<p>Like I said, I’m in same boat pretty much, Cornell vs Berkeley. I pick Cornell haha. My friend got Northwestern last year but not Cornell, he still says he would pick Cornell if he could. Happy?</p>
<p>Thats more like it Saugus! I was in the same boat as you a couple of years ago. Rejected at Duke and Princeton (my dreams) and accepted to Cornell. I went in with a positive attitude and I now love my time at Cornell! Sometimes when I get dejected I cant help but wonder what if, but I will myself up and work harder. Cornell may not be as selective as Princeton or Duke, but it is so awesome in its own right. You will love it here. </p>
<p>Love,
collegechica :)</p>
<p>^
Asking myself “what if” for four years is my nightmare.</p>
<p>But let’s say you go back in time two years and are given the option of Princeton or Cornell. You would definitely still choose Cornell, right?</p>
<p>Yes frankly I probably would, although I won’t lie to you it would be a hard decision. Make the most of Cornell and it will get you wherever you want to go. Just work really hard and don’t lose focus.</p>
<p>Things turn out the best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.</p>
<p>I think the problem is you feel entitled. You were and still are not entitled to your place at any Ivy League school, Cornell included. Your stats were strong, you wouldn’t be so crushed otherwise. The admissions committee at a number of these schools conferred and decided that you were, for one reason or another, not right for the school. That doesn’t mean you weren’t good enough, it means they didn’t want you. A Yale admissions officer said at one of their info sessions that 80% of the applicants to their school would be able to handle the coursework - it’s how you prove your worth otherwise. </p>
<p>Look, I’m not saying you were a bad applicant, nor am I implying that your ECs were bad. Your stats were comparable to that of any number of other accepted students at top schools, but again, for reasons beyond your control, you didn’t receive that celebratory email. </p>
<p>You need to seriously get your attitude in check or learn to be more confident in yourself. Did anyone else from your school see the same success as you did? Are your parents ****ed at you because you got into an Ivy League school? </p>
<p>I’ll leave you with an anecdote. Friend and valedictorian of my school last year was a prodigy-child. The kid was smarter than anyone who had ever walked the halls of our school, and mind you, this is a very, very competitive school. Every class is chock-full of Ivy-bound kids, and our entire school was confident this kid would be one of them. He had the highest GPA in our school’s history and his teacher recommendations were simply superb. He applied early to Stanford - rejected. He then applied to Caltech, MIT, Princeton, the works. Come decision time: rejected at every school but Cornell. He even got rejected from Tufts and schools that are statistically easier to get into. He didn’t cry, he didn’t complain. Instead, he went to Ithaca and ****ing conquered. He’s a freshman now, but sits in on senior CS and Physics classes… and he holds his own. </p>
<p>The point: it’s not about where you go, it’s how you strive in your environment. Cornell’s a fantastic school, though filled with kids like you who strongly believe they should be at another Ivy League school, and if you can succeed there my friend, you will succeed in all future endeavors. Hell, you can even transfer and have your pick of the best schools in the world. </p>
<p>Anyways, good luck in your decision (<em>cough</em> choose Cornell <em>cough</em>)</p>
<p>The above is an excellent post. This year was tough. Epic wait-listing. #66 I love that one liner. That should be posted outside every guidance office.</p>
<p>I hope you don’t choose Cornell… I really don’t want to meet you next year. And for the record, I visited Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and Princeton and still loved Cornell the best.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your acceptances. If it were a lottery, with those acceptance stats, you came out well, and a lottery it often is at that level of acceptance. You have some great choices.</p>
<p>Saugus:</p>
<p>I don’t know you. But perhaps (and I only offer this as a suggestion), your overall application is just a smidge below what HYP is looking for. In that case, you’ve gotten into the school you deserve.</p>
<p>“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” Julius Ceaser I, ii.</p>
<p>zephyr15, have you read John Green’s book?</p>
<p>^^
Ugh, see, people keep confirming my point.</p>
<p>Why is Cornell seen as being below HYP and the other Ivies? Isn’t anyone going to say that being rejected from HYP is the best thing that ever happened to them because Cornell is actually the best? The “worst Ivy” stigma appears to hold true.</p>
<p>I’m too lazy to read this entire thread, but here’s my two cents. Your stats are incredible and you know that. You were rejected from the schools you really wanted to go to. Yes, that sucks. Guess what? People with stats better than yours were rejected also and many people with worse stats were accepted to those schools. That sucks too. It’s a good life lesson. </p>
<p>My guess is that this is the first time you’ve experienced a significant feeling of failure. I’m actually okay with you venting, even if it’s dissing my alma mater. Let’s get real, this is the internet and if you need to vent, go ahead and vent. If your aspirations are investment banking, your stats mean even less. A 4.0 from a top university in a relevant field with relevant experience is enough for at best an interview with top IB firms. Most are rejected and things like networking and personality-type matter more than you probably want to believe. </p>
<p>Now, onto reality, given these are the Cornell boards. Cornell is a fantastic environment and with fantastic extra-curricular opportunities even schools like HYP could only hope to offer. I think many find those are the most meaningful. I studied Government and Econ at Cornell so I think my perspective is relevant. Cornell has top Government professors who are EXCELLENT at teaching undergrads. Cornell mandates only professors (no TAs) teach any of the courses and only tenured professors can teach intro courses. There are big names in the political science field at Cornell and I don’t think you’ll see a greater variety of undergraduate courses in political science at other universities. Rankings for political science are hard, and I honestly don’t know where the department ranks, but based on teaching ability, accessibility, and accolades, Cornell is top notch. It’s also awesome to have a visiting Harvard professor come to Cornell to give a lecture and get torn apart in the Q&A by your professor (granted, my example is Prof. Katzenstein at Cornell who pioneered the field of International Political Economy).</p>
<p>As for Econ, it’s all basically the same at the undergraduate level. The only school that steps up the rigor in any significant manner is UChicago. Cornell has top labor and policy economists (ILR and PAM). The Econ department itself doesn’t really have any big names except Kaushik Basu who is currently away because he is the Chief Economics Advisor in India (if he’s back should be you here, I recommend his Game Theory course). Cornell’s Econ professors aren’t all that political per se. Harvard’s department gets name recognition because they advise politicians, but the level of their analysis isn’t any higher than at Cornell. Cornell’s professors tend to publish more high-level technical works that aren’t going to get them any name recognition with the public/politicians. </p>
<p>You will have excellent IB opportunities at Cornell. Many majors lead to those careers here (ILR, PAM, AEM, Econ, CS, Engineering, etc.) so you would be going to a school that sees successful routes to the field from many different academic disciplines. Join a business fraternity and you will get further networking opportunities.</p>
<p>Saugus…a mom here! Allow yourself to “grieve” not getting your top choice. This time next year you will be well on your way to looking at graduate schools!
