<p>^Agree with applejack’s last part. I was at a college today to visit (a very good college) and someone asked if I went there for undergrad. I said no, I went to Cornell and she was just about floored…gave me this huge grin and sigh. It’s an impressive school. All of the top 15 are, esp. the Ivy Leagues + Stanford, Duke, MIT.</p>
<p>^
I’ve realized that ANY of the Ivies will elicit that reaction from 90%+ of people. It’s only the very snobbish .5% who would think of Cornell as a “doormat.” And like I said, their opinion doesn’t matter anyway, because even if you had gone to HYP, they would likely find something else to look down upon you for. Probably like working at Credit Suisse instead of Goldman Sachs, or not living in a penthouse apartment, or not being born upper-class. It will always be something with those types of people. The school you attended isn’t even near the top of the list.</p>
<p>Welcome to the Cornell family! Get ready to worker harder than you have ever worked, meet amazing people, and have the time of your life!</p>
<p>Best of luck to you Saugus. I’m glad that you came to terms with Cornell.</p>
<p>@saugus, i agree with your analogy comparing princeton and yale to daisy from the great gatsby.
before, i had the mentality “yale or bust” but now, i think it was a blessing that they rejected me.
i will get to choose among other universities that might be better in the long run for me, ones that i never would have picked over yale (because i wouldn’t have picked any school over it…)
and now i’ve truly come to mentality that your undergrad experience is what you make of it–what opportunities you pursue, your level of happiness, the people you befriend…</p>
<p>you take what you have and you feel truly blessed for it. to be worrying about getting rejected to one of the hardest to get into universities to get into? that’s a great problem to have. 99.9% of the world have greater problems. </p>
<p>in the end, cornell is not yale and yale is not cornell.
they will never be the same university and that’s perfectly fine with me.
i feel so so so lucky to be chosen to be a part of cornell’s family,
getting into yale wouldn’t have fixed any of my problems or made me any happier than any other university. my undergrad experience will only be determined by what i do with my time in college. and i’m so glad to realize this before i attend college in the fall, rather than four years later.</p>
<p>I can still sense the significant amount of doubt that you still have. However, realizing Cornell’s academic strength as it truly is takes time and personal experience, so I won’t push you so much on that for now.</p>
<p>As I said, Cornell is nothing short of absolutely amazing in the fields that I mentioned - which also kind of relates to how so many of them are so hard. You’ll find their faculty and our resources to be just that amazing as well. It definitely does not lose out to the ivies outside of the HYPs</p>
<p>Oh and by the way, our endowment isn’t small - though nobody really knows or gets to decide what it’s used for anyways - it’s sure not to be used directly on undergrads, though. It seems that every time Cornell gets a little bit more money, they put it on new buildings or for financial aid. You’ll find that out from the school newspaper (daily sun).</p>
<p>They like to keep using the endowment… as if we don’t have enough buildings already…</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cornell.edu/img/maps/large_search.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cornell.edu/img/maps/large_search.pdf</a></p>
<p>^^
I forgot the specific fields you mentioned as being amazing. Are Government, Economics, English, and Philosophy included? And do we really even lose out to HYP in terms of knowledge/rigor at the UNDERGRAD level? It’s not like we’re UC Riverside or something. I’d imagine the quality would basically be the same.</p>
<p>HYPW might have better connections, I guess. Not sure why. But we’re also larger than them and thus have more alumni out there. From what I’ve heard, we are always a top-ten represented firm on Wall Street, and even top five at some firms. Are connections really going to matter after you get your job?</p>
<p>I have no idea what I’m talking about here, but I’d imagine that if someone from CAS were creative enough, they would be able to find a way to utilize connections from the Labor, Agriculture, and Hotel schools at some point down the line. HYPW doesn’t have these specialized schools, and thus grads don’t have that same ability.</p>
<p>P.S. It took me a week to get to this point. Yes, to be totally honest, I still get a little insecure every time I come across a “Chance me for HYP” thread in the forum or an old “Cornell vs etc.” thread. But assuming the Government major is world-class, I really think Cornell fits me better than anywhere else would have. Princeton is too small and LAC-like.</p>
<p>Here is an interview with Cornell in Washington’s David Silbey. He is the associate director of this DC program in Government.</p>
<p>[Cornell</a> in Washington](<a href=“http://www.cornell.edu/video/?videoID=1713][b]Cornell”>http://www.cornell.edu/video/?videoID=1713)</p>
<p>Maybe your father would enjoy this video that sums up what Cornell is pretty well:</p>
<p>[This</a> Is on Vimeo](<a href=“http://vimeo.com/23897683]This”>http://vimeo.com/23897683)</p>
