I was talking to this Harvard lawyer some time ago and we got to the point when I told him about Cornell…and he responded by saying “you know…Cornell is not nearly up to ‘par’ with the other top schools…” I gave him a blank look…and decided it wasn’t worth arguing…but decided that it wasn’t his fault and that he was overpowered by ignorance…and was therefore mentally disabled ;) but I’ve also gotten “never heard of it…where is it?” lol hahah…to those people I have nothing to say!</p>
<p>In Michigan, a lot of smart people to go to U of M, which is one of those "really amazing #1 academically" state schools. For this reason, this type of jealously isn't around much because getting into Umich pretty much guarantees a world-class education.</p>
<p>It's too bad that other places without similar resources have to resort to this sort of defacement.</p>
<p>Ya Mich is one of those lucky state schools that gets to reside on a top pillar with other states like cali, NC, virg, penn, n a couple more..</p>
<p>lol I talked to this lawyer at a career fair when I was sorta interested in law and u could tell before I came up to him he was getting pretty bored (the other jobs were like hair stylist, military, ect...and noone was interested in law compared to those other 'perky' jobs...) and when he found out about Cornell (through my friend) he got really excited and kept talking about lawyer stuff and how I should visit his office n stuff lol (my friend brought me there as a joke since there were no other good jobs n then left me laughing cuz the lawyer got all into talking to me but I just wanted to go to the other booths to grab candy and free stuff and leave lol). The career fair is a joke at my school so to say the least there were some pretty ridiculous jobs set up there and nothing too serious so I felt bad for the guy.</p>
<p>he was talking about state schools. Penn State is a state school. </p>
<p>not to be confused with the University of Pennsylvania. Usually it's called UPenn, though Penn in some instances ... though, any confusion should have been cleared up with the word "state school" preceeding Penn.</p>
<p>It really doesn't matter but I'm pretty sure he's talking about UPenn because Penn State is definently not a "top pillar" state school...haha it's ok people make that mistake all the time.</p>