<p>I am in an unique situation and would like some advice. I was withdrawn from the College of Engineering at Cornell University exactly one year ago. I already have 6 semesters of college under my belt, and have recently transferred to University of La Verne.</p>
<p>I have switched my major to economics, and with the amount of credits I have I can expect to graduate in 1 to 1 1/2 years. At the same time, however, I will be applying to get back into Cornell's School of Arts & Sciences. If accepted (for the semester of Spring 2010), I will have to fulfill Arts & Sciences' residency requirement of 2 years before I can graduate.</p>
<p>This is just a hypothetical scenario, but if accepted, should I go back to Cornell? Will the extra year and a half at a more prestigious institution be more beneficial, or should I just focus on getting my bachelor's and moving on to grad school? What if I want to find a job? If money was no issue, which one would you choose and why?</p>
<p>Will you have a social network waiting for you from before?
Otherwise re-entry could be challenging, socially.
You will be an entering transfer student, but you may be less inclined to join the other entering transfer students in their ealry attempts to discover the university. It’s partly through the early mass acclimitization/ discovery processes that many social relationships are formed.
Without a social network college can be a lonely place.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! Let me attempt to clarify my situation a bit more. I have already applied to A&S and been rejected. They want to see me do well somewhere else (nothing less than straight A’s) before taking me in, which is why I transferred all the way here. </p>
<p>I guess what it comes down to is whether an extra year and a half of my life is better spent getting my undergraduate degree at an Ivy League school or moving on and doing something else (which I don’t know yet). Will my job prospects improve dramatically? Will I be a better candidate for grad schools? Will this investment pay off many times over? Or will I hardly notice the improvements and just be out tens of thousands of dollars?</p>
<p>Some extra info: I’m an international student. My original plan was to find a job right after graduating from Cornell. Obviously things didn’t work out and I’m trying to figure out my next step.</p>
<p>I know nobody can really answer this for me, but any arguments for or against this transfer will help me make my decision when the time comes for me to choose my path.</p>
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<p>I was happy at Cornell during my first year. During the second year when my grades took a turn for the worse I was in denial and shielded myself from the looming problems. I skipped classes and didn’t turn in homework. This evidently took a toll on my happiness.</p>
<p>But I would say that my immature and irresponsible attitude caused the unhappiness. Cornell wouldn’t have been stressful and depressing if I had kept up with my work and been a good student. Now, whether they helped me out when I was down is another story…</p>
<p>You may find that upper level classes in Arts & Sciences are not a cakewalk either.
I’d be inclinded to look elsewhere if I were you. But of course I don’t know anything more than I’ve read here.</p>
<p>Interesting, I forgot about this old username I had back in high school until today. Just to clarify, martin.corn is me :)</p>
<p>Update: The plot thickens. Drexel University accepted me today. Do I just take it and forget everything else? Why did I choose La Verne in the first place? It was one of the few schools (along with Drexel) that was still accepting applications when Cornell rejected me.</p>