<p>Also, let us not forget about Cornell’s future tech campus in NYC! I am excited to see what that will do for Cornell in the next few years.</p>
<p>Saugus love your story, so sad about your dad, my D apply to 15 get accepted to 13 waitlisted 1 and denied 1 (harvard), she got in to few Ivys including cornell, and shes making her own decision maybe she’s having a lexus instead of BMW. you need to be an a place that you feel home, happy and suit you. Cornell it’s an amazing school, my D mayor will be Biology going to pre med. you know if she finish there with a gpa of 3.5 and nice MCATS she will we accepted to Harvard or another prestige Ivy school. keep you head up, you know how many students will love to be at cornell, and people on CC something say the wrong things. best of luck.</p>
<p>Lololol way to just bash the schools that rejected you with broad stereotypes in an attempt to feel better about yourself. Whatever works for you I guess lol.</p>
<p>I’m glad you’re warming up to Cornell, but I definitely understand what you are talking about with Cornell having a stigma attached to it by others at the high school level. I did get accepted to some of the schools that you mentioned, namely Duke, UChicago, and Northwestern, but I will 99% be choosing Cornell over them (I’m confidant enough that Cornell Days is the only admitted students event I’m signed up for). I still take a lot of friendly abuse in school due to choosing Cornell over Duke and UChicago (not so much Northwestern), but though it bothered me a bit at first, I never wavered significantly from my desire to go to Cornell. I’ve come to realize that most of the reasons that have been given to me to not go to Cornell have been based on false stereotypes and stigmas, and in the case of Duke, also weather. Point is, Cornell is the school that seems like it’s the best fit for me, and considering there is no tangible drop in prestige or opportunity from the others (I would guess none at all), I don’t really care where US News decides to put it on a list. In fact, some of the people who were initially very anti-Cornell changed their minds after I began to explain to them why I prefer Cornell over the others. This wasn’t really because I wanted to gain their blessing, more that I’m beginning to develop a sort of Cornellian pride which is exciting after so many months of uncertainty.</p>
<p>I will admit that I also faced disappointment with Yale (and maybe Dartmouth and Brown though I likely would have chosen Cornell over those two in the end anyway), but I know that when I step on campus for Cornell Days, I won’t care at all anymore, and frankly I am pretty much completely over it already.</p>
<p>Can’t wait to join all of you guys at Cornell next year, and hopefully I’ll see some of you at Cornell Days!</p>
<p>Aw, it seems like this has forced you to do a lot of inner reflection and that’s a great thing. Best of luck with everything; hope to see you at Cornell in the fall! :)</p>
<p>Like I said in your last thread, I assumed you were venting to get things out of your system. I think Cornell’s lucky to have you as a student and you are lucky to attend Cornell. Make the most of it! </p>
<p>Oh, and to go with your Lexus metaphor, I’ll actually roll with it. Let’s take the logos off all the cars you mentioned, sit you in them, and take them for a spin. Let’s further ignore the fact that even without the logos, you can still probably identify them on looks alone (maybe pretend these are the same brands 35 years into the future, where styles will inevitably be radically different). Do you think you could tell the difference? I bet even if you could, you’d underestimate by a wide margin the cost differences relative to your perceived quality differences. Psychological biases are fascinating and our mind is terrible at weighing the magnitude of differences. I’d suggest you read Daniel Kahneman’s “Thinking Fast and Slow” if you are more interested in this, since I think it parallels your thought process through your whole admissions situation (also, it’s a great intro to behavioral economics).</p>
<p>If you have any questions about Cornell’s Economics and Government departments, let me know, as I recently graduated with majors in both. I think Cornell’s Government department truly is fantastic and I only would have traded 1 course of the 11 I took for one at another university (or simply traded it for another course at Cornell). By in large they can teach AND they are distinguished. </p>
<p>Econ is econ and the professors are hit or miss in terms of teaching. Yeah, I would love to have taken Mankiw’s intro course at Harvard, but I didn’t even take the equivalent at Cornell since I used AP credit for that and my high school teacher without a PhD taught the material perfectly well. Like I said in your last thread, most undergrad programs are roughly the same, with the exception of UChicago. But Cornell Econ can go well-beyond the department if you so choose, as Cornell also has AEM, ILR, and PAM, all of which are excellent and don’t really have corollary’s elsewhere (esp. not all together). I didn’t take any AEM, PAM, or ILR classes, but I did graduate with a degree in Economics and Government, with minors in International Relations and German Studies; where else could I have done that?</p>
<p>I’m glad to see you are taking a mature approach. College is a time to grow and gain perspective. Cornell can be the best university in the world or the worst university in the world. It’s all about attitude.</p>