I recognize “perfectionism” when I see it…my daughter and I both have the terrible disease. But adversity and failure are wonderful things that will shape you into a humble, compassionate and truly successful individual. </p>
<p>College admissions can be skeptical of students who present themselves as “flawless”; you are perfect on paper! How is your character? How do you cope with challenges, difficulties and failure? </p>
<p>You have so much to be grateful for!!! Grieve then go forth to your university with a positive attitude and humble heart!
My daughter’s first choice three years ago was Cornell. We could not afford a private school tuition, so she decided to go to our public university (UT Austin…which is excellent for her major). She has done great work, had great experiences here and abroad and should have great opps for grad school…probably free! </p>
<p>Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well. William Shakespeare, King Lear</p>
<p>@ Dark Ice – No, I don’t think so. PM me with title and I’ll check it out.</p>
<p>@ Saugus – Actually, I think you’re missing the point. I readily accept that HYPSM are more selective than Cornell. However, I think that the student population at Cornell is awsome. To argue how Cornell’s OVERALL public perception compares Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton and … maybe Dartmouth to my mind is silly … and frankly useless. I am not prepared to concede Cornell’s overall reputation as being any less than Penn, Brown (and maybe Dartmouth).</p>
<p>To make myself clear, though,I believe that Cornell is a unique institution and from an educational point of view, I believe it is the Best of the Ivies and offers opportunities that no other school does… If I get a chance in the next couple of days, I’ll write a longer post explaining this.</p>
<p>^
Sweet, that was what I wanted to hear. Although most alums say the same thing about their own school having unique opportunities… But I’m going to choose to be biased and not think about that.</p>
<p>IMO, the HYPS people look down on Cornell because a kid can major in “sheep”, fashion design, interior design, hotel, and all the other wonderful programs. I think they view it as a trade school. Well, look at the employment opportunities for Cornell graduates!!! Cornell has 2 to 4 times more students than the other Ivies. It has the BEST architecture school, the BEST engineering school, the BEST business program (AEM in AG) in the Ivy League. The ONLY hotel degree, the ONLY agriculture school, the ONLY ILR school…Of course, they’ll come back with Wharton, yadda yadda. Cornell is amazing and is true to its “any person, any study” motto. The people there love it and love what they’re doing. It’s ranked in the top 15 universities in the WORLD - so look beyond the HYPS brainwashing at our American high schools. </p>
<p>Perfect town with everything you need with the perfect student population with the perfect exposure to many, many fields of interest. If you’re lucky enough to be admitted, GO AND BE HAPPY!!!</p>
<p>Most alums aren’t wrong. There are things at Harvard you can’t get at Cornell and vice versa. I think Cornell benefits from having a hugely diverse student body and therefore a larger variety of opportunities. But then again, those huge schools like UMichigan probably offer way more than Cornell in terms of variety of opportunity.</p>
<p>Reality is, especially at the undergraduate level, there aren’t going to be huge variances in quality of academic departments at any top-30 university. </p>
<p>You can’t know this yet, but I think what the best part of college will be is the people you meet and befriend, not the name of the school.</p>
<p>For graduate school, overall rankings matter even less since you are going to not only care about how well-positioned a specific department is, but how well-positioned a specific department is in a specific area of a certain field.</p>
<p>@ Saugus – I don’t mean to sound unkind or unfeeling but I just had to laugh at your impression of Cornell as being at the bottom of the Ivies. When my H went to Penn it was considered among his friends to be the Ivy where people were stuck going to after getting rejected from all the other “better” Ivies, including Cornell. For what it’s worth, all of those “losers” who had to go to Penn are doing quite well for themselves financially right now. Loser school indeed. </p>
<p>For what it’s worth the kids who opted for Cornell from D’s circle of friends love being there and wouldn’t switch for the world, including the ones who graduated from the local public Math/Sci HS the national news and business magazines wax poetic about each year.</p>
<p>Why don’t you start thinking of yourself as a winner for at least having a choice of some exemplary name-brand schools? “Winner” is so much more productive an attitude than “loser”.</p>
<p>@ Saugus, Cornell is a great school for undergrads. You will love it. It is in a beautiful part of NY and it is a great college town. Recently, Cornell won the proposal to build a facility in NYC on Roosevelt Island. To me that would say, there will be huge opportunities that lie ahead with an abundant alumni in NYC with great potential for internships. Remember it is what you make of it and having the best outlook will help. Good luck!</p>