<p>You keep asking “why is Cornell not highly regarded by the other Ivies?” The Ivy league is an athletic conference of schools who have similar philosophy’s regarding intercollegiate athletics & academics. “Similar” not “exact”. Cornell’s mantra of “any person, any study” leads to majors in agriculture, Hotel, etc…this is why the other colleges view it with disdain. Cornell doesn’t claim to be Harvard…nor wants to be. If you can’t accept that you need to go to a Community College or State University and attempt to transfer to one of these “better” schools after a year.</p>
<p>Why give him that advice, csdad? It perpetuates his misguided thinking that there is some kind of terribly important hierarchy and it perpetuates his misguided thinking that if he is not “at the tippy top” all is lost.</p>
<p>close the thread…it’s pointless. Saugus is all over the place on this forum with the same whiny, wimpy complaints.</p>
<p>@applejack – a very insightful, informative post – let’s see if it helps</p>
<p>There’s no point in trying to reason with him. He has a mental and/or personality disorder. No matter where he is or what you say to him, he will never be happy because he focuses on the negative. People need to leave him alone. Whether he goes to Berkeley or Cornell or even if he had gotten into Penn or Northwestern, he will not be happy (despite his declaration that he would’ve been satisfied with Dartmouth, Duke, and Northwestern). It has nothing to do with the schools but rather with his personality. And that’s something you can’t change over a message board.</p>
<p>Saugus, the other schools didn’t accept you cause you’re clearly pompous and ignorant. Cornell and the UCs gave you a chance. Be thankful</p>
<p>Let’s see…most of the Ivies accept between 2000-3000 students. Cornell is by far the largest Ivy and accepts somewhat over 6000. </p>
<p>I would guess that you were probably about #5000, so if Cornell was not such a large school you would be SOL there too.</p>
<p>@applejack - post #161</p>
<p>Thanks for the excellent, beautifully written, and well informed post.</p>
<p>Whether it will fall on deaf ears or not for OP (like many well meant posts in this thread) I can’t say. I do, however, know that others will read it and realize some worthwhile things about your Alma Mater and its venerable history. Cornell made no mistake having accepted you.</p>
<p>Saugus:</p>
<p>I disagree with the other responses.</p>
<p>You have a right to be disappointed that you didn’t get into a better schools.</p>
<p>Your stats certainly merit it.</p>
<p>The responses blast you for feeling entitled to admission.</p>
<p>Well, if your stats merit it, in the perfect world, you would be entitled.</p>
<p>If you get the highest score in a golf tournament, you win the tournament. People don’t say, well, he is asian, and we have enough asian winners this year, or it would be nice to have some hispanic winners for a change, or the guy who came in 5th place is from North Dakota, so let’s pick him as the winner instead.</p>
<p>I would go to Berkeley over Cornell. Better to be a King in California than an also ran on the East Coast. </p>
<p>I am a Cornell graduate, and the truth is that Cornell is indeed, generally speaking, the lowest Ivy. It was 30 years ago, and it still is.</p>
<p>No doubt many kids were admitted to your dream school with much lower stats.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, college admissions is not based solely on merit. There are affirmative action concerns, “first in family to go to college” concerns, diversity concerns, geographic concerns, legacy concerns, athlete concerns, and also, there are those who have “connections”.</p>
<p>If you go to Berkeley or Cornell, and do well, as I am sure you will, then you go through this all again when you apply to grad school !!!</p>
<p>My son got into UCLA. But to me, Berkeley is indeed a home run. I am sure there are many kids in California who select Berkeley, even though they might have gotten into some of the eastern schools who rejected you.</p>
<p>Berkeley is still great. You will get the last laugh when you are admitted to graduate school.</p>
<p>My brother’s kid was rejected at Harvard four years ago. So he went to Yale. He just got into Harvard Law School.</p>
<p>Cornell got it wrong, or at least I’m inclined to think so based on your Columbia essays. Thought meant to be satirical, I think they were also brutally honest in admitting that:</p>
<p>“I…faked my way all the way to the rank of Governor for my college applications. After that, I travailed to build and chair an international council so that I could look even more impressive to admissions officers.” </p>
<p>The other Ivies probably saw through your ECs and realized your motivations were simply to increase your admission chances.</p>
