<p>Calm down, waitatshu…nobody’s saying Cornell isn’t famous; I was responding to those who claimed UCLA was only known in California and Asia.</p>
<p>If I were the OP, I would probably go to UCLA because of the money factor and the close-to-home factor, however, I definitely think that Cornell has a better reputation.</p>
<p>As of now, I’m leaning towards UCLA but I have an interesting question: Does the name of your undergraduate college/university really matter? I mean, UCLA and Cornell are both very good schools but as long as I get a good GPA, does it matter to graduate schools where I graduate from?</p>
<p>It will not make a difference when the GPA will be coming from either one of two comparable schools. The higher the GPA the better.</p>
<p>They are both excellent schools, but for the socially-minded kid, UCLA. And as someone pointed out, Cornell’s isolation and tough winters might be a bit of a “shocker.” I have known more unhappy kids at Cornell than UCLA, for whatever that is worth, anecdotally. I don’t hear, for example, of suicides/attempted suicides at UCLA. Cornell, MIT, and a few others seem to have more press about that sort of thing.</p>
<p>GO BRUINS!!!</p>
<p>I would personally go with UCLA considering all the factors including financial aid, academics, social life, weather, etc…</p>
<p>
Both are good schools, and a strong applicant from either school is going to be attractive to grad schools. What they look at is more than GPA and test scores – they’ll also look at letters of rec and (depending on what grad degree you’re pursuing) relevant experience and your interview.</p>
<p>However you are making one significant assumption: that you’ll be the same regardless of which school you attend. I can’t prove it, but I suspect differences in advising systems, class size, classes taught by full-time faculty, what you learn from other students, access to internships and summer positions, and the like can all lead to different outcomes for similar entering students.</p>
<p>mikemac, where did you get the idea that Cornell has good advising? That would surprise me, given it’s size.</p>
<p>At many larger schools there are 3 tiers of academic advising: your faculty advisor, the advisor in your major, and the college advising staff.</p>
<p>UCLA does not have faculty advisors for students, at least not in Letters and Science. At UCLA you can only make an appt to see a full-time College counselor if you are a junior or senior. Frosh and soph talk with peer advisors or grad students who are counseling assistants. See [UCLA</a> College Counselors](<a href=“http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/counseling/counselors.htm]UCLA”>http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/counseling/counselors.htm)</p>
<p>Cornell students get a faculty advisor, and have advising deans available for all undergrads. See [url=<a href=“http://as.cornell.edu/academics/advising/index.cfm]Advising[/url”>http://as.cornell.edu/academics/advising/index.cfm]Advising[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Having never set foot on the Cornell campus, I can’t say whether the advising system is any good or not thru personal experience.</p>
<p>You’ve really got to consider the budget cuts and the terrible financial state of public education in CA. I foresee the situation getting better, but in the time you’re at college, things could continue to spiral even further out of control. That’s a significant risk; I believe Cornell’s finances are much securer.</p>
<p>But honestly, forget about the whole prestige thing. For all intents and purposes, they are pretty much the same. If you get good enough fin aid from Cornell, just go where you REALLY want to go. That seems like UCLA right now, but maybe it’s Cornell?</p>
<p>As far as going away from home for college–living in dorms IS going away from home. It can be nice for some kids to have their family as a support system be within driving distance, not across the country. Just because you can see your family once a month, even once a week, doesn’t mean you’re immature or something. Depending on your relationship, it might mean you’re lucky. My friend’s brother goes to Cal and my friend visits him practically every weekend. They both really appreciate that they are able to visit so much. If you don’t really want to go away from where you live, then don’t. You can always move for grad/law school, etc… There’s this feeling on the west coast where we want to go EAST. It’s just sort of a mythical place… but it can wait…</p>
<p>As far as going away from home for college–living in dorms IS going away from home. It can be nice for some kids to have their family as a support system be within driving distance, not across the country. Just because you can see your family once a month, even once a week, doesn’t mean you’re immature or something. Depending on your relationship, it might mean you’re lucky. My friend’s brother goes to Cal and my friend visits him practically every weekend. They both really appreciate that they are able to visit so much. If you don’t really want to go away from where you live, then don’t. You can always move for grad/law school, etc… There’s this feeling on the west coast where we want to go EAST. It’s just sort of a mythical place… but it can wait…</p>
<p>here, here–very intelligently put.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you’re in Honors (and OP would probably qualify) you can see their full-time Counselors.</p>
<p>Wait for Berkeley’s decisions and then attend</p>
<p>fortify, I agree.</p>
<p>To choose UCLA over Cornell, is laughable. These Bruin boosters are absolutely hilarious and are the minority of the UC system. I don’t know if it’s because they are in LA, but UCLA seems to attract the most b-dag types. Look at the numbers, people.</p>
<p>Cornell------------------------UCLA----------------USC
Private------------------------Pubic----------------Private
UG pop. 13,931--------------26,687--------------16,751
End. ~4B----------------------~2B-----------------~4B
Rural--------------------------Urban---------------Urban
SAT
Critical Reading:
630 - 730---------------------570 - 680-----------620 - 710
Math:
660 - 770---------------------600 - 730-----------650 - 740
ACT
29 - 33------------------------24 - 31--------------29 - 32</p>
<p>Pretty drastic differences. As you can see it is more comparable to USC, than UCLA. I urge people to compare apples to apples, public-to-public and private-to-private. I love public education and as a minority student I have benefited greatly, but it is not logical to compare public-to-private. They perform under different rules and have different obligations.</p>
<p>I’m from NY and I just got into UCLA. I’m strongly considering attending, UCLA even has a great reputation over here. It’s very well known as a prestigious university.</p>
<p>That said, I just wanna say why I didn’t apply to Cornell. Firstly, coming from my school it is definitely easier to get into Cornell than UCLA. Cornell simply likes my school, they let in around 50 kids last year. Secondly, Cornell is the college version of my high school. It’s completely competitive and cutthroat. I know a lot of people who have gotten in this year who are not qualified for Cornell. They seem to only care about stats. I’d rather a school that looks beyond the numbers. I mean I guess it’s different since I’m out of state so getting into UCLA is a bit more rare, but no matter where you go I wouldn’t go to Cornell. Go to a school you’ll be happy at. If you haven’t visited Cornell fly over here and do so! Talk to the current students and see if they’re happy.</p>
<p>I was happy at Cornell. As happy as you can be at any place that makes you work hard. I don’t think Cornell admits unqualified students. High school rank, gpa, SAT scores, ECs are all important. I did not find Cornell to be cutthroat or competitive. Other students cannot lower your grade. You simply have to meet the professor’s expectations.</p>
<p>UC’s don’t super-score the SAT, so thier score breakdowns are always on the low side, bayboi.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, episcopal. This is why I continually ask people to compare publics-to-publics and privates-to-privates. Most universities do superscore, for various reasons. While, the UC system is one of few that decided not to.</p>
<p>Bayboi, the only hilarious thing in this thread is you reducing the comparison of two of the country’s top universities into an SAT contest.</p>
<p>UCLA v. Cornell?</p>
<p>[The</a> New York Times > Week in Review > Image > Collegiate Matchups: Predicting Student Choices](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/09/17/weekinreview/20060917_LEONHARDT_CHART.html]The”>The New York Times > Week in Review > Image > Collegiate Matchups: Predicting Student Choices)</p>