<p>Saugus,</p>
<p>You are a smart kid. Just reading your posts, both the original and subsequent comments made me happy. My initial impression of you was some try-hard kid who didn’t really care about intellectualism, didn’t see knowledge’s applicability beyond a test and very superficial. Gladly, this post changed all that. </p>
<p>Your post, or rather stream-of-consciousness, is perhaps the best rationalizing and justification for attending a school that I have ever read. Sure, you’re still in the process of convincing yourself that Cornell is better, but rest assured, once you start school in Ithaca, you’ll realize that “better” doesn’t matter, and that you’ll be the best amongst the world’s best. </p>
<p>I get that you still want Princeton, surely for reasons beyond rank, but what’s done is done. The campus will always be there, and a student doesn’t get any more utility out of the campus than any random passerby. Choosing schools based on the more scenic campus is a poor criteria (not saying you are), and Cornell is absolutely beautiful anyways. You’re never going to live in upstate New York or any isolated town after college, likely because you’re going to be successful, so cherish these four, idyllic years.</p>
<p>By the way, as an institution, Cornell has connections into fields far superior to HYP. How many Ivies have a hotel management school? Industrial labor? Veterinary? Penn is the only other Ivy with a Vet school, and none (as you know) have ILR or hotel schools. It’s fantastic, and for someone looking for a career in business, you have indispensable resources. </p>
<p>You often hear it’s not about where you go, but how you make do with your surrounding and resources. Well, stick true that this axiom, and know that it really isn’t about where you go, but if, to some elitist individual it does, Cornell definitely holds its own. Objectively, it is one of the best schools in the world and subjectively, it is the best. </p>
<p>Congrats, kid!</p>
<p>Sitting through the opening Convocation in August with my daughter it struck me how at ease Cornell is with itself. None of the speakers mentioned “Ivy League” or rankings, or any stats at all. They talked about what Cornell is to them & the opportunities your 4 years there will present you. They are not Yale or Harvard…but don’t want to be. I know the more cynical will claim that this is because “they know they can’t compete with these other schools”, however many colleges we visited (Patriot League type schools), did seem to try and prove they were “as good” as the top schools. As a result they exuded an elitist vibe that was nonexistent at Cornell. I anticipate that within 3 months at Cornell you will be thankful that those other schools rejected you & revel in the experience of chanting “grade inflation!” at Harvard’s hockey team!!</p>
<p>When D2 wanted to do ED at Cornell, as much as we respected her choice, my H took a week off and flew up with her to visit Yale again (for the 3rd time), along with Brown and Williams. She said Yale had bad Indian food, and she couldn’t even find bubble tea at Brown or Williams. </p>
<p>OP- you may find this funny, but the only person who did better than D2 on SAT at her school ( an international school), applied to all Ivies and many top LACs, she got into every school, except Cornell. I believe D2 is the first acceptance in last 6 years, so kids at her school think Cornell is a harder school to get into.</p>
<p>If you want to go into finance, you could get summer internships through the career center. Many top firms recruit on campus because of Cornell’s strong network and the size of Cornell. In the last 2 years when firms have cut back on their recruitment, they still kept Cornell on their list, and maybe dropped other smaller and more remote location schools. </p>
<p>Cornell alumni at many IBs, in conjunction with the career center, sponsor “meet and greet” events over the winter break in NYC for students who are interested in interviewing in Jan on campus. Some firms like Goldman would only select a handful of applicants to spend a day with them, some firms would have a bigger event with speakers, but nevertheless give students an opportunity to meet some senior people at the firm. At D1’s firm, it is always the Cornell alumni who make multiple trips to Ithaca to recruit, they do it because they want to give Cornell students an opportunity to work at their firm. The internship is usually for the junior summer, and at the end of it each intern is required to do a presentation to a committee of very senior people. Based on the work over the summer and the presentation, they decide which intern they would offer a job to upon graduation. The politics of it (behind the scene) is each school’s alum would push for their own school’s interns. Cornell students generally do very well relative to other school’s students. Many employers feel Cornell students in general are smart, hard working, without a lot of entitlement attitude. </p>
<p>I want to join others to wish you best of four years at Cornell. If you have any questions in the future about Cornell, I am sure there will b many people on this forum who could help you out. If your parents are coming with you on the move in day, which I would strongly suggest, they should book their hotel room now. I think they will fall in love with Cornell.</p>
<p>Saugus, I’m glad you finally decided on Cornell. It’s a great school.</p>