<p>And to some degree, I can sympathize with your efforts. I personally got waitlisted (polite rejection, basically) from Cornell, which was a reach for me given my ECs. Seeing you so ungrateful (in earlier posts) about potentially ending up here makes me a bit angry. </p>
<p>But then I realize how disappointed I am not getting into Cornell, and having to be content with Umich, an awesome school in its own right. Most of my peers will think I’m a conceited, arrogant [expletive], like most see you, for not being content with Umich, seeing as how most of them would love to even have a shot at acceptance there. Plus, engineering at Umich is at least on par with engineering at Cornell (and Umich is #2 in my intended major), which is good consolation.</p>
<p>However, you and I both can’t help the disappointment as we imagine an education at Cornell (for me) or HYP (for you). It’s significantly worse for you, since you’ve been aiming at HYP for years, while Cornell was a bit of a hopeful last-minute crapshoot for me, as I fell in love with the campus just last summer. I liked the school (in terms of atmosphere and surroundings) a lot more than Harvard and MIT. Had I had my current knowledge as a freshman, I probably would’ve done a lot more in an attempt to make myself a much more attractive applicant.</p>
<p>I can’t expect you to be completely happy with Cornell, as I can’t personally be completely happy (yet) with Umich. But I have to encourage you to look at the bright sides (there are many). Reading this thread from start to finish is actually making me feel quite a bit worse about not making it into Cornell, so, even though it is a step down from HYP in your mind, you’re very lucky to have the option to attend. I think if you attend (and considering how much I’d want to be in your shoes, I can’t recommend otherwise), you will most certainly love it. Try your best to get excited about all the good things, and stop worrying about what could have been.</p>
<p>@floridadad - post #170</p>
<p>That you bought the elitist kool aid that Cornell doesn’t, in its determined idiosyncratic way, stack up to the likes of HYP is just sad. Read applejack’s post above and learn something from a fellow cornellian. Have you ever spent much time at a few schools currently “above” Cornell on USNWR problematic lists? I have, and can assure you that your Alma Mater compares favorably.</p>
<p>Seriously, at first I thought that this guy could be nice and cool after reading his Columbia essays, but now, he just seems like an arrogant, conceited jerk.</p>
<p>Look buddy, I’m an international from the middle east, and despite the fact that I had a 2350, 96% average, and a bunch of science awards, I was flatly rejected by Cornell. I could blame my school (which is justified actually, considering that it has only sent 8-9 kids to Ivies in the past twenty-three years) or the fact that i’m international, but it’s too late for that. Like besjbo above me, i’ll have to settle for a state school in the states, or a school in canada like utoronto or mcgill. In the end, if I get into UofT, I’ll end up going there, because their engineering is arguably the best in canada and better that that of many schools in the US (might even come close to cornell’s). </p>
<p>The point is, be happy with what you get and don’t be a ******* elitist.</p>
<p>a^ Your story is really common. And to OP, the benefit of the ivies is the connections that come with going to one. It isn’t the name by itself - telling people you go to Princeton would not get you a high level job if that is all you have accomplished. They know of all the underqualified, hooked applicants that get in there. What matters is the connections that you build while you are here, and what you accomplish while you are in school - and Cornell is far, far from lacking in terms of opportunities and networking.</p>
<p>this disgusts me. i dont generally spit out what im about to spit out on a public forum like this, but this post was just unbearable.</p>
<p>OP, like you, i felt that i was “screwed over” by the admissions system. i EDed at wharton and was deferred. was LUCKY enough to get into AEM at Cornell RD and has LOVED my experience here. everyday im grateful that AEM, with its selectivity (12% overall means less than 8% RD), saw something in me and offered me a spot in the small freshman class. sounds like you didnt do enough research, given how you didnt even know the business program existed.</p>
<p>im an asian female and i often shake my head at the unfairness of the college admissions process toward asians. but it’s people like you that explain why asians, with their perfect stats and ECs, fail to impress college admissions officers.</p>
<p>do you realize that Cornell’s recruiting is one of the best? so you want to be an investment banker? what a surprise. you fit the stereotype of a pompous banker-wannabe. as someone who was an investment banking summer analyst at a BB as a sophomore (which i dont think i could have accomplished if i had gone to wharton, mind you) and who will intern at a different BB in banking this upcoming summer, i can tell you that no one would “laugh at” your Cornell degree. Cornell is consistently one of the top recruited schools at the BBs (top five).</p>
<p>i feel sorry for the many qualified applicants who would have loved to attend Cornell who were rejected for you. im proud to be an AEMer, im proud to be a Cornellian, and with that attitude of yours, please, please, choose UCB. since Cornell is the worst ivy, you wouldnt want to be here anyway.</p>
<p>I wish we could “like” posts on CC.</p>
<p>When I first was reading this thread and the OP’s disgusting, ignorant, posts…I was annoyed. I thought ‘people are deciding which school to attend and the top thread is about a guy saying over and over, Cornell is the worst Ivy.’ I thought of all the students who might be swayed by the garbage he’s spewing, never giving Cornell a chance, and missing out on a unique college experience that I feel no other university in this country can replicate. However, after reading the past few pages and seeing some of the posts by my fellow Cornellians, this thread has actually made me love my alma mater even more. Post after post has shown students and alumni sharing their personal stories of why they love Cornell, and each one is touching and poignant. Applejack’s post described Cornell’s history in a way I had never considered, and seeing countless Cornell moms come out of the woodwork to defend their childrens’ school was awsome. </p>
<p>To Saugus, if you’re still here and not weeping in the corner clutching a copy of the Princeton Review - please don’t go to Cornell. Look at our students’ character compared to your own…do you see the difference? Cornell is, quite honestly, too good for you. When you take your first few steps as a college freshman, no one will care about how many clubs you feigned interest in, or how many points you received on your SATs. It’s about being happy with who you are and where you are. No one at Cornell - students, faculty, advisers - is interested in talking to prestige-whore who spends his days moping about not getting into Princeton. The vast majority of students at Cornell WANT to be there…we love our school. I’m sure Berkeley students are the same. Just go to a community college and plan to transfer somewhere your fragile, pathetic ego can handle.</p>
<p>Most importantly, get some help with your self-esteem. I’d rather be a confident state college student than a Princeton student who thinks their self-worth is measured by the ranking of their school. You just seem really…sad and pathetic.</p>
<p>“I’d rather be a confident state college student than a Princeton student who thinks their self-worth is measured by the ranking of their school.”</p>
<p>Best. Quote. Ever.</p>
<p>The value of swag is immeasurable - especially in business & finance.</p>
<p>I can’t help but wonder if some Cornell adcom is sifting through the “accept” files right now, trying to figure out who this kid is, so they can rescind admission. There can’t be that many admits from So Cal (and maybe Saugus, CA?) that fit that description with those EC’s. OP, you should probably stop now before you make it any worse on yourself.</p>
<p>Most people would kill to have a choice between Cornell and Berkley, not be depressed about it. I was accepted to 10 colleges, now I’ve quickly narrowed them to 2, the choice of my 2 favorite schools as opposed to looking down on them w/ pity because they aren’t the most exlclusive. I am extremely hopeful to enroll at Cornell, my fav of the 2, and will do so in a heartbeat if I can confirm my financial aid is enough. Anyone should be ecstatic to be accepted to a school as great as Cornell. A choice like this should be a dream for anyone. I don’t know where the mentality that % selectiveness defines quality of a school. If so schools like Cal st long beach and SD state would be the top 50 in the nation, and they’re not. Complaining about getting Cornell and not a HYP is like a football athlete complaining the were recruited by USC and LSU but not ALABAMA. You shouldn’t judge a school based on an arbitrary ranking by USNAWR or any other paper, but on how the school and the people with in it’s character, culture, environment, and major specialization is.</p>
<p>Remember that the Ivies and some other popular schools can fill their incoming classes three times without relaxing admission standards. There are more excellent applicants than seats. You could consider yourself lucky!</p>